Today’s post by Tim Smith is the eighth installment in our Coach’s Guide to Sunday School resource provided by the office of Sunday School and Discipleship. To see the full guide, visit ALSBOM.org/coachsguidetosundayschool.

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Don’t let anyone fool you! Being a Sunday School director is a lot of work. Just like any coach, there many expectations with tons of pressure. As you look at your situation, you might be asking yourself, “Where do I start?” Every church is different. There is no massproduced program that will work in all of today’s churches, but remember the key to developing a winning Sunday School is to improve day by day. By taking small steps every day, you will see progress.

Consider this quote:

“It’s all about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” —Steve Young, former NFL quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer

Steve Young didn’t become a great quarterback overnight. It took time. Slow, but steady improvement. He became a world champion and a hall of famer by just trying to become better than he was yesterday. As you work to complete your game, here are some other aspects of the game you need to consider: 

COACHING ASSIGNMENTS

Spend Time with God Every Day

• Read the Bible!
• Pray for
  • Your teachers and workers
  • God’s guidance, wisdom and vision
  • New workers
• Listen to and obey what God says and shows you!

Invest Time with Your Pastor and/or Minister of Education

• Pray for him every day.
• Meet with him every week.
• Get to know his vision for the church.
• Share your vision with him.
• Seek and share ideas.
• Become good friends!

Give Time with the Sunday School Planning Team

• Meet with them monthly.
• Have an agenda.
• Coordinate the efforts of all age groups.
• Conduct annual goal setting retreat.
  • Enrollment, attendance, classes, space, leaders, training, contacts, prospects, outreach and baptisms

Make Time for the Sunday School Leadership Team (All Teachers/Leaders)

• Walk through all hallways on Sundays.
• Keep classes accountable to begin and end on time.
• Meet with them at least quarterly.
• Appreciate them both publicly and privately.
• Pray for them by name at least monthly.
• Encourage all to enlist an apprentice.

COACHING ON SUNDAY

• Arrive 30 minutes early.
• Greet everyone as they arrive to Sunday School.
• Make sure classes are staffed.
• Periodically observe teachers/classes.
• Elevate Sunday School during the worship service.
• Communicate necessary information.
• Keep everyone focused on being teams of people on mission with God.
• Make sure all are doing their jobs and are in position.

COACHING DURING THE WEEK

• Know and communicate the mission of Sunday School.
• Focus on spiritual and numerical growth.
• Implement training of self and others.
• Discover, enlist and train new leaders.
• Start new classes.
• Understand the needs of all age groups (preschool, children, youth, singles, young adults, median adults and senior adults)

SUGGESTED YEARLY GAME STRATEGY
August

• Make sure all Sunday School directors, teachers and leaders have been properly enlisted.
• Plan or attend a training event for your Sunday School directors, teachers and leaders.
• Plan to start one or more new classes.
• Plan for the new year by having a planning session with your Sunday School Planning Team.

September

• Conduct a kick-off event for the new Sunday School year.
• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team meeting.
• Start new classes.

October

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team meeting.
• Plan an outreach activity or promotion.
• Consider a high attendance day.
• Order literature for the Winter quarter.

November

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Encourage classes to conduct a holiday outreach ministry project.

December

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
• Plan to start a new class after the holidays.

January

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
• Conduct Sunday School promotion to get your Sunday School back on track after the holidays.
• Start new classes.
• Begin preparing for Vacation Bible School.
• Order literature for the Spring quarter.

February

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School teacher appreciation event.
• Conduct a “spring training” event.

March

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
• Begin the process for enlisting new Sunday School Leadership team for the coming new year.
• Conduct a potential director/teacher/leader search and consider a training event for them.

April

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team meeting.
• Consider a high attendance day.
• Order literature for the Summer quarter.

May

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct a Sunday School Leadership Team Meeting.
• Plan summer attendance campaign to keep a focus on attendance.

June

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Conduct Vacation Bible School.

July

• Conduct a Sunday School Planning Team meeting.
• Order literature for the Fall quarter.

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