Rev. Daniel Ross
New Hope Fellowship
Fenton, MO
From 10 in 2002 to 72 in 2003—an increase of 620%
What stimulated the Sunday School growth in your church?
Our growth came after we moved to a larger building and began to offer a variety of Sunday School classes for various groups in the church. In our smaller building, we only had two classes for youth and children. We offered Bible Quiz for youth and JBQ for elementary ages during Sunday School. With more classrooms, we can now still offer Bible quiz and have other classes for other children not involved in quizzing.
We’ve always had the adult sanctuary class, but in the new building we can offer more options for adults. Currently, we alternate classes for new believers and new members. These are six-week courses that I’m involved in as the pastor. We also offer parenting and other special interest classes for adults in the church. We cycle them. For example, we specialize on the family classes when Bible quiz is not in session. With so many parents involved in Bible quiz, we want to offer the parenting classes when parents not busy in ministry.
I meet with five other area pastors monthly. We help each other with ideas. With Sunday School we have discussed what’s working and what’s not working. The group includes accountability and idea generation. We often watch a video together, often something from Rick Warren. That meeting keeps me growing. If I can keep growing, then my vision for the church will keep growing.
What role does Sunday School play in your church?
Sunday School is the key spot for discipleship and for small groups for us. A small group ministry outside of the church wouldn’t fit our local needs, since about 25% of our congregation drive 25 miles of more to come to church. So we focus on fellowship, small group, and discipleship all during the Sunday School time. Tailoring Sunday School to our church nurtures spiritual growth in our members as well as numeric growth in our Sunday School.
What support do you receive from your district and the national office?
We use all of our Sunday School material from Gospel Publishing House. Five years ago had only 18 people in the whole church. Now we have 125. We started a single’s class. It ended up being all ladies. The lady who leads the small group uses electives. I won a set of Discovery Series electives at General Council. We use those in many classes. I’m very pleased. Back when I was a youth pastor at times Radiant Life seemed outdated to me. Now the all material is on the front line and easy to use. I get good reports from all my teachers.
When I was a youth pastor, my idea was that if I ever became a senior pastor I was going to have an Assemblies of God church through and through. We do everything as close to Assemblies of God as possible. Everything that’s available we try to use. We want to be a part of a movement that is bigger than we are.
