Sunday is the first day of the week.  That’s why traditional calendars begin with Sunday, instead of Monday.

After the resurrection of Christ, the believers started meeting on Sunday, instead of Saturday, because they very quickly realized that God had taken the writing of ordinances that was against them and nailed them to the Cross of Christ.   They understood that the principle of a day of worship transcended the dispensation of time, but they also understood that the Son of God had set them free, and they were free indeed.  Sunday worship would be a weekly celebration of the resurrection, so it became known as “The Lord’s Day.”

Of course, every day belongs to God, but the first day of the week was dedicated as a day of rest and worship.

Now, what does all that say to us in 2008?  When taken with the Scriptures that teach the freedom that is Christ, we should not take a legalistic approach concerning the first day of the week, but we should recognize, as the early church did, that God made us in such a way that we need a day of rest each week, and that our Lord is worthy of our worship, not just privately, but corporately.

There is a biblical plan for raising the necessary funds for the Lord’s work:  it is called tithes and offerings.   Isn’t that simple?  When God’s people are obedient in this fund raising plan, there is always sufficient money for doing what’s needed, and there is never a need to resort to the pitiful, fleshly attempts to try and do God’s business some other way.

One pastor told his financially struggling church, “I’ve got good news and bad news:  the good news is that we’ve got plenty of money to everything we need to do; the bad news is, that it is still in our personal bank accounts!”

Jesus said that we can invest in the Bank of Heaven, where moths or rust will never corrupt, and theives can never break through and steal.  They say, “You can’t take it with you,” but according to the Bible, you can send it on ahead.  All that’s required is to love God and obey Him.

There are several times that the Bible says that Jesus marveled.  To marvel means to look at something with amazement.  It’s kind of like when you look at something and say, “Wow!”  It could certainly be said that when Jesus marveled something got His attention in an extraordinary way.  Here are some things that caused Him to marvel:

• When Peter asked to walk on the water
• When the poor widow gave her last two small coins in the treasury
• When Mary broke a box of perfume valued at a years wages and poured it on Him
• When Paul said, “I count every thing in my past as garbage, when I compare it to what I have in Christ.”
• When His disciples failed to believe in spite of all He’d taught them.

In the past few years, there has been an emerging trend:  churches no longer continue as they have in times past.  They either grow, or they wither away.  The way it usually plays out, is when the children and youth become adults, if they continue in church at all, they look for a vibrant church.  Or, parents who see that their children are not really being ministered to, and that their children are not really enjoying their church experience, will look for a church that will make a more positive impact on their children.

It is true that many growing churches are not growing as they should from reaching unchurched people, but they are growing at the expense of other churches in their area.  It’s not necessarily that these growing churches have plotted to do this, but because they have made growth a priority in the way they have ordered their structure and planned their ministries, people are just attracted to them.  If you have two churches in consideration, one that seems to always have a plan for ministering to people of every age group, and the other that seems to never change anything but the pastor, which one would you want to attend?

The plateaued church is passing off the scene.  It is now either a growing church, or it is a dying church.

When should people be enrolled in Sunday School.  Years ago, churches adopted a practice that a new person had to attend three times before being added to the roll.  The more you think about it, the less sense that makes!  Church growth experts seem to be in unanimous agreement that people ought to be immediately enrolled any time they’re willing and anywhere we can find them.

This thinking says that people don’t even have to be at church to be enrolled, but they do need to agree.  For instance, a Sunday School member could meet an acquaintance at the grocery store and, upon learning that this person is not actively involved in church, could ask, “Could I enroll you in our Bible Study class?  Being added to our class roll doesn’t mean that you are joining the church, but it does mean that you will be considered part of our class.”  Statistics say that when people know they have an official connection, they are far more likely to follow through with personal commitment.

When should people be removed from a class roll?  Only in three instances:  They move away, and it is obvious that they are not going to be back; they move their membership to another church, or begin attending another class in the same church;  or, when they die.

At the change of the church year is not a time to remove people from the roll.  All the names that were on the old roll book should be transferred to the new roll book.  Our goal is not to have 100% of the roll attending, our goal is to enroll as many as we can.  Any class can have 100% attendance by simply taking non-attenders off their roll.  It would be better to have 50% of 30 people than to have 100% of 10.

People who are enrolled in Sunday School are more likely to attend.  The other class members will see their names week after week, when they do not attend, and they will be more likely to check up on them. It is said that one out of every 300 unsaved people who come and visit in a worship service will receive Christ, but one out of every two unsaved people who enroll in Sunday School will receive Christ!

Anybody can enroll others in Sunday School.  Simply get the person’s permission to be enrolled, get his name, address, phone number, etc., and turn it in to the Sunday School class secretary.  On average, churches have a Sunday School attendance of 50% of their enrollment.  Everybody who is enrolled and not attending is a precious soul on whom the class needs to focus their best outreach efforts.