Trinity Baptist 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.