Premise 1. It is as natural for a church to grow as it is for a healthy child to grow.

A free paraphrase of Ephesians 4:16 reads: “When the church recognizes that its authority comes from Jesus and that His love binds the members together, then every organ (member) of the body will be free to share that gift or ministry which God ordains that he should contribute. When this happens, the body is healthy and grows in spirit and in number.”

Let’s look at these in more detail. Maturity is to be sought in the congregation as well as in the individual believers. However, it must be kept in mind that an organization can grow senile. There must be a constant renewal of the Spirit if a church is to remain youthful.

In his book ‘Breaking the Stained Glass Barrier,’ David Womack, Assemblies of God Division of Foreign Missions home secretary, observes churches usually grow rapidly in their early years of existence. They then reach a certain size and stabilize or even decline. He boldly suggests these “peak points” usually occur at 45, 85, 115, 155, and 225 in average Sunday school attendance. The statistics of the national Sunday School Department confirm his observations.

Womack’s conclusion is that the law of natural growth prevails until the congregation reaches the limitations of either facilities, ministries, or vision. It is then stymied until the leadership consciously decides, with the guidance of the Spirit, what it must add, change, or revitalize.

Premise 2. The blueprint for growth comes from the headship of Christ through the leadership of the local congregation.

God has a plan of success tailored to each congregation, community, and set of circumstances. Since each of these is different, the plan of God will vary.

But this does not mean there is no value in studying successful churches. Most growing Sunday schools have a model.

Prayer is a vital necessity in determining God’s leading for the local situation. Leadership’s goal should be to know the mind of Christ. This can only become reality through spiritual seeking and supplication.

Premise 3. Growth depends more upon ministry than upon promotion.

Promotion is important. A ministry that no one knows about does not produce growth. But promotion is only fruitful when coupled with ministry to people’s needs. You may get a person to attend your services for a dozen promotional reasons. But unless there is direct ministry to him while he is there, you will not retain him.

Premise 4. Numerical growth is not the only kind of growth.

There can be vital ministry to individuals who are not part of the local congregation. There can be discipleship and maturing of those already won. In fact, such periods of consolidation and assimilation may be a natural part of growth. But as long as our Movement is committed to the Great Commission, we will continue to be number conscious in evaluation of progress and growth.

But again, numerical growth without a balancing growth in individual lives will become self-defeating.

Premise 5. It is doing the unspectacular well that makes the greatest contribution to sustained growth.

There should be a balance between outreach and ministry. The basics must be emphasized. Trained, dedicated, and adequately prepared workers are absolutely essential.

Premise 6. The resources of growth must come from the body itself as empowered by God.

The potential for growth is already present in your congregation. You have to start where you are with what you have. Opportunities may be disguised as problems.

If your church’s spiritual nursery is barren, don’t despair. Some of the choicest men were the product of the barren womb. It is the members of the congregation who must be empowered to receive the power, vision, and enablement to reproduce themselves. Growth comes from the properly functioning body.

Even the smallest assembly contains all of the potential, power, and privilege needed to reach its community.

Premise 7. The growing church must establish priorities.

The nemesis of every revival movement is that it develops its own traditions and forms and begins spending an increasing amount of time, effort, energy, and finances on programs which no longer minister to needs in individual lives. Avoid the trap of believing that everything which once was useful still is. Don’t kill programs or ministries; but if something is dead, bury it.

Programs in the local Sunday school must bear fruit. If it is not reaching sinners or helping mature converts to become productive laborers, then it does not deserve a place in the orchard of God.

Priorities must be established. But unless there are additional workers, time, or needs, every new priority item must be balanced by the decision to eliminate some unproductive aspect of the program.

Utilize these seven premises in your Sunday school, and you will see it grow. Of course, no growth will occur without work. As a punster once observed, “Too many Christians are sitting on the premises instead of standing on the promises.” Don’t let this happen to you.

Think about the causes of Sunday school growth by indicating whether you agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. Local churches, like all organizations, are destined to become old and ineffective.
2. God’s plan for growth for your Sunday school may differ from His plan for another school.
3. Ministry is more important than promotion to growth.
4. Eliminating worn programs is as essential to church growth as the setting of proper priorities.
5. Prayer is as necessary to finding effective methods of evangelism as seeking God’s blessing upon our methods.
6. Rapid growth must be followed by periods of consolidation, assimilation of new members, and training of converts.
7. Spiritual growth of the church’s members will of necessity result in numerical growth.
8. Since every Sunday school has its own unique circumstances, there is little value in studying the successes of others.
9. The evaluation of growth through numerical comparison is not valid.
10. Our church has sufficient money, talent, workers, and opportunities to witness to our community.

George Edgerly was research and field services coordinator for the Assemblies of God Sunday School Department.