This discussion comes up quite a bit these days. The deciding factor for Sunday School vs. Small Groups might just be dependent on what your church facilities are telling you. Does your church already have a large amount of space where Sunday morning age group teaching can take place? If so, the Sunday School vs Small Group discussion might be easily decided for you. It would be a shame to not use the space that has already been built. If, on the other hand, your church would have to build another 15,000 square feet of education space at a cost of $150 per square foot, you may really need to think through the stewardship of that. It is usually only one hour during the week. The building may get plenty of use at other times during the week, and if so, maybe it's worth it to your congregation. But if it will just be for the purpose of Sunday School on Sunday mornings at 9:30, you may really need to weigh your other options.
Small groups in homes are very different from Sunday School in several ways. First, they tend to be in a neighborhood where you might possibly have several un-churched or de-churched people who could be invited to attend. They may be more likely to come to a home in their neighborhood and build new friendships than they are to show up in a Sunday School class at your church where there are a long list of unknowns for them. Small groups tend to be very relational while most Sunday School classes are built upon the teaching content and personality of the teacher. Small groups usually meet in spaces that do not belong to the church and, therefore, do not come with expenses related to construction, heating and cooling, and maintenance. Sunday School usually meets on Sunday morning before or after worship services. Small groups can be held any day of the week.
Churches that have space for Sunday School may still want to consider small groups due to what they offer as a means of outreach. People like and even need options in their lives. By offering both Sunday School and Small Groups you can give people the option to study the Bible on Sunday morning at a facility designed for that purpose, or they can meet in a casual home atmosphere at a time that is most convenient for them. Small group sessions usually meet a little longer than Sunday School classes because more time is given to building friendships and discussing the lesson. Open sharing is encouraged and welcomed in a small group, but Sunday School classes may be too constrained by the clock to allow everyone to share thoughts openly. Therefore, small groups usually offer people the best opportunity to know one another more effectively.
My church where I serve as Pastor of Discipleship and Church Administration has both Sunday School (called Bible Fellowship Groups) and Small Groups (called Connection Groups). We're finding that it is increasing our overall Bible study attendance by about 75-100 people every week right now. Some people attend only Sunday School while others attend only Small Groups. Some will attend both. We have a third type of group called Life Classes which meet on Sundays and Wednesdays at the church and operate like short-term special topic studies. Many of the people attending the Life Classes have already attended either a Sunday School class, a Small Group, or both. I review the list of attendance turned in by all of our groups through Church Community Builder each week and find those individuals who only attended one of the groups. That give us a unique bible study attendance total for the week. I do this because I'm interested in knowing the number of people we are impacting with our discipleship opportunities. I also get a total attendance of all groups and this number does count people each time they attended. That tells me the total number of people in all of our groups and is, of course, a considerably higher number. I just use numbers to tell me how we are doing at outreach. I talk with people in the groups to discover if we are really impacting lives. I also keep track of how many of our groups are spinning off new groups in the year. It's always a goal to start new groups and we desire for leaders to prepare people for doing so.
If you are not sure if Sunday School or Small Groups are right for you and you have a nice education facility, I would say "Why not both?". You may find that it is the most excitement you've had in your discipleship ministry in a long time. If criticism comes your way for trying something new just remind people that the goal is better and better discipleship and you want to use every avenue available to get there. In case you're interested in how to start small groups our model has been Real Life Ministries with Pastor, Jim Putman in Post Falls, Idaho. It's a simple model that is very relational and very reproducible. I would encourage you to look into it.
You don't have to choose between Sunday School and Small Groups. You can do both.
My church where I serve as Pastor of Discipleship and Church Administration has both Sunday School (called Bible Fellowship Groups) and Small Groups (called Connection Groups). We're finding that it is increasing our overall Bible study attendance by about 75-100 people every week right now. Some people attend only Sunday School while others attend only Small Groups. Some will attend both. We have a third type of group called Life Classes which meet on Sundays and Wednesdays at the church and operate like short-term special topic studies. Many of the people attending the Life Classes have already attended either a Sunday School class, a Small Group, or both. I review the list of attendance turned in by all of our groups through Church Community Builder each week and find those individuals who only attended one of the groups. That give us a unique bible study attendance total for the week. I do this because I'm interested in knowing the number of people we are impacting with our discipleship opportunities. I also get a total attendance of all groups and this number does count people each time they attended. That tells me the total number of people in all of our groups and is, of course, a considerably higher number. I just use numbers to tell me how we are doing at outreach. I talk with people in the groups to discover if we are really impacting lives. I also keep track of how many of our groups are spinning off new groups in the year. It's always a goal to start new groups and we desire for leaders to prepare people for doing so.
If you are not sure if Sunday School or Small Groups are right for you and you have a nice education facility, I would say "Why not both?". You may find that it is the most excitement you've had in your discipleship ministry in a long time. If criticism comes your way for trying something new just remind people that the goal is better and better discipleship and you want to use every avenue available to get there. In case you're interested in how to start small groups our model has been Real Life Ministries with Pastor, Jim Putman in Post Falls, Idaho. It's a simple model that is very relational and very reproducible. I would encourage you to look into it.
You don't have to choose between Sunday School and Small Groups. You can do both.
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