Why is my group not growing?

The single most important variable in predicting the growth of a Sunday School class is the teaching ability of the teacher. The second is the ability of the teacher to get along with people and be will liked. Popularity is not so bad. If these two things are in place, all the things I said in You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less will really fly. If you do not have a good teacher, not amount of parties will help.

If your church or Sunday School class is not growing rapidly, you could take this in one or two ways. You could become depressed that you are the reason for your groups’ lack of growth. You could reject the notion that communication skill of the leader has more to do with he growth of any organization than anything else. You could blame the lack of growth on something else. Or, you could optimistically see that communication is something you control. If you are the pastor and your church’s growth has more to do with your ability to preach than anything else, this is good news, because it is the one thing over which you have the most control.

The best thing is to have great teaching and great strategies, and there is no reason why you cannot have both. I devoted my last book to outreach strategies that can help get a class to double every two years or less. I made the grand assumption that someone had something to say when people showed up for class. Let me clear away the fog here: if someone is not doing a reasonably good job with the lesson, no amount of inviting, parties or ice cream will help.