sn't Sunday school for people only after they become believers? Are unbelievers really interested in Bible study? And how can a church attract unbelievers in the first place?

As On Mission talked with churches about evangelism and Sunday school, it became clear that methodologies and philosophies vary from the go-with-the flow method to the highly structured. Although we can learn from their examples, in the end maybe the most important thing is not how these churches are reaching people in and through their Sunday schools but that they are.

Following the North Star

With its skyrocketing church growth--zero to more than 1,700 in two years--the North Star Church of Kennesaw, Georgia, has a backlog of new believers waiting to be baptized. The church plant meets in the North Cobb High School with three morning services now and four planned for the fall. To baptize new believers, the church has to use a pool at a sports center. Each baptism service includes 30 to 70 new converts. And, according to Teaching Pastor Terry Nelson, many of the new converts come in by way of the Sunday school.

Because of their everything-starts-at-pre-school philosophy and because they have more than 900-plus children and students on Sunday morning, the church staff decided not to provide too many adult classes where potential children's workers could relax and hide. Instead, they provide a few Bible-focused classes addressing adult life stages. Terry explains that these large classes, such as the one he teaches, don't involve lectures but questions and principles discussed in a non-threatening atmosphere. They are ideal for unbelievers.

"They can come and be anonymous," says Terry. "We don't put pressure on people to fill out forms so we can knock on their doors and give them the typical church treatment. Lost people are going to be challenged. They're going to hear the gospel, undiluted, in a way they can take at their own pace.

"We had a Jewish woman who started coming with her family. She'd heard that we studied the Bible. One particular Sunday we were talking about the Jews and their culture.

She raised her hand and said, 'I'm Jewish; my family's Jewish.' My response to her was, 'That's great.

It's just incredible that you're here. Tell us a little about that.' I said that so she wouldn't feel ostracized or different. She and her family eventually came to know Christ and were baptized this summer."

Terry admits that North Star's Sunday school outreach is different from that of many churches and even different from those he had experienced before. He had previously served at a church which put great emphasis on Evangelism Explosion. But when the North Star church staff initially studied the community, they found that local people would not respond to having strangers knock on their door at night, particularly in the winter months.

"So we try to be friendly to their schedules and their dislikes," he says. "Our folks are vocal about sharing the message of the gospel with them and bringing them to class. In the future we will have to become more deliberate in training our folks to share the gospel, but right now [with space and facility limitations] we are logistically just trying to hang on as we continue to see people come here."

Making the connection

All children are at one time unbelievers, but they're often easier to reach than adults who have grown hardened or cynical. One study shows that 85 percent of adult Christians came to Christ before age 18. That's one of the reasons evangelism in and through Sunday school is so important to Dixie Swezey, who has been the children's minister of the Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City for four years.

"As part of our training of the teachers," Dixie says, "we talk with them about the approximate age that children will start asking questions such as, 'What is sin?'

or 'Am I a Christian?' Teachers' promotion lists at the beginning of the Sunday school year show which children have already made professions of faith and been baptized. That gives them an idea of where the children are. [Several times a year] we have an evangelistic appeal for children who are in third grade or older."

To reach unchurched children Dixie includes children in a prospect visitation plan that is implemented quarterly: "In Sunday school the children are invited to prepare a packet of materials for a friend they are concerned about. The teachers go with them. Sometimes we do it on Saturday morning. Sometimes on Friday evening we make a party out of it."

Dixie has just-for-fun activities to attract children to the church. "I use B.A.F.--bring a friend--for everything we do," she says. "You have to plan events that are good enough that the children won't be embarrassed to bring their friends. My daughter brought a little friend with her to our Fall Festival. While she was here, the friend, who hadn't been to church before, asked, 'What do you do here in all these rooms?' Erin was able to tell her what we do and why we do it."

So what are they doing in Sunday school? Dixie answers, "We are trying to lay a foundation in children's ministry so that children make the decision [to accept Christ as Savior] naturally at the point when the Holy Spirit begins to lead in their heart."

Although Darrin Brown, singles minister of the Southcliff Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, is dealing with an older group than Dixie's, he also uses some just-for-fun outreaches to help bring non-Christians into Sunday school classes. The singles ministry hosts two major evangelistic events each year to which singles are encouraged to bring unbelieving friends and co-workers: a catered barbecue dinner and square dance. Creative outreach is needed, Darrin says, "because Sunday school has lost its purpose to reach out. If somebody new comes, most likely it's a Christian. It's rare for a non-Christian to come to Sunday school."

He makes sure that none of his singles classes are "closed classes," immersed in a heavy discipleship study. At Southcliff, singles use the Explore the Bible series partly because of the ease with which new members can join the study at any time.

"All our programs are done with the intent to share Christ. We're going to begin some classes this fall for new believers," Darrin says. He adds that he and several members of each class will soon be involved in F.A.I.T.H. training--an evangelism outreach that could help his church fill even more of those new believer classes (see "Moving from F.A.I.T.H. to faith," ).

Sharing the secrets

Marty Godfrey is minister of education at Eastside Baptist Church, Marietta, Georgia, a church of about 6,000 members. Before he became a minister three years ago, Marty was involved in teaching classes as a layman for 18 years. When his classes grew to about 100, new classes were started from them. Because God prepared him--by letting him "see life from both sides"--Marty has a somewhat different approach to teaching non-Christians.

To begin with, Marty doesn't recommend any particular curriculum: "We've found that people want to know that the Bible is relevant to their lives. Instead of teaching 80 percent content and 20 percent application, you almost teach 20 percent content and 80 percent application.

"We don't do any different teaching for the lost than we do for the saved because the teacher is not [just] teaching a lesson. The teacher's job is to teach the class members--to see them grow, to see lives change. I believe through the Holy Spirit a Bible study can be led that can feed people at different levels. For lost folks to come in and see that the Bible is making a difference in people's lives really communicates to them."

As he's experimented with having non-Christians and new believers in classes by themselves so the material can be tailored to them, he's decided that isn't the best way.

"I've found that new believers grow faster and non-Christians are drawn to Christ more quickly when you put them in a class where there is a mixture of mature Christians and new Christians. They are rubbing shoulders with those people whose faith has grown," said Marty.

However desirable they may be, classes with a mixture of Christians and non-Christians present a real challenge to the teacher. Marty points out that teachers of such classes will invariably be stretched and will grow because "members blurt out questions, about eternal security or whatever. Teachers need to think about how to explain that, to figure out not only how to help these people come to know Christ but to grow in their faith. As class members share life experiences in class, [the members] help teach, and they begin to understand more how to reach unchurched folks and how to talk to them. It's a cycle."

If there's a secret ingredient that is necessary, Marty believes it is this: "If a teacher does not have a heart to reach the lost, just training them how to teach more effectively --what to say and what not to say --does little good."

Evidently many Sunday school teachers at Marty's church have the desire to reach the lost.

Recently a teacher felt impressed to give an opportunity in class for people to pray to receive Christ by responding to a brief explanation of the gospel. Eight people did so that morning.

There is not only a secret to success but a secret to failure. Marty explains, "I've found that most seeker-sensitive ministries that fail [do so] because they're trying to replicate a model. Scores of churches have tried to replicate Willow Creek's model for reaching the lost. The reason it is so difficult to replicate is that the secret is not in the model, it's in the passion for reaching lost people.

"If our faith is genuine, then we ought to be reaching people. It has to start with the heart. I'm convinced that Sunday school is where relationships are, and therefore it is the perfect place for evangelism. That's my passion."

Vicki Huffman is a freelance writer and editor in Mount Juliet, a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee. She is the winner of two Amy Writing Awards, has edited three publications and authored two books. She is a columnist for the Amy Syndicate.