Imagine you own a growing company and you are about to hire more employees. You want to ensure they are oriented for success. Take a moment and list some things you would want done for your new employees. Once you have your list in hand, examine it closely. How could these same kinds of things be done to help new Christians in Sunday school?
Should these kinds of things be done? The list of actions for new employees can give some direction as we think about helping new believers.
Put your best people forward
When it comes to our Bible study leaders, we must make sure they are worthy models. The leader of the Bible study time is the single greatest influencer in any Sunday school class. The Bible study leader will become the pattern to be followed for the new believer. This means the Bible study leader must be held to a greater level of accountability and must be recruited with the reality that he or she will be followed. In short, if we want the new believer to become a growing on-mission Christian, the leader must already be a growing on-mission Christian.
Help with personal connections
There will be times within the work of the company that the new employee will need to depend on co-workers so trust must be developed. The only way that can happen is through what we in the church call "fellowship." This implies that fellowship is more about developing trusting relationships than about chocolate chip cookies and board games. Building these trust relationships gives the new believer the opportunity to learn how God has worked and is working in the lives of others. A result of fellowship is the developing of a support group for the new believer.
Explain the company manuals
New believers need to understand how the Bible relates to their lives. Hopefully, the new believer has seen the Bible studied in a variety of ways in the Sunday school class itself. Helping Bible study leaders learn how to engage people in Bible study (as opposed to the let-me-show-you-what-I’ve-learned method) would be the first step in this process. Our goal would be to give the new believer the tools he or she will need to be successful in their spiritual journey.
Establish accountability
This involves making sure the new employee understands to whom he or she reports. The new employee also will discover others who will help him or her do the things needed to be successful. The new believer should also discover a group of folks to whom he can be accountable. Every Christian is responsible to hold and be held accountable. The Bible study can take the lead in this by contacting class members, including new believers, asking them to share what God is teaching them and how the Bible study lessons are impacting their lives. Then care groups (groups of 4-6 people in a class) can contact each other as well, asking the same questions.
There are many other things that could be added, but this is a starting point. Ultimately, for both the new employee and the new believer actions must be taken to encourage them and get them started on the right track.