The second goal was to write a six-session curriculum for the membership class with supplemental video to provide the essential information and encouragement necessary to enable a prospective member to follow Christ as an active part of ABC. This goal was also essential to establishing an assimilation process at ABC. This goal required
me to write a six-session curriculum for the membership class with supplemental video to provide the basic information and encouragement necessary to enable a prospective member to follow Christ as an active part of ABC.
Some might say that all churches desire to assimilate newcomers into their fellowship who share the church’s beliefs, unite around the church’s mission, and join hands in a true “partnership of the gospel” (Phil 1:5). However, unfortunately, not all churches appear to be aware of their own responsibility in this process. While everything about the church is dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit, the church must follow His leadership and take practical steps if healthy, maturing, and multiplying disciples are to be the fruit. While there is no substitute for personal discipling relationships, a new members class is a powerful resource for the church. A successful class calls for an authentic, enthusiastic, caring, and knowledgeable facilitator, but a dynamic leader notwithstanding, unless the content he or she teaches contains a clear introduction to the essentials of the faith and the partnership of believers within a church, its impact will be shallow at best. Therefore, the preparation of this type of resource was vital for the assimilation process of ABC.
Even though I had taught new member classes for years and collected a large number of resources, I found that creating the curriculum for ABC’s new members class was no small challenge. The task involved compiling the needed information in a format that would capture the attention of those with whom the Bible is unfamiliar as well as keep the attention of those with previous ministry experience. It had to contain necessary doctrine and lead to a practical application. Once I completed the writing process described in the previous chapter, I realized it was inadequate without the inclusion of a leader’s guide. Lawing, or whoever leads the class in the future, should have access to guidance, support, and suggestions by way of corollary material.
Once the curriculum containing the leader’s guide was complete, I compiled a
class material. Unsure as to how many would be willing and able to help, I chose 12. I sent emails describing my work and soliciting their help. Of the 12, only 2 said they were unable to assist. The remaining 10 agreed to help and asked for the curriculum. Of these, 4 responded using the rubric provided to detail their evaluations, 2 replied with
endorsements, and 4 had not returned their evaluations by the conclusion of the project.
While all responded graciously, only one third returned completed rubrics along with detailed critiques of each session. The 4 who returned evaluations offered encouraging comments and helpful suggestions as well. Their contributions to the new member curriculum were invaluable.
I created a student’s guide from the leader’s guide with blanks in place of keywords. I omitted key words to encourage those in attendance to follow closely and fill in the missing words. Out of concern for his elderly members, Lawing asked me to provide a completed student’s guide for the class rather than one with information missing. I appreciated the love and thoughtfulness he expressed toward his members and especially his senior adults, as in this instance.
In addition to the written material, I prepared a PowerPoint presentation and a teaching video for each session. I used the PowerPoint while leading the class and had the video available for any who wished to have a summary of a session they missed or as a review. Preparing the curriculum for the new members class was the second goal of the project and required far more effort than I had anticipated. When it was complete, I was gratified to find it helpful when leading the class and that Lawing had chosen to use it as the basis for future new member training classes at ABC. This second goal of creating curriculum to teach new members directly contributed toward assimilating members at ABC. This goal was accomplished, and the curriculum will be used by ABC in future new member classes. The results of the class will be discussed under the fourth goal.
The third goal of this project was to hold a six-week new member class attended by at least 25 percent of visitors who provided contact information. The class began Sunday morning on the 25th week of the project, during the time ABC’s Sunday School was normally meeting. By this time, the curriculum had been written, attempts had been made to discover methods of connecting with newcomers that local pastors found productive, I had accepted the pastor’s preferred method of building relationships with visitors, and most had completed the pre-class survey. I asked participants taking the pre-class survey, as well as those taking the post-class survey, to place their name or a personal identification number (PIN) on their surveys so they could be compared. The new members class content was the guide leading newcomers to membership and
assimilation and the glue of beliefs and practices uniting the church for fruitful ministry.
In six weeks, I was to learn what, if any, growth in knowledge the class had experienced.
As a result of Lawing’s leadership, class attendance was very good. After learning of the importance of a regenerate membership unified around the message and mission of the church, the deacons and yokefellows of ABC voted to require all those seeking membership in the future to complete the new members class as well as commit to attending Sunday school. According to the bylaws of ABC, the deacons and yokefellows have sole authority determining who is an active or inactive member.4 Fortunately, Lawing needed no convincing as to the importance of church membership sharing the same vision and the ministries of the church aligning around the purpose of the church.
The new members class provided an excellent opportunity to establish unity and strengthen the church around a simple, biblical model. By every indication, the
membership of ABC as well as guests were moved by the importance placed on the class by the pastor and church leaders. Eight newcomers signed up to attend the class.
4 Bylaws of Airport Baptist Church, Article I, Section 5, ratified December 11, 2016.
Because I had invested a great deal of time in writing the curriculum, I was very familiar with it. My familiarity with the subject, along with my conviction as to the importance of assimilation for discipleship, enabled me to teach with passion and build momentum as I segued from one session to the next.
After the class I provided the surveys and asked attendees to complete it as they did the pre-class survey and include either their name or personal identification number as they did on the first survey. Unfortunately, participants only returned 10 surveys following the class. I included in both pre- and post-class surveys a request for either the participant’s name or a personal identification number so I could measure any post-class change. Of the 10 surveys returned after the class, I eliminated 1 because there was not a corresponding pre-class survey by which I could compare it. Then, using their names or PIN, I matched the remaining 9 with pre-class surveys for comparison.
The small number of post-class surveys returned amounted to only 21 percent of the total surveys administered before the class began. I was disappointed in the small number of post-class surveys that made a thorough evaluation of the class impossible.
Therefore, I considered the 9 post-class surveys a sampling and launched an investigation to learn what I could. The poor post-class survey response was preventable had I been able to conclude the classes in six sessions as I had planned. In a later portion of this evaluation entitled, “Project Deficiencies and Modifications,” I will go into more detail as to my errors and what I could have done differently. The third goal required teaching the curriculum I had written and exposing newcomers to these biblical teachings is necessary for assimilation. I used the curriculum successfully to lead ABC’s new member class and this third goal was reached.
Goal 4: Contributing to the