Steven R. Parr - Sunday School That Really Responds: Wisdom for Confronting Common Sunday School Emergencies

Sunday School That Really Responds is your 911 call for help. Sooner or later every Sunday school will have these issues, and when yours does, you will be glad you bought this book. This book is organized so you can go right to the section you need for immediate help and practical ideas. Steve Parr has shown hundreds of Sunday schools how to diagnose problems and implement solutions. With this book, he can help yours as well.

Josh Hunt
Author of You Can Double Your Sunday School in Two Years or Less

Sunday school plays a vital role in churches across America. While curricula abounds, practical helps for the everyday questions of Sunday school workers are much rarer. Steve Parr has provided an outstanding tool to answer the questions every Sunday school teacher or leader asks at one point or another. I commend it to you.

Alvin L. Reid
Professor of Evangelism and Student Ministry,
Bailey Smith Chair of Evangelism, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

There are two features that make Sunday School That Really Responds a valuable resource. Parrs work is both functional and faithful. The content and the structure of each chapter make it an ideal reference tool that addresses specific issues faced in local congregations. Throughout Parr is faithful to Scripture, acknowledging from the outset that nothing of significance happens in our churches apart from the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mark H. Crumpler
Pastor for Teaching and Spiritual Formation,
Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA

Steve Parr has provided a comprehensive 411 on the most common 911s encountered by Sunday school leaders and teachers. The book has a creative format that makes it the perfect addition to any Sunday school leaders bookshelf. You may not need to know right now about all 24 of the challenges he identifies, but you probably will eventually! So buy it. Read it. Or just focus on the parts that pertain to the emergency youre facing right now. Then put it somewhere thats easy to find. Youll need it again!

David Francis
Director of Sunday School and Discipleship, Lifeway Church Resources

Oftentimes an author dwells on the theoretical aspect of his topic but gives very little help in meeting needs. Not so with Steve Parr! This book is crammed full of practical wisdom that will actually help your Sunday school become what you envision. As a Sunday school leader, you now have a tool that will equip you to respond to your needs in a most competent way. You will refer often to this book.

Allan Taylor
Minister of Education, First Baptist Church of Woodstock, GA

A quick scan of the table of contents reveals perhaps the most relevant list of Sunday school challenges you have ever seen. As you venture into the book, you will be delighted with the way Steve Parr addresses these issues. This book is a practical and helpful manual you will consult from time to time as a Sunday school or church staff leader.

J. Robert White
Executive Director, Georgia Baptist Convention

Pastor: you, your staff, and lay leaders will greatly appreciate Steve Parrs insight and information on Sunday school and evangelism. Sunday school is the heartbeat of the church for the caring and keeping of all its members as well as a vital tool for reaching out to the unchurched. This book will motivate and encourage you while pointing you in the right direction.

Bobby Welch
Retired Pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, FL,
Strategist for Global Evangelical Relations of SBC

Other Books on Sunday school by Steve R. Parr

Sunday School That Really Works

Sunday School That Really Excels

Sunday School That Really Responds

Wisdom for Confronting 24

Common Sunday School Emergencies

Steve R. Parr

kregel DIGITAL EDITIONS

www.kregeldigitaleditions.com

Sunday School That Really Responds: Wisdom for Confronting 24
Common Sunday School Emergencies

2013 Steve R. Parr

Published by Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel, Inc., P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked hcsb are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

ISBN 978-0-8254-8904-4

epub edition 1.0

To Leah, Lauren, and Larissa,
my three awesome daughters,
who give me joy, support, and encouragement.
I thank the Lord for your lives and your love.

Contents

by Josh Hunt

PART 1:

PART 2:

Foreword

I do Sunday school training for a living. After I present a talk on You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less , someone invariably will come up to me with a question. They might ask one of the following:

• How can we get people to step up and serve?
• How can we get teachers to participate in training?
• Our teaching is boring; what can we do?
• We dont have space to double. What advice do you have for us?

As we are talking, I realize a couple things:

• I didnt address this particular issue.
• If this issue is not addressed, it can single-handedly kill the potential growth of the Sunday school.

I sometimes wish I had ten hours to address all the things that can keep a Sunday school from growing. But would that amount of time be enough? And, even if I had that amount of time, I would have to deal with a lot of individualized problems. Some churches might love to hear about creative ways to provide more space. For others, this is the least of their worries. A lot of churches could triple in size with the existing room that they have.

It would be great if there was a resource that would address all the potential problems that churches have with their Sunday schools in one concise volume. Then, when you had an issue with space or leadership or training or whatever, you could quickly and easily find the answer. That volume is now before you.

Steve Parr knows Sunday school. He has helped hundreds of Sunday schools through the process of diagnosing problems and implementing solutions. He has helped hundreds of dying Sunday schools back to health, and with this volume he can help yours as well.

I have heard voiced every one of the problems that Steve addresses here. These are not theoretical; if you are not facing one of these situations now, you probably soon will be. Steve provides practical solutions to common dilemmas and addresses them in a practical, creative, and interesting way.