“Whatever it takes to make a difference,” said Ps Bill Wilson, addressing the room of 165 children’s ministers.

Speaking at a training organised by LoveSingapore on July 9 and 10, the 77-year-old founder of US-based Metro World Child and his team inspired Pastors, leaders and volunteers with their vision for children’s ministry, as well as imparted skills on evangelism and discipleship.

A line that is often on the lips of Ps Bill is: “Your commitment has to be stronger than your emotions.”

It is not surprising then that Metro is now known as the largest Sunday school in the world, reaching 1.5 million children across 25 countries, many of whom are underprivileged.

It runs mainly three types of Sunday schools.

1. Bus Ministry: Buses pick up children and bring them to church for an indoor programme.
2. Sidewalk Sunday School: An outdoor ministry that is held wherever children are, eg near schools, in the parks.
3. School Ministry: Sharing the Good News with students during assembly time.

Here are seven tips that children’s ministries can glean from Metro’s approach and attitude towards Sunday school.

1. Be willing to go where the children are

At the heart of Metro’s model is this principle: Go where the fish are.

Breaking down their methodology, the team from Metro shared how they “find a fish, catch a fish and keep a fish”.

Firstly, every person is given an area that they are responsible for, said Yenni Wu, Special Assistant to Ps Bill.

Having a map in hand while walking around is useful, so that you really get to know the neighbourhood, from the parks to the playgrounds.

In fact, Metro’s staff and volunteers end up being familiar faces because they are consistently on the ground making friends and giving out flyers to invite parents and children to Sunday school.

Revealing that she recently collected 325 contacts in 10 weeks, Yenni said: “I want you to see that you can do it.”

Yenni is a Taiwan-born Singapore who has spent the last six years in New York City preaching the Gospel to inner-city children and raising awareness of Metro’s ministry worldwide. Photo courtesy of Yenni Wu.

Once self-professed as “not ministry material”, the 52-year-old had never served in church before joining Metro, much less considered being a full-time missionary. 

Describing herself as “not a natural, ‘aiyah, sayang you’ that kind”, the former corporate trainer and communications director is not someone who would strike you as a Sunday school teacher.

“But when you know ‘why’ you are doing this, you will find the ‘how’,” remarked Yenni. 

2. Share the Gospel in a simple way

For Metro, every single lesson starts out with Opening time, which usually runs for about 15 to 20 minutes.

After welcoming the children, establishing rules and leading in a short prayer and praise, the children are introduced to these four phrases.

1. God loves me
2. I have sinned
3. Jesus died for me
4. I need to decide to live for God

Accompanied by a catchy beat and fun actions, these are taught in a way that helps to make the Gospel shareable and memorable. 

“People ask us, ‘What do you teach kids at Sunday school? What do we teach kids on the street?’ We teach them the four most important things,” said Yenni (centre).

3. Make it fun

“No dead time!” is something you hear a lot at a Metro training.

“If the kids aren’t excited to hear the Gospel, if they’re not excited to come to church, then I’m going to lose the opportunity to preach Jesus,” said Hannah Robbins, who was part of the live lesson demonstration with Yenni.

“If that’s the case, I will do whatever it takes to make them have fun.”

This is reflected in how Metro crafts its one-hour programme, right from the Pre-opening (20-30 minutes before starting) where kids are entertained with simple group games, to the Games segment (15-20 minutes), which weaves in a review of last week’s teaching.

There is also a different theme every week. Whether it is ice cream, candy or sports, the theme is incorporated throughout the lesson, including any décor.

“Themes actually give you ideas for games,” said Hannah.

The Metro team recruited participants on stage to show how games are conducted during their Sunday school.

A games strategy that has worked well for Metro is splitting the group into boys and girls teams since they are naturally competitive – one player who can answer a question related to the previous lesson is selected to represent each side, but non-playing children are still kept engaged by the action on stage.

Confessing that she used to be shy, Hannah shared: “I hated speaking in front of people. I was genuinely the wrong choice for what I do today.

“But this is why I firmly believe, and I know from the bottom of my heart, that if you are willing to be used by God, anybody can do this.”

The 38-year-old is a missionary kid who grew up in Japan, but has been based in Manila for the last 13 years, doing everything from running Sunday school for kids who are living in a cemetery to training partner churches.

“As ministers of Christ, we have to be fully convinced that what we do is between life and death,” she emphasised.

“Just because what we do looks exciting, does not mean that this is not war.

“If props, the fun and all of that needs to be our weapons of warfare, then I’m going to spend the time and energy to make sure my props look good.”

4. Lead with authority

Since the programme starts off with such high energy, the few minutes of transition time between Games and Lesson is crucial.

Called Quiet Seats, this segment gives children a chance to settle down and get ready to hear the Word of God.

“An issue that we run into a lot when we do trainings is that it’s one teacher in the whole Sunday school who knows how to control the kids and then the others don’t know how. Then when that teacher is gone, the entire Sunday school is in jeopardy,” noted Hannah.

“When you have a good system like Quiet Seats, if done well, even thousands will be silent. Of course you still need practice, you still need to learn how to carry authority with your words, but it can be mastered by anyone,” explained Hannah.

At Metro, the boys and girls each have four balloons for their respective teams. If someone talks or distracts others, one of their balloons will be popped. But if all four balloons are popped by the end of the lesson, the team will not get any incentives (eg biscuits, cereal packs).

Besides setting out consequences for wrong behaviour, this also comes with positive reinforcement. Assistant teachers can be Quiet Seat Watchers, keeping a lookout for kids on their best behaviour and giving them special rewards as the lesson is carried out.

Emphasising that children need discipline, Hannah said: “Discipline is love. We’re not angry when we’re doing this. We do it with love.

“If you do it with God’s love, the kids, the parents, they can all tell. I’m strict, but not one of (my kids) will doubt that I love them. So relationship is everything.”

To maintain discipline, Metro also has three rules that are taught at the Opening of each lesson.

1. Sit on the tarps (ie sheets or mats that the children gather on)
2. Obey the leaders
3. The whistle means quiet

Underscoring that it is the teachers – not the children – who need to be in charge at Sunday school, Hannah added: “For the fun part, the excitement level, you set the standard. For the discipline, you also set the standard.”

5. Teach creatively and clearly

Metro has three components to its 15-minute Lesson time – the introduction, Bible lesson and story – but only one message that is communicated over and over (Today’s Top Truth).

For the introduction, an object is usually used to help set up the entire lesson. This is also where Today’s Top Truth is presented, including the memory verse.

“Keep in mind ‘the bridge’,” advised Hannah. Use words such as “just like”, so that the kids clearly understand how the illustration relates spiritually to what you are showing.

During the live demo, the Metro team used a scissors to cut up a T-shirt to represent how words can have a damaging effect on a person.

It is also important to include kid-specific examples, suggested Hannah. Paint “verbal pictures” of real-life moments that children can imagine themselves going through.

After this, teachers move into the Bible lesson, which takes a close look at someone in the Bible and focuses on the struggles and decisions they made.

Storytelling techniques such as narration and skits can be used to set the scene.

“Freeze moments” are also helpful, as the lesson can be temporarily paused so that you can show how it has relevance to the children by giving real-life examples.

This is then rounded off by sharing the outcome of the story and linking back to Today’s Top Truth.

Next, the entire lesson is summarised with a fictional story that draws children into the life of a character (eg Alex and Alfie the Alpacas).

Using 10 illustrated frames to tell the story as dramatically as possible, teachers identify two frames where they can preach, so that they recap Today’s Top Truth and the memory verse, as well as include relevant examples and a supporting verse.

Finally, the lesson concludes with a chance for kids to make a decision relating to Today’s Top Truth and seal that in prayer.

Bringing the Bible lesson to life: To illustrate Today’s Top Truth on how “Your Words Matter”, the Metro team acted out the scene where the 10 spies who were sent into Canaan came back with a bad report. Joshua and Caleb, however, used their words wisely.

“Be the story – not tell the story,” said Hannah, reminding teachers to practise before leading any lesson.

To make lesson time more interesting, she also shares different things to try for greater audio and visual impact.

• Puppets
• Gospel illusions
• Posterboards and pictures
• Background music and sound effects
• Video clips

“We show more than we tell,” she said.

6. Build strong relationships

In addition to their programme, personal visitations are a core part of Metro’s ministry.

Believing that relationships need to be cultivated over time, the team does this through brief yet consistent home visits every week.

“Sometimes they are invited, but they don’t come,” observed Yenni, adding that it is common for many to turn up only after they have been invited more than once.

That is where a detailed roster to keep track of attendance comes in.

“Are you willing to follow up? One person really can make a difference.”

While making new contacts is important, so is following up.

On her first bus route, Yenni encountered a 12-year-old who would get into fights with other kids. But after spending time at his home and building trust with him, their relationship grew. Photo courtesy of Yenni Wu.

“Unless you think that visitation is Metro thing. It’s not. Jesus did visitation,” Hannah pointed out, observing how the Gospels record many examples of how Jesus went into people’s homes to fellowship with them.

“He didn’t just stay in the temple. He went out,” she said, urging teachers to follow His example.

Admitting that this might look different in Singapore’s context, Hannah said that the point is to “build relationships”.

“Maybe it’s text messages one week, then the next week is a home visit. Maybe another week it’s a phone call.”

“I’ve had so many awkward conversations because these are people that I don’t know at first,” admitted Hannah. “Embrace the awkward.”

7. Involve the next generation in serving

It is also common for children’s ministries to have a handful of older kids who feel “too cool” for school.

Addressing the issue, Hannah shared this principle: Prevention versus intervention.

“Try to reach them before they’re that,” she said. “Get them excited for serving the Kingdom and being in the Kingdom before they ever get there.”

Explaining that this starts from developing relationships when they are young, Hannah gradually involves them in Sunday school at around 10 or 11 years old.

“I call them my ‘baby workers’,” she quipped.

The criteria for serving is that they must be attending church, elaborated Hannah. If they want to hold a microphone, they also have to be in a discipleship group.

“Because if we’re just using them without developing them in Christ with a sure foundation, then we’re just using them.

“We always want to make sure that their spiritual foundation is in the right place.”

In Manila, many of Hannah’s teen volunteers once sat on the tarps, but now have been trained to teach. Photo courtesy of Metro World Child.

“Children’s ministry is a long-term investment. The return on investment is amazing, but it takes a long time to get there. It really is not an overnight thing,” said Hannah.

For instance, it has taken 12 years before she now has different tiers of leaders.

Encouraging teachers who might wonder if their ministry is making a difference, Hannah concluded: “You may not be able to see the fruit right now, but when you stay long enough, that’s when you’ll get to see it.”

She also urged everyone not to lose sight of the big picture.

“We, as Sunday school teachers, need to start counting our successes not in the fruit that we pick, but in the seeds that we plant.

“At the end of the day, it’s not whether or not we have the fruit in the basket. It’s whether the kingdom of God is expanding. So if another church gets the fruit? Hallelujah! Amen!

“As long as (the children) are following Jesus, that’s all I care about.”

This is Part 2 of our coverage from the Winning the Children conference. Read Part 1 here: “God is doing a new thing”: Are our churches willing to do what it takes to win the next generation?

To find out more about Metro and its ministries, visit this link.

RELATED STORIES:

7 key principles of biblical parenting: Josh McDowell

Ready Set Go! The Treasure Box launches follow-up material for children after they say “yes” to Jesus

“Could you live in a cemetery like these kids?” Pastor Bill Wilson’s Sunday School ministry stops at nothing to help children