Do you have any suggestions for encouraging my Sunday school staff to greater faithfulness in absentee follow-up, attendance, prayer, and so on? I am also wanting them to work to make their classes grow.
T.W. Massengale

Pastors and Sunday school leaders often ask this question about how best to motivate teachers. They often struggle with getting the teachers to come early for prayer, do absentee follow-up, keep their rooms clean and decorated, and reach attendance goals. The problem comes in trying to effectively encourage them without nagging or embarrassing them.

Is there an effective way of motivating and challenge the staff to quality and excellence in their ministry? Yes, it’s called “Aim For Excellence.” It’s a way to give recognition and ‘honor to whom honor is due.’ Everyone appreciates being appreciated. No one likes to be taken for granted. Aim For Excellence allows every teacher to set their sights on a basic “standard.”

Each week, the teachers and staff evaluate themselves in the areas of punctuality, attendance at Sunday morning teachers’ prayer, completion of absentee follow-up, praying for their students daily, lesson preparation, and decoration/cleanliness of their rooms.

They also list their attendance that week and what their class attendance goals are for that month. Extra points are given for reaching their attendance goals. The best part of Aim For Excellence is that every teacher can reach this basic standard of excellence each month and then be recognized for their achievement.

You will find that once your teachers are accustomed to reaching their goals consistently, they will hate to miss it, and as they stretch themselves to improve the quality of their classes, the entire quality of your Sunday school will improve as well. For more information about how to implement the Aim For Excellence program in your church, request church growth file #174 from the Apostolic Information Service. Or if you are an AIS subscriber, download file SSMA10.TXT from the AIS database.