Making Your Bus Ministry Evangelistic

By Tim Massengale

Bus ministry works!  It is a highly effective tool for seeing the parents of your bus riders saved.  Last month I explained that it’s the job of the bus workers to build a relationship with these parents, to witness to them, and to then encourage them to attend church and / or take a home Bible study.  This approach is commonly called ‘Parentreach’ and has been used successfully in churches all over country.  Churches using Parentreach can point to several families each year that have been saved by their bus ministry.

However, a second focus of bus ministry must be to see the bus ministry children themselves come to full Bible salvation.  We must not be content to simply provide transportation to and from Sunday school, but we must also provide the chance for these bus riders to become, not just members of our Sunday school, but members of the family of God.

Too often our junior-age Sunday school classes follow a predictable pattern.  We start with a pre-session time which is followed by a time of worship and song.  We then have our lesson.  This is followed by a craft.  After this, a quick snack before the closing prayer.  Finally, it’s back to the bus for the ride home.  There is nothing wrong with this schedule, except that rarely does it provide a time for these children to seek God.  “But we do that during regular services,” you reply.  True, but bus children do not attend regular services.  Their only opportunity to receive the Holy Ghost is during the normal Sunday school hour.  We must make a conscious effort to make this time available.

Consider the children who ride our buses.  Most of them fall into two or three class levels:  Primary, Junior and perhaps a few in Junior High.  Occasionally we will get a few beginner and high school riders, but not many.  Most are between the ages of six and twelve.  Once into their teens, bus children often drop out of bus ministry.  In the minds of many older children, Sunday school is only for kids.

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Labor For The Harvest – Full Article

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Labor For The Harvest – Powerpoint

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