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Just a few students can actually be more meaningful than having a dozen students. Follow along to read small Sunday school classroom ideas.
Hooray! Three students came to Sunday school this morning. You may be wondering why you should get excited with “only” three students. If you are like many small churches, your curriculum is set up to facilitate at least 10 students. So now what?
Your classroom material is there for you and the needs of the children. Don’t be a slave to it. It’s okay to add, delete, or change it around. Some days you may need to scrap it altogether.
You can use that “big box” material to make Sunday school even better with a small class.
Follow These Easy Steps In Your Small Church Sunday School
1. Focus On The Kids’ Needs
Small classes allow teachers to use the material as a catalyst to focus on the needs of the kids. You can take the time to hear “Johnny’s” story about a classmate being mean to him in school or “Susie” voicing how excited she is about an upcoming family trip.
Class time can be taken to give empathy, support, and encouragement to students who are struggling or want to share an accomplishment. Students learn to celebrate together and sympathize with one another.
Looking for a step-by-step guide to starting or restarting your children’s ministry?
Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!
2. Give Students Choices In What Happens In Class
You don’t have to utilize every activity, play every game, and complete every worksheet in your church material. Your lesson, worksheets, and activities are there for you to use however it fits the needs of the classroom. You may be thinking that it seems a waste to not use everything, but if it doesn’t hold interest and is just busy work, it’s still a waste.
After reaching your main objective, give your students options of what they want to do next. For example: Build a Tower of Babel with blocks and pretend to be the people after everyone is speaking different languages. You can also play a round of the matching game with picture cards from the story, watercolor a picture from the story, etc.
Need some game ideas to choose from?
5 High Energy Games For Small Church Children’s Ministry
8 Quick Games For Sunday School When The Pastor Goes Over
3. Ask Kiddos For Specific Prayer Requests, Then See What The Lord Does
Prayer is important to model to children. In a large class, it’s almost impossible to pray aloud for the specific needs of each child. With just a handful of students, prayer requests can be shared, prayed about, and then revisited.
Keep track of your kiddos’ prayers in a small notebook. Follow each week to see what the Lord is doing in their lives. Children can build their faith and learn about the sovereignty of the Lord by sharing and hearing the prayers of others.
4. Build Deep Relationships With Your Students
I bet you know every child’s name, parent’s name, where they live, their sibling’s names, what they like and don’t like, etc. Teachers of classes may not be able to build this type of relationship as they are probably spending the majority of the class time getting through the material and keeping the kids’ attention.
You can have an impact on a family in your church or community.
The relationship between teacher and student can impact the whole family. Children are more open to sharing what’s on their minds, what they need, and the needs of the family when they have a stronger relationship.
It is through your Sunday school student you may learn that a family member is sick or struggling. This could be an opening to minister to a family in need in your church or your community.
Bonus Ideas For Meaningful Activities In Your Smaller Class
If you are wondering exactly what kind of ministry children are capable of, below are a few examples. Just to get you started, try one of these ideas to bring meaning into your smaller classroom. Let your class participate in brainstorming ways that they would like to minister to others.
Make Cards
Make cards for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, those who are sick, or those who serve in the military. Encourage children and teach them why making cards is important. Also, let them act out giving and receiving cards from one another. Ask them why they chose to draw what they drew. Affirm them for doing their best.
4 Fun & Unique Children’s Ministry Crafts For Mother’s Day
4 Easy Sunday School Father’s Day Crafts
Make Cookies
Make cookies for visitors or a new family. Kids love to bake. With a small class, this is very doable. Everyone will be able to participate and feel successful. Let the children decide who they’d like to give the cookie to. Encourage them to pray over the cookies and for the family that will receive them. (If you don’t have access to an oven, consider melting chocolate in the microwave and making chocolate-dipped pretzels, apricots, or marshmallows.)
Greet People
End class early and go stand by the front door to greet people as they come in for (or leave) the worship hour. Maybe a couple can hand out the bulletins. Teach your students to smile and tell people, “Welcome, it’s so good to see you.” You may want to practice this in the classroom. (Make sure to get parent permission for this.) Let the children be “seen & heard” as worshippers come through the front doors.
Children love to help. Most hands are raised when a volunteer is needed. Jesus was all about ministering to others. Young children are prime to start following in His footsteps. And, they LOVE it!
Focus On Making Disciples, Not On Numbers
As Laurie Acker says, “People forget a lot of what they are taught. What they never forget is how you made them feel.”
How do you make your students feel? Do they know you’re excited to see them? Interested in their lives? Empathetic to their struggles? Or do they sense you’re disappointed because you prepared for twelve, but “only” three students showed up?
Be ENCOURAGED. The Lord has brought the exact number of precious children to you. Love them, encourage them, and teach them about ministry the way that Jesus did ministry. They will grow so much more than just following that material on the page.
Jesus never complained about “only” having twelve disciples. He actually only chose twelve. He could have chosen more. Having hundreds of disciples would have been a breeze for Him, but Jesus knows about “discipleship.” He walked, talked, ate, and did life with these twelve. He got to know them on a very personal level.
Let’s do the same.
Looking for a Sunday school curriculum built for small churches?
We recommend Two or More™—a low-prep, Bible-rich curriculum created specifically for small churches. It works with mixed-age groups, flexes to fit whoever shows up, and makes it simple for volunteers to lead. Learn why we love it here.
Already using it? Check out our Two or More™ video guide for practical tips to get the most out of every lesson.
Read More
Podcast Episode 002: Why It’s Not About The Numbers (& It Never Was)
