South Florida event trains leaders in a variety of settings

POMPANO BEACH (FBW)—Hundreds of Sunday School workers and leaders gathered Mar. 13 in Pompano Beach at three area churches to talk about strategies and methods that reach people in a variety of culture groups that inhabit South Florida.

The Southern Florida Sunday School Convention drew over 700 people in four distinct language groups, according to John Boone, director of Sunday School Department of the Florida Baptist Convention.

Boone said the convention was designed to train leaders to function in a variety of settings and languages in teaching leaders, adults, youth, children, and preschoolers. In addition, a session on how to use stewardship lessons was offered.

"We’re dealing with all types of Sunday Schools," Boone said. "There are new church starts with fundamental needs and small group ministries, and medium-sized congregations."

Planning a total of 55 different sessions meeting in three locations to accommodate four different language groups took a planning team that met throughout the year, reported Boone. And the results far surpassed the expectations, he said.

"We had a lot of enthusiasm," said Boone. "There was an exchange between the cultures because of the Spanish and English speaking people meeting at the same place.

"It was almost like a family reunion because some of the people don’t see each other but once a year," he said.

Boone said the multi-cultural aspect of the annual conference can be a challenge for the faculty, however, some of whom are provided by the church resource division of LifeWay Christian Resources.

"All of the teachers were equipped in their language, though, and that speaks well of the network among our ethnic language ministries."

The convention was held simultaneously in the following languages and at the following locations:

• Spanish — First Baptist Church, Pompano Beach

Ten workshops were offered with 207 in attendance.

• English—First Baptist Church, Pompano Beach

Thirty-two workshops were offered with 324 in attendance.

• French-Creole—First Haitian Baptist Church, Pompano Beach

Eight workshops were offered with 186 in attendance.

• Portuguese—First Brazilian Baptist Church, Pompano Beach

Five workshops with 50 in attendance.

The Central Florida Sunday School Convention is planned for May 15 at First Baptist Church, Brandon. Thom Rainer, dean of the Billy Graham School of missions, evangelism and church growth at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the keynote speaker.