Posted on Jul 9, 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--What do you do when the quarter is nearly over and you have extra Sunday School learner guides and magazines left over? The easy answer is just to throw it away. But maybe there are some more creative uses. Here are a few ideas:

1. Take them to places people have to wait. A doctor's office is an obvious place. Or a bus or train station. Or maybe you could smuggle a few Sunday School quarterlies into an airline terminal. Hospital waiting rooms. Hair salons and barber shops. The breakroom at work. The auto repair shop. The crisis pregnancy center. The blood donor center. The fire station. Be creative!

2. Leave them in places where people read while they're doing something else. "Accidentally" leave a copy at the coffee shop. Leave copies on the magazine rack at the fitness center. In the seatback pocket on an airplane. Did I hear someone say the bathroom? Which reminds me of a story. One day, a group of Baptist women told me their husbands wouldn't read stuff from the church. I shared with them a wise truth: He'll read anything you leave in the bathroom.

3. Hand out at church events. Give a copy of ParentLife to parents who come with their kids to Vacation Bible School family night or attend an Upward Basketball game or entrust their kids to your daycare, preschool or Mother's Day Out program. Provide copies at the Harvest Festival. Give a copy of Living with Teenagers to parents dropping their students off for a week at youth camp. Provide copies of Christian Single through your divorce recovery ministry.

4. Bundle with your ministry efforts. Put a copy of a magazine or Bible study resource in the grocery bag of clients at your food pantry. Take copies to people you visit through homebound, nursing home, Meals on Wheels and prison ministries.

5. Share with a campus Baptist Student Ministry. Is there a BSM on a nearby college campus? Ask if they might have use for some Bible study materials or magazines.

6. Help out a struggling congregation or mission. Do you know of a church or mission that might rejoice to receive and/or reuse your leftovers? Why not ask?

7. Send to military personnel and other "Adults Away." Some churches set up a special ministry for "Adults Away." It really has no "attendance." Just group leaders. One way to stay in touch -- and exercise biblical encouragement -- is to send Bible study material and magazines. An exciting LifeWay ministry to military personnel deployed abroad is "LifeBox." In addition to treats and essentials, the boxes include LifeWay magazines. To learn more about this ministry, go to www.lifeway.com/lifebox.

Some of these ideas, especially the last one, might cause you to observe, "Why should we just use leftover literature? We could use current magazines for these type of ministries, too!" Of course you could. Stamp or sticker the name of your church, class or association on the back cover of the magazine. Keep it simple: "A Gift from First Baptist Church" and include your church's website address. And maybe, "Yes, you may take this home!" Have you used leftover literature in a creative way? Or do you have a testimony about such a ministry? Share it with us at sundayschool@lifeway.com.
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David Francis serves as director of Sunday School for LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.