Few lines in a store have the potential to impact the lives of thousands of children in the community for the kingdom of Christ like Sunday school. It is the primary program in the church that builds a solid spiritual foundation week after week, all year long.

Many Christian stores carry Sunday school curriculum or related resource product—with varying degrees of success. Economic pressures have forced staff and inventory reductions, which consequently reduce the impact of this important category. In spite of these factors, Sunday school is  too critical a category for a store to neglect.

Here are three tips to grow Sunday school business:

Promote your service

When you fill orders, insert the teacher guides with a store flyer promoting your related resource books and thank the teachers for their dedication and service. List your location and store hours—this is virtually free advertising.

Drive related resources

Keep the Top 10 or Top 20 resource-related books well merchandised. Many teachers look for “lesson enhancement” materials like word-search puzzles or fun crafts. These are great add-on sales.

Encourage the users

Customers must see that you appreciate the role teachers have in the lives of children. Get involved—consider promoting the Sunday School Teacher of the Year Award, sponsored by Gospel Light, which takes place each October.

Budgets at most churches have been cut, and many committed teachers are buying the material they need for their students out of their own pockets. They come into a store to see what choices there are for the specific age they teach. Make sure you have sample packs available for teachers to review during their decision-making process.

Help customers reorder their material each quarter. A reorder or standing-order service will build loyalty with customers because they sincerely appreciate you taking the time to make their lives easier. For each customer, maintain a reorder form in Excel—I can send you a sample—to provide the past two quarters’ ordered quantities. This alone will reap great rewards. 

Selling Sunday school curriculum takes time, effort and a good plan. But invest in all three ingredients and you will succeed.

President and general manager of Valley Book & Bible Stores for 34 years, Dave Wilke is now marketing manager for Sunday school at Gospel Light. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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