Literature only matters about 80 percent of the time. The best small group leaders or Sunday school teachers (about 10 percent) are so good they can produce a great lesson with any literature, bad literature or no literature. For the bottom 10 percent of leaders, I doubt any literature is going to be good enough to help. But, for the 80 percent in the big middle, literature can make a huge difference.

So how should a small group or Sunday school class choose the literature for study? Who is in the best place to make the best decision about what is the best literature for a particular group?

The only answer everyone agrees on to this question is, "I am."

Two schools of thought

There are two schools of thought. In some churches the staff decides, while other churches are comfortable letting teachers make the decision. I have seen both approaches work effectively.

Often, when the staff decides, they have everyone use the same literature. In some cases, all age groups study the same passage. The idea is that this can create a conversation within families about what was discussed in Sunday school or small group. (For a great new book on this idea, see "The Big Idea" by Dave Ferguson.)

In some cases, churches use a teachers' meeting, where the pastor or minister of education teaches the teachers on Wednesday nights. Teachers then teach this lesson to their classes on Sunday. In my church, our former pastor used to do this. He taught a class himself, so there was no additional preparation; he just had to have his Sunday school lesson ready by Wednesday. He was a great communicator and teachers appreciated this additional help in preparation. We now have three services on Sunday morning, so this is no longer possible. But when it worked, it worked great.

Let teachers teach

The other approach is to let each individual teacher decide what to teach. There are two benefits to this. First, because teachers know their class better, they are in a better position to decide what the class needs. Second, we all tend to teach better when we are teaching something that we are fired up about. By letting individual teachers decide, you release their God-given entrepreneurial spirit and arguably get a better lesson.

A mid point between these two positions is to let the teachers decide from an approved list. Or, let the teacher decide, but require him or her to clear the decision with the leadership.

On the whole, I prefer to let the teacher decide, although I have seen all three approaches work effectively. Whether I was a teacher or a staff member, I wouldn't die on this hill. (The older I get, the fewer hills I would die on.) An effective teacher will be able to teach an effective lesson, regardless of what the literature is or who selected it.

In so many churches, we keep looking for the "right" answer. Traveling has taught me there is more than one good way to grow a church.

Josh Hunt is the author of "You Can Double Your Class in Two Years or Less" and speaks nationally on church growth and adult education. You can contact him at http://www.joshhunt.com.