In just a few days we will open the doors of our church to welcome children who are coming to Sunday School. This event is something of an annual ritual. We cannot take it for granted that they will be there again, however. In recent years the numbers of children have decreased rather than increased, in spite of the fact that our membership continues to grow, and we are not really sure why that is so.
I am sure that if we tried, we could identify a host of "causes" for this phenomenon, but I have a hunch that in most cases there is little or nothing we could do about them. For example, when soccer leagues schedule their games on Sunday mornings, parents often choose soccer over Sunday School. And, in some families where parents are divorced, Sunday is "Daddy's Day," and Daddy is often not a churchgoer. And, of course there is always the fact that many parents are working very hard all week and Sunday morning may be the only day in the week when parents can sleep in or get chores done.
What we are witnessing is a serious challenge to "church as usual," and it seems that we can no longer count on Sunday School as a source of growth in the church. The oft-quoted statement, "A little child shall lead them" used to be true, but times have changed, and we must also, if we want to see the church continue, much less grow
What can we do to bring about a better outcome? Perhaps we need to begin by asking, "What is Sunday School for, anyway?"
According to the website from McGill University in Canada, Robert Raikes and Thomas Stock first established a Sunday school for the poor and orphaned in Gloucester in 1780. Although there were earlier Sunday schools, Raikes and Stock have become the recognized originators. Their efforts led clergy and laypeople to establish similar schools throughout England, thus setting in motion the Sunday School Movement. By 1800, 200 000 children were enrolled in English Sunday schools, and by 1850, this number had risen to 2 million. The Sunday schools were organized by middle-class people who found that working-class children required some form of discipline. Sunday and evening schools were established to teach reading, writing, arithmetic and catechism to the 'deserving' poor: enrollment was decided upon by visits with parents, nominations from subscribers, and individual student applications. Students were expected to attend school four to five hours per week, and this was the only schooling that most working class children ever received. The teachers (men and women) were paid, and classes were often held in a person's home, or in rented rooms. "The Sunday schools caught on quickly and were effective because they were simple, became a diversion for the children, and a means for parents to socially elevate the family as a whole. They were often also a means of education for adults, who occasionally attended the schools; children were actively encouraged to take lessons and books home to share with their parents. "The Sunday school also became an important hub of social interaction for a class of children and parents who were rapidly moving away from small, close-knit, rural communities to large, over-populated, urban centers. Lastly, the schools taught catechism to a population that, until that time, only learned it via a rote memorization system with the priest reciting the Lord's Prayer one line at a time, once a week, during the service." Compare the history of Sunday Schools with what we offer children today, and with the type of children whom we reach out to. The differences are obvious. For us, Sunday School is a brief opportunity for volunteer teachers to teach children of church members the Word of God using a variety of teaching resources. The aim of the program is not to provide a sense of community among the children of the members, much less among those who are unchurched. Parents are encouraged to bring their children regularly, but many don't. Also, we do not seek "sponsors" to provide funds to enable the program to operate. All this is not to suggest that Sunday Schools should be abolished, but as a system of making disciples, it deserves much more attention than we are giving to it. Thanks to the public school systems we have, there is no longer a need for teaching the "3 R's." But there still is a need for children to learn values, beliefs, and what it means to follow Jesus Christ in our world today. Unfortunately, because we are reluctant to give more than one hour a week (at most) to serving God, many teachers never come to worship services. Also, those who do worship often do not want to make the added sacrifice required to disciple the youngest of God's children. As a church. we need to decide not only how to disciple children, but whether we really want to disciple them. Only then will we be willing to start looking for new approaches to carrying out the main task of the church. The irony of our current situation is that in our congregation, I believe that the largest occupational group we have is that of "professional teachers." We have many members actively working as teachers, and there are many retired educators as well. They are not only highly trained as educators, but also highly experienced in the actual work of teaching, and their gifts and experience are enormous. Yet I cannot understand why, as gifted as we are, we cannot develop a solid educational program and often have to press untrained, non-professional members into serving as teachers. It's not good enough, as far as I'm concerned, for members to use "I teach children all week long" as an excuse for ignoring their need for spiritual development in the community of faith. At the risk of offending some of the best members we have in the church, I need to say that I think it's time for those who have these gifts and this experience, to step up and offer it to their Lord. What to do about Sunday School is a challenge for all of us to think about, but the greater challenge we must face is the challenge of discipling children and their parents so they can become faithful followers of Christ and productive workers in His vineyard. If we will let the needs of God's children motivate us to take a new look at what we do to disciple them, then the statement, "A little child shall lead them, will prove to be true once again. May that day come soon.
