What is the purpose of Sunday School?

[Seeler]

Not to derail another thread where we discuss what we call that 45 - 60 minutes on a Sunday morning, I'm wondering if we should consider what the purpose of Sunday School might be.

Is it supervising and/or entertaining the children while the parents worship (or sleep in)?
Is it an opportunity to hear Bible stories? If so, what is the criteria used in choosing which stories?
Is it to give children a sense of acceptance, being part of the congregation, belonging to something outside themselves and their immediate family?
Is it to teach moral values - the 'thou shalt not ...' ?
Is it to teach themes like 'love your neighbour', 'care for the world', 'justice', 'mercy' ?
Or some combination, or other? All of the above / none of the above?

Does it change with the ages of the children (from 2 to 92)?

 

[Seeler]

I personally am always surprised if I hear somebody say something about sending children to Sunday School to learn morals, or 'to be good'.

 

[Beloved]

Is the purpose different for the church and for the parents?

I think from the church's prospective it is to teach children who are seeking learning more about the Christian faith - and for all those reasons you give.

For each parent, the purpose would be different.

Today, I think young people bring their children to Sunday School because they want them to have instruction in the Christian faith. Perhaps it was a part of their upbrining and they want the same for their children. We have a lot of grandparents who bring their children because it is important for the grandparents (not necessarily the parents, but they allow the grandmas to bring them).

In less than 20 years our Sunday School has gone from over 100 children to less than 20 . . . Sunday School (and Sunday worship) is not something that most young families are looking for today - at least not at our church in our community.

 

[Beloved]

I personally am always surprised if I hear somebody say something about sending children to Sunday School to learn morals, or 'to be good'.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone express it in that way . . . usually it is "I am taking my child to Sunday School so they can learn about God."

 

[revjohn]

Not to derail another thread where we discuss what we call that 45 - 60 minutes on a Sunday morning, I'm wondering if we should consider what the purpose of Sunday School might be.

A worthy endeavour.

Is it supervising and/or entertaining the children while the parents worship (or sleep in)?

I would hope that there is some supervision and some entertainment involved. I don't see much point in boring anarchy. That said the purpose of any school is to educate and so I would expect that the purpose of the Sunday Church School (shortened to Sunday School I don't know why--possibly laziness) to educate children about church and all things connected to church.

Is it an opportunity to hear Bible stories? If so, what is the criteria used in choosing which stories?

I would hope that it is simply another opportunity to hear Bible stories. Quite frankly if parents don't have time to read scripture with the kids at home why bother with Sunday Church School? More than simply hearing I would hope that there is opportunity for engaging, to ask questions and to listen to answers.

As far as criteria for choosing. If it is in scripture it should be studied. Ignoring any story is a willful fostering of ignorance and I don't think that serves the Church particularly well. There might be some texts that we do not start our youngest children with such as Ezekiel 23. In fact, there are probably some young Adults who would struggle with Ezekiel 23 because of its graphic content.

That doesn't mean we ignore it. The story is a powerful denunciation and should be heard.

Lamentations 4: 10 is, I think, the stuff of nightmares. Avoiding it is an act of denial but I don't think it is for young children.

Is it to give children a sense of acceptance, being part of the congregation, belonging to something outside themselves and their immediate family?

In part it can be. My parents did not attend church so from the very first day I was known for who I was. Friends were often thought of as appendages to their attending parents. I never had the awkward adolescent, "who am I" stage because when people in the Church wanted something from me or had an issue with me they could not appeal to my parents they had to deal with me directly.

So nobody in the UCW could tell me to scram one week and expect that I would give up my free time to lug tables for them later. And nobody in AOTS could ignore me in the halls and expect that I would get up early on Sunday just to come and be similarly ignored at the men's breakfast.

My home congregation had almost as much input into who I became as my family did simply by accepting me and valuing me as an individual from the time I first walked through the doors. It wasn't easy, I'm sure. I am a favoured son in that congregation.

Is it to teach moral values - the 'thou shalt not ...' ? Is it to teach themes like 'love your neighbour', 'care for the world', 'justice', 'mercy' ? Or some combination, or other? All of the above / none of the above?

I would also expect that to be a part of the curriculum. If nothing else help me to understand the way the congregation thinks and moves and represents the body of Christ to the people outside. Sunday Church School should be teaching me, in age appropriate ways how to be the Church otherwise what is the point? It would be like Driver's ed that teaches the finer points of croquet instead of how to drive.

Does it change with the ages of the children (from 2 to 92)?

Curriculum probably does. The point hopefully doesn't.

 

[Seeler]

RevJohn said:
As far as criteria for choosing. If it is in scripture it should be studied. Ignoring any story is a willful fostering of ignorance and I don't think that serves the Church particularly well.


Come-on, Rev. Surely you don't mean that. We're talking Sunday School. Suppose you have the kids from age 3 to 12 and a different story every week and never repeat a story - could you cover them all? I once tried to figure out a three-year curriculum. 52 Sundays a year - but realistically it's more like 30 or so (summer break, special Sundays like at Christmas and Easter).

So start with Genesis. Two stories of creation (the second including the 'fall) - two weeks. Cain & Abel - one week. Do you include the birth of Seth in this story or make it another? Noah - one week (Though I would prefer two). Jump ahead to Abraham - Goodness we have at least six here (answering the call, Abraham and Lot, Sodom and Gemorah, Ishmael, the birth of Isaac, the sacrifice). Isaac and Rebeccah - one. Esau and Jacob (combine birth and rivalry and betrayal) one or two. Jacob, wives, children, relation with Leban, return home to face Esau, wrestling with the angel - another four or more. Joseph - 3 or 4. So how many Sundays have we spent on Genesis. How many stories about Moses? The experiences during the forty years of travel. Don't forget to include some featuring women - the midwives in Egypt, Miriam. And we haven't reached the Promised Land yet. Joshua, Sampson, Deborah, Ruth, David (how many stories there), Solomon, Ahab and Jesabel, the various kings and prophets, Jonah and the whale, Daniel and the lions. And finally the stories of the gospels, of the early church? The letters; the revelations of John.

Yes, in a lifetime there are a good many stories to cover. Which ones do you choose for Sunday School? What criteria do you use? And which ones to you hope they might hear or read or discuss at home or wait until adulthood?

 

[revjohn]

Come-on, Rev. Surely you don't mean that.

I'm not in the habit of saying things I don't mean particularly on internet boards where I am not required to say anything.

We're talking Sunday School.

Thanks for repeating that. I'm not confused about the fact that we are talking about Sunday Church School.

Suppose you have the kids from age 3 to 12 and a different story every week and never repeat a story - could you cover them all?

Yes. You could cover every story. You may not go into incredibly deep detail on every story. You could I think cover the lot.

I also don't think it would be particularly helpful to pretend that the Bible is a chronological document so it only makes sense if I start at Genesis and end at Revelation.

 

[Seeler]

Rev.John said: I also don't think ... start in Genesis and end at Revelation.

Neither do I John. I just listed some examples from Genesis to illustrate just how many stories there are in a single book of the Bible. Of course, if I were working on a curriculum committee, I would recommend using season appropriate stories (nativity at Christmas time). I would work the psalms, proverbs and much of the wisdom of the prophets, into the other stories; I would compare various stories. And some stories would bare repeating every few years (a three years cycle would repeat them three times during the nine or so years children tend to be in Sunday School.)
I would also try to use age-appropriate stories - which brings me back to the original question of what is the purpose of Sunday School?
In order to choose which stories, or what materials, to use it seems to me that I would need some criteria.

 

[chansen]

Clearly, the main purpose is to propagate the faith. It has to be for the church to grow. The seed of faith has to be planted and nurtured for it to have a decent chance. It can grow in the absence of childhood indoctrination, but it's more effective when you plant the idea of a personal god when they're young, before they learn to question what they're told.

What would be very interesting, is to see how many kids who learn the scientific method of creating and testing hypotheses before they get religious instruction, end up believing in God. Then compare that to a control group who go to Sunday School from an earlier age and learn about science later.

My take is that Sunday School gets a jump on kids before they learn how to think and evaluate ideas, unwittingly (or predictably) getting at least some kids to place their faith in God as separate and immune from their ability to reason away bad ideas.

 

[Mendalla]

Religious Exploration in UU'ism serves a number of purposes, some of which may be different from a Christian Sunday School

We teach them about Unitarian Univeralist history and famous Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists and how they exemplify the principles.

We teach about the principles and explore what they mean at home, at school, in church, etc. There is even a child's version of the principles.

We teach about world religions, science, and other "sources"

We teach them to question and explore through doing experiments (yes, science experiments in church), having discussions, and such like.

We have fun playing games and so on.

My take is that Sunday School gets a jump on kids before they learn how to think and evaluate ideas, unwittingly (or predictably) getting at least some kids to place their faith in God as separate and immune from their ability to reason away bad ideas.

Unless you're UU, and then teaching how to think and evaluate ideas is part of the curriculum.

 

[crazyheart]

Well, here we go. And by the way, this is my personal opinion.

I always used the lectionary story of the day in Church School. The premise being that the children and the adults
could talk about what they heard over the dinner table. ( ho ho - you know that doesn't work because it seems families do
not have time to eat together.)

Church school, imo, should be fun and creative. There should be stories from the world we live in to supplement the
story given.

There should be teachers who want to teach and of course, they are learners as well because most of them have not been to
Church School since their youth and confirmation.

The curriculum should not be handed over but time should be made each season to meet and discuss what might or might not work each week.

Many churches are in a financial bind and the first thing to go,imo) is the Staff Ass ( then) and the Christian Educator worker(now).

Why would kids come if there is nothing to offer them?

Morals etc. are incorporated into each Sundays lesson. Tread lightly, the parents may wish to teach this within the family.

One morning, I had a young boy come to the church ( the safest place he knew, I presume.) He was with a friend in the Church School and Blurted out that there had been a murder on his street.

There were two families who left the church building after I did Time with children and through the windows I saw them going to Tim Hortons. If I preached that day they stayed but if my partner preached they left. They were very straight forward about it.So .yes .seeler, sometimes the Church School was used for babysitting.

I could go on but, I lament the demise of Church School in many churches.

 

[Seeler]

Still thinking about what I would expect from a UCC Sunday School. I would want the children to learn about their place in the world, and about their relationship to God, one another and the earth, their home.
Beginning with pre-schoolers I would want them to experience a place where they are loved and accepted for who they are. I would hope that they might have leaders and friends from different ethnic backgrounds, different abilities, and from different types of families (including LGBT). I would like help them develop a sense of awe and wonder about the world - using geology, archaeology, astronomy, and the first story of creation from the Bible, as well as various Bible verses: 'The Earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof', 'When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established ...' and 'To everything there is a season ...'. 'While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, day and night, summer and winter ...' 'consider the lilies of the field, the birds of the air'. I would talk about volcanoes and mountains, oceans, seasons, stars, rainbows, storms, and rainbows, and food to nourish us. I would talk about our responsibilities in this world - to take care of it. And somewhere in the curriculum I would want them to learn about change - from dinosaurs, to the present, and beyond -- and about life and death, and rebirth. That would be a theme. It would involve life experiences, and Bible stories. Interwoven in this theme I would also want the children to learn about other people and that we are all God's children and interrelated.

I would also want them to be introduced to stories of Jesus - perhaps beginning near Christmas time with the stories of the nativity, moving on to stories of what Jesus did and taught. I would include stories of Jesus and the children, and the boy sharing his lunch. I would talk about Jesus showing people how to live in God's world and to relate to one another in God's way - teaching peace, justice, forgiveness and love for one another. And how we can follow Jesus teaching and example in our lives. This would include caring, sharing, appreciating, respecting. The two great commandments of love - the story of 'who is my neighbour'.

I would want them to learn something about the church and the world - outreach services in our own community and country - and in the world. Comparative religion, shared values.

And as they reach their teens or adult study we could move on to some of the more difficult stories and concepts - the stories of conquest, wars, rape, murder. The tension and conflict involving kingship - prophets or kings. Justice issues. Hospitality. And what is happening in our world today.

 

[Seeler]

Unfortunately, Crazyheart, children do live in the real world where there is child abuse, murder, exploitation. Teenage siblings fight and storm out. Parents get divorced - or die. Homes are destroyed by floods or hurricanes.
Yet I've had teachers tell me that they skip over any mention of death in the curriculum.

I once taught a teenage girl who ran away from home the following summer and was last heard from living on the streets of Toronto. I've often wondered if anything I said or did gave her something to hang on to when life must have been so difficult. Certainly not cliches or 'gentle Jesus meek and mild'.

 

[Jaebius]

The purpose of a Sunday School (Children's Church - whatever we may choose to call it) should be in line with the mission statement of its church.


Afterall - the Sunday School is a part of its church.

For example - the mission statement of my church goes something like - "We exist to worship God - learn more about God - serve God and others - and tell others about Jesus Christ."

Hence - the purpose of the Sunday School at my church should be to facilitate the doing of these things by children.

 

[Seeler]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone express it in that way . . . usually it is "I am taking my child to Sunday School so they can learn about God."

Beloved - I didn't mean to ignore your reply to my post, but I got caught up with some of the other discussion. I was involved in Christian Development for many years and it is something that I feel passionate about.

The best example I can remember of this is a friend of mine. Apparently her daughter, at about 9 or 10 fell behind her class in reading skills, and during March break she ordered her daughter to spend an hour each day in her room doing some required reading. At the end of that time, the mother checked her school bag. "Where's the book you have been reading?" The girl shrugged her shoulders, and finally admitted that she had left the book at school. "You mean you've been sitting in your room doing nothing all week?" "Yes." "Why?" "I was afraid to tell you."
So the mother accused me, as superintendent of the Sunday School - "What are you teaching those kids that she would betray me like that?" Well, there is probably a lot I could have said about her parenting skills; but I was so surprised that somehow this fell back on the Sunday School who should have taught her daughter 'not to betray' her mother, that I ended up stuttering something inconsequential. Forty years later the relationship between this mother and daughter leaves a lot to be desired.

But I have run into it, to a lesser degree, from other parents that we are expected to teach the children right from wrong. I think it more important to teach love, acceptance and forgiveness.

 

[chansen]

Morals can not be imparted by instruction. Especially not one or two hours per week. These aren't swimming lessons. Good, moral decision making is something that is lived and taught through experience. Children see their parents making good decisions, and base their behaviour on you. If you yell at them, they will learn to yell at you. If you show respect for them and their things, they will show respect back. If you hit them...they learn that problems are solved by hitting the person they're mad at.

As they get older, there are opportunities to discuss moral choices. Talk about bad choices and what to learn from them. Reinforce good choices made by congratulating them.

Good parenting isn't exceedingly difficult to figure out. But it has f***-all to do with Jesus or Sunday School. It has everything to do with how you treat your kid.

Obviously, anyone who blames a Sunday School teacher for their child's lack of morals is an idiot. That kinda goes without saying. I personally think that teaching morals from a book where the hero sets an apple as a trap, or kills people for wronging him, or tortures souls, is going to make the job that much harder. You have to perform mental contortions to make those stories moral. Far better to read any number of children's stories to them. Steer clear of the bible and read authors like Robert Munsch and increasingly more complex books that will hold their interest better and you don't have to make excuses for.

 

[Tabitha]

Sunday school needs to do more than teach stories from the Bible-it should also cover our work in the world-social justice and some church history/christian history-at least a look at the lives and actions of some of our ancestors of faith. Sunday school shouldn't have all the answers but be a place to ask questions.

 

[Seeler]

Chansen - that's why despite some parents expectations I don't know of a UCC Sunday School that tries to teach morals.

 

[Seeler]

Sunday school needs to do more than teach stories from the Bible-it should also cover our work in the world-social justice and some church history/christian history-at least a look at the lives and actions of some of our ancestors of faith. Sunday school shouldn't have all the answers but be a place to ask questions.

I agree. I used to have some great discussions with my Youth class.

 

[Delightful Life]

Is Sunday school a structured environment to teach children the various ins and outs of their parent`s particular denomination?