Churches abolishing their Sunday schools? > Likes and Comments
date
newest »
newest »
I have not encountered this trend. The evangelical churches around my area might do Sunday school with a twist, but there is always a Sunday school for children and adults (although normally offered as small groups). Is it just the Methodist in me, or isn't there something in the Bible about raising your kids up in the Lord? Perhaps that's in the Old Testament. But why should it matter if it's in the Old or the New Testament? Are we throwing out the old (with the bathwater) just because we're Christians? There are still great lessons to be learned there.
Jon, those commands are in the New Testament too (Ephesians 6:4, for instance).
Well, that's...weird. Sunday school is important--it gives children a Godly foundation for later life!
Raevyn, in the two years since I wrote my original post, I thankfully haven't heard of any other churches doing this!
My husband and I left mainstream church several years ago and now attend a house church. It's sort of like a home group/bible study, and we make sure the kids are either included in what we're doing, or have some separate teaching just for them.One of the things that drove us away from mainstream church was that the teaching was becoming increasingly more self-help than thoroughly biblical, and it was frequently uninspiring. Also, we were tired of our church's emphasis on building programs (they wanted to build a big auditorium so we could have a 'big' church) that meant most of our money was spent on that kind of thing. There were a few other things as well, including the overwhelming priority given to singing as a form of worship, over the reading of the Word, prayer and teaching.
I think the majority of mainstream churches are losing their way and aren't concentrating so much on biblical teaching anymore. I don't think it's the case with all of them, but I know I've been to a lot of churches who I think have an unhealthy emphasis on the 'worship' (i.e. singing) side of things. I'm not sure that's the best way forward for the church. I'm not saying it can't meet needs, but I think more diversity needs to be present in the church system.
My church encourages everybody, children and adults, to be in a Sunday School class or small group or both.
Lynne, I'm very sympathetic to the house church movement! During and just after my senior year of college, back in the late 70s, I attended a house church, and found it very rewarding. (It was held in the home of one of the college's Bible faculty, so Bible study in the Sunday school hour was taken very seriously.)
Yes, we love going there. It's been a great thing for us. :-)
I think Sunday School should be important, but at my church, the teachers tend to talk to the students in condescending voices and I will give particular attention to a lesson about living in harmony, with a particularly cheesy song, that almost seemed to encourage the children to do the opposite.
I attend a Messianic Congregation that meets on Saturday mornings, so we have weekly Shabbat school for the children. I am one of the teachers, we rotate our teaching duties throughout the year. This fall, our entire congregation has started working through a study entitled "The Gospel Project," which has material for every age. So the children are taught from the Gospel project on Shabbat, while the adults meet in a home on a weekday evening to discuss their weekly unit.
I attend a Baptist church called the Living Room. And they've taken away Sunday class for teens. The teacher, i had, said it was because they didn't see kids really focusing. But i was dissapointed because I enjoyed the class. And when we (kids) went to church instead, the kids in front of me were distracting.
By way of an update to my original post in message 1, the story in the case of that particular church thankfully didn't end there: the next pastor reinstated Sunday school classes, for both adults and kids. (These were suspended last year because of the pandemic, but there are plans to get them started again on March 1.)
Lynne wrote: "My husband and I left mainstream church several years ago and now attend a house church. It's sort of like a home group/bible study, and we make sure the kids are either included in what we're doin..."Lynne, I think a lot of those big churches with huge debt will go bankrupt and smaller home churches will be the way to go.
What I'm really disappointed about is that there is so little real fellowship going on. Where are the lunches together or anything? Where are the groups for singles? Where are the ministries to the homeless or much of anything in the community? Its like people just go to church clock in and clock out. I have been going for a while and find it so hard to make friends because we don't really do life together at all, especially if you are single (divorced).
Our church has all of that. It’s indeed very sad if your church doesn’t.
One reason for no Sunday school, bibles studies, and church education could be our society has drummed into us, "do not mix religion and politics". When religion and politics become public humans become emotional. It might have been more prudent for us to learn how to speak of the intimate movements in our heart and mind without fear or condemnation. The idea of community goes back to valued oral teaching, and sharing. When we had time to listen, sit, and let ideas sink in to our phyche. There were and actually still are Exemplary people to follow through story telling. The art of sharing has been lost with technology and a fast pace society. peace
Jess wrote: "What I'm really disappointed about is that there is so little real fellowship going on. Where are the lunches together or anything? Where are the groups for singles? Where are the ministries to the..."I agree. My church does have some of that, but it mostly feels very shallow. We have small groups, but they are only during certain times of the year and it is set up so that you generally meet for a certain number of weeks for a specific video study and then move on. They are mostly not very well attended and seem to lack any real depth of content or connection with others. My church does do some outreach. In fact, they are pretty good at that. But I have been attending there for years and it still seems hard to meet people and get involved or truly connected to anyone.
I just wonder, but for those who are finding this stuff missing from your area or your church, might it be something that you could volunteer for and bring new life to?I will say, I have not seen this trend, but I don't follow the trends of all the churches in my area. Maybe for some. My church does not have a school, but its large enough that I could have found one if I had wanted (both my kids are grown and went to public school). Raising the kids though, I will say, I felt my church was no help at all in assisting me in getting them interested. I had wished many times that something would change...but it did not happen during the span of time I would have liked.
When I go to church now, there are almost no young people. And while I really do like the pastor, and think he has a lot of energy for it, I am not sure what is really different under him.
My son has no interest. I try to get him to get to come, cause they do have bible studies for people his age, and get togethers for singles and such, but....unless she comes with as a video game...
I will say, when I grew up, there was a much stronger community around me. I did not know anyone who was not christian. And if the mother down the street ever said, 'hey, I saw you kid doing some bad thing', my parents did not question that. They all went to church together.
That is not true today. Today, most people I meet, and know through various circles, are not christian, and know very little about it, other than...its judgemental.
To me, it is just one of the many things that changed. And I'd say, its a lot more than churches that have changed. The whole culture has changed too, and there is a lot of work cut out for churches going forward.
But...it does start with teaching the kids about it, so...why would this be a trend? What church would want that to be a thing?
Mary wrote: "One reason for no Sunday school, bibles studies, and church education could be our society has drummed into us, "do not mix religion and politics". When religion and politics become public humans b..."I agree Mary
P. Pherson wrote: "I just wonder, but for those who are finding this stuff missing from your area or your church, might it be something that you could volunteer for and bring new life to?I will say, I have not seen..." What denomination are you, what bible does your preacher use, and what does your church believe about God, Jesus, the bible, life after death, etc?
I am Catholic, with all that that would imply about bibles and belief systems. So, we are not really hurting for resources.If I had wanted my kids to go to Catholic school, I am sure I could have found one. There just isn't one at my church.
I am sure the issue of Sunday school is much broader than can be laid at the feet of no mixing of religion and politics. (And I see plenty of churches that don't subscribe to that). I would point more to a lot of cultural changes. The internet, the lack of people actually seeing other people, the isolation of entertainment sources, the messaging of video games and movies aimed at kids, Disney...and also parents, the busy lifestyle, daycare, high divorce rates... Just a great many causes.
It may be there are some churches out there that find reasons to cut this for some matter of belief, and maybe some for matters of finances, but...I think that is probably a mistake. Parents need help. Its a great boon if a church has something to offer in that regard.
I just saw this, but haven't seen it myself. In the churches we've been to they all have Sunday school for children. However, people don't get paid to teach it, it's done by volunteers.
Karin wrote: "I just saw this, but haven't seen it myself. In the churches we've been to they all have Sunday school for children. However, people don't get paid to teach it, it's done by volunteers."Yes, I've never heard of the idea of Sunday school teachers being paid. (For various reasons, I don't believe that they should be.)
In the 13 years since I originally posted above, I've come to feel that an even more widespread problem is that, for whatever reason, most modern adult Christians (and Sunday school is crucially important for adults, not only for kids), at least in the U.S., simply don't view Christian teaching as something they need. So even if most churches stilI have Sunday schools, they're poorly attended at all age levels (since adults who don't value teaching for themselves don't value it much for their kids/grandkids either.)
Werner wrote: "Karin wrote: "I just saw this, but haven't seen it myself. In the churches we've been to they all have Sunday school for children. However, people don't get paid to teach it, it's done by volunteer..."I'm not sure as I have limited exposure. There is an influx of young men into a number of churches who want to read and live the Bible--you can see them talking about it. They tend to go to churches where there is a c. 45 Bible teaching in the service rather than a message.
I grew up in the Anglican church (the one my mother chose) where there were scripture readings, but the sermon was a message, not a teaching.
This is not to say that most people in church actually read their bibles, but some do. My son and some of his church friends have read it more than once.
Karin, I'm always glad to hear about people (especially younger people!) being serious about reading and studying the Bible!
Werner wrote: "Karin, I'm always glad to hear about people (especially younger people!) being serious about reading and studying the Bible!"Yes, it's great. One good thing about the church my son is going to now is that there are some small groups. One is 20 and 30 something people, including men.
Many churches that teach the Bible in their services don't have younger adults showing up to weeknight Bible Studies; I think it varies.
Also, the age of the pastor(s) makes a difference since people tend to go to churches with pastors 15-20 years on either side of their age. The one we've been going to has three pastors, one in his late 20s (who is moving), one in his 40s and the founding pastor who is in her mid-sixties, which I think is one of the reasons there are people of all ages, including men and children.
Karin wrote: "Also, the age of the pastor(s) makes a difference since people tend to go to churches with pastors 15-20 years on either side of their age. The one we've been going to has three pastors, one in his late 20s (who is moving), one in his 40s and the founding pastor who is in her mid-sixties, which I think is one of the reasons there are people of all ages, including men and children."That makes sense!
I dont know if I said so already, but I might also add the cost is alarming. While my Kids are grown, my nephew is sending his kids to a Christian school. The cost for his eldest is about 20K per year. Four years of that (high school) is 80K, and he has two kids. I shake my head at this. I make a lot more money than him, and that would be burdensome to me. I dont know how he can do it. I have even considered gifting him some money, cause that is quite steep.
I pray for him. But then...I can see why he does not want to be in public schools.
P. Pherson wrote: "I dont know if I said so already, but I might also add the cost is alarming. While my Kids are grown, my nephew is sending his kids to a Christian school. The cost for his eldest is about 20K per y..."Unless a church is able to financially support a school, the cost of attending a private Christian school is very expensive. This is why more parents homeschool their kids if they can to give them a Christian education.
Patrick and Karin, for whatever it's worth, this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... deals with (among other aspects of K-12 education) the financing of Christian school education. You might (or might not) be interested in some of the posts there. (Unfortunately, it's an archived thread that's closed to further comments, since our group's adoption in late 2022 of the rule against threads that present arguments on disputable matters or political controversies.)
Werner wrote: "Patrick and Karin, for whatever it's worth, this thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... deals with (among other aspects of K-12 education) the financing..."Thanks. I'm pleased you adopted a rule against threads that present arguments on disputable and political things. I hope I didn't come across in any way like that here :)
Krin wrote: "I hope I didn't come across in any way like that here :) "No, Karin, you didn't, and neither did anyone who's commented above!
That's what I thought!Also, in a related topic to this, my son is driving back from a weekend in NY state on a Bible topic--lots of in depth teachings. It's his first solo road trip since friends of his weren't able to go. Not bad for a trumpeter in his mid-twenties, eh?
Ironically, while most early Christians were illiterate in the literal sense, the average rank-and-file members of the church in that era apparently had a better grounding in the Bible and Christian beliefs and ethics, based on oral teaching, than most of their aliterate modern counterparts. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the membership of the evangelical church today is largely Biblically and theologically illiterate, and that this is reflected in behavior, attitudes, and civic participation that doesn't differ from that of non-Christians. (And yes, there are ethically-minded non-Christians, and I'm proud to count a few of them as friends --but too many Christians today don't differ from the nonbelievers who aren't ethically-minded. :-( ) Doing away with any vestige of attempts to educate the belivers strikes me as compounding the problem instead of correcting it.
Have any of you encountered this trend? What are your thoughts about it?