Sunday School

Bill Beatty blogged a question about Sunday School and it's long term sustainability - and here's my answer.

When we address aspects of our church that were once effective but no longer pack a punch; I find that it is best to try to identify the felt need that created a vacuum which the effective aspect filled.  Sunday Schools started popping up to address the social injustice of uneducated children working long hours in the mills in England.  Children were not receiving a proper education and were forced to work in factories under terrible conditions. Christians worked to improve their lives by providing educational opportunities.

In America today, education is a mandatory, well-oiled machine.  When children come to Sunday School, they only learn about the Bible.  The other subjects are covered by "regular" school.  While many of our schools are failing our children, the majority are excellent institutions.  Churches are even stepping up to work alongside schools in mentoring and after-school programs.

Sunday School originally filled two purposes.  It was outreach and it was social justice.  Sadly, our children's Sunday Schools generally fall under the category of "nurture or education."  They are for "our" kids.  I know of churches that have fired talented children's directors for bringing in too many undesirable children - of course the reason given was that their children "weren't learning anything new."

Perhaps the questions should not be "will Sunday School survive?" but, rather, "Can we find something that will function as outreach and social justice for the children in our communities?"    

The after-school and mentoring programs are an answer to this call.  But, many churches have a difficult time finding people who care about children and have the time and resources to commit to afternoon sessions.  But, what about a focus on music?  I don't just mean a kid's choir - but what if we picked up the slack as school districts slash spending on art and music education.  What if we created Sunday programs that taught music theory to children.  We could teach them to read music, to sing parts, to play instruments, to learn to conduct choirs and orchestras.  In many churches, a comprehensive music program could improve the quality of life for kids in the neighborhood as well as improve Sunday morning worship for everyone involved.

When I attended New Day Church in the Bronx, it was a joy to watch a young lady (younger than I!) coordinate the worship under the direction of her mentor, Jorge Lockward.  She was giving voice lessons, helping with chords, writing innovative liturgy for worship, and giving hope to an even younger generation of kids in the church.  She gave a voice to the voiceless in her urban neighborhood.  It was pretty awesome to watch - it would revolutionize our church if we could bring it to scale.

I think that if our leaders were free to give the resources, time, and energy to a new venture that we already spend on Sunday School that we could find any number of felt needs for our churches to address.

Any ideas?