 |
Sunday School Ministry |
Myths About Sunday School Education
Sunday School has been evolving for about 220 years since its birth. Many people have different ideas about Sunday School. Some consider it the main source of nutrient for personal spiritual growth and maturation, while others a mere habit, no more than tooth-brushing, that they attend only because they will benefit from it. Some likes to go to Sunday School for social opportunities, especially for single adults to fellowship. The only drawback, or unfortune you may say, is that today many people have a few misunderstanding about Sunday School, of those we may call “myths”.
Myth 1: Sunday School is only for children
The gospel preaching of the early western missionaries in China were greatly hindered by the anti-foreign mentality of Chinese people. The ministry on adults progress very slowly. So the missionaries turned their focus on children hoping that they may interest the adults through the education of children. Thus born the idea of “Sunday Schools are made for children”. Once the idea became a system, it was difficult to break.
That is why whether in Taiwan, Hong Kong or North America, when Sunday School is mentioned in a Chinese church, the first thing came to their mind is still Children’s Sunday School; when a church is starting a Sunday School ministry they usually start with children. Not many people think of Sunday School as a overall ministry that God has prepared for everyone in His family, young and old, so that every God’s children should participate. This is the first myth about Sunday School.
Myth 2: Sunday Services are enough
Some may say: “Brothers and Sisters, isn’t hearing about the Word every week in the Sunday Service enough for us? Why do we need to attend Sunday School?”
In fact, it is NOT enough. Our needs are different and so are our spiritual situations. Some can only feed on milk while other may need solid food; everyone has different problems and difficulties. If the sermon of the day happened to mention about your need, you may say “Good, very well, today God had spoken to me, and I benefited greatly from it”. But if it is otherwise, you will not think much of the Service.
Sunday School and Sunday messages can supplement each other. Sunday School can be divided into groups according to the level and needs of students so that they may learn systematically. Also, in the classroom, unlike the pulpit, one can always raise question and get answer. Different ways of teaching, supplementary materials, questions and answers, or even tests can be used for better results.
Sunday message alone is not enough for our brothers’ and sisters’ spirituality to grow. And the lack of knowledge of the Truth is the biggest hinderance to the growth of a church.
Myth 3: Bible studies during the week and fellowship group can take the place of Sunday School
The groups or fellowship in our church stress on having different people lead the studies in turn. The focus is to have members of the group share their knowledge and perspectives. The good thing about it is that everyone has a chance to learn on-hand to serve as a bible-study leader. The disadvantage will be that sometimes, with all the input and sharing, people still have only half of the knowledge of the Bible verses, especially when the leader did not fully prepare for the class. Yet Sunday School is about teaching and building up the knowledge of the Truth systematically. Many lessons for Truthseekers, New Believers, Baptismal, Basic Belief, Spiritual Formation, Personal Evangelism, Discipleship Training, Bible Study Training, Faith and Living, Sunday School Teacher Training, etc., can be incorporated into Sunday School classes.
Pastor Chen, Guo An had once shared: “ If we can encourage Truth-seekers and new believers to form a habit to attend Sunday School as early as possible, to root their spirituality in the Truth, in two to three years, the quality of church will be greatly brought up, the ministries will be more effective, and as a result the church will grow immensely.”
NACCOWE(北美華福) had conducted a research on the Chinese congregation in US and Canada, and had found that the top 7 problems Chinese churches face are:
1. The lack of quality time together between family members.
2. The degeneration of moral and ethical standards.
3. The lack of spiritual atmosphere in a household.
4. The attitude towards material life of and between parents and children.
5. The excessive regard of the achievement of career and education.
6. The influence on young people of the overly open sexual morality by the media.
7. Generation gap and misunderstanding.
Indeed, families nowadays need substantial help from the church to face up with various difficulties. And it is the unshirkable responsibility for churches to build up a ministry to strengthen family. We believe that to edify the brothers and sisters’ yearning towards spirituality is the essential beginning to help them establish a spiritual foundation, and Adult Sunday School is just the place for such a beginning.
In the Bible, God put quite an emphasis on “teaching”. In the Old Testament God repeatedly command the Levites to teach the Israelites (Deu 17:11; 33:10). God has chosen Abraham, so that he may command his sons and household after him to obey the way of the Lord (Gen 18:19). King David prays for the Lord to forgive his sin, so that he may “teach the transgressors” the Lord’s way and the sinners will return to God (Psa 51: 13). Even the revival of the Dynasty of Jehoshaphat in the 2nd Chronicles (17:9) stemmed from the “teaching” of the Levites.
It is the same in the New Testament time. The first church in Jerusalem was so blessed because they “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching”. Apostle Paul not only acknowledged himself as the teacher of the gentiles (1Tim 2:7), but also commanded Timothy to “entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others.” (2Tim 2:2). Our Lord is no other than that. He has stressed on the importance of teaching in His ministry, so much so that the last commandment He gave to the disciples before His Ascension was to “teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
“Grow a tree for ten years, grow a man for a hundred.” Christian Education is the core of the church. I deeply wish that we may please the Lord on this ministry.
Appendix 1. Access Bible Convention Web Site
Appendix 2.
Appendix 3.