As the school year starts and children head back to classes, churches begin their fall program year, too. This nearly always includes "Sunday School." Many women in the Diocese of the
Rio Grande are or have been
involved in what is now called Christian Education, more commonly known as
Sunday School throughout the years.
As an institution, Sunday School has only been around since the
late 1700’s as a way to provide children who worked in the factories a day off
and the opportunity to learn “the 3 R’s” along with Bible stories. Samuel
Slater is credited with starting the first American Sunday School for children
working at his textile mill in Pawtucket, RI.
As churches moved west, they
took this idea of Sunday School education with them. Originally Sunday Schools
were an afternoon activity led by volunteers from a variety of denominations.
It wasn’t until the 1930’s that Sunday School became a Sunday morning standard
either in conjunction with or between Sunday morning worship services.
Often, Sunday school classes
were held in areas of the church that were also used for other activities. At
the Cathedral of St. John, for instance, the gymnasium of the new Parish House was used in the 1930’s and 40’s. Members
who attended then remember, “A blue canvas was rolled out over the basketball
court floor so that the students would not scratch it, and folding chairs were
set up” There was not any curriculum and one student recalled her sixth grade
teacher spending three weeks trying to teach virtue based on the Ten
Commandments.
Sunday School was also seen as a
missionary effort and many churches made special efforts to bring the Gospel to
children in their neighborhoods through Vacation
Bible School
and special programs. Churches had sports teams that competed with other
parishes and denominations. This did attract some new children to the church,
but often their parents simply dropped them off and went on about their
business until Sunday School was done.
By the 1950’s the National Episcopal Church was developing
curriculum. It was a series that would cover “The Church Teaches Holy Scripture; Chapters in Church History; The
Worship of the Church; The Church’s Faith; Christian Living; and The Church at
Work.” This was developed by a team of “more than 50 men and women,
recruited from all of the United States
and all sorts of situations.” This curriculum was slow in arriving, so teachers used curriculum from other denominations and publishers like Closely
Graded Press, Westminster Press, and the Pilgrim Press.
In the 1960’s a move started that allowed students to use “hymns
and lessons and prayers in language that the children can understand”. Slowly Sunday School became more child-friendly. Songs and puppet plays, flannel boards and dance were some of the ways the Gospel was taught. More and
more curriculum was developed over the years, including, as many remember “The
St. John’s Curriculum” written by Canon Ken Clark at the Cathedral in the 1980’s.
Over the years, the understanding has grown that children and young people do need their own area and curriculum, but they also must know that they are part of the total life of the church. Like this youngster helping bless a new nursery area, they long to be and love to feel included.
Sunday Schools now benefit from all the work of the
generations of Sunday School teachers who labored with just a love of children
and the Gospel to ‘train up the child in the way he should go.’ (Proverbs 22:6)
Each year new innovative curriculum are released for Sunday
Schools and Vacation
Bible Schools.
In this important area of ministry, we should remember to say thank you to
those volunteers among us who still lovingly take on the task of showing young
minds the ‘love of God in Christ’. (Romans 8:39)
If you are a Sunday School teacher or have been in the past,
thank you for your dedication. If you have stories about Sunday School growth
in your parish, please share it with us.