I sat in a meeting the other night. The group was discussing Sunday School and how to draw people into Sunday School classes. They were bemoaning the fact that its the same 30 people that attend every week and no one new ever comes. So, they spent some time coming up with ideas of 'catchy' classes to draw people in. Then, they discussed how they point-blank ask some people in their 30's to join class and get turned down. I heard that "it is a spiritual maturity issue" and that people won't come until they learn that they "need" to come. So we need to spend time teaching people that to be a 'good' Christian, one must come to Sunday School.
After listening to all this for entirely too long, I finally had to speak up. I made my confession. I hate Sunday School. It doesn't have anything thing to do with the teachers or classes. I just don't enjoy Sunday School. I haven't for years...long before we started attending here. I teach our second hour 10 months out of the year so that I don't have to attend Sunday School. Teaching is much more enjoyable. Honestly, in the 2-month break I just had, I went to Sunday School once. One time in nine weeks...isn't that a lovely example to set?!
The reality is that people that do see the need for church don't necessarily see the need for Sunday School. "Sunday School" implies that you are going to school to learn on a Sunday. Let's face it...I can learn about Jesus any day of the week. I can read my Bible. I can listen to guys on the radio, internet or tv. I can pick up a great book to stimulate my Christian thinking. I don't need to do that necessarily on Sunday morning. My brain gets stimulated in church. The service typically gives me something spiritual to mull over for the next few days. I don't need more to contemplate...that just clutters my brain and makes me forget something that I wanted to ponder.
Besides, most families have two working parents. Most families have very busy (potentially over-scheduled) children. Most weeks are filled to the brim with working, eating, homework and extracurricular activities. Saturdays are filled with the chores (laundry and groceries) and social obligations and maybe a bit of fun squeezed in, if a family is fortunate. Is it really a surprise that after scrambling to get everyone out the door for church on a Sunday morning that a family is just ready to go home and relax for a few hours after service? They haven't sat in the house together all week long. Maybe they haven't eaten a meal around a table all week long. If a families leaves after first service, they would be home by 11. It is *relatively* easy to get a meal ready for the family to enjoy if you are home by 11. We typically get home at 1. If lunch isn't in the crockpot or a bunch of leftovers, we don't eat until 2...that is not a relaxing afternoon nor pleasant. The idea of forcing a family to stay for Sunday School knowing that it will destroy (or make it unpleasant because of hunger issues) the little family time that they have within a week does not sit well with me.
At our church, one cannot use the justification that the children need to be in Sunday School to persuade parents to stay. All children to grade 5 attend Sunday School during service. No pull for the parents to have them repeat the same lesson and stay another hour. I am not opposed to Sunday School during church but it just furthers the reason that people in my generation do not stay for Sunday School. The youth group kids will get a lesson in the evening...so they will eventually get a lesson especially geared for them, also.
Now, I think Sunday School serves a purpose to those that attend and enjoy attending it. I'm not saying that we throw the whole idea out the window and stop offering classes. But seriously, we need to be realistic. We aren't going to attract very many new people to a Sunday School program...that is not what the culture is looking for. I don't think we've ever had a new member come to our church because of our stellar adult Sunday school program. We need good, solid classes that the 30 people that attend will enjoy and learn from but we aren't going to recruit new faces. We need to stop spending 1.5 hours discussing the problem that has no solutions. We need small groups meeting throughout the week to encourage each other, strengthen each other and build each other. We need more groups that meet at different times to meet the scheduling needs of the members. Spending hours discussing the problem of Sunday School attendance...that is futile. Building a vibrant small group ministry...that has potential.
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