Sunday School

SUN., MAR. 8, 1987, 6:14 AM
FARM, STUDY

I have given you a title that does not seem to have promise for a regular length Teaching. So you commence in faith, knowing that I have great capacities but still having some doubts. You have had considerable experience in Sunday School. Wouldn’t comments upon this and upon this institution dedicated to Me (ideally) be appropriate on a Sabbath morn?

You remember Sunday School as a child with little detail but with good feelings. You did have beginning learnings about this Christian faith, and you were not strongly averse to going and being part of the group, even in high school. You know that this was not the true base for your present walk with Me and for your current acceptance of the faith, but it did play a role. It was a related experience and not a wasted one.

You taught Sunday School at Central Union years ago, and the memory of this is much like your own experience – rather dutiful, not very exciting, and not very spiritual. If you were teaching a 7th grade class today in your church you feel the experience would be quite similar, and you’re right. So… am I concerned?

I experience a range of approaches and responses to Sunday School. Your experiences were certainly not the best, but also not the worst. Some classes truly do shake and move with the Sunday morning experiences. A few kids truly turn to Me and remain to develop a mature walk with Me as a result of Sunday School, and this makes it worthwhile. I also know that some youngsters, like your own, are “turned off” by their Sunday experiences… and some stay away, even for a lifetime, as a result. Many do return, however, and eventually vindicate their teachers’ efforts.

Your experiences with adult classes has been more satisfying but still frustrating… until this present experience with My Teachings. Most adult Christians, in the churches of your experience, do not give much allegiance or much effort/attention to their Sunday educational opportunity. That is one reason why your present format works well – it is based in a single Teaching which they can read ahead of the class (and some do) but which is then both heard and read at the beginning of the class. It is the basis for the class session, something specific to which you can return.

The most important reason for your present relative success, however, is the fact that these Teachings do come to you from Me, the Holy Spirit. Thus, as you have observed, they have a spirit inherent that does engage people in thought and in dialogue. I do continue to urge you to use a little more variety in your teaching approach… but at the same time I accept that your usual approach is a good one. Continue to let Me guide you in the choice of Teachings, knowing that I also can work through the preferences of the group.