An Effective Sunday School in the Midst of 21St Century: Sunday School Is Perhaps the Best-Structured Agency in the Local Church for Effectively Carrying out the Teaching Ministry of Christ.

Copyright © 2022 Stephene Timothée Loremy.

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-6843-2 (sc)

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ISBN: 978-1-6642-6842-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022910667

WestBow Press rev. date: 6/28/2022

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1     The Challenge of Sunday school

Chapter 2     Organizing the Sunday school

Chapter 3     Discipline Includes Follow-Up

Chapter 4     Responsibility of Sunday school Superintendents

Chapter 5     Training Teachers to Reach the Lost for Jesus Christ

Chapter 6     Recruiting Teachers for Sunday School for Generation

Chapter 7     Methodology of Teaching the Sunday School

Chapter 8     The Sunday school Curriculum Development

Chapter 9     The Sunday School Patterns

Chapter 10   Future Remarks of Sunday school

Conclusion

References

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the Lord who give me the strength to accomplish this great work. I would like to thank my family upon this effort. And also, I would like to present my gratitude toward WestBow Press for their kindness and faithfulness that make my dream a reality throughout the world.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all my friends and families who were more than generous with their expertise and precious time for me. Special thanks to venite Loremy, my wife, Faith Loremy, and Stephen Loremy Jr. I would like to acknowledge all my mentors and sponsors of any kind with countless hours of reflecting, reading, encouraging, and most of all patience throughout the entire process of my research. I would like to thank the superintendents of Sunday school from my church, who are allowing me to teach for around two decades. Throughout those years, I have to learn and understand the challenges that Sunday schools are facing around the world. Special thanks go to Stephene Loremy Ministries for their continued support. I must acknowledge as well all of friends, colleagues, students, Sunday school teachers, Sunday school superintendent, and all members of a church that I had been for three decades.

The purpose of Sunday school

Sunday school is an institution where people can receive education both for eternal and material life. Sunday school education has evolved over couple centuries ago and was established under Robert Raikes knowledge in 1780. Sunday school has fallen on hard times recently. In the 1980 many pastors had seen that the Sunday school as an antique that needed to be gotten rid of like other old-fashioned programs like prayer meetings and Sunday evening services. As church goes up to multiple worship services, an increasing number of parents sent their kids to Sunday school as a baby-sitting service, while many attended worships then after an hour they all went home. Many other people considered the Sunday schools as providing common masses with an opportunity to study the Bible (Cagno, 200).

The Sunday school education is always included a comprehensive study of the Bible. It intends to imbibe in the minds of the people, the principles and philosophies stated in the Bible. One of the primary purposes of the Sunday school is to teach the Bible to the students. Teaching aims at instilling in the minds of the students, faith in God and teaching them the principles, which Christ adhered to. The education imparted on Sunday schools is generally intended to promote Christian fellowship with any ethnicity backgrounds in such color, race, and gender. It evangelizes the common people, thereby promoting the spread of Christianity around the world. It intents at bringing people from different strata of society together. And also, it aims at uniting the people under one common umbrella called Christianity. The preaching of Jesus Christ is shared with the common masses, and they are encouraged to adhere to His principles. Sunday school also is meant to teach the common people, the principles of social service. Sunday schools are about teaching people to be concerned towards society and work for its betterment. It is about encouraging people to be positive in life and imbibe optimism in those around them. It is about instilling in the young minds, love and care towards others in society.

Chapter 1

The Challenge of Sunday school

The purpose of the Sunday school is to teach the word of God; its power bringing about the spread of justice and equality in society. It aims at developing a society that believes in living with peace and harmony. Sunday schools aim at helping people from all age groups to adopt the principles of God. Sunday school education intends to teach people the ways to adhere to ideals in life. At times, this involves the teaching of scriptures from the bible. Learning what the bible has to say helps people meet with God. Enabling the connection of common man with God is a primary purpose of Sunday schools. They aim at bringing about a spiritual development of their students. The purpose of Sunday schools is indeed worthy. One must not ignore the fact that Sunday schools offer the group an opportunity to be a part of the mission of Christianity to establish equality, peace, and harmony in society. They aim at the creation of a society based on the principles of Christ and serve as excellent platforms to move closer to God.

Some pastors resented preparing teachers presiding over their own little congregation on Sunday school classes and competed with them, hoping they would die out. In the 1980s and 1990s small groups of ministers were introduced as a candidates to reject the Sunday school. Though they still have not yet eclipsed the Sunday school. As churches constructed new buildings, the high cost of classroom space caused many to reduce the number of classrooms and others to eliminate classes altogether and go to all-worship programs. When an increasing number of lawsuits were filed for sexual abuse of children related to churches, boards started reorganizing small classes into larger and larger gatherings where forty or sixty or even one hundred children attended Sunday school classes, which became more like worship services. Researchers found that, Sesame Street performances or concerts than the intimate small groups of children with a teacher-who-knew-their-name of the past; however, another thing changed in the 1960s. In the mid1960s the first question parents always asked their children after the church was, What did you learn at Sunday school? During the years 1960 through 1970 this case changed. Parents began to ask their children at the door of the classrooms, Did you guys have fun? Perhaps more than any other shift, this controversy has affected the direction of today’s Sunday schools. In the past, most parents were worried about their children Sunday school education.

At the dawning of the industrial era, in the late 1700s, about the time of the United States Revolutionary war, England had an enormous underclass of poor people who had moved from the countryside to the city to work in factories. There was at least one workshop in Gloucester that manufactured pins. Children as young as eight-years-old worked six days a week in gross surroundings for a pittance. When their tiny hands got caught in a gear and cut off, the children were simply dumped on the streets and new workers were hired. That time was hard for young children who did not have parents to maintain or satisfy their needs. There was no direct schooling. Education was considered a stock (not a communal) goods. If they had enough money, they sent their children to school. If parents were poor, their children did not learn to read and write They were probably destined to a life of poverty.

In the growing industrial society, the poor never seemed able to climb out of their abject poverty. Robert Raikes came up with the idea of having a Sunday school level where he would have a better chance to help those who were unable to read and record their own words. The Raikes idea was worked in different areas by findings from a survey of 1997, which showed the influence of Sunday school attendees

—49 percent experienced increased personal devotions.

—44 percent said they had increased personal prayer life.

—35 percent said they became more actively involved in discipleship.

—27 percent said they became more actively involved in personal evangelism.

The challenge throughout Sunday school. Today’s challenge text is the Sunday school teacher in the 21st century and how to overcome this challenge. We accept many challenges every day in our jobs, home, school, relationships with family and friends, and with our spiritual life. We can accept these challenges in one of two ways. We can view them as inhibiting and complain about it, or we can see challenges as opportunities to grow into the person God made us to be. God uses these factors and challenges to help us improve our customer. According to (New International Version, I Peter 4:10, 11) "each one [Christian] should use whatever gifts to help others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the precise words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. There are several different types of challenges will be discussed throughout section one.

Teaching From the Book and Making the Curriculum Relevant

As teachers, there is so much information we are capable of imparting to the kids. However, when we are a part of Sunday school, we cannot teach whatever we want. If we have made a decision as a Sunday school teacher, then the responsibility of following the prescribed curriculum is compulsory. We use the Sunday school records as a guide; it’s our job to creatively impart that knowledge and provide insight based on the size of our kids. A child today is modern, inquisitive, sharp, remarkably open and challenging. The concepts in the book are essentially the same concepts that are relevant to students today, so saying the book is dated, difficult to believe, or not kid-friendly is not true. The challenge lies in taking those concepts and creating meaning that is suitable for students. Some churches do not actually have a standard or even a curriculum for teaching Sunday school classes.

For example, if we develop and chat in our class without knowing our students and without making the grade presentation appropriate to our students, it will be of no interest. The visitors may feel the same way when we start talking about our current lesson. Even though we remember the lesson from the book sounds pretty relatable to the kids —they’re able to read their own and understand all its meanings—the reality is they may not know how to connect it to their life and their experiences without guidance. We must be able to explain it in their terms and their language. Revamp the curriculum, take the time to research legal ways/strategies to teach lessons for a particular age group and know their developmental age.

What physical, emotional, and social changes are they going through at this age?

What are some things they deal with at school, with friends, teachers, parents, and in their home? What are their thoughts on God, the bible, their prayer life, and their faith? What is their personality like? Observe them with their friends and family. We must find some background information on each of our children so we know how to care for and teach them. How can we use this information and attach it into a lesson? How can we use this information and limit God into their lives?

What I did on the first day of Sunday school (as most teachers may adjust) is ask each student to tell the group a little about themselves—their school, the challenges they currently face, and what they want, and what they dislike. They suddenly realized that by taking an interest in each one of them, I’ve already shown I want. They may not know this, but I’ve already won most of their attention. Teachers … will better communicate truth when they are willing to go into the worlds of their students (Shepherding Ministry Resources, 1999).

The Ability to Make the Spiritual Curriculum Interesting

The kids live in a highly dynamic field, full of video games, fast cars, fast Internet, cell phones, music devices, movies, TV, sports, etc … They’ve experienced excellent teachers in the public education system that is passionate about students and teaching. For this reason, many students love coming to class. They have so much fun around them; even faith is entertaining for them. Then they come to Sunday school where they listen to a 45-minute lesson from a teacher who pretty much reads the text from the book with a few isolated personal interjections. When during these 45 minutes do 2nd grade students continue to act out a story? When during these 45 minutes does the 11th grade level use conduct a live debate? When, during these 45 minutes are the students genuinely interested in what’s being taught? Has God come alive to them? It’s extremely difficult to compete with the fast-paced, exciting world outside of Sunday school. However, our God is not stupid or lifeless. It is a true God from beginning to the end. He is exciting! The Bible is powerful! When we talk about Christ others, He should come alive! Take in interest in the subject matter. Research it and find strength in the subject. Know more than our kids! Allow your tone of voice, body language and nonverbal cues to convey a sense of excitement. It’s fairly straightforward to listen to someone who is monotone and does not indicate a sense of passion, well for God. Break the monotony of the period in creative ways by stretching, engaging in an activity, singing a song, or allowing someone else to show for a day (even a novice). Sunday school is not just rote memorization of Bible verses and stories, rather, it is teaching the Bible in such a way that lives are changed. That is the right teaching of Sunday school.

Worldly view Versus Christian Value

Students, come to us with many world influences/values, and they’re looking for knowledge