Summer brings new challenges for Sunday School. Sometimes teachers become scarce. Those who have taught faithfully for nine months take a break. Replacing them is often a struggle. Attendance may sag; families go away on vacation, or just take a vacation from church.
Some congregations pack it in; keeping Sunday School functioning is just too much work, they say. But then they have to start all over again in the fall. Some congregations go the summer entertainment route: puppet shows, magicians, and videos featuring talking vegetables and graceless moralism. But I also know that many congregations press on, continuing to offer their standard Sunday School classes come what may. And I know of many that take the summer as a chance to do something new, site rotation, intergenerational classes, and the like---but with a continued emphasis on Law and Gospel, such theological and pedagogical content.
CPH's Growing in Christ summer material can be taught in a traditional classroom setting, but adapts wonderfully to a site rotation format. The first week of June, my wife and I (well, mostly my wife) taught over 30 first through fifth graders by ourselves and it went fine. (Thankfully, more volunteers have stepped up as summer has progressed.)
How is it going where you serve?
What is your biggest summer challenge?
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