What Is the Value of Sunday School?

What is your Sunday School for? How you answer that question will guide all the critical decisions about Sunday School.

• Many congregations are facing tight budgets in these tough economic times. Every expenditure, including the cost of Sunday School material, is being reconsidered with at an eye to saving money. Perhaps they will look at a different, less expensive Sunday School curriculum.
• A publisher has mailed an attractive flyer to your Sunday School director featuring their new curriculum. It looks fun, interesting (which is the job of such a flyer). Some teachers are all in favor of trying it out. Should you?
• A parent reports that it is difficult to get her child to attend Sunday School; the child says it is boring. He would rather be signed up for the city soccer league and be out on the field on Sunday mornings. You wonder whether some new style of Sunday School would make it more attractive to families with similar issues.

If your Sunday School is in competition in family schedules with other activities as a form of entertainment, a nice opportunity to have fun with friends, someone has missed the point. It is unlikely that your Sunday School can compete in this arena, and I wonder why you would want to.

Sunday School is valuable as an agency that assists families with the spiritual nurture of the children and adults in those families. It is a place where the proclamation and study of God's Word combats the forces of sin, death, and Satan, offering grace and forgiveness for those burdened by guilt and mired in sin. Sunday School, seen in that way, offers far more than any game of soccer.

If that is not what your Sunday School does, change is in order. If that is not how Sunday School is perceived by the families of your congregation, it is time to get that message out. Sunday School is an opportunity for God's children to see Jesus and know the salvation He came to win for us on the cross.

That kind of Sunday School will not be in competition with soccer, will not be evaluated only the basis of fun, and will more likely be seen as worth the cost.

How do we communicate the real value of Sunday School to the families we serve? What tips can you share for presenting that message?

God's blessings as you teach His children His Word.