Why Have Summer Sunday School?

I don't have hard data, but based on our experience here at Concordia Publishing House, it seems that substantial numbers of congregations "take a break" from Sunday School during the summer months. The reasoning for this generally invokes things like "families are always gone," "kids disappear during the summer," or "we can't find enough people to teach." These can be serious challenges. They will require work to overcome, perhaps hard work. Why bother? I can think of three reasons!

1. Children (and adults) still need to hear the Gospel.
God's Word is His promised source of life and strength for His people. We don't "take a break" from eating, or drinking, or breathing during the summer. What would we take a break from God's Word?

2. It is easier to maintain inertia.
Eighty percent of our effort often goes into getting something moving (especially my wheelbarrow full of dirt). Taking the summer off kills Christian education inertia. It speaks loudly about a relatively low priority for Sunday School, as opposed to trips to the lake. It lets families "get out of the habit" of spending two hours at church each weekend.

3. Visitors are plentiful.
Large numbers of families relocate during the summer while their children are out of school. These families are looking for new church homes and making decisions about where to re-establish roots. They are looking for churches that will meet the whole families' spiritual needs. They are looking for churches with great Sunday Schools. "Well, we don't have that right now, but if you come back in a couple of months . . ." won't impress them.

Will you have Sunday School this summer? Why? (or why not?)

How will you sell your choice?

Theology Added?

I hear it all the time from Christian education leaders in LCMS congregations: "I use [insert the name of a non-Lutheran publisher] material and add the Lutheran theology." Do they? Really?

Forget for a moment that LCMS congregations pledge as members of the snyod to use only doctrinally approved worship and education resources. How do you add Lutheran theology to heterodox material? A non-Lutheran lesson begins with a non-Lutheran premise, sets non-Lutheran goals and weaves them tightly into the lesson plan, and is designed from start to finish to teach something that is not Lutheran. A heterodox lesson with Lutheran theology added will still be a heterodox lesson.

Lay leaders in our congregations might be forgiven for not realizing this and should be instructed. Pastors, DCEs, and other professional church workers should know better.

Editing Christian education materials for theological content is very hard work. I know. I also admit that I am biased. I am not objective on this point. But it seems far easier to me to add the kind of creative activities you think a lesson lacks than to "add the Lutheran theology."

Am I missing something? Does what we teach on Sunday morning really matter?

Planning Can Combat Summer Slump

The Sunday School Revolutionary, Darryl Wilson, writes an interesting post about this subject. You can read it here, but let me share some of his thoughts and some of my own.

Why a Slump?
The Sunday School Revolutionary suggests these:

vacations

family visits

children's summer sports leagues

recreational outings, such as a weekend at the lake

late Saturday evening activities

Add to that all the normal reasons that families have difficulty making it to Sunday School consistently (the lure of the mattress, going out for breakfast, split custody of children, and more) and the problem magnifies.

What Can You Do?
Mr. Wilson offers a great list of ideas for combating the slump:

Invite your absentees each week.

Implement Saturday night calling of every member, guest, and prospect.

Focus on inviting guests every week.

Have a class or Sunday School-wide photo Sunday and work to have the whole class present.

Conduct a contact contest during one month or the entire summer between two halves of your Sunday School.

Plan a meal and fellowship immediately after Sunday School and worship.

Have a teacher/worker appreciation Sunday and encourage members to bring appreciation gifts to teachers/workers.

Provide breakfast; food is a guaranteed attraction. 

What Should You Avoid?

Skipping the lesson is a no-no; teaching the Gospel is the reason for Sunday School, so don't fail to provide substance.

Pass on videos of talking vegetables who teach moralism instead of salvation.

Don't leave the parents without an attractive study alternative; if the parents come to Sunday School, so will the kids.

Don't focus on unsustainable activities; water games will be fun, but unless you are going to do it every week, you will wind up disappointing your attendees somewhere down the line (also see the first item in this category).

Here's the point in a nutshell: you know that summer will present challenges for your Sunday School. Plan now (okay, it's almost too late) to combat the forces of attrition by creating reasons for families, students, and staff to be excited about Sunday School all summer long. Whatever investment you make is bound to pay off in more opportunities to teach God's children His Word.

What are the most common reasons your members will miss Sunday School this summer?

How will you combat Sunday School slump this summer?

Let's Review

Last week I wrote about "Sticky Lessons." A key point in that post was that repetition and review are important tools for making lessons stick, for moving information from short-term to long-term memory.

Did You Review?
So, let me ask, when you taught your most recent Sunday School lesson, did you review the lesson from the week before? Did you place the lesson you were teaching into the context of the Bible's narrative in a way that made sense? (A very different task for teaching three-year-olds than for teaching preteens.) After teaching the Bible account did you review it in some way before the end of the session, perhaps by letting the students retell the account while acting it out or creating a drawing about the event and telling their classmates about their picture? Or by playing a review game with the Bible Review Cards (part of every lesson in the Growing in Christ middle and upper grades materials)? Or by simply asking informational and analytical questions?

If You Reviewed
If you review the Bible account as part of your lesson last week, you increased the likelihood that your students will remember the key point and basic facts of the lesson next week, or next month, or the next time they encounter that lesson some day in the future. Good job!

If You Did Not Review
Plan now to include review in your next lesson plan. You and your students will be glad you did. It is sometimes difficult to include review. It may mean not doing something else in the precious window time you have available. But it is worth it! It is one of the significant ways you can make those lessons stick!

God bless you as you make His Word stick in the hearts and lives of His children!