In my role as senior editor for Sunday School materials at Concordia Publishing House, I get a bit of mail. Today brought an anonymous letter from a concerned retired teacher. Her concern is that Sunday School not teaching sufficiently what the Bible says on the issue of homosexuality.
We more often get correspondence on the other side of this issue, from teachers who are uncomfortable with teaching lessons that touch on sexuality issues (David's sin with Bathsheba, for example, or Joseph fleeing the advances of Potiphar's wife).
What age is an appropriate time for Sunday School lessons that include discussion of things things? I suspect it might be different for different topics: adultery, homosexuality, dating and marriage, and others. I also suspect that there might be some regional a differences, congregations more comfortable teaching such things at different ages.
What would your teachers be comfortable with?
I will confess that to considerable caution. The best place for these discussions is in the Christian home. A child's parents have a responsibility, as well as the most natural opportunities, to teach these things.
At most any age, the Church can teach about sin, including sins of a sexual nature, in the most general way: these are reasons that each of us needs a Savior, and sins for which Christ died. Beyond that, I'd be willing to stay out of the sexuality subjects completely.
This is another area where teachers will need to be the final editor. You know what your students need to know, and you know what their parents will expect of you in your role as the Sunday School teacher for their children. A curriculum's inclusion of such topics, or their omission, does not intend to force you into uncomfortable discussions.
God's blessings as you teach His children His Word!
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