The Case of the Disappearing Sunday School

It's a great mystery! All across our church, Sunday School students are disappearing. In the past 20 years, Sunday School enrollments have dropped by half (325,000 students preschool through grade 8 in 1994; just 153,000 students in 2014). Where have they gone?

Well, obviously, those 1994 students have grown up, but where are their younger siblings and children?

It is not just a global problem. I'll bet that, for you, it is also a local problem. It's not someone else's Sunday School that is disappearing, it is yours. What can you do?

Don't say, "Oh, well. It's just the way things go. Families are having fewer children." Even if it's true, there are still lots of families and lots of children out there.

Do tend the garden. Things improve when we give them our attention. Start a conversation with your friends in church, with parents, with church leaders, with your pastor. Encourage them to talk about, and advocate for more attention on Sunday School.

Continue to ask God's blessings on the teachers, students, families, and community, so that your Sunday School can be a place God's children are taught His Word!

Do It Now

You're in the first month of a new school year. The slate is fresh. Energy is high.

Sunday School Director, now is the time to . . .

• List every child in your congregation eligible for Sunday School. If they have attended already this month, send their parents a note or call them with thanks for their commitment to Christian education. If they have not yet attended, send their parents a note or call them, encouraging them to join the other families in your congregation who hear the Gospel each week in Sunday School.
• Check each Sunday School classroom for appropriate furniture, adequate storage, clean windows and floors, and a fresh coat of paint.
• Start plans for your children's Christmas service.
• Speak a public word of thanks for those who teach in your Sunday School.

Sunday School Teacher, now is the time to . . .

• List each child who is eligible for your class. Pray for each child. Note the ones who have attended in September.
• Introduce yourself to the parents of children who are attending. Invite their input on how their child learns best and is most readily motivated to be engaged in class.
• Introduce yourself to the parents of children who have not yet attended. Invite their children to join their peers in studying God's Word.
• Request a list of birthdays and Baptismal dates from parents or the church office.
• Start a weekly Sunday School class e-mail. Alert the parents to activities that went well last Sunday and to what lesson will be taught this Sunday.

Is that too much to do now, or this week? Then do one thing on your list this week, and do another one next week. It will be time well invested.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Are You Ready for Christmas?

If Sunday School has kicked off the fall quarter of lessons, can the children's Christmas service be far behind?

Here are some basics steps to take as you work toward Christmas!

Set a date! (Or dates!) My congregation often has scheduled two Sunday School Christmas presentations, one early on Christmas Eve and one on the Sunday before schools let out for Christmas break. This allowed families who were headed out of town for Christmas to participate. Curiously, the two services are nearly identical in size.

Select a program. This year CPH is releasing another service based on a favorite Christmas hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." You can get details here.

Prepare scripts and rehearsal CDs. Share the scripts and CDs with your teachers to distribute in class. With the publisher's permission, prepare a CD of songs the children should practice and send a copy home with each student or with the oldest child in each family. (CPH Christmas programs come with permission to duplicate such a CD for practice at home.)

Schedule rehearsal time. Work several weeks in advance and encourage your teachers not to spend too much class time on this project. Teaching the Gospel in Sunday School certainly comes first. Alert parents to ways their children can prepare at home.

Delegate key tasks. Volunteers are usually willing to tackle limited, one-time projects like duplicating material, arranging costumes, rounding up props, preparing banners or other visual aids, and helping supervise the children at rehearsals and presentations.

Publicize the event. Make sure that parents, grandparents, and congregation members know the dates and times of the presentations.

Conduct dress rehearsals. One or two Saturdays before the presentation, bring the children together for rehearsal and to run through the presentation. When we have two presentations, we would schedule two back-to-back rehearsals, one for each service.

Why go to all this trouble, you may ask? The annual children's Christmas service is an opportunity to teach one of the central events of Scripture in an event that engages visual, verbal, musical, and kinetic learners. It teaches the story of salvation. It teaches about the Church Year. It also gives your children an opportunity to share the Gospel with their families, friends, congregation, and community.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!