Children and Sunday School

"The sixth graders in my confirmation class don't even know the story of Jonah and the Whale! What are you teaching these kids in Sunday school?" a concerned pastor asks. "I have enough trouble making the kids behave! How am I supposed to teach them anything?" the overwhelmed Sunday school teacher replies. "Well, have you tried the new curriculum materials I sent you? There are a lot of games and crafts and other fun activities in there for the children to do," the pastor suggests. "Well, I pulled my child out of Sunday school because that's all they do there is play games and make crafts! I thought you were supposed to be teaching the Bible?" a mother remarks indignantly.

While this conversation is purely fictional, many of us who have been involved in any way with the elementary-aged Sunday school classes of today can probably identify with the people involved. Everyone seems to have their own opinion of what is wrong with today's Sunday school. Many people seem to be divided between what I would like to call "Old School" and "New School" styles of teaching.

The "old school" method is very traditional, and is the style that I was used to while growing up. Students gather in a main room, sing a few easy hymns and/or children's Bible songs, take up an offering, celebrate birthdays, and have a prayer. After which, the students go to their individual classrooms. In the classrooms, the students first learn the Bible story for the day. Depending on age level, it is either read for them, or they read it out loud for themselves from either a handout or from a Children's Bible. The memory verse for the week is taught. Children are rewarded for remembering verses from previous weeks. The children sit and color or talk for the remainder of the class period until their parents pick them up.