It is mid-morning on a typical Sunday – and literally tens of millions of Americans are engaged in a common activity. No, they are not tailgating for their favorite professional football team. And no, they are not slumbering in bed before arising for a late morning brunch.
It is mid-morning on a typical Sunday – and
literally tens of millions of Americans are engaged in a common
activity. No, they are not tailgating for their favorite professional
football team. And no, they are not slumbering in bed before arising
for a late morning brunch.
Instead, they are gathering in small, often
non-descript rooms in some 300,000 churches around the nation for a
weekly offering of Bible study. They are attending Sunday School.
“The rumors of Sunday School’s imminent demise are
greatly exaggerated,” said David Kinnaman, director of a recent Barna
Research Group study of the program. “Every weekend, more than 300,000
churches offer some type of systematic religious instruction in a
classroom setting – and those programs are attended by nearly 45
million adults and more than 22 million youth and children.”
“In fact, nearly nine out of every 10 pastors said
they consider Sunday School to be an important part of their church’s
ministry,” Kinnaman continued.
In other words, despite decades of cultural and
demographic shifts, Sunday School still is going strong, thank you very
much.
On the national level, Kinnaman’s survey of 614
Protestant pastors found that 95 percent of their churches offer some
sort of Sunday School that presents Bible instruction. The number
represents little change from eight years ago, when researchers found
97 percent of Protestant churches offering Sunday School.
“While churches are often divided along
denominational, theological and methodological lines, the research
points out that Sunday School remains one of the most-widely-embraced
ministry programs,” Kinnaman noted in his recently-released study.
Among Louisiana Baptist churches, the number likely
is even higher, said Jim Gifford, director of church growth and Sunday
School for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Indeed, Gifford said he
thinks 99.5 percent of Louisiana Baptist churches offer some form of
Sunday School each week. Overall, Louisiana Baptist churches report a
total Sunday School enrollment of more than 272,000 persons.
“Look at how long Sunday School has been around,”
Gifford pointed out. “It began in the 1700s in London as a means of
reaching children. It came to America in the 1800s and moved through
all the changes of the country.
“We always go back to Sunday School. It continues to
be the ministry program churches look to for sustained growth.”
Still, despite its remarkable stability, Sunday
School is not immune to change, Kinnaman reports in his study.
“While many aspects of Sunday School remain
constant, there are significant changes bubbling beneath the surface,”
a report of Kinnaman’s study notes.
The study identifies three trends:
• A lessening priority
Kinnaman’s study found just 15 percent of pastors
consider Sunday School their church’s highest priority. That is a drop
from previous years – the high mark came in 2002, when 22 percent of
pastors cited Sunday School as the top priority.
Pastors least likely to give priority to Sunday
School included those in mainline churches (8 percent), those under 40
years of age (10 percent) and those leading caucasian congregations (12
percent).
Those most likely to emphasize Sunday School as the
highest priority were pastors of African-American churches (37
percent), pastors of Baptist churches (23 percent), pastors who have
tenures of 20 years or more (23 percent), pastors of charismatic
churches (21 percent) and pastors age 59 or older (21 percent).
• A shrinking emphasis
Kinnaman also found that fewer churches are offering
Sunday School for the youngest and oldest children. The number of
churches offering Sunday School for children under age two fell from 79
percent in 1997 to 73 percent this year. And the number offering Sunday
School for children ages two to five fell from 94 percent to 88 percent.
In turn, the number of churches offering Sunday
School for junior high students dropped from 93 percent to 86 percent
in the last eight years. The number offering Sunday School for high
school students fell from 86 percent to 80 percent.
Those numbers represent about 20,000 churches for each age group.
The most-common Sunday School offering is for
children in grades one through six and adults. More than 90 percent of
churches reported offering classes for those age groups.
• A move to customize
The most noticeable shift in Sunday School is the
move of churches to customize curriculum, Kinnaman reported. About 18
percent of churches now create their own curriculum for elementary-age
classes, a jump from 10 percent in 1997.
Again, younger pastors are showing the most
inclination to experiment with curriculum, as well as pastors in thew
West. Since these two groups are viewed as trendsetters,
the move to customize materials likely is to grow, Kinnaman said.
Even so, a majority of churches (52 percent) still
stick with Sunday School materials from their own denomination, the
report indicated. Also, Southern Baptists are among those least likely
to experiment with customizing curriculum – only 4 percent of churches
reported doing so in the study.
All in all, the changes seem to be more about form than function, Kinnaman said.
“It appears as though churches are moving toward a
‘label-less’ future, …” he noted. “They will continue to prioritize
Christian education but not necessarily Sunday School.”
However, Kinnaman also said it bears watching where
younger pastors lead Sunday School. “They seem more open to new methods
and approaches and less driven by tradition or program loyalty. Many
(younger) pastors possess a means-to-an-end perspective, … which
suggests the churches they lead will be more apt to adopt innovations
in spiritual training.”
That is key as churches face an changing scene, Kinnaman said.
“Many pastors are coming to realize that ministry to
children must be one of – if not the – preeminent emphases of their
church,” he suggested. “Ministry to children is highly strategic. …
Without compromising the gospel, Sunday School and
other forms of Christian education must continue to adapt to be
effective in this ever-changing environment.”
Gifford agreed with key findings of the study,
noting he has seen some evidence of a lessening priority for Sunday
School in some Louisiana Baptist churches.
“We’re seeing some results of that here,” he noted.
“However, I believe we’re beginning to have an effect there, helping to
encourage pastors to see a new significance of Sunday School.”
Gifford also agreed many younger pastors do not see
the value of Sunday School. “Many see Sunday School as a dinosaur
headed to extinction,” he acknowledged. “But look how long Sunday
School has continued to be there. And many pastors who see worship as a
front door to reaching people soon realize the back door’s wide open
because they haven’t placed an emphasis on Sunday School, on teaching
and developing new church members.”
Actually, Sunday School’s longevity may be part of
the problem, leading people to take it for granted, Gifford said.
Also, many do not understand how vital Sunday School
can be, Gifford added. “We see it as a teaching tool not a means of
growing the church,” he said. “But to do that we have to develop an
intentional Sunday School to reach people, train members and engage
them in ministry.”
Gifford said he believes more pastors are changing
their views and understanding the importance of Sunday School. “There’s
not another ministry in the church that embraces the Great Commission
as wholly as Sunday School does.”
But the key to assuring that function is
intentionality, Gifford continued. Churches must take definite steps to
emphasize – and utilize – Sunday School, he said.
First of all, pastors must make a commitment to
Sunday School – “must attach an importance to it,” Gifford insisted.
Second, pastors must mentor and train Sunday School leaders, Gifford noted.
Third, church must organize Sunday School for more
than just teaching, Gifford said It also must be used to mobilize
members for evangelism and ministry.
“That’s our whole goal,” Gifford emphasized. “Our
purpose is to develop healthy Sunday Schools that reach lost people,
train church members and mobilize believers for ministry.”
One way to do that is to integrate Sunday School,
worship and church ministry so all are focused on a single theme,
Gifford explained. In that approach, a church member would attend a
Sunday School class focused on a particular theme, hear a sermon on
that same theme and be presented with related ministry opportunities.
“More and more churches are seeing the value of
tying Sunday School and worship and ministry action around a theme,”
Gifford explained.
Whatever the approach, there are two undeniable facts, he indicated.
One is that Sunday School – properly utilized – can facilitate sustained church growth, Gifford said.
The second is that properly utilizing Sunday School is no quick fix or magic bullet – it takes commitment.
There’s no easy way to growth,” Gifford concluded.
“It takes work. But if you work at Sunday School, you can experience
sustained growth.”
(This article was written by LBM Associate Editor C.
Lacy Thompson. The Barna Research Group study cited has a margin
of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points. For Sunday School
resources and consultation, call Gifford at 800-622-6549 or
318-448-3402.)