In 2006, more than 2,200 members of Mennonite Church USA completed the Mennonite Member Profile, a survey of beliefs and practices. This profile was a follow-up to two previous studies conducted in 1972 and 1989. Included in the profile was a question about an individual’s frequency of Sunday school attendance.

Fewer Mennonites are in Sunday school today than in the past. In 1972, 85 percent of Mennonites reported being in Sunday school about “half the time” or more. Today, 67 percent of Mennonites attend at about the same rate (two to three times a month or more). Additional findings about Sunday school attendance today include the following:

Age: Younger people are less likely to attend Sunday school regularly than older people. Fifty percent of Mennonites between the ages of 18 and 25 attend regularly compared with 75 percent of those older than 65 years of age.

Region: In the South, 78 percent of Mennonites attend Sunday school regularly compared with 74 percent in the East, 62 percent in the Midwest, and 52 percent in the West.
Religion’s importance: Those who identify their religious beliefs as the “most important thing in their life” are more likely to attend Sunday school regularly (75 percent) than those whose religious beliefs are less important (63 percent).

Born again: Seventy-two percent of Mennonites who are “born again” attend Sunday school regularly compared with 45 percent of those who do not identify themselves as “born again.”
Devotional practices: Among those who pray daily, 79 percent attend Sunday school regularly, while among those who pray several times a week, 62 percent are regular Sunday school attenders. But among those who pray only once a week, only 52 percent attend Sunday school regularly.

On the other hand, those who read their Bible daily are no more likely to attend Sunday school regularly (77 percent) than those who read their Bible several times a week (75 percent attend regularly) or only once a week (76 percent attend regularly). Among those who read the Bible less than once a week, however, Sunday school attendance drops dramatically.

Relationship with congregation: Among those who completely agree that their congregation is very important to them, 76 percent attend Sunday school regularly. Among those who mostly agree that their congregation is very important to them, 61 percent attend regularly.

Friends in the congregation: Attendance at Sunday school is associated with the number of “closest” friends one has in the congregation. Among those with none of their closest friends in the congregation, 50 percent attend Sunday school regularly. Among those with even one of their closest friends in the congregation, however, 66 percent attend Sunday school regularly.

And among those who could identify between two and five of their closest friends in their congregation, 72-77 percent attend Sunday school regularly.

Commitment to the congregation: Those with very strong levels of commitment to the congregation are more likely to attend Sunday school regularly (77 percent) compared with 60 percent of those who are somewhat strongly committed to their local congregation.
The Mennonite: Seventy-nine percent of those who read The Mennonite attend Sunday school regularly compared with 62 percent of those who do not.

These findings suggest that Sunday school attendance is related to at least three factors: (1)demographic variables, including age and region; (2) variables of religiosity, including the importance of one’s beliefs, devotional practices and being born again; (3)connection to one’s local congregation, including the number of friends one has in the congregation.

Interesting questions that emerge from these findings include: Why are younger Mennonites less engaged in Sunday school? Why do variations exist across regions of the United States? Does Sunday school attendance strengthen one’s spiritual life or is it the other way around? Is one’s relationship with a congregation enhanced by Sunday school attendance, or is Sunday school attendance the result of a strong relationship to one’s congregation? The bottom line is that Sunday school attendance, one’s spiritual life and one’s relationship with the congregation reinforce and strengthen one another.

Conrad L. Kanagy, author of Road Signs for the Journey: A Profile of Mennonite Church USA, is associate professor of sociology at Elizabethtown (Pa.) College and an ordained minister in Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite Conference.