Editorial

To continue growing in faith really does require more than Sunday school, as the title of our cover story says. But Sunday school is the framework onto which other important practices and spiritual disciplines can be added.

Apparently I was enrolled in Sunday school on my first day in church; I was a month old. An elaborately engraved certificate—discovered in a box of momentos my mother saved—records the occasion. The certificate (see below) reminded me how intentional our church has been about teaching the Bible to children and inculcating beliefs and practices we consider important. It also re-minded me that I have been attending Sunday school—with a few years off during college and in my 20s—for more than half a century.

My earliest memory of Sunday school was a lesson from Exodus 12: the first Passover when the angel of the Lord visited the households in Egypt and killed many firstborn children. But I took the story in a direction other than the one our teacher intended. I was intrigued by this business of killing first borns and fantasized about something like that happening again: My father was a firstborn, my mother was a first born and my older brother was a firstborn. If the angel of death came to my house, I would be in charge.

I also remember breaking into tears during one Bible lesson in the third grade class—ashamed of my tears even though I could not stop them. The lesson was about the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7. When I realized Stephen was killed because he loved Jesus, I started crying. My father, who was our teacher, dismissed the other children and patiently waited with me as I sobbed.

Over the past few years, the hour after worship in our congregation—now called Christian education—has held a variety of faith-shaping experiences. For several years my wife, Barbara, and I helped with a special worship experience designed for college students. These days, while our congregation is in a transition between lead pastors, that hour now involves listening to “teaching sessions” led by the transition minister.

The Christian education hour can offer many experiences. A creative congregation does well to let the needs of adults—at different life stages—determine how the time is spent. For example, some young adult parents find it most helpful to have a “life experiences class”—the name one group gave to their coffee time together in the fellowship hall to talk about anything.

As I grow older, I am drawn back to the structure and thoroughness of the Adult Bible Study curriculum. Each time we come to Exodus 12, the Passover story has meannings far more profound than it did when I first heard it.

There are other elements in spiritual formation beyond Christian education. I squeezed three years of seminary studies into 20 years and eventually received the M.Div. degree. Using an ancient spiritual growth tool—called the “enneagram”—was important for a life stage in my late 40s. Spiritual direction has been helpful at times.

But Sunday school is about Biblical literacy and the opportunity for interpretation in a hermeneutical community. If an adult Sunday school class is not growing, one or both of these dimensions is probably missing. Adults who assume they know everything they need to know about the Bible will not value additional literacy. This is unfortunate, since our Anabaptist tradition is based on the gathered church being the hermeneutical community—Christians blessed by God to examine, pray over and “rightly divide the Word,” to use Paul’s language in 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV).

Because the venerable institution of Sunday school still holds such an important place in congregational life, we asked two leaders to write about it. We hope their articles (here and here) will help you and your congregation reinforce the need for regular Christian education for everyone—from the cradle on.—ejt