Below is food for thought. An opinion piece from Episcopal News Service about options for Sunday Schools in urban areas. There may be some merit to this idea.
The Sunday School of the Future, Proposed
By Mary Jane Wilkie, June 01, 2010
[Episcopal News Service] In metropolitan areas, many Episcopal churches struggle with building and maintaining a healthy Sunday school. For such churches, resources are few, space is scarce, and parents are unclear about what they want for their children. Most churches lack a corps of competent teachers, and some congregations are too small to offer the "critical mass" needed to recruit such a corps.
I propose that, rather than wrestle with obstacles individually, churches could work collectively. Those in a specific geographic area could establish a center for children's spiritual development, to serve that area's churches on Sunday. Parents could leave their children at the center, and worship in the church of their choice, thus seeing to their own spiritual growth.
The collective Sunday school would offer as many as three hours of programming (as opposed to the skimpy 30-60 minutes available to children in most churches). It would include lessons, activities, and a children's chapel, which parents could attend with their children if they chose.
Potential benefits of this arrangement are:
• Children would have a stable place to grow spiritually.
• The space could be one that accommodates children (rather than whatever is carved out of the existing adult space in most churches).
• Parents could have a time to attend to their own spiritual growth.
• Children would enjoy greater diversity in their interaction with other children.
• The pooling of resources would enable staffing by trained (even paid) teachers.
• The facility would be open to neighborhood children, thus offering a service to the community.
The anticipated objections need not be fatal to the idea:
Parents and children could not worship together: Parents would be free to join their offspring in children's chapel, and they could retrieve their children at any time of the morning for worship elsewhere.
Location: To avoid the impression that it is the Sunday school of one particular church, the facility could even be a non-church, e.g., a school or a library. There is no small number of churches created from the merger of two struggling parishes. Perhaps one of the churches would be willing to "sacrifice itself" for the sake of the children's center. One could remain intact as the Sunday school, freeing the other for adult worship. Another option is the schools attached to some churches, which might serve as the ideal facility for such a center.
Program: The churches would need to agree on a curriculum, and I believe it would be beneficial for parents to consider what they want for their child’s spiritual growth. My own choice would be Godly Play, probably because I am a Godly Play teacher, and have seen its effectiveness. It is, I believe, the least controversial of those available, and resistance to Godly Play is usually attributable to the training and materials required (as opposed to the tenets of the program).
Expense: Participating churches, the diocese, and parents would need to support it. With sufficient numbers of children, however, the cost might not be as high as feared.
Variety of ages: With good healthy participation, there would be enough children for multiple classes. Many churches now have to accommodate a wide range of ages in one group, and do so with varying degrees of success.
In an ideal world, parents and their children would grow spiritually in one place, and most of us are attached to our specific church, cringing at the thought of not having it available for our children. We should, however, consider the long-term consequences of continuing as is. Discerning parents often tell me of their frustration finding an adequate Sunday school for their child, usually attributable to the churches' lack of space, time, and teachers. What I propose would address their need and see to our most precious resource -- the children.
-- -- Mary Jane Wilkie is a member of Church of the Holy Apostles in New York City. She is a trained Godly Play teacher, has taught Sunday school, and has been Sunday school director at two Episcopal churches in the Diocese of Newark.
Reports, musings, sermons, happenings from a Presbyter (Priest) of The Episcopal Church who loves Jesus, the natural world, ice and snow, and is raising 3 children with his artist-wife, Erin McGee Ferrell. (This photo is of the Presidential range in NH taken from Vermont.)
The concept has been adopted by Missouri Lutheran Synod congregations in the St. Louis area with respect to day schools, with several churches supporting a single school. I wonder, however, whether such an approach unintentionally lets parents off the hook in their responsibility to spiritually train their children.
ReplyDeleteRegards.