(ABP) — These days, clergy and laity, professors and students alike generally agree that basic knowledge of the Bible is fast disappearing among Americans conservative, moderate and liberal. Indeed, in recent years I have occasionally received notes from undergraduate and graduate students reminding me that they “did not grow up studying the Bible,” and are not always clear as to the meaning or context of such phrases as “prodigal son,” “woman at the well” or “rich young ruler.” Such comments take me back to Sunday school, past and present.
In an essay entitled Religious Conversation, published in 1860, Reverend Rufus Clark, pastor of South Congregational Church, Brooklyn, New York, wrote: “Does not the Sabbath School teacher feel the reflex influence of his own teachings? Are not the doctrines of Christianity clearer to his mind from the very effort to express them? Had I my wish, every adult member of a church and society would be in the Sabbath School, either as a teacher, or a member of a mutual class, if for no other purpose, at least to obtain the benefit of expressing truth.”
For at least two centuries, Sunday school was one of the great Protestant experiments in “religious conversation.” Although Puritans, Moravians and Methodists organized various “classes” for Bible study and fellowship in the early 18th century, Sunday school as a movement dates from the 1780s, centered in the effort of Robert Raikes to offer basic education to the children of chimney sweeps in Gloucester, England.
Child labor kept lower class children at work every day but Sunday, a day that found them on the streets uneducated and often engaged in inappropriate behavior. Sunday school taught them to read and write with the Bible as the primary textbook. It also offered clothing, food and “moral instruction.”
Sunday school as a form of Christian social action quickly spread to urban America. Scholars now debate whether the endeavor was aimed at keeping working class children “in their place,” or a seed bed of class-based educational and political consciousness.
By the early 19th century, however, many Protestant churches were turning Sunday school exclusively toward Bible teaching and away from reading and writing. Indeed, some congregations urged their local communities to begin free weekly public education so that churches could concentrate on Sunday biblical and religious instruction.
In 1872 a national Sunday school convention instituted the “Uniform Series of International Bible Lessons” to offer “a general study of the whole Bible” with curriculum “adopted by the Sunday schools of the whole country.” The series was an early ecumenical endeavor utilized by Protestant denominations and churches across the theological spectrum, offering a systematic study of both Testaments on a multi-year cycle.
Across the years, Sunday school:
— Taught biblical content to generations of Protestants.
— Instructed persons in what the Bible said, if not always in what it meant.
— Offered a small group, multigenerational experience on a weekly basis.
— Created a phalanx of lay teachers, many of whom invested great time and energy in preparing lessons and ministering to their class members.
— Received mixed reviews from participants, some of whom celebrated its learning and sense of community; others of whom testified to having been “bored silly” by the ordeal.
While Sunday school continues to be an important element in the life of a majority of Protestant churches in America, its overall numerical and curricular influence is clearly waning. The symptoms are evident in congregations large and small, including:
— Declines in overall attendance by children and adults.
— Intermittent participation by some of the most regular participants.
— Multiple worship services that may impact traditional Sunday school schedules.
— Difficulty in finding teachers whose calendars support consistent involvement.
— Decisions by some congregations to close Sunday school programs for certain age groups.
— Complex family calendars that require weekend travel, employment, caregiving, or recreational responsibilities.
— Concerns about an increasing biblical illiteracy evident among a growing number of Protestant practitioners.
— The deterioration of fellowship and pastoral care offered through the community life of the class.
In American Grace, Robert Putnam and David Campbell report that in one 2006 survey 36 percent of Americans claimed participation in Sunday school or other programs of religious education. Fifty-one percent said they participated in those programs “very often.” Putnam and Campbell also note that “people who were involved as children in … activities, such as Sunday school, are significantly less likely to leave their parents’ faith as adults.”
In short, Sunday school continues to function well in many locations, even as it shows signs of serious decline in others. While some churches have replaced or supplemented Sunday school with “cell groups” that meet weekly in members’ homes, others have yet to find effective replacements that provide their constituency with consistent, systematic Bible study.
When it began, Sunday school was a creative response to a particular societal need and setting, confronting the massive illiteracy present among British and American youth. Later, enhanced by denominational networks and the sociology of the Protestant Sunday it offered opportunity for extended biblical instruction and Christian community.
As the sociology of Sunday changes can Sunday school remain an effective vehicle for addressing the escalating biblical illiteracy evident among American Protestants? If not, then we’d better do something fast. Otherwise we’re nothing but a bunch of prodigals!
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Bill Leonard is a professor of church history at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity.
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