(ABP) — Although Bible training for school-age children is still popular, preschoolers and adolescents are kept out of the Sunday school loop in a growing number of churches.
According to a study of 614 Protestant churches nationwide by the Barna Group of Ventura, Calif., the youngest and the oldest children in many churches are missing out on the Sunday school experience.
In 2004, churches were 6 percent less likely to offer Sunday school programs for children ages 2-5 than they were in 1997. Churches offering Sunday school to children under the age of 2 dropped from 79 percent in 1997 to 73 percent in 2004.
Sunday school for middle-school children dropped from 93 percent in 1997 to 86 percent in 2004. Sunday school for high-school children dropped from 86 percent to 80 percent.
In all, about 20,000 fewer churches provided Sunday school for each of the mentioned age groups.
The fact that so many children are left without a Sunday school class may have something to do with the fact that only one of every seven pastors, or 15 percent, considers Sunday school the church's first priority.
The study did show, however, that Baptist churches are among the most likely to consider Sunday school their highest priority, with 23 percent of Baptist pastors calling it No. 1 on their list.
Based on the views of younger pastors, however, Sunday school might be in trouble in the future. Twenty-one percent of pastors over 59 said it was their first priority, while only 10 percent under the age of 40 called it their first priority.
Dennis Parrott, director of Bible study and discipleship for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said he doesn't consider Sunday school to be in “serious peril.”
“It just means we need to continue to focus on that and make it strong,” Parrott said.
The amount of focus on Sunday school is down because enthusiasm for anything church-related is down, he said.
The Barna Group also found that, in 2004, 15 percent fewer churches offered vacation Bible school to children than in 1997. The study said that equals a total of 38,000 fewer churches offering VBS than eight years ago.
Most senior pastors who cancelled VBS in their churches said it was due to a teacher shortage.
Among other Barna findings:
— There has also been a 10 percent drop in the number of churches having midweek church programming for children — from 64 percent in 1997 to 58 percent in 2004.
— One out of every five churches, or 18 percent, creates its own Sunday school curriculum for school-age children. Only 10 percent created their own curriculum in 2002.
— Only 4 percent of Baptist churches create their own curriculum. They are among the least likely groups to do so.