the cities of Britain in the late 1700's were crowded, unsanitary, soot covered, awful places to live. Poverty and disease ran rampant. Infant mortality was high and children worked long dangerous hours in dark unventilated factories. Stop to thank God that you were born in the 20th Century instead of in the 18th. These poor children worked six days a week, and they received no education whatsoever. The only day of rest they had was Sunday.
In the 1780's mission and service minded British Christians decided to start offering classes on Sundays to teach these (predominantly "unchurched") children to read and write. Hence the name Sunday school. As a textbook, they used the Bible. In addition, they usually studied a simple Christian catechism, learned hymns, and learned Christian morality. Even poor and working class families that had no interest in the Church otherwise, sent their kids to Sunday school for the valuable free education. This movement spread across the Atlantic to the United States. This model of Sunday school as a mission and evangelism outreach to poor children lasted until just after the American Civil War. It was around that time that more young children (though nowhere near all children) were going into public schools instead of going to work at the factories. Eventually children learned to read and write in those public classrooms. The original model of Sunday school had served its purpose and was no longer needed. It is then that Sunday school evolved into being exclusively about the deepening of faith and biblical knowledge.
Prior to Sunday schools, children were educated in the Christian faith at home by their parents and grandparents. Eventually, though, as Sunday schools became less about teaching predominantly "unchurched" poor children to read and write, it became more about educating the children of Christian adults in the Christian faith. The parents' job became the Sunday school teacher's job. Hopefully it was a team effort. The idea of adult Sunday schools seems to have come much later as an innovation. Both children's and adult Sunday schools met with great success in the post-World War II decades when religious and community involvement skyrocketed. This is evident from the photos you can see in most churches of Sunday school classes from the 40's, 50's, and 60's with overflowing classrooms of both children and adults. Most people in a certain age group think that is how it always was, but really those decades were abnormally successful when you look at the history.
I have been a part of a large number of conversations with folks from all kinds of churches all over the country and the vast majority are saying the same thing, "Hardly anyone comes to Sunday school anymore." This is especially prevalent when it comes to children, youth, and their parents, but it is becoming more and more true when it comes to all ages of adults as well. Sunday school is dwindling. People are panicking. There has always been Sunday school! We can't have church without Sunday school! It may seem that way but it simply isn't true. Sunday school in any form has only existed for about 245 of the 2,000 years of Christianity. Sunday school in its current form for children has only existed for about 145 years and Sunday school for adults has existed for a much shorter time than that. Sunday school as a highly attended successful model for Christian education has only existed for about the past 70 years, which is less than 4% of Christian history. Now that brief era of success seems to be winding down.
Recently I read an interesting article written for the Presbyterian Mission Agency called "Why We're Not Interested in Your Sunday School: Young Adults Seek New Forms of Christian Education," The author, a certified Christian Educator named Andrea Hall, writes "Regrettably, many congregations continue to employ the traditional Sunday school model--designed to transmit information that [young adults] no longer seek. Maybe it's not incidental that many congregations are experiencing declining particpation, especially among [young adults] and their children. The Sunday school model may no longer be the most effective way to reach young people in the United States." I encourage you to click on the link to read that article as it offers many good insights and suggestions.
Although those folks who do participate are well "fed," the obvious truth is that Sunday school participation is very low in our congregation. I know it makes some folks uncomfortable or even mad to consider it, but what might other models of Christian education look like for all ages? What did Christians do during the other 96% of Christian history when Sunday schools didn't exist, existed for different reasons, or weren't yet successful? What are some things that have never been attempted before or that are working elsewhere? Sunday school hasn't always existed, and it won't always exist. People's particular needs during a particular time in history are what birthed Sunday school. It just might be people's particular needs during a different particular time in history that cause it to either change drastically or to die altogether. For too long we have thought that if we just do the same thing differently or better it will work this time. Maybe, but probably not. Sometimes (but not always) the answer is something completely different. I'm not suggesting anything concrete, but it is something a lot of people in the Church are thinking about, and probably something we ought to be thinking about too.
