Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." From experience of going to Sunday School as a child, through my teenage years and now as a youth worker, little seems to have changed. We are in danger of translating the above verse to "Sunday School the same yesterday, today and forever." Without change there may not be a Sunday School tomorrow.
The Sunday School movement as a whole throughout the world has focused on teaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. Telling the well known bible stories like Daniel in the Lion's Den and David and Goliath. This is the part of Sunday School that must not change, that of the Good News - Jesus Christ died for our sins and he defeated the power of sin and death by rising to eternal life. Through this risen life we have hope that we too can have eternal life. That message remains the same yesterday, today and forever.
What we need to think about is the way the content of our faith is delivered or taught. It should be different from 30-40 years ago and tomorrow's technology will change it again. As language, images, culture and other influences come into our lives it changes how we reach a new generation. A generation that will understand and embrace what is being taught.
Over the years teaching methods have changed from lecturing through to discussion. Yet another method was to combine teaching with activity. Learning centres, where boys and girls rotate, teachers taking responsibility for one particular centre. This can be utilised for groups across the age spectrum and is particular helpful in smaller congregations.
Some questions to ask yourself are:
How has the teaching message changed in the Sunday School you attend?
If you teach how have your methods changed over the years?
What teaching methods do you think will be used tomorrow?
What do you think teaching in the Sunday School will look like tomorrow?
The inventions or creations that have had the greatest impact on our world are:
1) Language - the ability to communicate one with another and to understand each other.
2) The printing press - enabled mass production of books and literature which led to increased
knowledge and education for the average person. The bible was made available for people
to read God's word for themselves.
3) Knowledge - the explosion of the computer with internet connection. Most people now have
a computer in their home. Children use it at school and college. The internet is second
nature to young people and they use it in ways the older generation are just learning about.
The story was told of the President of a seminary college who had tried to get his son to read the bible. However, he was not interested. So one day he purchased an electronic bible from a Christian bookshop. Whilst he had no idea how to use it he gave it his son saying "Here is something you might like to use." Once his son had started to use it, his father couldn't get it out of his hands. He started to study and learn bible verses asking his father questions as he read the different passages. His father had found the key which unlocked the method of learning his son understood and enjoyed.
How many of us have computers? How many of us have computers in our church? Has the computer had an impact on your Sunday School yet? As our children and young people use computers in the home and at school, can we use it as a tool in Sunday School? The knowledge explosion has only just begun and has not really impacted us yet, but this may well create changes for the Sunday School of tomorrow.
The content of our teaching - the Good News of Jesus Christ should not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. The task is to effectively communicate to children and young people this message in a way that they understand. This will mean changing the teaching method of today and particularly for tomorrow. Are you ready?
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