Sunday School for kids is also a big draw. Biblically sound teachers lead children through weekly lessons on age appropriate material.
Sunday School has been a key part of American Christianity since the days of the Revolution. Originally it was real school where children learned to read and write; their text was principally the King James Bible. (Ee gads…) It was held on Sunday mornings because that was the only day of the week kids didn’t have serious chores or actual work. Read all about it in a 2008 issue of Christianity Today, available [here].
We actually don’t teach reading and writing anymore, however… we’ve moved on to Bible lessons.
What kid’s classes do we offer? We’re not a big church… total Sunday morning attendance is around 200, including about 50 children. So we’re a young church with lots of families in the 20-40 age range with kids in the home. This means our elementary classes are sometimes fluid from year to year depending on how many kids we have in each grade.
A teacher might do a 2nd grade class one year, then a 2nd-3rd class the next year depending on enrollment. This requires hands-on management and allows us to tailor the Sunday School environment to the actual kids we have. And if someone unexpected shows up, there is always room and always a kind welcome.
At TBC, we teach kids, not programs.
To be honest, Sunday School teachers are usually women. This is a good thing. But we’re not above encouraging non-scary and mature Christian men to teach or assist in the younger grades. The male role model can be an effective influence in the lives of both boys and girls.
And by the way, each class always has two adult instructors assigned. We trust our teaching staff with our most precious commodity (our kids); but moral accountability is never out of style.