SUNDAY SCHOOL

 

One of the most disconcerting trends that I have witnessed today is this business of cancelling Sunday school or eliminating it all together. When did teaching the Bible take a back seat? And we wonder why the churches in America today are in trouble. As if closing on Sunday evening and Wednesday nights isn’t bad enough we sink further into a morass of ignorance by eliminating the Sunday School hour.

Because of this trend many today are feeding on the fruits of compromise, liberalism, ecumenicalism and heresy, producing some of the most unstable Christians anywhere. No believer should ever question his eternal security, the infallibility of the Bible, heaven and hell, the Second Coming and many other precious Bible truths. This vacuity has caused (not to mention plain laziness) a growing number of Christians to become more dependent on the myriads of “self help” books in the so called Christian Bookstore rather than the word of God. This should not be!

My desire in this treatise is to share some thoughts on why I think it is paramount to have and maintain constancy in the area of the Sunday School. The strength and future of many churches and believers depends on it.

1)      The whole of Sunday School is centered around one Book – the Bible. The Sunday School is to be a platform for the systematic teaching and equipping of the saints, would be saints and future church members. The goal: salvation, character building, sound doctrine and preparation for evangelism. (Eph 4:11-14)

 

2)      The Sunday School holds up the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of men. Teaching that a man MUST be born again in order to enter into heaven. Among the many other subjects (many more could be mentioned) include his life, death, resurrection and Second Coming, sin and its consequences. These are all taught with great eagerness impressing upon the minds and hearts of believers and would be believers these important truths.

 

3)      The Sunday School is the breeding ground for evangelistic fervor. This is where, not only the workers, but the students can gain firsthand knowledge on this great subject and learn the basic principles involved in evangelistic outreach and be confident in conveying scriptural truths in any situation. (1 Peter 3:15)

 

4)      The Sunday School is important because of the training folks get in areas of leadership both at the teaching and student level. This is critical today as we need men and woman who will accept their God given roles and use them to teach others to do likewise.

 

There is too much input from external sources resulting in apathy at the local church level. The business of life, the affairs of the world and compromise are creeping into the greatest institution on this planet – the local church.

There was a time when church was serious business, above all else, church held an important place in the hearts of believers. This was because Christ held an important place in the hearts of believers. Take away the Sunday School and there is less teaching on Christ, less teaching on Christ produces less dependence on him, less dependence produces fruitless Christians. Let’s take back the Sunday School hour!

In His Service,

Pastor Tim