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791 East Calaveras Street Altadena CA 91001 (626) 797-8970 (626) 797-4164 (FAX) |
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BACK TO (SUNDAY) SCHOOL
During the past week most kids returned to begin a new year of study at their elementary or secondary school. This is also a time for our church family to renew its commitment to Sunday School.
This Sunday, September 16, we will kick off our new term in ABC's Sunday School. We will not have our normal classes, but will meet together for
It will all begin at 9:30 A.M.
One of our goals will be to introduce our new teachers and student assignments for the year ahead. We provide classes for everyone from toddlers (the young ones) to toddlers (the old ones). Adults will have two options to choose from.
Sunday Schools have been part of most Protestant churches' ministries in the United States for over 150 years. They first emerged as a way of "civilizing" and educating poor children who had no access to a public school education. These children would be taught to read by using Bible passages. Other subjects as well were taught through Bible stories. This was a benevolent outreach ministry of churches. Of course, there was also an evangelistic emphasis involved as well. These young pagans needed the Lord in their lives.
Only later did Sunday School become a major means of passing the faith on from one generation of believers to another. The target population gradually became the church members' own children. During the glory years of Sunday School, it was quite common for 9:30 AM on Sundays to be the busiest hour of the week for many churches. Sunday School enrolment was often much larger than church membership and morning service attendance.
Even today, some aggressive churches in some parts of the country send many buses out to collect children from miles away. But these "bus ministries" are becoming harder and harder to maintain. Television, soccer and Little Leagues, and changed parenting patterns have undermined the appeal Sunday School had a generation ago.
In the face of all this, ABC plants a flag for Sunday School in the new millennium. It is not easy to swim upstream against the trend, but we feel it's important to do so. We believe that this weekly educational hour is too good an opportunity to miss. We need to redefine our Sunday School to meet the needs of today's families, and our Education Department is trying to do that.
Come and help us. Come this Sunday for the breakfast/kick off.
Become a regular participant in one of our Sunday School classes, and do you best to involve your whole family. Volunteer to teach, or to be a teacher's aide or substitute, or to serve on our Education Department.
We need you in ABC's Sunday School!
–Pastor George Van Alstine