Let’s talk about Sunday School

From Episcopal Cafe-

Let’s be honest about Sunday School.

In my experience, clergy and laity widely regard Sunday School as an essential element of a congregation’s programming but equally widely hope that someone else will take responsibility for ensuring that Sunday School happens. This tacit disdain for Sunday School is evident in our delegating responsibility for Sunday School to newly minted and therefore inexperienced curates (in those few remaining parishes fortunate enough to have a curate) and fervent prayers that longsuffering volunteers will serve one more year. The proffered justification that youthful clergy will somehow instinctively relate better to youth and children lacks prima facie credibility. What that justification really communicates is that Sunday School may be necessary but is not one of the rector’s top priorities.

More here-

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lets-talk-about-sunday-school/

Shutting down the Sunday school

From VTS-

What would you do if:

the families in your parish were exceptionally regular in their attendance at worship, but only a few were committed to church school;

the well of prospective teachers was truly dry;

you had a Vestry who was willing to take risks and try new things, and a Rector who had your back at all times and in all places; and

Virginia Seminary’s Digital Missioner Kyle Oliver and CMT Director Lisa Kimball dared you to try something different (and promised to help)?

What did we do? We shut down Sunday school. Let me clarify: We adopted a pilot program of online faith formation, and we suspended our Sunday morning classes. St. Andrew’s FISH program

At the Forma Tapestry Conference in Albuquerque last winter, “The Church, Post-Sunday School” was a topic much discussed in workshops and after hours, including in my conversations with Kyle Oliver. Many of us struggled to discern whether the church school model had served its purpose in a changing church and world. I came home with a head full of ideas and the energy to try something new.

(Families Integrating Sunday and Home) began in September.

More here-

http://www.keyhallonline.org/profiles/shutting-sunday-school/