Christian Ed. Directors Lament Increase in Home Sunday Schooling

THO ^

[Gamecock]

Christian Ed. Directors Lament Increase in Home Sunday Schooling

Sunday school enrollment in decline

With the academic year having ended in many parts of the country, Christian educators are disturbed by a dramatic decrease in Sunday school enrollment for the upcoming year, a trend they say is largely due to the growing popularity of home Sunday schooling. Home Sunday schooling, a system in which a child obtains Christian education at home rather than in traditional church-sponsored Sunday schools, dwelt in relative obscurity—primarily in New England and the Pacific Northwest—for nearly a decade before the recent upswing.

Supporters say home Sunday schooling provides a vastly superior learning model for children, especially those who do not flourish in traditional classroom settings. Critics contend that home Sunday schooled children miss out on vital opportunities for socialization or fall short educationally.

Katherine Eusibio, president of the Nashville-based nonprofit Homestead Christian Education, has been advocating for home Sunday schoolers for eight years. "Many, if not most, students have difficulty learning about the Christian faith in traditional classroom settings," she argues. "Bringing the experience into the home allows children to learn at their own pace while spending more quality time with their families."

Ms. Eusibio insists that the results lauded by Christian Educators as signs of Sunday school success—such as high rates of scripture memorization and the ability to identify flannel cutouts of major Bible characters—are indications of conformity, not evidence of actual learning. "Traditional Sunday school may seem to be a great success, but most of these kids are not really learning; they're just doing well at standardized Bible quizzing!"

Not so, says Harriett Petsche, Director of Christian Education for the United Methodist Church, who considers home Sunday schooling a dangerous trend that she says "threatens the future of Sunday School as we know it." According to Ms. Petsche, success at competitive exercises such as memorization and Bible quizzing correlates to a deeper understanding of scripture. "Children in a structured curriculum can often recite very long portions of scripture without even thinking about it. That's what I'd call 'allowing the word of Christ to dwell in you richly.' "

The attraction of home-based Christian education won over Neva and Allan Magrath in 2003, when they began home Sunday schooling their two daughters Erika and Ellen, ages 7 and 10 respectively. "Erika was having some trouble with a Sunday schoolyard bully, and Ellen had severe allergic reactions to the combination of Oreos and orange juice from concentrate," recalled Mr. Magrath. "It got to the point where the girls just dreaded getting dressed on Sunday mornings. So we agreed to try this for a year, and we all love it. Now we sleep in an hour later on Sundays, and we all study Bible stories together in our pajamas. Or sometimes we just have pancakes and skip the stories."

It hasn't been all fun for the Magrath family, however. They say they've received harassing phone calls from the Sunday school president at their church, whose name they declined to disclose. Even their friends from the adult Bible study they attend have expressed concern over the decision to pull Erika and Ellen out of Sunday School.

But despite the criticism they've received, the Magraths say they are quite content with their current arrangement. In fact, they're contemplating broadening their domestication of the church experience. "Now that we're home Sunday schooling, we're considering just home churching while we're at it," says Ms. Magrath. "We ordered some sermon tapes from Willow Creek and some got some worship CDs at the local Provident store. "We're just trying to decide which media ministry to send our tithe check to, and then we'll be all set."

[Gamecock]

Suzy,

You asked for it....

[dixie_conservative]

"Children in a structured curriculum can often recite very long portions of scripture without even thinking about it. ..."

Who in her/his Right mind wants recitation without thought? Uh, I prefer my kids DO *think* when they quote scripture. Oh yeah, we homeschool and homechurch.

[Quix]

I think it's wonderful when parents take a daily, active role in instilling Scripture and Scriptural principles in their children.

There's coming a day sooner than many expect when Sunday Schools at authentic Believing churches will be outlawed. Home groups and home Christian education of children will be crucial. Great to learn how to do it better NOW.

Besides, a lot of Sunday School classes seemed to perpetuate a lot of nonsense doctrines of men; traditions of men and doctrines of demons. Sooooooooo many of the denominational distinctives--driven by ego, power mongering and turf wars in the first place--fall, too commonly, rather wholesale into such classes--doctrines of men, traditions of men and doctrines of demons.

It's better by far to have individuals and families studying Scripture with Holy Spirit leading them into all truth as their teacher and comforter.

Oh, that's right--you believe that Holy Spirit got a 2,000+ year case of laryingitis or a severe case of sleepiness for that time period. Ahhhh, well, that could be a problem. He doesn't seem to try tooooo persistently to speak to people who don't believe He will.

Your loss.

[Quix]

AND CONGRATS ON THAT!

[Gamecock]

Besides, a lot of Sunday School classes seemed to perpetuate a lot of nonsense doctrines of men;

Much like your posts?

[Quix]

HO HO HO HO!

Actually, one is tempted to wonder if you have more difficulty understanding Scripture or my posts. But I suspect it's a rather wholesale problem on both scores.

Not surprising when one refuses to LISTEN to Holy Spirit.

[Quix]

I gather you haven't noticed or comprehended . . .

I tend to try to be very careful about inferring or reading things into Scripture unless I label them as such or add other qualifiers.

. . . compared to some people we know.

[suzyjaruki]

Du bist ein richtiger spassvogel!!

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

My first Sunday school teacher was an old crone who had this monkey bank that would play drums.
She would keep pushing the button that made the monkey bank drum in the face of a child until the child would cry.
She only did this to children that had no money to put in her bank.
I always had a dime but after I saw her make kids cry I would not put my dime in her bank. She would get tired after awhile because I would not cry or feed her monkey.

[mlmr]

I home Sunday Schooled my children because they were being fed pap in the church sunday school.

[Thinkin' Gal]

"Erika was having some trouble with a Sunday schoolyard bully, and Ellen had severe allergic reactions to the combination of Oreos and orange juice from concentrate," recalled Mr. Magrath.

Thanks, GC! This is a good one.

[topcat54]

There's coming a day sooner than many expect when Sunday Schools at authentic Believing churches will be outlawed.

HA!! HA!! HA!!

[topcat54]

Oh, that's right--you believe that Holy Spirit got a 2,000+ year case of laryingitis or a severe case of sleepiness for that time period.

And you seem to believe that every joker with a "vision" is a word from the Lord.

[Tax-chick]

This is a parody, right?

[Quix]

It's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

REFRESHING and ENCOURAGING

that you persistently and repeatedly demonstrate

that you don't have the faintest clue about me.

Your wholesale allegations about me are incredible.

If your utterly failed understanding and wholesale lack of accuracy about me is any clue of you you relate to Scripture--NO WONDER Scripture persists in being a confusing fog to you.

[Quix]

Regardless about this . . . their

--using the words loosely here--

'Scriptural' interpretations, inferences, assumptions, 'doctrines,' explanations etc.

are AT BEST a parody--far toooooo typically for my comfort.

[Gamecock]

****Not surprising when one refuses to LISTEN to Holy Spirit.***

BWWWHHAAAA! A Calvinist not listening to the Holy Spirit!?! You're even funnier than I thought!

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's CHRISTMAS! (Merry Christmas Quix)

[Gamecock]

Danke!

Frohe Weihnachten!

[Quix]

HEY!

I'm NOT the one who insists repeatedly that Holy Spirit quit talking when John finished Revelation!

And, Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours. May the New Year also include dramatically increasing . . . insights into The Lord's doings in the New Year on this troubled planet.

May you be provisioned, safe, increasingly close to God and to those you love.