Sunday School, a church without it?

Driving along in any city in the country, you will have seen the signs on the side of the road, churches with times for service and times for Sunday School.  Many simply shake their heads and think, “time in church on Sunday is bad enough.  More time in school at church?  No way!”  It does seem to be yet more time going back to where we were in elementary school.  Images of felt boards and little blue-haired ladies droning on about the river Jordan and Moses.

 And yet, a church without Sunday school is a church that is not taking care of its community.

 Sunday school is not “school” as we think of it.  It is not felt boards and silly out of date stories.  This time integrates into its participants the foundational building blocks of character.

 There was a story in the Reader’s Digest some years ago about a boy and his father fishing.  Bass season was to start the next day and the pair sat catching sunfish and perch late into the evening.  Trying out a lure for the next day, the boy’s pole suddenly bends deeply with something powerful on the other end of the line.  Finally bringing it in, he scoops a large, beautiful bass out of the water.  Father and son admire the gorgeous catch, easily the biggest fish either has caught.  Dad glimpses at his watch and sees that it’s 10 pm, two hours till bass season starts.  He softly tells his son that he has to put it back.  Pleading eyes face resolved ones and the boy slides the fish back into the water.

 Moments like these are what Sunday School is all about.  Providing that moral fiber based on solid Biblical precepts and daily connection with one another to show the results of good (and bad) choices.  This time is even more needed in today’s society where the mentality leans so hard against what is right and what is true.  The antidote to just such habits and patterns is continual training in the basics of ethics and morality.

 Never tedious or dusty, the time is always filled to keep participants interested and learning things that are applicable today.  Yes, these people and stories come from long ago, but the truths that God laid down are very pertinent today and are the building blocks of a successful life.

 Come with us on this journey of discovery, of finding a place where each of us belongs, where each of us can become just what we were designed to be.  Sunday School is something without which a church would not be able to provide for its community.

 See  you this Sunday at CVCC, services at 9:30 and 11:15!