The Value of Attending Sunday School

Sunday school.  Wow.  I love those words.  It was in Sunday school that I trusted Christ as my Savior.  Sitting around a little table in my 2nd grade classroom, I raised my hand when my teacher asked if there was someone who knew they were a sinner and wanted to ask Jesus to forgive them.  The Holy Spirit had been working in my heart for some time and though I was a timid child, I raised my hand that day.  She dismissed the other children, and I sat there as she opened her Bible and showed me what Christ had done for me on the cross and how accepting his sacrifice would not only give me a home in heaven, but also a relationship with Him.  I have never doubted what happened to me that day.  I took God at His Word – “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Romans 10:9

To this day, Sunday school is so vitally important because I see the importance of teaching children about the Bible while they are young.  Their hearts are soft and ready to receive the truth about creation, the beginning of sin, the Gospel, the Great commission, the value of pray, and of the lives of brave men and women who stood for Christ.  We don’t have Sunday school for tradition’s sake; it’s important in the life of a child!

As a teacher and a lover of Sunday school, may I share with you some suggestions about what you can you do to make Sunday school really profitable for your child?

• Be excited about going to Sunday school and talk with your child about it.  Build it up like you would if you were headed to the zoo or Dollywood!  This is exciting stuff!
• Be faithful to attend weekly.  Hit and miss students will lose the whole picture of the lessons that are being taught.  Your children will also pick up your idea that Sunday school isn’t really that important!
• Be on time – even a little early.  Most classrooms are set up with so much material and fun activities that reinforce the lesson that they have to start on time to get it all in.  When your child comes in late, they’ve already missed out on some important pre-story times!
• On Sunday afternoon (maybe dinnertime) ask your child about their class time.  Don’t just ask what the story was about, ask them what songs they sang, if they learned a memory verse, what book of the Bible the teacher taught the story from, and what happened in the story time.  Ask if they did any activity, such as reenacting the story afterwards.  Did they play a review game?  Did they answer a question?
• Go over their take-home papers with them.  Read the stories – both the Bible lesson and the true-to-life story that is included on the paper, if applicable.
• Review their memory verse throughout the week.  Have them say it to you before returning to class so they can recite it, if asked to.
• Talk with the teacher(s) from time to time and ask if your child is listening, obeying and participating.  Sometimes all it takes is for a parent to speak to their child about an issue that is going on in the classroom for it to get straightened out.  This makes their time in Sunday school really profitable!

If you value Sunday school and what your child is learning, it could be during that hour that your child will trust Christ as their Savior too!  Is there anything that’s more important than that?

Was anyone else saved in Sunday school?  What memories do you have of your childhood classes?

With love,