wfn.org | TCN Editorial: Children Sunday Schools vs. Children Outreach Ministries

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3007 Edition

>October 12~18, 2009

Editorial: Children Sunday Schools vs. Children Outreach  Ministries

>Translated by Lydia Ma

In the 18th century, Englishman Robert Raikes began Sunday schools  to help

unschooled children receive training and discover the meaning of  life through

teaching them God’s truths as written in the Bible. Shortly  after, churches

everywhere began Sunday schools as a means to educate their young.

As society progressed and families and education systems all over  the world

were transformed again and again, Sunday schools slowly began to  decline. This

international trend also affected Taiwan and many churches soon  discovered

they had more Sunday school teachers than students.

Just as churches were struggling to get out of this rut, the  government began

promoting two-day weekends across the country. This new policy  created an

opportunity for children ministries and a few presbyteries began  designing

weekend children camps as a new form or extension of children  Sunday school.

As presbyteries began to promote children outreach ministries,  they managed to

>draw crowds of children to church as well.

In earlier times, children Sunday schools provided opportunities  for us to nurture

and equip the next generation spiritually. With so many churches  experiencing a

decline in children Sunday school attendance nowadays, we must ask  ourselves

what has gone wrong. Is there a problem with the class material we  are using? Is

our religious education not keeping up with the times? If children  are our

churches’ future, where have all these children gone? How can  today’s churches

overcome these difficulties and change the status quo? The  solution and answer

may require an overhaul of the Presbyterian Church’s system,  theology, and

>religious education.

Though change happens all around us and at all times in  contemporary society,

biblical principles remain the same regardless of what century we  live in. We

must return to the Bible to learn how to overcome our present  difficulties.

In this era of individualism and humanism, we see many emerging  values are no

longer biblical and may even account for society’s moral  decadence. Churches

are also increasingly being sucked into conforming to social  trends that uplift

humanistic ideals. But we must hold on to godly values as taught  in the Bible if we

want to revive our churches’ outreach ministries.

A key principle we must remember is that though Christian core  values remain

the same throughout the ages, our strategies cannot remain  unchanged. We

must renew or change our perspectives on child education before we  can

change the world. Churches must change the way they do Sunday  school and

become proactive in sharing the gospel with children.

Furthermore, churches must uncover the myth that  “quality” is more important than

“quantity” when it comes to spirituality. Though  focusing on spiritual maturity is

important, we often use it as an excuse for not doing more  outreach ministries.

But as Jesus’ parable of the farmer tells us, three-quarters  of the seeds sown will

not bear fruits. Of the seeds that will bear fruits, some will  yield more fruits than

others. In short, without increasing “quantity”, we  cannot even begin to talk about

>“quality”.

Finally, we must make good use of the government’s education  policies. Taiwan

currently offers 9 years of compulsory education and elementary  school

education is becoming increasingly diverse. As result, parents are  also changing

the way they view education and seeing the importance of a  well-rounded

education that includes extra-curricular activities. Sensing this  trend, some

churches began promoting weekend camps a few years ago focusing on  arts

>and character education.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education is currently promoting 12  years of compulsory

education and eliminating entrance exams for senior high schools.  Though their

efforts have been opposed by many critics and concrete policy  proposals are still

in the works, many academics have applauded and supported this  move.

Taiwanese churches must stay tuned to further developments on this  issue and

take hold of opportunities to share the gospel with today’s  youth.

God will continue to give us all kinds of opportunities to fulfill  the Great

Commission, but such occasions can only be seized by churches that  are ready.

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