WHY DO WE DO THAT?, Part 8
Q: Why don't we have Sunday School?
For years (and years and years) churches everywhere have had Sunday School. If you grew up in church, you need no further explanation. For those of you who didn't grow up in church, some explanation may be necessary. Sunday School is simply age-graded bible study/discipleship programming that usually takes place right before or right after the Sunday morning worship experience.
When I grew up, it was unheard of for churches to have more than one Sunday morning worship service, so it was, basically, 9:30 Sunday School & 11:00 Worship Service. It was just assumed that's the way Jesus did it, so if it was good enough for him, it should be good enough for us too!
So...why don't we do it that way? Let me give you several reasons:
1. We have chosen not to spend millions of dollars on adult educational space to be used only one hour a week. That doesn't mean that any church that chooses to do that is wrong, wasteful, less wonderful than we are...it's just a stewardship choice we've made. We'd prefer to spend those millions elsewhere...like on Children's facilities, Student facilities, ministry, missions, etc.
2. Rather than having a discipleship ministry that's only available one time a week, we've adopted a strategy that uses homes and is only limited to the days and times that people are willing to open their homes.
3. Rather than building space that is limited to the square footage of the building built, we use homes, so that as we grow, the space we use will be limitless, as new families are added and new homes open up to group life.
4. Although we don't do it on Sunday mornings (actually, if someone wants to have a group meeting on Sunday morning, I guess we could), it in no way means we place less of a priority on meeting in small groups for spiritual growth. In fact, by making it more available, we believe we place an even higher priority on it.
5. We believe that rather than having an hour on Sunday morning (which usually turns into about 30-45 minutes of real content), we would prefer to have a longer time (90 minutes, which often turns into 2 hours) for discipleship, bible study, meaningful relationship building, accountability, care, etc. which we believe is preferable and more life-transforming.
For years (and years and years) churches everywhere have had Sunday School. If you grew up in church, you need no further explanation. For those of you who didn't grow up in church, some explanation may be necessary. Sunday School is simply age-graded bible study/discipleship programming that usually takes place right before or right after the Sunday morning worship experience.
When I grew up, it was unheard of for churches to have more than one Sunday morning worship service, so it was, basically, 9:30 Sunday School & 11:00 Worship Service. It was just assumed that's the way Jesus did it, so if it was good enough for him, it should be good enough for us too!
So...why don't we do it that way? Let me give you several reasons:
1. We have chosen not to spend millions of dollars on adult educational space to be used only one hour a week. That doesn't mean that any church that chooses to do that is wrong, wasteful, less wonderful than we are...it's just a stewardship choice we've made. We'd prefer to spend those millions elsewhere...like on Children's facilities, Student facilities, ministry, missions, etc.
2. Rather than having a discipleship ministry that's only available one time a week, we've adopted a strategy that uses homes and is only limited to the days and times that people are willing to open their homes.
3. Rather than building space that is limited to the square footage of the building built, we use homes, so that as we grow, the space we use will be limitless, as new families are added and new homes open up to group life.
4. Although we don't do it on Sunday mornings (actually, if someone wants to have a group meeting on Sunday morning, I guess we could), it in no way means we place less of a priority on meeting in small groups for spiritual growth. In fact, by making it more available, we believe we place an even higher priority on it.
5. We believe that rather than having an hour on Sunday morning (which usually turns into about 30-45 minutes of real content), we would prefer to have a longer time (90 minutes, which often turns into 2 hours) for discipleship, bible study, meaningful relationship building, accountability, care, etc. which we believe is preferable and more life-transforming.
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