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Can Sunday School Play A Roll In Our Vision?
It is only Sunday school. Does it really matter to the work of God or to the vision the church has? When most people think of Sunday school, they think of children. Do children really matter to the work of God? How can they promote the vision of the church? Are children the only focus for the Sunday school department?
There was a time when the children were hanging on Jesus & the disciples rebuked them for bothering Him. Jesus’ reply was to leave them alone. He was enjoying the admiration they had for Him & their sincere faith they had in Him. As a matter of fact, He likened the children’s innocent faith & ease of belief to that of how an adult must become in order to enter into the kingdom of God. Children are very trusting; they also like to talk. When they find something cool or fun or some awesome fact, they generally want to share it with anyone who will listen. Wow! What a great witnessing tool. Did Jesus realize this when He let them sit on His lap? Sure He did! He knew that by showing them love & kindness, they would trust Him & then they would go home & tell their parents, friends, teachers, & anyone else that would listen to their story. Our Sunday school teachers have a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with the kids. They can visit them during the week, send them b-day cards, & visit them when they are sick or send them a card to let them know that they have been missed. This also lets the parents know that we really do care about their kids. What a great witness! This will build a trust between children & the teacher. They can also impact the kids by the way they tell a story, how they express their faith & how they teach the children in & out of class are all ways of teaching Jesus to them. When the kids come out of Sunday school so excited & they can’t wait to tell their parents, you know you have built something good.
Jesus also realized that adults had intellect & reason & therefore He needed to teach them the things of God for their understanding. For the adults also had a thirst & desire to be with Him. So how does all this tie into our vision & the work of God? He is our example. When He began His ministry, He started with a few good men. He did not have a relationship with these men before He chose them, but He was led to them for this purpose. He had to first build relationships with them & they with each other before He could send them out to do the work of God. He spent time with them day & night. They followed Him watching Him perform His miracles & speak to the multitudes. When they didn’t understand what they saw or heard, they questioned Him & He answered them building their faith. He taught them in quiet moments when no one else was around. He wanted them to build relationships with each other as well. He wanted these relationships built so that when the time came for them to be on their own they had a powerful faith that could change people’s lives. God continues to build relationships today through the gift of the Holy Ghost. He has sent us Pastors to be our guide & to teach us the principles we need to be a witness. Our Sunday school teachers are there to build our faith & to teach. We in turn are to build relationships with our Pastor, Sunday school teacher, the saint that sits next to us, the sound man, the cleaning person, & anyone with whom we share the common faith with & others. By building strong relationships within our church, we create a trust & a faith that is strong. By this, through God, we are then equipped with strength to build relationships beyond our own church. It takes time but what a great reward we shall see if we are faithful! This is what we are called to do.
Sis. Sue Clemmons, 7/2/06
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