Question:

My church has Sunday School before the service. I hate this because we live half an hour away and this would mean leaving home at 8:30and not leaving until 1:00! Why doesn't it at least overlap with the service? Why is it the trend now to have it not overlap with the service?

Answer:

I haven't seen that trend -- Alas!

I had to leave the Anglican church to provide that experience for my children. We have an extra half hour, though: Sunday School doesn't start until 9:15 and it only takes 15 minutes to drive there. Still, going from my experience, you probably wouldn't get any exta sleep anyway: I can't get my children to stay in bed for the extra half hour <g>!

In fact, I've seen just the reverse trend, that churches like the Evangelical Missionary Brethren, the Lutherans and Roman Catholics who have hitherto preserved the custom of gathering the whole Church for worship, are now introducing Sunday School or childcare during Worship. I am very disappointed, I would have hoped that they learn from our experience.

The Anglican churches in the developed world have a significant retention problem with cradle Anglicans, manifesting typically in the teens. Having never had a place in the worship of the Church, teens who are finished with Sunday School or who are leaving home for college, generally leave the church behind as well. Statistical evidence shows that children are much more likely to be regular committed Christians as adults, if they have been fully involved in the weekly worship of the Church as children.

Furthermore, it is the capital-T tradition of the church that children should be *brought to worship*, not involved in some alternative activity that keeps them *out of worship*. Quoting from the Book of Common Prayer (the old one, so whether we're Canadian or British or American we have the same Tradition in "Common" <g>) at Baptism parents and sponsors are charged to "bring him to take his part in public worship". In the Catechism children answer "What is your work as a lay member of the Church of God?" with "To take my part in its worship…" Note that the BCP mandates catechetical instruction and examination to take place "open in the church…at Morning or Evening Prayer". From my readings of books published in the last two centuries, it is apparent that participation in worship was the norm for children as well as adults until well into the 20th century. In fact, from Reginald Bibby's demographic research in "Fragmented Gods", it's possible to correlate the decline in membership in the Anglican church with the introduction of Sunday School as an alternative to worship (there are other correlations, too -- World War II is the biggie).

Finally, scheduling Sunday School outside of worship time is true to our understanding of the Christian calling. If study is important, it is important to adults too. If worship is important, it is important to children too. If worship is an integral whole, it is an integral whole for everyone. The challenge to liturgical planners is to find ways to meet children's needs for full inclusion and the Church's need for integrity, and also meet the needs of parents with tight schedules and of those adults whose contemplative needs aren't satisfied by Daily Prayer. But sacrificing integrity or inclusivity, although it has been the practice of the last 50 to 70 years, is not a solution.

Some churches have gone to offering Church School on a different day entirely - I like this idea. Many sandwich Sunday School for all ages between two services (typically providing a choice of Rite I and Rite II). One has Sunday School *in Church* -- children sit with their classes in worship and it's the teachers' job to help them focus on the liturgy. This was a very child-friendly church where the whole congregation recognized their corporate responsibility for "our" children and didn't feel they were the parents' problem. Not coincidentally, many latch-key children from the local inner-city neighbourhood came to worship alone to bask in the love and acceptance they felt there! A couple churches I know - not Anglican, though -- have a congregational lunch after the service, and then have Sunday School in the afternoon. After all, we have nothing to do on the Lord's Day that's more important than worship, fellowship, and the study of God's Word, right<g>?.

Your church probably has a Worship and Ministry committee, or some such thing. Perhaps you could meet with them to brainstorm ways of meeting your need. If you come up with a devout, theologically sound solution that works very well, please share it with us!