(Each Saturday, a faith leader in Franklin County offers a personal perspective in this space. To become part of this series, email religion@recorder.com)
“I so don’t want to go to Sunday School,” I heard the voice say. “The kids don’t enjoy it. They don’t seem to learn anything. The teachers don’t want to teach it,” the truthful voice continued. These words hurt me, the person in charge of Sunday School at United Church of Bernardston. Coup de grace: “You don’t like Sunday school either.” Did I mention from whence the voice came? It came from inside my head.
Sunday School’s outlook was dismal and was in the need of saving. Then, the first Thursday of September occurred. We Franklin County natives know what that represents.
My parents took Isaac to the Franklin County Fair for his birthday, leaving me and Joyana home for a date. This “date” ended up being a backyard picnic of PB&J and an afternoon-long brainstorming session that could have been called “S.O.S.S.,” short for Save Our Sunday School.
Joyana and I hurled questions at each other. What do we want the kids to learn? Who in the bible should the children know? How do we teach about God’s love? Can we be Christians without knowing Jeremiah? How specific or broad should Sunday School be? Have the students ever thought about what it takes to be Christians?
That’s it: We want the children to think about becoming Christians. We want Sunday School students to inquire details from David’s sermon. We want Sunday school students to ponder the scriptures. We want Sunday School students to wonder what being a disciple was/is like. We want Sunday School students to ask about God. We want Sunday School students to question what they hear. Questioning and discussing is how Socrates taught.
We want Sunday School students to question and discuss. And that’s how we SOSSed. Now, Sunday School children in grades 4 through 12 stay in church to listen to the scriptures and Rev. David Neil’s sermon. Afterwards, they go down with a couple adults to question and discuss what happened in church. The outcome: the students enjoy doing this. We had created what we call “Socratic Sunday School.”
As I noticed the teachers/adults enjoying being part of Socratic Sunday School, I recommended to Rev. Neil to have his Tuesday Bible Study group follow the same process. Now, the adults discuss the scriptures and sermon from the previous Sunday at Tuesday Bible Study. So … let’s try something else.
One Sunday during Spring 2018, the Sunday School children did not go downstairs for their normal discussion time. Instead, they (all of them) stayed up in church after the sermon to talk about Christ, God, and us. The congregation broke into groups of 10 or so people to inquire, ponder, wonder, and ask about the sermon. In one group, there was a young lady of 7 and a mature gentleman of 89 discussing Christianity. After five minutes, I looked at David (who’d been sitting alone behind the altar, looking mischievous) and pointed at my watch. “This,” he chuckled, “is going way too well. Let them go a few more minutes.” Later we heard loud kudos from everybody — the loudest from the 7-year-old and 89-year-old. David and I decided to do this three or four times a year.
“I wonder what these 11 teenagers are going to discuss this morning in Socratic Sunday School. I wonder what they’re going to ask David. I wonder how much more they feel like Christians,” I heard that same voice say this morning.
Mission accomplished. Amen.
United Church of Bernardston is a United Methodist Church/United Church of Christ federation. We are located at 58 Church St. Worship services are Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. We are a Reconciling Ministries Congregation (UMC classification) and Open and Affirming Church (UCC classification) who welcome all who want to continue in Christian growth. To contact us, call 413-648-9306. We are online at unitedchurchofbernardston.org and on Facebook.