At Circle Church Sunday School, children without parents, or parent substitutes, were not allowed to attend Sunday school. It has often been said, “If you get the child, you’ll get the parents.” We believe the reverse is true. One of the churches where I worked had for many years bused several hundred neighborhood children to Sunday school. It was easy to discover whether the old adage was valid, because most of these children were of a single ethnic minority. But almost no adults of that same ethnicity attended either church or Sunday school. In other words, not only were the parents not reached, but the children themselves were consistently dropping out at the junior high level.
“What if you have children without parents who want to attend?” we were often asked when people learned of our policy. Our approach may sound cold-hearted. But, once the questioner realized that, for children who did express interest in attending, we assigned a parental substitute with all the implications attested by that title.
We were interested in doing a lasting work in the lives of these little ones, rather than taking a here-today-gone-tomorrow approach. Our goal renders our outlook more understandable. On the pragmatic level, we scarcely had physical facilities to care for our own families, let alone importing more. Instead, we focused on developing other aspects of neighborhood outreach.
Our church was one where the adult was of extreme importance. If adults are growing spiritually, the children will reflect that. Even so, I think youngsters were more integrally a part of our program than in any other place of my experience. During the final quarter of one year, our children utilized the Sunday school time to plan, rehearse, and make props for an original Christmas play. They presented that play during the second service in December of that same year.
We loved to use children in the first service, not hesitating at their duets or rhythm bands or their passing the offering plates. (“Gee! I got a twenty-dollar bill in mine!”) They were the world’s most aggressive greeters. One Sunday every person who entered the door already had a bulletin in his or her hand. Walking outside to check, I saw little boys racing each other madly to individuals who came. Some were three quarters of a block away!
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
