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What to do with Youth Sunday School?

I've been inspired by rueful's answers and debates regarding Sunday School. I also share many of his sentiments re: SS. In 9 years of FT youth ministry, the only determining factor I've seen in regards to SS attendance is whether or not the parents are motivated to come to SS and bring their kids with them. Kids from unchurched families who come on Sun night or Wed night don't attend SS bc parents won't bring them. Each week may be a diff group of kids. Can't do lesson series because I never have same kids. Due to small numbers, our class is boys and girls from 7-12 grades. I would prob get a lot of flack for doing something diff during SS hour. Have any of you had this prob? What suggestions would you give?

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- jasonbh...
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1 year ago

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0 Votes First, I despise the term "Sunday School." However, we run in the 40's pretty consistently on Wed nights but have only a handful on Sunday mornings. What we've done is take out the curriculum, books, ideas, etc out of the youth SS and simply started teaching through the NT pretty deeply and expositorily. After I started doing that, our attendance doubled. I mentioned to a few others, just in passing, about Sunday School and the older people are adamant that God has given us exactly 4 times to worship: SS, Sunday morn, evening, and Wed. So cutting out SS for youth or have them help other teachers (tho I want to and it's desperately needed) isn't realistic for us. by pastor e 1 year ago by pastor e 1 year ago
0 Votes SS has been one of the strongest parts of our program, and I can't figure out why. We have consistent attendance, students who will drive themselves or arrange rides when parents aren't there, etc. I really don't know why. We use SS to systematically study the Bible (Wed. is more topical). We use Student Life Bible Study as a base and customize it to fit our group. Given your situation, I would view SS as an opportunity to go deeper with those who are willing. The students might be responding to your own feelings that SS isn't worth it. It's a frustrating time because it's too short and too early. But it's become a central part of what we do, and I think that's largely due to the high value we placed on producing a quality time. by Luke 1 year ago by Luke 1 year ago
0 Votes We have a similar experience with SS. Our response this year is to give our high school students a chance to serve each Sunday rather than go to a class. Many chose to teach children or work in the worship service. Others preferred to sit in a class. This gave us a great dimension to the program, and it kept us from duplicating small group experiences. Our class option combines high school guys and girls into a class focused on Bible basics with the goal of getting students ready to serve. We kept MS SS because they were not really mature enough to teach, and they still need to learn some basic Bible stuff. I did catch some flak, but if your reasoning is sound, you can navigate those waters easily. by Josh 1 year ago by Josh 1 year ago

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First, I despise the term "Sunday School." However, we run in the 40's pretty consistently on Wed nights but have only a handful on Sunday mornings. What we've done is take out the curriculum, books, ideas, etc out of the youth SS and simply started teaching through the NT pretty deeply and expositorily. After I started doing that, our attendance doubled. I mentioned to a few others, just in passing, about Sunday School and the older people are adamant that God has given us exactly 4 times to worship: SS, Sunday morn, evening, and Wed. So cutting out SS for youth or have them help other teachers (tho I want to and it's desperately needed) isn't realistic for us.

pastor e

1 year ago

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SS has been one of the strongest parts of our program, and I can't figure out why.

We have consistent attendance, students who will drive themselves or arrange rides when parents aren't there, etc.

I really don't know why. We use SS to systematically study the Bible (Wed. is more topical). We use Student Life Bible Study as a base and customize it to fit our group.

Given your situation, I would view SS as an opportunity to go deeper with those who are willing. The students might be responding to your own feelings that SS isn't worth it.

It's a frustrating time because it's too short and too early. But it's become a central part of what we do, and I think that's largely due to the high value we placed on producing a quality time.

Luke

1 year ago

Votes

We have a similar experience with SS. Our response this year is to give our high school students a chance to serve each Sunday rather than go to a class. Many chose to teach children or work in the worship service. Others preferred to sit in a class. This gave us a great dimension to the program, and it kept us from duplicating small group experiences.

Our class option combines high school guys and girls into a class focused on Bible basics with the goal of getting students ready to serve.

We kept MS SS because they were not really mature enough to teach, and they still need to learn some basic Bible stuff.

I did catch some flak, but if your reasoning is sound, you can navigate those waters easily.

Josh

1 year ago

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