The growth and success of the Sunday School is one of the marvels of our time. Using volunteer lay leadership, with limited time, often with inadequate space and equipment, the Sunday School continues to march forward. Although it has been soundly criticized by some psychologists and educators, the Sunday School continues to enrich lives because our churches are blessed with earnest, sincere, dedicated Christian teachers and officers. Willingly and joyfully they give of their time and energy to this important task.

Seeking Better Results

Yet those who work closest with the Sunday School are the first to admit they are not getting the results they desire. Christian teachers are doing the best they know how, but most are conscious of their urgent need for improvement.

Better Bible Knowledge

In Building a Standard Sunday School, Arthur Flake said, “The avowed purpose of the Sunday School is to teach the Bible.” This emphasis on Bible teaching has been one of the strengths of evangelical Christianity. Even so, many people who attend Sunday School regularly are woefully ignorant of the Bible.1

Knowing biblical facts does not necessarily raise our level of spiritual development, but Christians should know the Bible. Teaching Bible knowledge is not the ultimate aim of the Sunday School, but it is one of its important tasks.

Better Christian Living

Our primary objective in Sunday School teaching is producing Christian living. Even casual observation indicates that we are not seeing lives changed like we should. Too often our teaching dies in the classroom; our goal is to see teaching carry over into life. In the Great Commission, Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20). Our task is not just to teach people the content of Jesus' message; our job is finished only when learners practice His teachings in their daily lives.

Findley B. Edge, Teaching for Results (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 1999).