Is it possible that the "ATTENDANCE" kids need is OUR OWN?
In the past, "Sunday School" was a time to gather at church. Moving forward, it can continue to be that, but it can't continue to be only that.
"Sunday School" is a need, and a desire, and a commitment to reach and teach kids. It cannot only be a single location or time.
Not anymore.
Our definition of Sunday School can begin to change when we STOP viewing "their attendance in Sunday School" as the only option, and START thinking about all the other ways WE can become "attendant" in their lives.
The Rotation Model and this site have tried to change how we teach and the classrooms in which we teach. But the great work ahead of us is also WHEN and WHERE ELSE we can teach.
Teaching groups in a classroom at church can still be a wonderful thing. But if it's the only place we teach, then Sunday School is likely headed for extinction. In many churches, it is already extinct -- having been replaced by a pale imitation called "children's church," "kids leaving during the sermon," "teaching-lite" fellowship groups, or simply no children's program at all. There's a case to be made that all of those things are opportunities, but they rarely produce the kind of encounter with Bible stories good teachers would recognize.
Lately, I've been steeped in Book of Ruth lessons with our Writing Team. And the more I've been in that story, the more I've marveled at Ruth's commitment to Naomi. Ruth left behind her homeland, and as a young woman, made a dangerous journey to a completely new place where she had to glean the leftovers in a stranger's field to survive.
God doesn't appear in the Book of Ruth, but throughout its pages, you can see the hand of providence acting through good people. I have every confidence that this is still happening today -- especially with those willing to make the difficult choices and journey with those we are called to go serve "where they go." I also believe God has not brought us this far only to have us survive on the leftovers.
The Parable of the Sower is also helpful here. It's not a picture of limited resources only being aimed at the most fertile ground, though some of the seed definitely makes its way there too! It's not a parable about one Sunday morning basket of seed, but seed going EVERYWHERE -- even on the hard and thorny ground.
At my family's cabin, we are in a battle with thorny ground -- thorny bushes, spikey locust trees, and other invasive species. It got that way because the previous owner didn't keep it cut and culled and let the invasives move in. But we're making progress -- one patch of ground at a time. We're also planting tree seedlings -- hundreds of them.
We didn't just plant them in the "good" ground. We specifically targeted some of the hard and thorny ground, knowing that the trees we tend there will eventually restore the area on their own. They may not look like much now, but someday, many of those seedlings will give shade, shelter, and food, and drop seeds of their own.
When Ruth married Boaz, they didn't bring forth a King, but their grandson Jesse and his wife Nissabet did. This is the kind of faith and hope and planning we need now on the thorny ground and hard path we find ourselves on.
So how can we increase OUR "attendance" in the lives of the kids who are NOT gathered around our feet on Sunday morning?
And what part of our reaching and teaching of children has grown thorny and hard for them because we not been "attending” to it ?
FYI: I generated these Parable of the Sower images using Bing's Artificial Intelligence art engine "AI Creator." Click them to enlarge. I chose the style of "Van Gogh" because his skies remind me of the active presence of God in our toil.