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The Death of Sunday School and the Future of Faith Formation

Author: Kimberly Sweeney

Publisher:

Published: 2017-10-10

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 9780692967102

The Sunday school model of religious education has been much beloved in our Unitarian Universalist tradition. Half a century ago, and at the time of its inception, Sunday school was a significant draw for children and families and was popular in dominant culture. Over the past two decades, religious professionals and lay leaders have been questioning the effectiveness of this model. Working harder, moving things around, and investing more money in Sunday school has not increased its effectiveness. These strategies have not worked in part because we have failed to convey that the way we have always done things is no longer serving our Unitarian Universalist congregations. While we have been applying a multitude of technical fixes to this adaptive challenge, we have failed a generation of young Unitarian Universalists. Today's reformation calls for the centering of faith formation in the mission of communities of faith.

Transforming Congregations through Community

Author: Boyung Lee

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 2013-11-04

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0664233309

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In this helpful book, Boyung Lee offers an encouraging vision of the mainline church’s future. Lee grapples with some of the greatest challenges facing the mainline church, offering compelling responses to recurring questions: What does faithfulness to the gospel look like in this changing world? What is our distinctive voice in the larger society? How does theological education have to change if it is to serve the needs of a new century? Lee argues that the church’s future is a promising one if the church can offer a richer and deeper definition of community—one that moves beyond the excessive individualism of western culture and that helps mainline Christians understand their solidarity with one another and with all of God’s people. Lee further explores the crucial role of faith formation at the congregational and seminary levels. More than mere schooling, theological education must engage all aspects of educators’ and students’ lives to prepare seminarians for the challenges that lie ahead. While not dismissing the mainline church’s challenges, Lee offers congregational leaders and seminary educators a vision of a church transformed for the 21st century.

Horizons & Hopes

Author: Thomas H. Groome

Publisher: Paulist Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1616438908

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Essays exploring the latest ideas on where religious education is headed, with an emphasis on adult and young adult faith formation in the context of total catechesis.

Educating Congregations

Author: Charles R. Foster

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0687002451

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A leading Christian educator offers a practical guide for revisioning a church's educational program. After identifying the weaknesses in current education programs, Charles Foster offers an alternative vision that is more cooperative, more attentive to the whole of the congregation's life, and that helps people critically correlate the Bible and Christian tradition to their own experience.

What Every Pastor Should Know About Sunday School

Author: Elmer L. Towns

Publisher: Gospel Light Publications

Published: 2002-12-10

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780830728596

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Sunday School Teacher Elmer L. Towns and Pastor Stan Toler give us a visionary look at the Sunday School of the future-and definitely like what they see. That's provided, of course, we begin today to build the Sunday Schools that will revitalize the Church and thereby ensure its long-term growth. This companion to What Every Sunday School Teacher Should Know is a practical, exciting wake-up call for every pastor who has a nagging notion that the Sunday School program is not the dynamic catalyst for growth that it should be.

The Sunday School Movement

Author: Stephen Orchard

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2007-06-01

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1556354924

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Today's Sunday schools are a pale shadow of what they were in the past. Churches have found other ways of serving children and young people and carrying out adult education. From a historical point of view the Sunday schools have immense significance. As late as the 1950s approximately half the children in Great Britain were associated with Sunday schools. In the nineteenth century Sunday schools were part of general educational provision. With National, British, and Ragged schools, Sunday schools represented the Christian philanthropic impulse to provide a basic education to the public at large and at low cost. The role of the churches in educational provision is again a topic of public interest and the time is right to reflect on some of the lessons of the past. A range of experts have been asked to assess different aspects of the history of the Sunday school movement: Clyde Binfield, Faith Bowers, John H. Y. Briggs, Grayson Ditchfield Hugh McLeod, Stephen Orchard, Jack Priestley, Geoff Robson, and Doreen Rosman. They provide a remarkable survey of many aspects of Sunday schools, from their origin to their reinvention, from teaching the catechism to promoting sport.

The Faith-Growth-Orient Sunday School in the 21st Century

Author: Dea. Willard S. Burke, Sr.

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2009-09

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 9781441557612

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Dea. Willard S. Burke Sr., DM, PhD-Th: Is the father of four, two girls and two boys: Marnita, Sabrina, Willard Jr., and Michael. Born in Western Pennsylvania Area, 18 miles northeast of, Pittsburgh, in the small town of New Kensington of Westmoreland County in 1938, August 28. Graduated from New Ken Hi-School in 1957 and joined the US Army soon after. After 13 years and six months got out of the Army with rank of SFC, E-7 and started in business of selling bicycles. After six years, jumped to a new limb and went into the US Postal Service for 15 years and then retired in 1992. Dr. Burke is a Disabled Vietnam Veteran (80%) due to Agent Orange which he received for in 2003. In 1983 I got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost which started my real life in the Lord. I moved to Fort Worth from Dallas after retirement from the US Post Office. Joined a church I had been prophesied into, Mt. Zion C.H.S.C. and Pastor Robert L. Crochett Sr. and Pastor Emeritus C. Jimmerson. I met my 2nd wife Johnnie Ruth and married in 1997. Dea. Burke went back to Bible College in 2003 and earns a Bachelor and Master's in Theology, a Doctorate in Ministry, plus a PhD in Theology from VIU. He is on the Board of Governors on DFW Bible Institute & Seminary with campuses in Fort Worth & Dallas. Dr. Burke is an ordained Deacon in Christ Holy Sanctified Churches and the Sunday School Superintendent at a local church, Mt. Zion C.H.S.C. He resides in Fort Worth, Texas where he is retired except for the work of God's Kingdom as Matt. 28: 19-20 commands. This book is a testimony to this work as learned over 16 years as a church member, Sunday-School teacher, and an assistant superintendent and superintendent of a Sunday-School the last 10 years. Hopefully this book and testimony will help you as it has me to be all the more I can be in the Lord, AMEN!

Formation in Faith

Author: Sondra Higgins Matthaei

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1501807048

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The ministry of congregations is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Behind that simple and seemingly self-evident statement lies a problematic reality, however. While congregations know that disciple making is at the heart of their identity, they often have trouble understanding how to go about it. Apart from such traditional Christian education ministries as Sunday school, too little formal thinking or planning goes into the task of forming Christians in the faith. In this book Sondra Matthaei casts a vision in which congregations open up their life of faith to others as an invitation to connect the universal longing for authentic relationships and deeper meaning with the church’s practice of faithful discipleship. As folks enter the church’s communion of grace, Matthaei challenges church leaders to utilize the gifts of every member and lays out a plan to help congregations grow in faith and communion with God and creation, including the context and goal of such ministry, deciding what to teach and who shall teach, and attendant relationships, structures, and practices.

The Church Post–Sunday School

Author: Wendy Claire Barrie

Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.

Published: 2022-10-18

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 1640652930

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Including children and youth into the full life of the church will help faith communities thrive. Programs for the religious instruction of children and adults across denominations have steadily declined since 1997. The good news is that research and experience show that children’s participation in worship and connection to adults in the faith community helps children grow into and maintain a mature faith. Adults also find worthwhile benefits from relationships across generations, proving that age segregation as a default mode of worshipping, educating, and forming Christians should be carefully reconsidered. This book explores why and how churches become intergenerational rather than simply multigenerational. It includes real-life illustrations from parishes who are engaged in this work, as well as resources and practical suggestions for worship, education, fellowship, retreats and pilgrimages, and community outreach. A brief history of Sunday School, the reasons for its decline, and a summary of the relevant research supporting intergenerational faith formation are included.

Sunday School That Really Excels

Author: Steve Parr

Publisher: Kregel Ministry

Published: 2013-06-13

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0825443180

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Adult Sunday school can effectively increase the health of a church, and foster community and spiritual formation among its participants. Sunday School That Really Excels is a revealing look at actual churches with adult fellowships that not only survive but thrive. No matter the setting or challenges facing your church, this book is highly encouraging and practical. Various authors contribute chapters that blend an illustration of an excellent existing Sunday school ministry with scriptural support and leadership principles to enhance your own church's ministry. Chapters are devoted to particular situations faced by many churches, such as Sunday school in a rural setting; on the heels of a crisis; in a multicultural community; among transition to small groups; revitalizing a long-established ministry; and many others. Sunday school expert Steve Parr brings together lessons from the best of the best so that all Sunday school ministries can excel!