Thursday, September 14, 2006

Sunday School apathy

It is my personal belief that if you have a child that you enroll in Sunday School that you should offer to help with Sunday School in some way. Not many of the parents at our Church feel the same way. It seems that they use Sunday School as free child care for while they attend Church and don't give it another thought. I've had one parent tell me that she just can't teach. I just don't get it...why not?

This year we have a SEVERE shortage of teachers for the Sunday School. It is so bad that there are many classes that just won't happen at all because there is no one to teach them. Now whether or not the Church really cancels the class remains to be seen...in the past they have combined classes (stressing out the teachers we do have) in order to have Sunday School.

I really hope that they cancel classes. These parents need to wake up to the fact that they need to help. I would really like to one Sunday march the kids upstairs, announce "Sorry Sunday School can't happen this week because we have no teachers." and have them go sit with their parents in service. I wonder if that's what it would take to get them to come help?

13 comments:

  1. I feel that the reason many people do not participate in teaching Sunday School is because they feel there is a certain type of person required in order to teach those classes. Some people become overly obsessed with the notion that one must be the perfect Christian in order to share the word of the Lord with others. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the parents told you they felt this way if you were to ask them.

    It is a deep-seeded fear which can only be done away with with the help of understanding.

    - Marina

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  2. I'm sad to say that I've experienced this too. I only wished someone had had the guts to cancel SS classes instead of burning out the few volunteers they did have. After all, the church is not a building or a business, it is the body of people who are members. It only works if everybody works.

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  3. I taught CCD classes at our Parish for a few years. every year there were fewer and fewer teachers. Since the kids have to attend CCD classes until they are confirmed in 7th grade, the kids looked at it as something they HAD to do, and resented being there. Plus, it was 2 hours of their time after a long day of school. It was very difficult for a volunteer teacher to deal with the bratty attitudes of the kids from 5th grade to 7th grade. The teachers that were there the longest were "rewarded" by getting the 1st - 4th grade classes where the kids were much more cooperative. I really didn't blame anyone for leaving or not wanting to teach. I loved teaching the lessons, but it was at times very difficult. I was sad when I moved out of state. I missed the kids. - Meezers Mom

    Miss Renee- is it ok if we put a link to you in our blogroll? We likes having a bean furriend visit us! - Sammy and Miles

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  4. this is why church going turns me off.

    I have the opposite problem. I want to help. I volunteer. I want to sing in the choir. I get turned away or ignored!

    Looking for a new church now.

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  5. Yep. I truly would make a horrible teacher, but I do know the number code that flashes in our sanctuary that means "We need more people back here NOW!" I'm not officially a nursery volunteer, but any time I see the number, I feel compelled to go back there and help out, because my kid's in there, too.i

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  6. Oh, Carmen, that stinks!

    We used to go to a church with no children's program. I had 3 kids age 2 and under, and we had to keep them quiet in the pews because it was a very small church and we had the only kids. It was obvious which of the 6 pews was the loudest. Yikes!

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  7. Hmm..well, you've definitely given me food for thought. We have a pretty good children's program and we do help out financially. I haven't been asked about teaching, so I'll be sure to bring that up next "dropoff."

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  8. Hey Renee - I'm glad you're doing your part (and more).

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  9. Anonymous9:36 PM

    i've done alot of volunteering over the years and i have found that too many parents use organizations exactly as that, a babysitting service. i don't get it, why have kids if you're not prepared to be involved in whatever activity you are putting them into? even if you can't teach, you can still be there to help out, there are always things that need to be done. it's always the same parents stretching themselves to cover everything.

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  10. Well, I can't say much about the Sunday School issue....BUT I can complain about the same sort of issue in regular school. Just because your kid attends public school, don't assume that your involvement isn't needed or necessary. I spend A LOT of time at my kids' school and I can see first hand that teachers are overloaded. There aren't nearly enough parent volunteers. As a matter of fact, I'm the only parent volunteer in Alli and Wolfie's class. It's sad.

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  11. I understand this really well. Our church services run 3 hrs total. We have 2 hrs of Primary (children's sunday school consisting of classes, singing and sharing time) In one small congregation where I taught the adults it was so bad we cancelled adult Sunday School( going from 3 hrs to 2) so I could teach the children. The Bishop then took over teaching the adults the final hour. Over and over the comment "We would just like to enjoy church" was heard. How could you not enjoy training children to love the Lord? How could you not love teaching a child to recognize when their prayers have been answered or how the spirit feels?

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  12. Hey Carmen, you can come sit by me. Need you in the choir, have a classroom for you complete with kids and everything. And yes, there's one in D.C.

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  13. I agree wid' ya. You see parents either ignoring their kids or passing them off to somone else in public. It only makes sense that they would do the same thing at church.

    Of course Zeus makes a good point too.

    However, parents do need to get more involved in their kids' lives...discpline first and foremost, to make life easier for us who work with kids every day, but it does help when parents participate in field trips, room mother school stuff, sunday school etc.

    Last year when I led nature walks for school kids I can count on my hand the number of times I saw parents attend that field trip.

    http://www.danno.org/blogs

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