Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another and so much more, as ye see the day approaching.
—Heb. 10:25
6233 Origin Of Sunday School
The Sunday school was not originated by famous theologians. In 1780, businessman Robert Raikes saw dirty children on a Sunday afternoon with their favorite activity: fist fights. Sunday afternoon was the only free day from hard work then.
Mr. Raikes established the first Sunday School with the dirty, small children, which was promptly dubbed “Raikes’ Regiment” and “Billy Wild Goose.” For those who came, he gave pennies; teachers were hired at 25¢ per Sunday. Later, John Wesley was the first to suggest the elimination of payment, and the movement spread.
6234 Chased Out Of Churches
The first Sunday schools were chased out of churches. The Boston Park Street Church recorded in 1817: “A number of Park St. Church members met in the vestry to discuss forming Sunday school. Dr. Griffin, pastor, was present. Objections: (1) It might be a desecration of the Sabbath. (2) Children ought to be instructed by their parents at home (3) Professing Christians ought to be at home engaging in reading, meditation, and prayer at home, instead of going abroad to teach children of other families on the Sabbath. But the church finally did start a Sunday School.
6235 American Sunday School Union
One of the oldest Christian organizations in the United States, and one that has veered little from its original purpose, is the American Sunday School Union. It was founded in Philadelphia 150 years ago to promote establishment of new Sunday schools.
A group of Philadelphia citizens founded the organization in a schoolroom at Fourth and Vine Streets on May 13, 1817. Francis Scott Key, author of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” helped to get it off the ground. Within ten years it had become the foremost publisher of children’s literature. In its first century, more than 100,000 Sunday schools were established.
—Christianity Today
6236 World’s Largest Sunday School
A new world record Sunday School attendance of 23,024 was set by the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. It had already earned the title of “The World’s Largest Sunday School” previously. The average attendance for the fall and winter months of 1973 had been 13,000.
6237 Paxton’s Real Wealth
Toward the close of the last century a young businessman was accumulating riches rapidly. He said to Stephen Paxton, who had known only poverty through the years, “Come with me and we will make a fortune together!” Paxton declined the appealing offer, for God had placed upon his heart the great need of Sunday schools in the thinly-populated rural sections of our country. “You are a fool to turn down such an attractive offer,” said the businessman. Other people derided him, too, calling him a “crackpot” and a religious fanatic.
Years passed. One day he met the man who had made him the business offer. The man said, “You wouldn’t come with me. Now I am worth fifty thousand dollars and you and your family still live in a covered wagon!” “But,” said Paxton, “you do not know the extent of my real wealth. More than fifty thousand boys, girls, men and women are enrolled in Sunday schools that I organized!”
—Selected
THE TEACHER
6238 Perfect Attendance Records
Who holds the world record for perfect Sunday School attendance?
First there was Mrs. Harry C. Morgan of Greene Street Presbyterian Church, Augusta, Georgia, who reached her 45th year of perfect Sunday School attendance in 1959—a total of 2340 consecutive Sundays!
Then there is Miss Jennie C. Powers of Philadelphia, Pa., who attended without absence for 56 years and four months—a total of 2938 Sundays.
But according to Guinness Book of Records, it is Roland E. Daab of Columbia, Illinois, who beats the record. On May 23, 1976, he attended his 3,000th consecutive Sunday School session—an unbroken period of over 57 years.
6239 Oldest Living Teacher
A piano teacher who still lives in the house in which she was born has taught Sunday School for eighty-one years. Miss Elizabeth Aageson, feted by Immanuel Baptist Church in Portland, Maine, on her 100th birthday, is believed to be the oldest Sunday-school teacher in the nation.
—Christianity Today
6240 What’s The Matter With Mrs. Craig?
The following news items appeared in the Nashville Banner, June 19, 1956:
PORTER, Okla, (AP)—Mrs. Ella Craig, age 81, hasn’t missed Sunday school attendance in 1,040 Sundays—a perfect record for 20 years.
1. Doesn’t Mrs. Craig ever have company on Sunday to keep her away from church?
2. Doesn’t she ever go anywhere on Saturday night and get up tired on Sunday morning?
3. Doesn’t she ever have headaches, colds, nervous spells, tired feelings, poor breakfasts, sudden calls out of town, business trips, Sunday picnics, or any trouble of any kind?
4. Doesn’t she have any friends at all—friends who invite her to a week-end trip to the seashore or mountains?
5. Doesn’t she ever sleep late on Sunday morning?
6. Doesn’t it ever rain or snow on Sunday mornings?
7. Doesn’t she ever get her feelings hurt by somebody in church?
8. Doesn’t she ever get mad at the preacher or Sunday school teacher?
9. Doesn’t she have a radio or television so she can listen to “some mighty good sermons from out of town”?
What’s the matter with Mrs. Craig?
6241 Hendricks And Little Old Lady
Professor Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary once told his class: “Some years ago, we were attending a Sunday school Convention in Chicago. I saw an elderly lady with a convention badge at the little hamburger stand where we happened to be eating. We invited her to join us for a snack.
“I guessed her age to be 65, but she really was 83. She said she teaches Junior High boys. And we later found out her class had 50 students. She lived in Upper Michigan on a pension, and had saved pennies to get a bus ticket to Chicago on an all-night trip just to attend the Convention.
“I came to see if I could learn something that would make me a better teacher,” she admitted.
“Afterwards,” concluded Hendricks, “we three men felt like crawling out under the door of that hamburger house.”
6242 Competing Against Holy Spirit
I went to do some evaluation of a teacher of kindergarten kids—at the teacher’s request. For the fifty minutes I was there this teacher tried to lecture.
Finally, the bell rang, and she cranked out the memory verse. Afterwards she sighed, “Boy, I got over the lesson.”
When she came to see me, I said to her, “Did it ever occur to you that you’re really competing against the Holy Spirit?”
“I certainly don’t intend to do that.”
“But did it ever occur to you that God made this child with an attention span of about four to five minutes? And all the time you kept saying to the child, “keep quiet,” “sit still” and God kept saying, “Wiggle.” And what did he do? He listened to God every time.”
About 85% of the discipline problems in school, in church, in home come because we do not understand the pupil with whom we are working.
—Howard Hendricks
6243 What Happened To Four Boys
A Christian man on his way to church saw 4 boys loitering on a corner. He invited them to go with him and organized a class with them as nucleus.
Years passed and the original group scattered. But on the birthday of the teacher in 1932, he received letters from each of the four original members: one letter from a missionary to China, one from the president of Federal Reserve Bank, one from the private secretary of Pres. Herbert Hoover, fourth from Hoover himself.
6244 That Junior High Kid
A number of years ago, when I first came to Dallas, I was invited to teach a Junior High class. And I thought I knew something about Junior high kids. But there was a boy in that class that the textbooks never encountered. His name was Dave. And I mean, let’s face it, they had never met Dave.
Dave was in my class. This kid gave me fits before I ever came to class and all during class. And long after I left, he was still working the place over.
I tried everything. Finally I came to the Sunday school superintendent.
“Look, friend, one of us has got to go. It’s either Dave or me. Which one do you want?” I’ll never forget his answer.
“Howie, before you go. I want you to promise me one thing.”
“Friend, I’ll do anything. What is it?”
“I’d like you to visit Dave’s home.”
So I took the address down and I had the hardest time finding the place, because it had no numbers on it. It was a little shack at the end of a long, dusty lane. I finally came up to the place and I knocked on the door. A very disheveled woman answered:
“Yeah, what do you want?”
Just then, little Dave stuck his head around the corner.
“Hey, Mom! That’s my Sunday school teacher.” Of course, she was embarrassed no end. She invited me into a very dimly lit room. And when my eyes became adjusted to the light, I noticed a human form over against the baseboard, which I later learned was Dave’s father, who had been dead-drunk for nine solid months, who lost his job, and of course the income.
The dear mother had to go to work. She had no training, no background, no experience to keep body and soul together for the family. And of course, she had to work long hours, and when she came home she was extremely fatigued. She’d take out all her venom on Pop and on this little dusty trail, and when I got to the end, I said “Thank you, Lord. I’ve got the answer to Dave’s problem.” Dave’s dying for somebody to give him legitimate love and attention. Next Sunday when I met Dave, I called to him:
“Hey, Dave. If I come next week early, will you be here!”
“Sure. Will you?”
“Yeah, we’ll get together before the class.”
The janitor told me that at 7:00 in the morning, when he came over to light the fires, Dave was sitting on the front steps waiting for me to come. And Davie and I became real close friends. I discovered what he wanted to do more than anything else was to take a ride in a car. I owned a Ford and took ole Dave around a little park in our area called White Rock Lake, I discovered he liked to go fishing, so we went fishing together. And I started to build a bridge to Davie’s life.
I can still remember he was the biggest kid in the class. Every now and then we’d be sitting around and some kid would be horsing around. I could see Davie sitting up to his full length and say “Shut up.” All heads would come back into the act. He and I became real close friends.
—Howard Hendricks
6245 “You’re Worthless”
When I entered Baptist College, Springfield, Missouri, I was a typical first-year student, searching for answers to questions. I was not settled on what I was going to do.
During that year something happened that was to change my life. I asked for a Sunday school class at the High Street Baptist Church and was given a little area with a curtain around it, a class book, and one eleven-year-old boy. I taught this boy for three or four weeks, until he finally brought a friend. I got so discouraged I went to the superintendent with the intention of giving up the class. He told me, “I didn’t want to give you the class when you asked because my better judgment told me you were not serious and dedicated. I don’t think you will make it in the ministry, but I went against my judgment and gave you the class.” The middle-aged man finished, “I was right in my first judgment—you’re worthless, so give me the book.”
This made me so mad I told him I would not give him the book and I’d consider the class and pray about it. I went back to my room at the dormitory and began praying. I asked the Dean of Students for a key to an empty room on the third floor, and each afternoon for a week I went and prayed from half-past-one until five o’clock. God broke my heart over my failure with the small Sunday school class. I realized if I wasn’t going to be faithful in little things, God would never bless me in big things. I prayed for the first boy and his family, and the boy he had brought and his family. Next I prayed for myself and my own needs, asking God to lead me to the right place.
God blessed the class, and new kids came. I prayed for them and their friends. On Saturday I cut a swath across every playground and empty lot I could find, seeking eleven-year-old boys. When I left school in May of that year the Lord had given me fifty-six eleven-year-old boys for my class. All had been saved and many of their mothers, dads, and friends had also been saved.
—Selected
6246 The “Tithe Man”
I was for some years associate pastor in Bethany Church in Philadelphia, where John Wanamaker was superintendent of the great Sunday school of 3,500 members and teacher of a men’s Bible class. This class he organized after the Jethro fashion. Over every ten members he placed a “tithe man,” over every ten tithe men a “centurion.” Mr. Wanamaker directed the centurions, the centurions directed the tithe men, and the tithe men looked after their tens. This simple plan afforded a practical measure for the oversight of this great Bible class.
—Albert Mygatt
6247 How Moody Got Saved
On April 22, 1855, a Sunday school teacher stood in front of a Boston shoestore, indecision written on his face. He wanted to visit a young member of his class who was a clerk in the store, but he did not want to embarrass the boy in front of his friends. He hesitated, walked past, then determined to make a dash for it and have it over at once. He found him in the back wrapping shoes in paper and putting them on shelves. He went up to him and put his hand on his shoulder and simply told him of Christ’s love and the love Christ wanted in return.
The young man received Christ as his Saviour right there in the storeroom of the shoe store. He made application to join a local congregation but was turned down because of his spiritual ignorance. A year later he applied again and was received—though with some reluctance. His name: D. L. Moody.
—James H. Semple
6248 That Third Suit
Some years ago a manufacturer of Scotland told the Sunday school teacher of a class of poor boys that he would get them each a new suit of clothes. The worst and most unpromising boy in the class was a lad named Bob. After a few Sundays he was missing. His teacher hunted him up, but found his new clothes torn and dirty. The manufacturer gave him a second suit, but after attending once or twice, Bob again absented himself. Utterly discouraged, his teacher reported to the manufacturer that they must give him up.
But he wanted to try him once more, and gave him a third suit if he’d promise to attend regularly. Bob did promise, and attended faithfully and later found Jesus as his Saviour. The end of the account is that that discouraged boy—the forlorn, ragged Bob—became the Rev. Robert Morrison, the great missionary to China, who translated the Bible into the Chinese language, and by so doing opened the gates of Heaven to the teeming millions of that country.
—Children’s Review
6249 God’s Man Didn’t Quit
A young man had a class of boys in a mission Sunday School. Little fellows they were, and their new teacher’s kindness and tact won them to him completely. After awhile the young man became discouraged with his efforts among them, and he decided to leave. He went down early the last Sunday and overheard a conversation between two of the boys. One announced that he wasn’t coming any more; teacher was going to quit, and he was going to quit too. “Why,” said the other boy, “he hasn’t quit. Why, I was the first boy in his class and one Sunday he told us kids that God sent him to teach us, an’ he said God was his boss, and he had to do wot He said. He’s God’s man, and he dasn’t quit.” And the young man didn’t quit.
—Record of Christian Work
6250 Post-Conversion Follow-Up
“The last boy in my Sunday school class accepted Jesus as Savior today; my work is done. I want a new class.” This teacher did not realize that a new responsibility had begun.
Sometimes it happens that after a person has acknowledged Christ as Savior, those who were praying for him stop doing so. Paul did not stop after a person took this step. In his prayer for the Ephesians (1:15–23) we can learn at least five things about prayer:
1. He prayed for them after they became Christians.
2. He prayed for their spiritual welfare.
3. He prayed for them as people; he mentioned them to God.
4. He made specific requests for them.
5. He let them know that he was praying for them.
THE STUDENT
6251 Compared With TV Time
The average US child will, by age 65, have spent 9 years of 24-hours sitting in front of a TV set. But if he goes to Sunday School every Sunday during those years, he will have spent only 4 months studying the Bible.
6252 No One Contacted Them
In two years Judge B. E. Johnson, of Pierce County Juvenile Court, Tacoma, Wash., had over 2,000 young people ten- to eighteen-years-old appear before him. All but one listed a denominational preference. However, at the time of their arrest less than 2 percent were in regular contact with a church or Sunday school. The judge asked each of these youngsters if, when they dropped out of Sunday school, anyone contacted them to get them back. During the two years, only two youngsters said such a contact was made.
—Clate A. Risley
6253 Teacher Of Kennedy’s Assassin
A sad letter of an anguished Baptist Sunday School teacher was published in a Dallas newspaper after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The teacher told of having a boy in his Sunday school class whom he never reached for Christ. His name: Lee Harvey Oswald, who later assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
Five years later a Nazarene Sunday school teacher in Pasadena, California, lamented over what might have happened to a dropout from his class. The twelve-year-old dark-skinned boy came two or three times, then stopped. The teacher neglected to visit the boy and try to bring him back. This boy’s name: Sirhan Sirhan, who later killed Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
6254 Story Of Dillinger
Somewhere I read of a rough boy who attended a Sunday school and made it tough for every teacher he had. Finally, after a consultation with the teachers, the Superintendent led him to the door one Sunday with this curt dismissal: “There’s the street. Go, and never come back to this Sunday School!”
He never came back, but they heard from him again! He began a career of crime and bloodshed that perhaps has never been equalled in modern times. Finally, before a theater entrance in Chicago one evening, his body was riddled with bullets.
In one of the Chicago papers a most unusual picture appeared—only the feet of the dead desperado showed. The caption under the picture was brief: “These are the feet of John Dillinger!” The editorial comment was heart-searching: “Who knows where these feet might have gone if someone had guided them aright?”
6255 Resign Or Reconsecrate
Canon Hague tells of a chaplain who was ministering to a dying boy in the last war. He asked him if he had any message for his mother. “Yes,” he said, “tell her I am dying happy.” “Anything else?” “Yes. Write to my Sunday school teacher.” “What shall I say?” “Tell her I died a Christian, and I have never forgotten her teaching.”
A few weeks later the chaplain received a letter from this Sunday school teacher. It went something like this: “God have mercy upon me. Only last month I resigned from my Sunday school class, for I felt that my teaching was doing no good; and scarcely had I, through my cowardly, faithless heart, given up my appointed work than I got your letter telling me that my teaching had been the means of winning a soul to Christ. I am going back to my rector at once to tell him that I will try again in Christ’s name and I will be faithful to the end.”
—Moody Monthly
6256 “May God Forgive Me”
Mr. G. J. Byrnell, a Scripture reader attached to an English regiment during the Boer War, told this story. There was a certain young fellow in our regiment whom we had long been trying to influence, with no apparent response. One day he fell, mortally wounded. I hurried to his side and asked whether there were any messages he would like me to send home for him. “Yes,” he replied eagerly, “Write to my mother. Tell her that I died a Christian, and write to my old Sunday school teacher, Miss________. Tell her I haven’t forgotten the lessons she used to teach me at Sunday school years ago.
Then he passed away. To the first letter there was a long time no reply. The poor mother was to brokenhearted to write. But to the second, a reply arrived by return post. It read, “May God forgive me. I gave up teaching Sunday school some years ago, because it seemed all in vain.”
—Mrs. Ruby Miller
6257 Epigram On Sunday School
• “WANTED: Teacher. Must have the wisdom of Solomon, patience of Job, and the courage of David.”
That’s the ad I’d run if I wanted to find the ideal Sunday School teacher!
—Dick Van Dyke
See also: Church ; Education, Religious.