Why I'll never say, "You know, you learned that in Sunday School"
I’ve got some more substantial posts brewing in my head, but chapel week has taken over my life this week so they will have to wait till after Friday at 11:00 am. In fact, I’ll probably post about chapel week overall. Until then, a thought for the day.
I was writing something recently — don’t remember what, but doesn’t matter — and I typed, “We all know that, we learned it in Sunday School” or something like that. And then I thought: what a horrible phrase.
You hear it often in church settings, or at least in my mainline protestant church settings it’s fairly common. “You learned that in Sunday School.” That phrase should be banned from pastor’s mouths. If one types it, her computer should immediately zap her with an electric shock.
The phrase is all about insiders and outsiders, those who have a certain knowledge (or rather, pedigree) and those who didn’t grow up going to church or Sunday School. The phrase assumes that those at one’s church are already at a certain point in their faith understanding, and shuts off conversation. It suggests that everyone worth anything at that church grew up going to Sunday School. It fails to welcome the other. It is inward focused rather than outward focused, enclosed as opposed to missional.
You may have learned a lot in Sunday School. You may have never been. As a pastor who grew up attending Sunday School, I ask you all, please shake me if I ever utter those words again.
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Adam, I think you’re being a wee bit oversensitive here. Lots of Sunday schools bring in children whose parents have no connection to church – I’m sure you saw that a lot in Scotland -
There’s nothing wrong with the statement, or for anyone being associated with Sunday School. We train our best leaders of the Church in Sunday school. We inspire future missionaries through our work in Sunday school. Sunday School teachers are the most undervalued workers for the Kingdom that we have in the Church.
I value your heart for the unchurched, but let’s not be embarassed to say we learned things in Sunday School – it’s a great place of learning and seeding the faith. We should be proud to own it.
I totally value the great things that happen in Sunday School, don’t get me wrong. I love teaching it myself, and it’s an amazing tool for mission and discipleship. It actually killed me in Scotland to see how little influence sunday school actually had…
But I think it can so easily become an exclusive club, or a microcosm of the rest of the church’s exclusivity.
The US church is moving from a paradigm in which it expected folks to just show up, attend sunday school and all that to a time when a very low percentage of folks under 30 attend worship, let along sunday school. Words matter, and I think it’s a phrase that really points to some broader issues.
Oversensitive? Probably. But thinking about how to make sure church may welcome all.
I promise I will whap you upside the head if I ever hear that phrase from you.
And in terms of what we actually “learned” in sunday school….I don’t remember much. But I remember that people came every week to put Jesus on the flannel board and to serve me snacks and to keep Chris Rieken from cutting my hair with those little blunt scissors. In short, I learned that people who weren’t related to me loved me and cared for me.
That’s what I learned in sunday school….
Sunday School is so different these days, especially with the Rotation system. Drama, music, science, crafts and even baking are part of Sunday School these days.
I would be proud of any of the kids in our church saying “this is what I learned in Sunday School.” Believe me, it has emerged into a different product from the old flannel board and playdough days.
I’m kind of with Stushie, and kind of with Marci/Adam. Feeling a little bit like the “baby/bathwater” cliche. My sons learned so much about how the community cares about people (both positive and negative) in church and church school, and as an adult parent of chilren, I re-learned and discovered much. But I am increasingly sensitive to insider/outside assumptions and language and being mindful of it whether teaching in a classroom or from the pulpit or in pretty much any church discussion. I think there are ways to acknowledge the diversity/difference – and as we know, context makes a difference!
Adam – chapel was a gift all week, including just reading the order of service and KW’s sermon today. Thanks so much for giving space for the community of truth to be observed/practiced(depending on which edition of Parker Palmer you are quoting from!).
I would certainly be happy for my children to remember things they learned in Sunday School, but that doesn’t change Adam’s point that not everyone in worship grew up in church and/or went to Sunday School. So to set up a dichotomy between people “in the know” and those who are not can contribute to the church seeming to be unwelcoming or unfriendly to visitors.