Category: Holiness

How Sunday School created a theologically illiterate American Church

sunday school

sunday schoolOne of the places where America began to become theologically illiterate was an odd one: Sunday School.

I believe the introduction of Sunday Schools truly has caused the American Church to know less about what they believe.

There are a few reasons:

1 – When we began focusing on Sunday Schools, we moved from having theologically-trained pastors teach to having laypeople teach. (Don’t get too worked up about this yet. More below.)

2 – The Sunday School movement was ecumenical (i.e. representing a number of different Christian churches). A lot of denominations have at least slightly different beliefs regarding doctrine, so they moved away from teaching any version of those debatable doctrines.

3 – The easiest commonality was to teach Bible stories. So that’s where the focus went.

Some disclaimers. Please hear these before any angry comments!

1 – I’m thrilled that laypeople teach. I don’t believe you must have been to seminary to be allowed to teach. With that said, there are times that we’ll take any warm body. Even if that warm body doesn’t know what repentance is or why in the world we would need to be adopted by God. I applaud willing volunteers, but we can’t expect our learners to learn theology that their teachers don’t know.

2 – I love ecumenical efforts. The catholic Church has far more in common than it has in opposition. But if we run from any disputed doctrines, we’ll run from some things that have had the greatest impact on my life (e.g. a Wesleyan understanding of prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace).

3 – We must teach the Bible! Of course! And learning theology through the narrative of Scripture is incredibly important. But we’ve tended to replace our wider theological beliefs with the stories. So you can find a lot of teenagers who know the story of David and Goliath, but very few who can define sanctification, or even articulate a Christian understanding of growing in holiness.

Some suggestions for change:

1 – Our teachers need to know basic theology. We don’t have to have seminarians teaching every class, but there does need to be a baseline. Please don’t just look for the best warm body.

“But we don’t have enough people! We have to take whomever will volunteer.” That’s probably true in a lot of places. So some more encouragement: if you have a good handle on basic theology, we need you! Please volunteer to teach. If you are willing to teach but don’t have a good handle on basic theology, please find a way to get a crash course! You and those you teach will all benefit.

2 – We need to teach the specifics of our faith. Presbyterians, teach about election and perseverance. Methodists, teach about prevenient grace and entire sanctification. Dispensationalists, teach about… well, never mind. (I jest. Kind of.)

3 – Continue to teach the Bible! Teach all of the stories. But make sure that you are teaching something beyond just the story and beyond just nice morals. (E.g. Please don’t teach the story of Noah and the ark and then use it to talk about Noah’s patience with all those stinky animals and how we should be patient, too [actual children’s Bible usage]!) This means intentionally asking what big doctrines are being communicated through certain stories.

Elijah and the prophets of Baal teaches us about God’s faithfulness, judgment for the wicked, and God’s almighty power. Emphasize those! And don’t be afraid to teach from non-narrative pieces like the psalms and New Testament letters.

Yes, Sunday School (along with many other factors) has contributed to rampant theological illiteracy in the American Church. But we can fight back!

Resources for Re-gaining Theological Literacy

When Martin Luther realized how theologically illiterate were the masses around him, he created a catechism. It was a short summary of the faith in question and answer form, with the Ten Commandments, Apostles’ Creed, and Lord’s Prayer as its fixtures.

Lutherans, if you don’t have it, go get Luther’s catechism and start using it and teaching it. Presbyterians, go get the Westminster Catechism. Dutch Reformed, grab a Heidelberg Catechism. Non-creedal Bible-only independent churches… oh wait. (Again, I jest.) Wesleyans, take a look at the resource some friends and I have developed and published with Asbury Seedbed. It’s called “Echo: A Catechism for Discipleship in the Ancient Christian Tradition.” I think you’ll like it.

Take a look at my follow-up article: “A Crash Course in Theology.”

Stealing

thief

As a Christian, I believe people shouldn’t steal. I believe it’s against the will of God for them to steal. But I believe God still offers them grace. That grace covers their guilt for stealing in the past and gives them the power not to succumb to that temptation again.

If there were some kind of movement to legalize theft (yes, we could get into all the forms of “theft” that already are legal), I honestly don’t think I’d get too embroiled in it. The state can make its decisions. It’s not a Christian state.

I believe some people are born more naturally inclined towards theft than others. We have a name for it: kleptomania. I know those people will have a much more difficult time refraining from theft than I will. But I still believe they shouldn’t. And I know it will be harder for them, so I have compassion on them, not disdain.

I don’t have hatred in my heart for people who steal, or for people who are tempted to steal. I believe God calls me to love them, and I want to do my best to do that. But I do believe they shouldn’t steal.

I really don’t believe I’m a bigot for believing that people shouldn’t steal. I’ll happily listen to the opinions of a thief, including his opinions about why he should keep on stealing, even though I doubt I’ll come to agree. And in that conversation, I would have it as a goal to understand where he’s coming from and recognize the difficulties he goes through in this world by having a natural inclination toward something others call sinful.

But I would also have it as a goal to convince him to stop stealing, to offer him support and counsel and resources.

Most importantly: I don’t believe this person’s first identity is as a thief. I know that is a large part of how he will be seen, how he will stand out in society, how he will struggle to get along in our society. But I believe his primary identity is as a child of God. And I want to love him that way. Just as God does. If he continues stealing, I’ll pray that he finds a way to stop. And I believe God will actively offer him grace to stop, as well.

Related articles

2 more questions to ask and be asked every week

discussion

In my last post, I listed 4 questions I think you should ask and be asked every week. I gave some thoughts about what the first two mean. Here are some notes on the second two.

I hope you’ll see in these a spirit of prayer and support, not a time of guilt and condemnation. We know that everyone is at different places in their walk, and we don’t expect that anyone has everything just right. Our intent is to help each person, wherever he/she is, to continue growing in faith.

3 – How have you availed yourself of the means of grace?

My group has changed this to, “What Christian practices have you kept this week?” because they understand it a bit better. I think we may be losing something, though, by not always talking about these as means of God’s grace.

Either way, the intent is the same: we believe God transforms us through particular means of grace. If so, we want to encourage each other to participate in these.

Are you receiving the Lord’s Supper? Praying? Searching the Scriptures? Fasting? Participating in public worship? I believe all of these practices have the ability to transform you. For my Methodist friends, John Wesley specifically listed the first three as the “chief means of grace.” And he spoke strongly about the importance of fasting and attending the church service (regardless of how you feel about the church).

When I’m not doing well, I often don’t even realize it until my group asks me about these. There have been times that I have begun to share by describing some turmoil or restlessness or apathy in my soul. Then I get to this question and realize it may be because I haven’t availed myself of hardly any means of grace.

I’ve found that when people are keeping means of grace in their lives, they tend to be doing well, even if the circumstances around them aren’t great.

Again, the goal isn’t a spirit of judgment or shaming people. The spirit is of mutual encouragement.

4 – How can we as a group best pray for and support you?

This is pretty obvious. It also gets to the core of what we’re trying to do in these groups. They are about spiritual support.

The group’s goal is not problem-solving or advice-giving. There may be occasions where that’s appropriate, but the main goal as a group is to listen, pray and support.

I recently spoke with someone who attends a daily Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. He said it’s important for him to be there every day because they ask how he’s doing and encourage him to keep going. They realize how dangerous alcoholism is, and they fight it daily by meeting to ask each other if they’re still on track.

In some sense, Christianity is a lifelong recovery plan. We realize how dangerous the devil’s schemes are and how easily sin entangles. As part of our fight against that, we meet with each other as a chance to share how our souls are, with opportunity to mourn or celebrate with each other.

We meet to discuss celebrations or struggles with good and evil, and to encourage each other to press on.

We meet to encourage each other in things like prayer, Scripture reading, and fasting, and to hear how those practices are transforming others.

And finally, we meet to pray for each other. Because we need it.

I hope you’ll consider finding a place to ask and be asked these questions weekly. I think it will do great things for your soul. If you have questions or thoughts, please let me know.