Adult Sunday School

[Salty]

Apparently many churches are having Sunday School only for children - and is held during the Morning Worship.

Does your church have Adult Sunday School? If not when are adults able to have small group Bible groups?
Should Children's SS be held during the Morning worship service?

Open for discussion

 

[JonC]

Yes, we do have an adult Sunday School. I don't mind a children's worship time held in the morning worship service, depending on the age of the children. My church has about 5 minutes during the service where the youth pastor addresses the children with a mini-sermon, but they remain present throughout the service.

 

[Deacon]

We have an Adult BIble class that meets 1 hour before the service.

We also have a number of periodicly scheduled classes during the week on Bible books or topics that meet for a limited time.

And we have social groups that meet weekly (usually on Wednesday), often studying the bible or topics of interest and performing service and various social activities.

Rob

 

[HeDied4U]

Apparently many churches are having Sunday School only for children - and is held during the Morning Worship.

Does your church have Adult Sunday School? If not when are adults able to have small group Bible groups?
Should Children's SS be held during the Morning worship service?

Open for discussion

My church calls them Adult Bible Fellowships. They start an hour before our regular service and usually last about 40 to 45 minutes. We also have home bible studies throughout the week.

 

[Iconoclast]

Many churches have adult ss....but they are sparsely attended.
Many remain ignorant of bible basics but are coddled along and do not seem to grow. They are content to be nominal professors,or try and squeak by with a minimal effort.
This is the symptom of larger issues and a failure to keep the heart with all diligence.

 

[JonC]

Many churches have adult ss....but they are sparsely attended.
Many remain ignorant of bible basics but are coddled along and do not seem to grow. They are content to be nominal professors,or try and squeak by with a minimal effort.
This is the symptom of larger issues and a failure to keep the heart with all diligence.

It does seem that doctrine often takes a back seat. Our small group studies are very well attended on Sunday morning, but evening opportunities to study corporately are declining in attendance. In your experience are there many churches that have abandoned small group studies?

 

[Iconoclast]

It does seem that doctrine often takes a back seat. Our small group studies are very well attended on Sunday morning, but evening opportunities to study corporately are declining in attendance. In your experience are there many churches that have abandoned small group studies?

What I find most distressing is that many who do come out are content to use the lifeway booklets, read through them, with very little spiritual interaction or really expanding into an actual bible study.
Others in one of the churches come out for an early "choir practice "...that lasts just beyond the starting time of the Sunday school classes start time.
Then instead of entering into any of the 4 classes available they spend the time milling around the sanctuary just talking about the cares of this life.
I learned this because one week I could not get there in time for ss...just in time for morning service, so I was about 15-20 minutes early and observed this pattern.
I asked the song leader person what he has been reading or studying and he looked puzzled, then said well....nothing.
I cannot understand how this is possible, or defensible.
Others I have seen read the lifeway devotional book, one time a lady spoke up and said...I never noticed that there were many boats in the water when the people wanted to hear Jesus.
This lead to a twenty minute digression as to speculation on why do you think there were so.many boats there????
I found that sad.
My wife and I are convinced that on sunday morning the class should be one main class.
Small groups could work in perhaps extreme rural settings, or if you had stable more committed kinds of persons.
Many have not ordered their lives as scripturally as they should, so the smalls groups slowly disintegrate.

 

[Reynolds]

Apparently many churches are having Sunday School only for children - and is held during the Morning Worship.

Does your church have Adult Sunday School? If not when are adults able to have small group Bible groups?
Should Children's SS be held during the Morning worship service?

Open for discussion

We have Sunday morning "life groups." For some reason everything now must have a new trendy name. I still call it Sunday School. They gave up on correcting me.

 

[Reynolds]

What I find most distressing is that many who do come out are content to use the lifeway booklets, read through them, with very little spiritual interaction or really expanding into an actual bible study.
Others in one of the churches come out for an early "choir practice "...that lasts just beyond the starting time of the Sunday school classes start time.
Then instead of entering into any of the 4 classes available they spend the time milling around the sanctuary just talking about the cares of this life.
I learned this because one week I could not get there in time for ss...just in time for morning service, so I was about 15-20 minutes early and observed this pattern.
I asked the song leader person what he has been reading or studying and he looked puzzled, then said well....nothing.
I cannot understand how this is possible, or defensible.
Others I have seen read the lifeway devotional book, one time a lady spoke up and said...I never noticed that there were many boats in the water when the people wanted to hear Jesus.
This lead to a twenty minute digression as to speculation on why do you think there were so.many boats there????
I found that sad.
My wife and I are convinced that on sunday morning the class should be one main class.
Small groups could work in perhaps extreme rural settings, or if you had stable more committed kinds of persons.
Many have not ordered their lives as scripturally as they should, so the smalls groups slowly disintegrate.

You must understand, the Lifeway booklets try not to offend any of the diverse doctrine holders in the SBC. That pretty much makes them worthless.

 

[Salty]

You must understand, the Lifeway booklets try not to offend any of the diverse doctrine holders in the SBC. That pretty much makes them worthless.

Reynolds - Excellent point - Lest explore that a bit more - on this thread I just started

 

[JonC]

What I find most distressing is that many who do come out are content to use the lifeway booklets, read through them, with very little spiritual interaction or really expanding into an actual bible study.
Others in one of the churches come out for an early "choir practice "...that lasts just beyond the starting time of the Sunday school classes start time.
Then instead of entering into any of the 4 classes available they spend the time milling around the sanctuary just talking about the cares of this life.
I learned this because one week I could not get there in time for ss...just in time for morning service, so I was about 15-20 minutes early and observed this pattern.
I asked the song leader person what he has been reading or studying and he looked puzzled, then said well....nothing.
I cannot understand how this is possible, or defensible.
Others I have seen read the lifeway devotional book, one time a lady spoke up and said...I never noticed that there were many boats in the water when the people wanted to hear Jesus.
This lead to a twenty minute digression as to speculation on why do you think there were so.many boats there????
I found that sad.
My wife and I are convinced that on sunday morning the class should be one main class.
Small groups could work in perhaps extreme rural settings, or if you had stable more committed kinds of persons.
Many have not ordered their lives as scripturally as they should, so the smalls groups slowly disintegrate.

I've seen very superficial classes. One time I attended an adult study where all they wanted to talk about was football. At the same church I attended a small group study led by a seminary professor. He devoted about 10 minutes to fellowship and then prayer requests followed by study - we took about a year going through a book of the Bible....it was a good study (our study guide was the Bible).

Now I attend a smaller church in a rural community. I see the benefit of the small group setting (I would probably not consider attending a church that did not have small groups....depending, of course, on the size of the church).

 

[Iconoclast]

I've seen very superficial classes. One time I attended an adult study where all they wanted to talk about was football. At the same church I attended a small group study led by a seminary professor. He devoted about 10 minutes to fellowship and then prayer requests followed by study - we took about a year going through a book of the Bible....it was a good study (our study guide was the Bible).

Now I attend a smaller church in a rural community. I see the benefit of the small group setting (I would probably not consider attending a church that did not have small groups....depending, of course, on the size of the church).

There are all different kinds of people of course I have seen some as classes that were solid and getting it done. I am thankful for that.
That sets a goal or a standard that while commendable cannot always be attained in other locations.
What is more painful is the possibility of herds of goats making believe they are sheep unable and unwilling to grow being devoid of the Spirit, but equipped with a Sunday morning smile,and handshake and can readily identify the NFL tv.schedule rather than outline Ephesians.

 

[Salty]

I was recently attending a SS adult class for about 3 weeks - and the instructor read the Lifeway quarterly word-for-word.

 

[JonC]

Small groups also may meet specific needs in the Church. Sometimes we tend to emphasize bible study when the need may lean more towards discipleship or fellowship. For example, we have a senior adult class comprised of mature Christians that meets to study Gods Word, but the emphasis is on fellowship and meeting each others needs.

 

[Reformed]

You must understand, the Lifeway booklets try not to offend any of the diverse doctrine holders in the SBC. That pretty much makes them worthless.

Oh, they would hate me.


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[Reynolds]

Oh, they would hate me.


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Honestly, I would much rather hear uncompromised doctrine I disagree with than hear watered down, sanitized doctrine that avoids offense.

 

[Reformed]

Honestly, I would much rather hear uncompromised doctrine I disagree with than hear watered down, sanitized doctrine that avoids offense.

I've taught people who disagree with my theology, but somehow unapologetic teaching in person comes across much different than the impersonal nature of the Baptist Board. We all got along.

 

[Deacon]

I was recently attending a SS adult class for about 3 weeks - and the instructor read the Lifeway quarterly word-for-word.

In the Sunday Adult Bible Study this week we are approaching the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 4:12-25).

In the notes this week, after discussing the various structures in Matthew's Gospel, I included this notation for the class.

MY APPROACH IN TEACHING MATTHEW

• We will be observers and study the Gospel together
• I will note how others have approached the interpretation of Matthew’s Gospel
• We can disagree with each other at times; it will serve as a point of discussion
• We will honor and respect each other in the process of learning.
• We will all learn with the purpose of being transformed into a Christ-like image

The class includes a seminarian, a few professionals, two elders and a few very elderly folk, a few younger folk and a few men from the addictions group.

I teach basic stuff shying away from unnecessary controversy but I include enough to make the class think. I'm not teaching in a verse-by-verse style but use techniques associated with NT narrative criticism to mine the text for meaning.

At the beginning of the class I told them that we would rarely be dealing with the Synoptic problem. I know so little Greek that I don't dwell on that much either.

Reading from a booklet is a fine way for someone to start teaching - rather than complain, you should have encouraged and come-along-side.

The hardest part (at least for me) of teaching a bible class is the weekly preparation.
I probably put 10+ hours a week into preparation. It gets tiring.

Having a partner or two helps to share the load.

Rob

 

[Salty]

...Reading from a booklet is a fine way for someone to start teaching - rather than complain, you should have encouraged and come-along-side. ...

Do you mean the first 5 minutes or so?
In this case - the entire lesson was read, word for word.
Virtually no discussion.

 

[agedman]

Has anyone tried theme oriented SS?

For example,

Rather than a single emphasis such as a typical quarterly driven approach, each SS has a different series of lessons.

Prior to the start of a quarter, the teachers would publish what their class are going to be investigating.

The class may gather to investigate: a book in the Scripture, a certain doctrinal study, perhaps a broad overview of the whole Bible, and of course the end times, the tabernacle, the letters of Paul ...

The assembly folks may choose which group to attend, purposefully limited by the seating availability. That is if the assembly has 20 adults, then perhaps no class will have more than 7 chairs,

Just wondering?