Why I Don't Teach Children's Sunday School

Okay, so I do, actually. Sometimes it’s necessary for the good of the kingdom, but I try not to teach children’s Sunday school. And it’s probably not why you think.

 

I don’t feel overburdened by ministry expectations. I’m qualified to teach it (I have an education degree.) I like teaching it; there’s actually nothing quite like playing Moses to a troupe of preschoolers wandering through the wilderness of church hallways. And I have a good relationship with the children and parents in our church.

Instead, the reason I don’t teach Sunday school is: my own children are in the class, and I want to make sure they hear the gospel from someone else. I want them know that other people are concerned about their souls.

Especially in a front-and-center family, where the kids get plenty of opportunities to see their parents talking about Christ, our children need to see the power of the gospel in the lives of other adults. I would never want our ministry kids to grow up thinking the gospel was merely part of our job description. Of course, we teach them the Scriptures at home, but I hope they recognize early that they are a vital part of a community of people who all love God’s word. Daily, we press them to trust Christ, but they need that message from others, too.

For this reason, I have been so thankful for the people who have taken an active interest in the souls of my children:

• their Sunday school teacher (of course!)
• the church members who pray publicly at prayer meetings for our children.
• the woman who watched our year-old son and spent the time teaching him to lisp: “In the beginning, God.”
• the high-school student who teaches a children’s Bible Club and invited our sons to be his helpers.
• the group of eight adults who gave up a December afternoon to hear our son recite 72 questions and answers to the children’s catechism.

In our church, when children are baptized, the people of the congregation take a vow to “assist the parents in the Christian nurture of this child.” We’re always blessed when people do this! So, go ahead, pass on teaching Sunday school and allow someone else to love your child’s soul.