The Sunday School Effect

I was raised in South Jersey, a mile from the Bay, two miles from the ocean. Almost all of my youth was spent on a ball field, in a boat, or on the beach. The idea of farming beyond my dad’s small garden (where he grew monster tomatoes) was as alien to me as the beach would be to somebody raised in the mountains.

It wasn’t until after I moved to Kentucky, and especially the home I am now in, where I began to better understand certain anthropomorphic phrases used by Yeshua in the NT. His use of sheep and goats, for example, was something I didn’t grasp until I was around sheep and goats. The loyal follow the leader behavior of a sheep, contrasted against the stubborn and seemingly rebellious behavior of a goat, came alive to me in Scripture in ways not possible for me before my move.

The sheep mentality can be a blessing but can also border on being a curse. The blessing is manifest in a number of ways including an almost blind trust of God and His word, and also when one follows in the ways of the Lord as others have done before them. You might remember Paul saying, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ?” It takes a sheep mentality to dump our pride and accept that the ways of God, our “Shepherd,” are above our ways and desires. When we adopt this approach, we will be blessed. Yet, a sheep mentality without training and discernment, can create a situation where our growth can be hampered and we become polarizing and divisive to those around us.

Has the church failed making disciples?

There are two aspects to Christian church services that I believe do us no favors. The first, and I am speaking in general as there are always exceptions, is that the Sunday message is almost always tied to the cross. I understand why this is done as a Sunday morning is when you have the best chance for a visitor to be present and they need to hear the milk of the gospel. By milk I merely mean the first step, as the understanding that Yeshua lived sinless, died, and raised from the grave is the foundation of our walk. We start there, pick up the cross, and then begin a journey. We are not supposed to camp at the cross. When long time Christians only ever hear a cross based message and don’t dig into the meat of the word (i.e. the instructions that declare God’s will for our daily walk) than we simply end up lacking in terms of depth of understanding. Yes we still belong to God, but we will have left a lot of food on the table He placed there for our consumption.

Many denominations will offer a Sunday “school” that is generally in the form of a class that lasts around an hour. While I LOVE the idea of getting people into a classroom, it’s what isn’t taught that bothers me. Again, generally speaking, most Sunday school classes will teach the doctrine of that particular denomination, admittedly at times in ways that can be fun and exciting. However, when one can grow to the point where they can repeat back (or parrot) the denominational position(s) in a fun and persuadable way, they become the next generation of “teachers” thus allowing that denomination to indefinitely perpetuate itself. What is not taught is how to study, how to think for oneself, and perhaps more importantly, how to critically think. I do want to be clear, before moving on, that I don’t view the church’s lack of proper teaching to be something they did to stifle the growth of their members. Rather, I think this is just a condition that has been prevalent for so long, we’re simply born into it and few recognize it or know how to do anything about it.

The following is vital: When we are given the answers to the questions we ask without being given the means to answer our own questions, that does not equal “studying to show ourselves approved.” Instead, all we have learned is how to become a parrot. And worse, because we were handed the answers without learning to dig out time period sources, or make use of exegetical methods that will allow us to build upon truths and develop answers we actually own, we are then unable to defend our positions. And what happens when we are challenged and can’t mount a biblically based defense for what we believe? We become polarizing, divisive, and overly defensive. This is why, in part, there are upwards of 45,000 Christian denominations and sects worldwide.

Most believe that we are living in the latter days of deception. If true, how important is it that we stop acting like parrots and start truly studying to show ourselves approved? With all the distractions around us today, and the advancement of AI, add all the impressionable memes, reels and social media gurus, then shouldn’t learning how to prayerfully draw proper conclusions and apply what we have learned be more important than ever? Friends, it’s ok if we put on the brakes, take a breath, ask for guidance from God, and continue on slowly and carefully. To continue on this current polarized and divided path falls within the common definition of insanity as we will continue on without change, expecting a different result. We have to do better, soon!