This past week I received an e-mail from one of our adult Sunday School Classes. The facilitator had e-mailed the class about the possibility of using new literature – one that had quarterlies.
Reading that word, “quarterlies†did something to me. I haven’t heard it for years. Yes, there is literature that still has such a thing, but we tend to call them something else now – like study guides, study booklets, etc.
Hearing that word, “quarterlyâ€, took me back to my childhood Sunday school classes. If we read our lesson from the “quarterly†then we would receive a sticker. Earn enough stickers and we would get a prize! What did I learn from this – that I could skim a booklet and be rewarded for it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any qualitative learning that took place. (I say qualitative, because I did learn something; it just wasn’t good.)
Hearing that word also took me back to another time – this one not as far back. It was in my high school Sunday class; a time when we separated into boy and girl classes. I remember walking into class and seeing my teacher sitting on the floor. Well, this part wasn’t unusual. She often sat on the floor – a small gesture that revealed her unique, spunky personality!
On this particular day she said, “Girls, today we are going to do something different. We are going to memorize Psalm 1. So, put down your quarterlies and let’s get started.†She then recited the most beautiful rendition of Psalm 1 that I have heard to this day. I can still get chills just thinking about it. Then, we proceeded to talk about each verse. And, of course, we worked at memorizing the psalm ourselves. In that moment, the scriptures came alive. What did it teach me – the beauty, the wonder, the mystery, the presence of what scriptures can really hold.
Now, I’m not saying that “quarterlies†or study guides, or booklets, or whatever you want to call them are bad; but as educators, we need to be aware of what we are really teaching when we use any teaching tools. Something that can be meant to enhance one’s learning can sometimes trump it.
Of course, I haven’t really addressed what is to be learned in Sunday school…this a blog for another time!
Stickers, prizes, points, incentives, quarterlies, and Bible memorization—-good memories of the best and worst of what Sunday School used to be. It seems we may have become more sophisticated in our educational practices in Sunday School, but have failed to become much more effective by way of transformative pedagogy, regardless.
Thanks for sharing that great experience of Bible memorization!
Remember the days when study courses were prevalent in Baptist life? I had a five-stack plus of study course diplomas that represented over 500 hours of study, but, like you, it certainly did not qualify for study! But, it sure did me good when our church was in the state top ten for study courses two years. And, it really looked good on the hallway wall of our education building! We thought it commnicated that we took Bible study seriously. Of course, like you, most of our folks who earned those diplomas didn’t read their quarterlies each Sunday!” But my most memorable experience was the tongue lashing I received when a child did not get his perfect attendance pin due to an error in communication. Any Sunday School pins war stories out there?
Quarterlies………..that day is fast fleeing effective Christian education. I’m working these days on an article entitled “Bible Study for 21st Century Adults?” which seeks to answer a question I often get from those who read my books. Seems to me that Christian education will be customized, individualized, digitized, and decentralized.
I’m also increasingly convinced that Christian Coaching is an avenue for moving persons forward in their faith and funciton. Particularly those with postmodern perspectives or argumentative spirits. In the day of increased diversity, pluralism and deepening needs coaching offers a skill set that defuses arguments over the texts or which political view or side you take and moves the person to action and transformation.
I, like most of you have been trained to do most everything Baptist train us to do and coaching bears more fruit more quickly and effectively than anything I’ve ever been trained to do.
I smiled when I read your testimony of “learning” Psalm 1. It sounds like your teacher desired to share her heart with the girls in her class. The result of her doing this still sends chills through you today. It is my belief that when we connect with someone at a heart level life long transformation is more likely to occur.
The alternative to this is to measure effectiveness by attendance and conformity. As we do this we hang things in the halls of our churches and on the exterior of our lives. All the way through we yield no transformation. Thanks for sharing your story.