Memorial Day is not a “religious” holiday. Sunday School teachers (and churches as a whole) sometimes struggle with the question of whether to acknowledge secular holidays. I have seen both ends of the spectrum. There is the teacher who will discard the lesson on the Sunday closest to February 14, and have children spend the entire time making Valentines. And then there is the teacher who ignores Halloween because it is not a religious holiday, even though the children are bursting with excitement thinking of the costumes they have chosen this year. As is often the case when dealing with extremes, there are difficulties with either approach.

I am always amazed by the school handbooks which my children bring home each fall. It seems as though there is a policy for every possible situation. Although I am not advocating for churches to have as an extensive of a handbook as schools, a few policies and guidelines can make a Sunday School teacher’s job easier. One example is an illness policy. Does your church have guidelines for when a child should not attend Sunday School due to illness?

A good rule of thumb to follow in youth ministry is that the more involved a service project will be, the more you should surround that project with education. Just a bit of reflection should make this point clear, as some simple examples will illustrate. A fall event in which youth rake leaves for elderly residents in the community requires little sharing of knowledge; a trip to build homes in Mexico requires far more training.

I like to think about this training using the metaphor of a sandwich. The event itself is the heart of the sandwich—egg salad, sliced meats, veggie burger, and so on. That center is surrounded by bread. The bottom layer is the foundational education you do before the event, and the top layer is the follow-up you do in the way of debriefing and continuing to apply trip learnings. The extras you add (mustard, jalapeño peppers, etc.) are elements that enhance the experience while it's occurring. And then there's shredded lettuce, which always has a tendency to fall off of the sandwich. Those are the ways you share your experience with others and include them in the educational process.

Last month, many organizations hosted events to celebrate Earth Day. Care-taking of God's creation is a responsibility we all share - every day, not just once a year. I encourage you to brainstorm ways that your Sunday School program can reduce, reuse and recycle. Here are some ideas to get you started thinking.

How is your congregation helping members of your congregation and community cope in this difficult economy? Many possibilities exist, from setting up job boards on the church website, to offering instructional classes on gardening or canning, to bringing in a financial planner to help the congregation learn about dealing with budgeting or debt. Your approach will depend on the community's situation and the skills and gifts the congregation members have.

Another idea that utilizes the power of small groups is Simplicity Circles. In this type of small group, members gather to learn about living more simply while supporting one another as they change and develop new lifestyle patterns.

When Summer Sunday School is mentioned, it is easy to list reasons not to do it. (You know the arguments, so I’m not going to list them!) Though perhaps not so easily thought of, there are also reasons to continue Sunday School during the summer months.

Daily Voice readers and subscribers are a diverse group of people! We know you stretch from (at least) Honolulu to New York (well, not you personally, of course!), and this message is read by clergy and laity, professional Christian educators and volunteers. We try to craft our emails to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, but the reality is that sometimes the messages may be more basic or advanced than you would like. Starting today, we'll occasionally indicate a topic which is particularly introductory (or simply critical for all Christian educators to understand) as "Back to Basics" or BtB, for short.

First up: Bible-to-Life or Life-to-Bible curriculum?

Sunday School attendance trends are often predictable – increased attendance during Advent and at Easter, decreased attendance in January and toward the end of the school year. It is sometimes tempting to enjoy the decreased class sizes. Not that we would admit that out loud, but sometimes a quieter, less hectic classroom seems like a welcome guest. Why, I wonder, if we take our Sunday School ministry seriously, do we tend to accept decreases in attendance and make excuses for busy families?

Ask a group of Sunday School teachers why they first began teaching, and you are likely to get a variety of responses. “My child’s class needed a teacher.” “The Christian Education Director talked me into it.” “I enjoy working with children/youth/adults.” “I don’t remember.”

 In an age when nearly everyone has access to the web, thereby having access to huge amounts of content related to the Bible, faith, Christianity, doctrine, progressive theology, and much more, what place do Christian education classes (e.g. Sunday school)--especially for adults--still have?

Not all that long ago, pastors and Sunday school teachers were the repositories of religious knowledge. In reality, they often simply just had the study guide! But still, there was an expectation that the teacher would generally have more information at their fingertips that they would impart to the students. At least two developments radically changed that.