Sunday School?

For many of us, Sunday school is a deeply rooted tradition, although it is actually a rather modern institution. Have you ever wondered about the origins and history of Sunday school? If so, here are a few facts you may find interesting. - See more at: http://ministry-to-children.com/history-of-sunday-school/#sthash.MnmdMh3w.dpuf

For many of us, Sunday school is a deeply rooted tradition, although it is actually a rather modern institution. Have you ever wondered about the origins and history of Sunday school? If so, here are a few facts you may find interesting. - See more at: http://ministry-to-children.com/history-of-sunday-school/#sthash.MnmdMh3w.dpuf

For many of us, Sunday school is a deeply rooted tradition, although it is actually a rather modern institution. Have you ever wondered about the origins and history of Sunday school? If so, here are a few facts you may find interesting. - See more at: http://ministry-to-children.com/history-of-sunday-school/#sthash.MnmdMh3w.dpuf

For many of us, Sunday school is a deeply rooted tradition, although it is actually a rather modern institution. Have you ever wondered about the origins and history of Sunday school? If so, here are a few facts you may find interesting. - See more at: http://ministry-to-children.com/history-of-sunday-school/#sthash.MnmdMh3w.dpuf

For many of us, Sunday school is a deeply rooted tradition, although it is actually a rather modern institution. Have you ever wondered about the origins and history of Sunday school? If so, here are a few facts you may find interesting. - See more at: http://ministry-to-children.com/history-of-sunday-school/#sthash.MnmdMh3w.dpuf

For many of us, Sunday school is a deeply rooted tradition, although it is actually a rather modern institution. Have you ever wondered about the origins and history of Sunday school? If so, here are a few facts you may find interesting. - See more at: http://ministry-to-children.com/history-of-sunday-school/#sthash.MnmdMh3w.dpuf

Have you ever wondered about the origins and history of Sunday School (or Sabbath School)? For almost every one of us this is a deep rooted tradition.  Here is a mish-mash of notes from my researching about it all. The links are at the very bottom of the post from where I gathered it all. Also links in the text.

 

What is Sunday School?

A Sunday school, also known as a Sabbath School, is an institution designed to teach people, usually children, about Christianity, named such because most Christian churches meet on Sunday. Some Seventh-day Adventist communities hold their Sabbath Schools on Saturdays.

 

Why?

It is important to realize that Sunday schools were originally literally schools: they were places were poor children could learn to read. Clean clothes and learning materials were provided to the students. Lessons in reading, writing, citizenship and good hygiene were provided. Churches hoped that doing this would insure a better future and lessen the rampant delinquency. For a long time, they were the only way working-class families could receive an education. 

 

The Industrial Revolution had resulted in many children spending all week long working in factories. Christian philanthropists wanted to free these children from a life of illiteracy. Well into the 19th century, working hours were long. Moreover, Saturday was part of the regular work week. Sunday, therefore, was the only available time for these children to gain some education.

 

Working-class families were grateful for this opportunity to receive an education. They also looked forward to annual highlights such as prize days, parades, and picnics, which came to mark the calendars of their lives as much as more traditional seasonal holidays. Religious education was, of course, always also a core component. The Bible was the textbook used for learning to read. Likewise, many children learned to write by copying out passages from the Scriptures. A basic catechism was also taught, as were spiritual practices such as prayer and hymn-singing. Inculcating Christian morality and virtues was another goal of the movement. (full story...)

When did it start?

The Sunday school movement began in Britain in the 1780s. The first modest legislative restrictions came in 1802. This resulted in limiting the number of hours a child could work per day to 12! This limit was not lowered again until 1844. 

 

In America, the first national Sunday School effort began in 1824; in hopes to organize, evangelize and civilize the public. It was intentionally all evangelical in nature and during the next 100 years it would be an important outreach arm of the church.

 

Sunday School 1943

Details:

In 1785 it was reported that 250,000 children were attending Sunday School. There were 5,000 in Manchester alone. By 1895, the 'Society for the Establishment and Promotion of Sunday Schools' had distributed 91,915 spelling books, 24,232 Testaments and 5,360 Bibles. 

 

The Sunday School movement was cross-denominational, and through subscription built large buildings that could host public lectures as well as classrooms. 

 

In the early days, adults would attend the same classes as the infants, as each were instructed in basic reading. In some towns the Methodists withdrew from the Large Sunday School and built their own. The Anglicans set up their own 'National' schools that would act as Sunday Schools and day schools. These schools were the precursors to a national system of education.

By the 1960s, the term Sunday School could refer to the building and not to any education classes. By the 1970s even largest Sunday School at Stockport had been demolished. From then Sunday School became the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.

The First Sunday School in America was established here in 1810. Beverly, Massachusetts

 

data retrieved from:  Wikipedia and Ask the Expert and Ministry to Children  and Encyclopdia.com