Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My sharing today is about Sunday School and I hope to encourage everyone to attend our Church Sunday School classes. Thank God that there is a class for everyone to attend from the young toddlers to the elderly in our Church plus even a class for our domestic helpers. By investing an extra hour of your time after the worship service to learn God’s Word in the Sunday School class, it will do immense good to your soul.
“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” Psalm 119:9
The History of Sunday School
Did you ever wonder how Sunday School started in the Church? It started in the late 1700’s in England which had a large underclass of poor people who had moved from the countryside to the city to work in “factories.” Children as young as eight years old worked six days a week in gruesome surroundings. Sunday was the off day for the children and many would wander around the town breaking windows and robbing homes. There was no way out of the poverty cycle for these children.
These “gangs” of street children sparked a vision and burden in Robert Raikes. He saw their lack of education, their dead end life of poverty, and their turning to crime as something Christian folk should be concerned about so he got an idea. His idea was simple: why not start a school on Sundays for these poor children where good Christian people would teach them to read and write, teach them the Ten Commandments, and instruct them in the way of the Lord?
Robert Raikes started a “Sunday school” for these poor children. In 1780 he started this first Sunday school and paid the teacher himself. Since he was a printer, Raikes published large sheets with the Ten Commandments and other Scripture verses on them so the children could use them to read and write. These printed sheets were in a sense the first “Sunday school curriculum.” By 1784, just four years after Robert Raikes started his Sunday School with a hundred students in Gloucester, there were said to be thousands of students in Sunday Schools across England, with adults attending as well as children. This “Sunday School” movement then spread to all parts of the world.
History of Sunday School in Tabernacle BP Church
Do you like to know how was our first Sunday School class in our Church? When Tabernacle started in 1987, we were using a warehouse in Tampines industrial area. We had only a portion of the warehouse to use for our worship. There was no other room to use. The first Sunday School class was at the staircase outside the warehouse. There was only 1 teacher and 1 student. We persevere on and today we thank God that we can have 7 or 8 different classes running at the same time during our Sunday School from 5pm to 6pm. All glory to the Lord!
Thank God for every Sunday School Teacher
I want to thank God for every Sunday School teacher in our Church. Your desire to serve the Lord to teach God’s Word is commendable and I know it requires a lot of commitment in time preparations. May you always pray and prepare your lesson well and teach the Word of the Lord faithfully. It is also very important that as teachers, you must set the good example to learn and study God’s Word and attend Sunday School class yourself when you are not teaching.
Sunday School is for Parents too…
Parents have an important duty to ensure your children attend Sunday School class. In the worship service, we want the children to learn to reverence God in worship though the very young ones may not be able to learn much in the message. The Sunday School class will supplement their learning of God’s Word as it caters to their age range and learning ability. Do not deprive your children to attend Sunday School classes. Parents must set good examples to their children by attending Sunday School too as there is a class for the adults. Remember our children are watching our actions though they may not directly question us. Let every parent and child be diligent students of God’s Word.
Elder John Leong
Dearly beloved,
I saw this poster during the children camp at New Life BP Church and would like to share it with you all as it describes our earthly walk with God vividly.
People are often unreasonable,
Illogical and self-centred;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind,
People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are honest and frank,
People may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building,
Someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness,
They may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
And it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis,
It is between you and God;
It is never between you and them anyway.
I hope this poem encourages us to always seek to please God in whatever we do. Let neither circumstances nor discouragement from people prevent us from doing what the Bible advocates. After all, what we accomplish is ultimately between God and us anyway.
Ephesians 6:12, “Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.”
Brother Boon How
