In churches nationwide, it’s time for vacation Bible school. While I write today, church staff members and volunteers will march with kids through church halls decorated like a jungle cruise, a rocky beach, or a medieval kingdom. If you’re on the front lines of ministry, you’re learning children’s Bible songs, eating Goldfish crackers (yes, we see you), making crafts, memorizing verses, and telling Bible stories to a small circle of (mostly) eager listeners. 

But while you’re serving in your church’s VBS, Christian publishers are getting ready for the approaching fall. Major curriculum providers are taking orders for the new Sunday school year, and most have already prepared the teaching materials to ship or to be distributed digitally. Before you purchase your church’s curriculum, I want to encourage you to consider its history.

In my latest article for TGC, I explore three major phases in American children’s ministry and how each phase has influenced the prepackaged lessons children in evangelical Sunday school classes work through each weekend. I argue that what the next generation needs “isn’t attractional gimmicks or programming excellence but orthodox doctrine (believing), faithful shepherding in spiritual-formation habits (becoming), and a loving church community (belonging).” 

Each of the phases I review has its strengths and weaknesses. As I wrote, I was sobered by the need to evaluate each new trend in light of God’s standards for commending his truth to the next generation. But when I considered how Sunday school has been shaped by the past, I was also moved to gratitude for the men and women who invested in me when I was one of those kids roaming the church halls during VBS. I hope this review of Sunday school history encourages you to be grateful as well.

Standing on the shoulders of God’s people,