When I went from attending a Catholic church to a Presbyterian church in 1991, I was so drawn to the adult education Sunday school classes. I realized I could apply the Bible to my life. It was nice to attend the service with the pastor speaking from the gospels, and then have a choice of six adult classes on the historical books, wisdom literature, letters, prophets, gospels, and topics.
With Sunday school classes, often attendees would go out for a walk after service and then lunch. A great time of community and learning. With outstanding Sunday school classes, I found I was so much better with my daily devotional times. People come to church focused, relaxed and ready to learn and build community.
Now in Northern Virginia, so few churches offer adult education, and some have cut back totally. Small groups are encouraged. Problems there often the topics are books based on what is the hot selling book on the Christian top selling list. Small groups are great in theory, but in practice often fail. With Northern Virginia, I get up 5:00 AM for work. In a small group will usually start from 7:30 - 9:00, but then there is person who calls and cannot show up til 8:30 and want to order a pizza. The group then goes to 11:00 PM. Often the only qualification for a small group leader is to know John 3:16. A leader at times will use a study guide that has too many questions for the allotted time. Either the teaching turns into a speed reading class or the study will go til every question is answered.
Back in the 1990s, people came to church with a study Bible, notebook and focused. Now people just causally pull out a smart phone and glance at the Scripture. In Northern Virginia, real estate is high so parking can be a problem for offering adult education.
For me growth and community have come best from the adult education Bible classes. Bummed that so many churches stopped offering the Bible classes on Sundays.
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