It’s silly to let your life be rocked by little things, perhaps, but oh well. That’s who I am and that isn’t gonna change. Eat the last Pop-Tart and it’ll make me cry (just a little). Cancel my tv program and I’ll be miffed for two days.
So how do you think I’m handling the news that my Sunday School teachers have quit and our little class is being disbanded? Not well, I’ll tell you that. I’ve seen this day coming for about six months now, and I’ve not been happy about it. I like our teacher and his wife. He’s very good and I’ve learned a lot from him. What I don’t understand is why this means we must disband our little class.
Southern Baptists (over)use a phrase for church involvement: Plugged-In. It bothers me because it’s jargon-y. Like “out of pocket” and “tipping point”, it’s one of those phrases that communicates “We all read the latest Management Technique Book!” When a person comes to church, much is made about getting that person “plugged in”–choir, helping in the nursery, going to Sunday School. My email last night said that they hoped we’d all find a new class we’d like to “plug into”. It makes me feel as though we’ve shorted out a circuit-breaker or some such thing. There were only a few of us, to be sure, but we are plugged in.
Oh well. Someone has unscrewed the outlet from the wall, I guess. Time for me to find a new socket.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
How are Sunday School classes “formed” at your church? Ours are basically milestone-of-life-based. For instance, I’m in a class that is mostly 40-something parents. It was formed sometime in the 90’s I think, when most of the members were young parents. Our kids have all grown up together.
AND, we recently had a class disband because the people in it had been together for over 50 years and, well, most of them had died off. I hope my SS class stays together that long. All of us are dear friends and get together socially. We have diehard liberals and staunch conservatives (religious and political). Nevertheless, we are family. This isn’t to say we don’t get new members or have members leave.
But it sounds like yours are based on some other criteria? Are classes “leader based”?
Sigh. We ‘unplugged’ ages ago when our church was no longer able to offer child care due to some tough times… there just wasn’t a lot of point in going to church so my wife could sit alone in a nursery with our daughter.
Had a lot of trouble getting back in since then, I’ll admit. Maybe it’s just nostalgia for the early days.
I mean, we still go to church, but just haven’t had the same grab/immersion. If that was unclear.
Ours are basically milestone-of-life-based.
Same here.
But our little group was kind of a small cell within the larger group. We’re in the department for 30s/marrieds, but our group tended to be a little different. Sort of all the oddballs in one basket.
I mean, we still go to church, but just haven’t had the same grab/immersion.
I know what you mean.
I don’t get it. I mean, the church can’t very well say, “you people, you aren’t allowed to meet together anymore.” can they? if someone else were willing to teach, couldn’t you just go right on having your class? seems to me the only real issue is if there’s no one else available or willing to step up and fill the teacher role. and even then, seems to me you could just take more of a discussion-based tactic with different people taking turns facilitating the discussion…??? am I missing something here?
Yep, amy, that’s what we’ve been doing (group discussion) since our usual teacher moved on to teaching kids.
if someone else were willing to teach, couldn’t you just go right on having your class?
I would have thought so, but it seems from the email we received, that is not an option.
seems to me you could just take more of a discussion-based tactic with different people taking turns facilitating the discussion…???
We tend to be a very discussion-oriented group from the get-go, but the general feeling in the church seems to be–based from what I’ve been told–that leadership is a “top-down” thing and that peer teaching is generally discouraged. In short, if we could find someone older to teach us we might be able to keep the class going. But I don’t gather there are many folks “older” who are willing to teach us.
I tend to disagree with this leadership belief, as I believe that chronological age isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for sound Biblical teaching. I mean, I’ve been a Christian for 33 years now–that’s a lot longer than some people who are older than me.
I don’t get the leadership thing either. What sort of qualifications does one need to be a group leader? In our congregation, the group leader might be the person with sufficient chairs in her living room…or the person willing to come 15 minutes early to flip on the air conditioner in the church library. I take it that leaders have to have had some sort of orthodox training, testing, and periodic review — like a job?
Or is this the church’s not-so-subtle way of saying that they don’t like the work your group has been doing and that they plan to plug you into different groups? (Wasn’t this the group that you feared was a little dysfunctional or am I misremembering?)
You know, you could just continue to meet. Not every spiritual gathering needs congregational approbation.
sorry to hear of this. we are going through some changes within our ss classes as some classes are feeling too big and want to become smaller and more intimate and accountable. others should just merge with other classes, but they continue to keep their identity as a class, and that is okay, unless another class needs space to grow. our 30’s something class does mostly peer teaching with two older members of the church that rotate in and teach periodically.
me, i’d say just find a place close by that you can meet without the needed blessing of the church. it’s about being fed, not about traditionalism (by that i mean “the way we’ve always done it”)
What sort of qualifications does one need to be a group leader?
From where I sit:
1. Age: preferably at least 10 years older than the ‘students’
2. Some sort of larger church involvement–ie. a strong intrachurch CV.
I take it that leaders have to have had some sort of orthodox training, testing, and periodic review — like a job?
Not really so much, but I think they sort of eyeball who they think may be leader quality and who isn’t. Of course I have nothing to base this on, but that’s just my impression. I think somewhere along the line it may have been decided that we are too misfit-ish to head a Sunday School class of our own. Oh well.
Or is this the church’s not-so-subtle way of saying that they don’t like the work your group has been doing and that they plan to plug you into different groups? (Wasn’t this the group that you feared was a little dysfunctional or am I misremembering?)
You are remembering correctly, and I do sort of take that as their meaning. We’re a small group and we’ve had a lot of turmoil lately. I think they just may not know what to do with us in our turmoil.
i’d say just find a place close by that you can meet without the needed blessing of the church.
I go back and forth on this idea because I tend to be comfortable with smaller home-church gatherings, but I also really think this church body has great potential and is ideally situated within the community to make a larger impact. I like the idea of pooling our resources to be fed on Sunday so we can reach the world M-Sat. I love the people at my church.
I just realise there are some cultural differences–I didn’t grow up Southern Baptist–and I have to grit my teeth and deal with those differences as best as I can. Graded sunday school is one of those main differences. I come from a church background where once you graduate from High School, your Sunday School is more of an affinity group than an age group. The problem we seem to be having now is that our specific class has been an affinity group meeting under the larger auspices of an age group, and now we no longer have a “camoflage.”
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