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1. Roots in the Sunday School movement |
| For whatever was written in former days was
written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by
the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May
the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live
in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and
Father of our lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:4-6) |
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The Sunday School movement, a non-denominational lay Protestant
movement for organized Sunday School work, was active in Massachusetts
as early as 1854. Affiliated with national and international Associations,
the work in Massachusetts included the development of a uniform
lesson system, and the holding of massive inspirational Sunday School
Conventions. In 1887, the first official statewide convention in
Massachusetts attracted 3,000 people to Tremont Temple in Boston.
Decades later, Massachusetts Council Executive Director Forrest
Knapp reflected on the significance of these activities:
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“The concept of all persons in Sunday
Schools everywhere, using the same lessons stirred a thrill. …
I once estimated that annually by 1910 about 500,000 persons attended
a Sunday School convention of some kind in the United States. And
it is likely that some speaker in each convention declared that he
could not by looking at the faces in the audience tell who belonged
to one denomination and who to another. These conventions must surely
have been significant nursery beds for a spirit of ecumenism even
if that word was not yet in general use.”
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The Sunday School movement
was scrupulously non-sectarian. It's uniform lesson system sought
to be theologically neutral, in effect presenting a generic Protestantism.
Denominational structures sometimes resisted this approach. The founder
of the uniform system, Methodist Bishop John H. Vincent, defended
it in these words:
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“I regard the modern International
[Sunday School] movement as the promoter of Christian unity such as
the world has never known. It brings us to the study of the Scripture
with the same motive, through which Scripture we look into the face
of the same Christ. We find, as we study these lessons, how little
real difference there is between us, and as we walk with Him and commune
with Him, we find our hearts burning within us and we are thus drawn
towards each other through the love we have for our common Master.”
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In 1919, the Massachusetts
Sunday School Association merged with the Massachusetts Council of
Religious Education, an organization with similar purpose but much
more direct ties to the denominations. The purpose of the new organization
was to promote the work of the churches in religious education, rather
than to generate any programming of its own.
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However, the leadership soon discovered that, unlike
the Sunday School movement with its rallies, speakers and special
songs, the activities of modern religious education lacked popular
appeal. By 1928, they began exploring a correlation of work with the
Massachusetts Federation of Churches, resulting in a merger in 1933. |
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For the witness of the churches together in commitment to
Christian Education,
we give you thanks, O Lord
hymn: I Love to tell the Story
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ipture with the same motive, through which Scripture we look into the
