All that being said. I think Sunday school needs to be rethought. I like what Faith Inkubators are doing.

But the church cannot be all to blame, Christian education begins in the family.

I think doubts arise from incongruency. Go to Sunday School and come home and play Grand Theft Auto, and you've got a pretty clear sense that what we just learned clearly doesn't matter for the rest of our life. And if we address GTA (what I see most churches do), we miss the chance to address the truths about what God created (what I don't see most churches do), which would eventually spill out into your opinion about GTA. But GTA=bad does not help.

Recognizing that many parents view Sunday school as the one time in the week when their kids learn about God, we knew we needed a change. Now, when parents show up on Sunday mornings they are given the lesson for the morning. The parents then teach their own kids in Sunday school and are supplied all the materials for it. Parents don't have to be a biblical scholar to teach these lessons, but if they really are not comfortable with it, they may sit with another family for a few weeks until they are comfortable.

The hope is that what happens in Sunday School every week will be a catalyst for parents to talk about and teach their kids more about Jesus throughout the week.

I'll let you know how it works out for us in 15 years when the kids are grown up…

But seriously, it has come to largely from the pulpit — from Pastors that are not concerned about speaking serious truth to their congregation even if it means 'insulting' some so much that they leave the church. James MacDonald said something in his study we just concluded that is so true. He said, "There's friction in truth." If you speak truth, some people are going to get upset.

I think we have a lot of churches across the country that are on fragile ground and the Pastors are concerned about 'rocking the boat' so they avoid those times when people need to be told, "Just because you come to church every Sunday does not mean you're going to spend eternity in Heaven."

Not everybody is going to be reached. Not everybody is going to listen. But that's to be expected. There will be those who of course, will listen. And there will be life change.

You are right on with this. I remember reading some research that funding in churches adults vs. children was 3:1, sometimes 5:1 in other churches. Yet, the research showed that churches that put the time and finances into well run children's programs had a higher retention rate of children in the long run.

The other piece of research (and I don't remember where these were from so forgive me if I am wrong) but the Church of England did research on why young people were not staying in church, the result? The Church of England doesn't believe in Sunday school programs. Generations grew up without any training and then did not want to follow a traditional pattern like their parents.

I agree that parents need to do a better job in discipling but many do not have the tools for these things and churches have not created good programs to come alongside parents to give them the tools. Add on overworked Sunday workers because people don't volunteer and you have a major problem across the board.

Good stuff.

Going to church on Sunday = Being a Christian.
Putting my kids in Sunday School (or baptizing them as an infant, etc.) = They will go to heaven.