When you think of Sunday School programs, do you imagine classrooms filled with grandparents? At King of Kings Lutheran Church in Chesterfield, they host quarterly Sunday School classes designed for families to attend with all generations. Grandparents learn alongside teenagers, and parents learn alongside young children. The congregation designs these events specifically to encourage family members of all ages to learn together and talk about the faith together.
Each lesson has a general theme, an introduction and an activity followed by breakout sessions. Paul Nelson, King of King’s DCE, says these services have been very well attended. The first one he participated in was about four years ago and coincided with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. They taught lessons about Martin Luther and showed kids what music and history in that time. Another year, for the fourth of July, local veterans led a panel discussion, while the students also heard from an organization that serves veterans, cheering at airports when they come home from deployment, among other services.
Another time, youth led an activity with different stations that showed the meaning of Psalm 23. Nelson says, “This was great because they got to show the adults and kids they could lead and give everyone an experience about Psalm 23.” Other lessons have included topics such as evangelism and introduction to the concept of apologetics.
DCE Nelson stresses that it’s important for family members to learn from each other. When they dedicated one course to evangelism in the digital age, each generation had their own views and contributions about how to share their faith stories online and it was valuable for everyone to see how this topic crossed the age ranges.