Final Reflections

Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain - Psalm 127:1

The week that I worked to assemble this webpage I felt very confident in my work developing a meaningful approach to Sunday school. Ironically, that particular Sunday, no kids showed up for my class. Suddenly, none of my planning made a difference without students to teach. It was a disappointing moment and it exposed to me how much of my own pride was caught up in these ideas. Sunday school needs to adapt to this new technological world, yet God is not defined by the times. These ideas can serve His Kingdom, but they will not deliver anyone on their own. It is Christ who can change these kids’ lives. I am blessed by Him if He chooses to use me.

I am aware that there is spiritual risk in encouraging kids to think like theologians. Self interpreting opens the door to liberal theologies, superstition, even heresy. I believe in the importance of orthodoxy, that our doctrine should be informed by what most Christians have believed throughout Church history and not fly in the face of it. Doctrine is developed, not created. It is clear that creatively reading the Bible can lead to false understanding and there are not checks for this risk in my program. I must trust the grace of God in the lives of my students. It’s a bit of a gamble on my part, betting that if I can teach students to explore the Bible, they will come to understand it as truth worth living by, that it will meet the needs of their heart.

This is at the very heart of what it means for Christianity to be true at all. I’ve heard it said that anything that can be destroyed by the truth deserves to be destroyed by the truth. Still, truth is now harder to ascertain than ever. Our Google searches are programed to give us personalized results. When I search “Is the Bible True?” my personal results are only Christian sources. We can find information that supports any view we care to hold. The next generation of believers must be raised to look beyond any one way of thinking in order to provide the world around them with a meaningful witness to the breadth of indestructible Christian truth.

That is what Meditative Sunday School seeks to do. It seeks to open the door for meaningful connections so that we need not doubt the relevance of the Gospel. For me, it remains an experiment. I pray that God will bless my efforts and I am grateful for this chance to share Him with others.