John Calvin on Sunday School

*John's words were lifted from his monumental work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, copyright 1559. I hope he won't mind.

1. We cannot aspire toward God till we have begun to be displeased with ourselves. Institutes Book I Chapter 1.1

Also known as "step one on the road to changing Sunday School" (or anything else in the church).

2. Genuine religion consists of a serious awe of God, with a voluntary reverance, producing legitimate worship. I 1.1

So why is Sunday School during worship in so many Reformed churches? And do your kids approach Sunday School with an excited "voluntary" mindset? What's the point of Sunday School if not to prepare to worship?

3. The human mind possesses some sense of a Deity. I 2.1

The eighth learning style you don't hear much about from the multiple intelligence intelligiencia.

4. Whithersoever you turn your eyes, there is not an atom of the world in which you cannot behold some brilliant sparks of his glory. I 5.14

John apparently never visited the Sunday School most of us grew up in.

5. None can have the least knowledge of true and sound belief without having been a disciple of the Scriptures. I 6.2

Why John prefers the Rotation Model emphasis on Bible literacy, -teaching the story til they get it, -instead of the traditional new story each week approach. (See reference to Rotation Model at bottom of this page.)

6. Those who have abandoned Scripture aren't so much misled by error as by frenzy. I 9.2

How the average teacher feels after 45 minutes and a 9 step lesson plan. As those of us in the Rotation Model like to say, "Slow it down and teach the story til they get it."

7. Fortune and chance are the words of the heathen. I 16.8

...and the preparation style of many volunteer teachers. Which is why Rotation Model gives them a second chance, third, fourth, even a fifth week to get it right.

8. Being taught that man has nothing good left in his possession, and being surrounded on every side with miserable necessity, we are nevertheless instructed to aspire. II 2.1

What Calvin said as he sat in a folding chair on a brown-tiled floor in his beige-colored Sunday School room.

9. The Lord... by exile or sterility or conflagration confines us within the limits of mediocrity that we may be excited to meditate. III 9.1

The one thing John said he "wanted to take back" after this quote become the motto of the Sunday School.

10. God has not been pleased to give us minute directions what we ought to do in every particular case, foreseeing different circumstances and periods, and knowing that one form would not be adapted to all ages...." IV 10.30

Staple THIS to the forehead of everyone who thinks "if it was good enough for grandad, it's good enough for me."

11. It is easy to prove that man is a very miserable creature. ...All are overwhelmed with an inevitable calamity, from which they can never emerge unless they are extricated by the mercy of God. II 3.2

What John Calvin said after teaching a Jr. High Sunday School class which had been bored to tears for the past five years.

12. Some plead that there should be perfection in the Church, they foolishly imagine a perfection which can never be found in any community. The imperfections of men therefore renders it safer and more tolerable for the government to be in the hands of many (rather than the few). IV 20.3

Why John Calvin likes the Rotation Model...because our teachers will never be perfect. They need to have less to prepare -not more. They need the opportunity to improve their lessons by repeating them. The kids get exposure to a wider variety of teaching gifts and tools. The Rotation Model also recognizes that our kids don't have perfect attendance, thus we need to stay on the stories til they learn them.