Sunday School Answers

This week I started teaching a new Sunday School class at James River. It is not a Bible Quiz class. One of the problems that we've had to work on is retaining quizzers once they reach High School. Hence, we have three times the number of Middle School quizzers compared to High School quizzers. Further, when we teach our regular BQ Sunday School (actually held on Saturday with practice), we have to aim for a very wide age range. This, combined with the size of the group, limits the opportunity to deeply examine issues and have frank discussion.

In addition, Bible Quiz often becomes self-involved without intending to be that way. When you spend a large number of hours working with the same people, going on trips, and creating memories, it can become a very tight-knit circle. This isn't always bad, but you have to be careful not close yourself off from the rest of the youth ministry.

For these reasons, we started a new Sunday morning class aimed at High School students who aren't necessarily in BQ. It isn't really a recruiting tool as much as it is a way for students who can't or don't want to commit to memorizing to learn deeply from the Scripture. We spend a lot of time studying the Bible; it's important that we share some of that knowledge beyond BQ.

The idea for the class came from one of my recently graduated quizzers. We are targeting High School students because we want to have a deeper discussion than is possible with younger students. The two goals for the class are to teach students how to correctly study and interpret the Bible and to challenge them each week in their walk with Christ. If students don't walk out of the classroom every week thinking about what they believe and why they believe it, then I haven't done my job.

One of the things I say to students all the time is that a faith you are afraid to question is a weak faith. If you can't ask hard questions and have honest discussion, then you aren't prepared for life beyond High School (or even life in High School). I want these students to be well-prepared to light their campuses for Christ and offer them solid food instead of milk. We don't offer typical "Sunday School answers" in this class.

Now, between coaching JBQ and BQ, it would be easy for me to say that I have too much on my plate to take on teaching a weekly class. Truthfully, it's a little daunting, but I am challenging my own faith as well. Preparing the lessons gives me the chance to rediscover truths that I may have shuffled to the back burner. We are covering the quiz material in class, but we are looking at it from a completely different perspective. Last week, in covering Hebrews 1, we spent a good deal of time talking about how to recognize heresy. Next week, we are going to talk about the difference between what is true and what ought to be true.

I'm not afraid of asking hard questions, opening discussions that I can't fully control, or even saying "I don't know" when asked a question. I am afraid of sending students into the world who aren't fully prepared for what awaits them.