Ecclesial life is enriched by many unique things that we do together. A few years ago, the culminating event of our Sunday school year was a marathon reading of the New Testament. Young and old paired up to read, back and forth, for several minutes at a time. It took a little over 171/2 hours to read the entire New Testament. More recently, the Simi Hills Ecclesia, in California, tackled a non-stop reading of the entire Bible! Activities like these are fun for everyone. They enrich the life that defines our ecclesias.
The Sunday school can often spearhead activities like these, especially if they are of an educational nature. Some may be carried out within the Sunday school itself, while others may be enlarged to involve the entire ecclesia. Here are a few to think about trying.
The Sunday morning quick drill
The Sunday morning quick drill is something that Sunday school superintendents can easily put into place. Prepare a list of short-answer questions that relate to the children’s Sunday school lessons, or have each teacher provide a few questions. Spend three or four minutes drilling the entire Sunday school on the questions when everyone is together for the opening or closing exercises. Be sure to involve all the children in the activity and keep it brisk. Keep track of questions that are missed, and ask them again next time. Repetition is a good teacher.
If your opening and closing exercises include the adults, it is fun now and then to draw them into the questioning process. Have the adult Sunday school members answer the children’s questions. Let the children decide whether the adult answers are correct or not!
The “Anytime Table”
If you have room in your Sunday school area, think about setting up an “Anytime Table”. The point is to provide one or two engaging things that anyone can do anytime, when there is a bit of down time. Tell the ecclesia about the table during your Sunday school announcements and encourage everyone to use it.
- Bible jigsaw puzzles are a great item to put on the table. Young and old alike enjoy taking a minute to fit a piece into a puzzle that is a work in progress.
- Stand a picture of some curious Bible artifact on the table. Offer four or five choices of what it is. Put blank file cards and a box next to the picture. Anyone who wants to guess the identity of the artifact can write their name and choice on a file card and drop it in the box. Offer small prizes for those who correctly identify the artifact, and periodically announce the winners. Bible archaeology magazines and websites are good places to find pictures for this activity.
- Vary the previous idea by letting brothers, sisters, and Sunday school children try to identify a picture of some Bible event. Leave the picture up for a couple weeks and see how many winners you get.
- Vary the idea again by displaying part of a Bible map. Pose the question, “Where Is It?” Provide some choices, some file cards, and an answer box.
- Vary the idea again by displaying childhood pictures of older ecclesial members. “Who Is It?” Encourage the Sunday school children to try and identify their elders. Again, small prizes can add incentive to the fun.
- Have the technology buffs in your Sunday school set up an interactive Bible quiz game that anyone can try their hand at.
- Put some take-away items on the table. Copies of Bible word puzzles fall into this category.
Use your imagination. Get ideas from others. Keep it simple. If something doesn’t fly, change it. In any case, change the “Anytime Table” on a fairly regular basis. Be sure to announce what is currently on the table and always make a big deal about contest winners.
Uncle Alex Sheets” encourage the children to listen to the Sunday exhortation and gain practice writing down Bible references. They help the children become acquainted with the exhorting brothers, and they give the exhorting brothers an opportunity to say a few encouraging words to the children. Exhorting brothers should spend a few minutes reviewing the sheets after the children have turned them in, take time to write a helpful comment or two on each one and give them back to the children the following Sunday. Paying attention to each other works both ways.
The Bible memory campaign
The Bible passages they chose for their campaign were the Promises to Abraham, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the 23rd Psalm, the Books of the Bible, and the Beatitudes. A distinctive seal was affixed to each certificate, identifying the passage that had been successfully mastered. Certificates were of nice quality, suitable for framing or keeping in a scrapbook.
Variations. (1) As an added incentive, prizes can be offered to anyone who masters all the passages before the Bible Memory Campaign is over. (2) Create “memory verse teams” – old with young – to help each other in the memorizing process. (3) Memory verses are often included in the Sunday school lessons that we give our children. Teachers sometimes use certificates and prizes to encourage the children to learn the verses. Here is what one teacher did: when one of her children earned ten certificates (for ten memory verses learned), the child was allowed to choose a special goodie from the teacher’s “prize basket”. (Thanks to Melinda Flatley, Paris Avenue, Ohio, Ecclesia.)
Do I need to ask again? Please tell me what you are doing in your Sunday school and ecclesia. Even if it seems old hat to you, someone else may think it’s a great idea.
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