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Definition:
Sunday Schools have not always existed with Christian churches or with the primary goal
of spreading the message of Christianity. They began in the United States and Britain
just round the time of the American Revolution, the same era which saw the development
of prisons, hospitals, asylums, orphanages, and other important public institutions. At
this time, however, evangelical reformers regarded Sunday Schools as a means to help
fulfill their millennial expectations.
Churches created them in an effort to provide some little bit of education for poor children who were otherwise going completely uneducated. With Sunday Schools, however, they would both get the basics of an education in matters like reading and writing, but also in religious matters involving scripture and church doctrines.
Sunday Schools also served the goal of promoting social order. Children would, for example, have less of an opportunity to get into trouble on Sundays if they were in class instead. Lessons also made a point of teaching various social values like neatness, punctuality, and industry.
The first denomination to employ Sunday Schools as part of their official church efforts was Methodism in 1790. For a while, these schools were very interdenominational in character. By the 1830s, however, Sunday Schools were no longer a means to educate the poor but rather a means to evangelize the young in particular denominational doctrines.
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Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
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