NOTE: . this letter was written in 1990 and refers to the decade of the 1980's calling for a turnaround in the Sunday School in 1990. Such a turnaround did not occur, though there were spots (particularly larger churches) where it did. Basically in the time since this open letter was written to one denomination the trend has continued with the exception of a short two-year temporary "excitement bump" after which the Sunday School continued to drift downward along with the collapse of small groups.

It's no secret the Sunday School is in trouble. In the last decade the Sunday Schools of The Wesleyan Church in the United States and Canada have lost more than 30,000 people. More than 30,000 people have become "one-hour-a-week Christians" in the last decade. Sunday School attendance continues to plummet as pastors ignore the Sunday School, superintendents' fret, and the laymen simply walk out.

The situation is not unique to my own denomination. All across the Evangelical world, churches are experiencing declining Sunday School attendance patterns even while worship attendance continues to climb.

The truth is the Evangelical Churches -- Wesleyans included--are experiencing what the "mainline churches" experienced several decades ago. Sunday School is considered juvenile and childish; "real" grown-ups don't go to Sunday School. The term "Sunday School" itself has become a term of derision and a synonym for -- "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E." Pastors embarrassed by the quality of teaching or trivial contests and gimmicks have, by and large, abandoned the Sunday School to leave it to its own destiny.

Should it concern us that over the last decade 30,000 Wesleyans have become "one-hour-a-week Christians?" So what if they don't come to Sunday School? Maybe they're getting their Discipleship at some other time in the week. Maybe Sunday School is an old-fashioned tradition that needs to be laid aside for the modern world.

Not true. In fact, during the last decade when Sunday School lost thousands of its attendees, the mid-week service grew only a tiny bit, and most of that was among CYC and Youth. And, during the same decade, the Sunday evening service dropped by 5,000 in average attendance. The truth is 30,000 Wesleyans became "one-hour-a-week Christians" in the last decade. That should concern us.

None of us would give our life for the Sunday School--it's just a program that someday will pass away. It is merely a tool to accomplish God's purpose, and as soon as something better comes along we should grab it and run with it. But the evidence shows that, so far, not much else has come along to replace the Sunday School in accomplishing its vital mission.

And what is the mission of the Sunday School? It is DISCIPLESHIP. It's the second half of the Great Commission... "teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you." It is the command to not only make converts of all nations but also to teach obedience. It is to help them experience the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit so that they come to obey Him in all areas taught in the Bible. Discipleship is not complete until the disciple is obeying all that He commanded us. It is not teaching knowledge, teaching beliefs, or teaching facts. But it is teaching obedience -- it is discipling people in Holy living. This is the mission of the Sunday School.

There are at least three kinds of Discipleship.

1. The first is one-to-one Discipleship. This is a very intense one-to-one relationship with high accountability and has a massive spiritual impact on the lives of the individuals involved. One-to-one Discipleship occurs when two Christians purposefully meet in order to help each other become more like Christ. It is a powerful means of helping others become Christ-like even though it takes a tremendous amount of time and energy to accomplish. The Sunday School, by and large, can not do one-to-one Discipleship.

2. The second kind of Discipleship is cell group Discipleship. This is the kind of Discipleship where people meet in small groups of three or four or five, or seldom more than six or seven. They are tiny groups where Christians experience serious accountability, high levels of intimacy and a commitment to help each other become more like Christ. These groups, which usually meet during the midweek hour, have a very powerful impact on the participants and are one of the secrets of spiritual renewal in the Church today. The Sunday School is probably not a primary means of accomplishing cell group Discipleship, though in a few cases it does. Midweek groups that meet all across town in houses are probably the best plan for cell group Discipleship.

3. But there is a third kind of Discipleship -- large group Discipleship. This is a group of 15, 25, or 30 people -- a large enough gathering of people to be a "group" yet small enough for everybody to know e