Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day – October 20, 2024

History of Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day

In 1993, Gospel Light, a Christian literature publisher, decided to set aside a day to celebrate Sunday school teachers across the country. This is how Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day was born, and today it is celebrated annually in the U.S.

Sunday schools aren’t always formal schools or institutions. In 18th-century England, Sunday schools were set up to offer education to children who were forced to work. Today they are classes offered by the church on Sundays either before or after mass to teach children and sometimes adults about Christianity.

A lot of churches have classrooms attached to the main worship hall that is used for Sunday School. The curriculum is usually pre-designed and there is a formal structure in place for teaching, as well as competitions and other extra-curricular activities associated with the church.

In America, the first Sunday school was set up in 1799 by a man referred to as the Father of the American Industrial Revolution, Samuel Slater, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which spurred on the American Sunday school movement. Later, a philanthropist, Lewis Miller, developed the ‘Akron Plan’ to design the layout of churches to include Sunday schools.

Sunday school teachers are usually volunteers who may or may not be selected by the church. They offer their time willingly to teach children about their faith and values for life. Because of this, Sunday school teachers frequently end up being an active and important part of the lives of their students.

These teachers may have formal training in education, but typically do not. The church may offer some training in catechism so that teachers have some familiarity with the curriculum and how it should be taught to their students. Sunday school teachers are also expected to be people of good character and upstanding members of the community.