This is the message which SANSSA will be promoting during 2012. We encourage Sunday schools to spread this same message, particularly during the National Sunday school Month and centring on it for the annual Children’s Ministry Day.
Let us pause for a moment and consider whether this slogan is as truly relevant today as it was in the past.
Why does everybody need Jesus and the teaching of the Bible?
The most basis reason is that Jesus is our only hope of salvation and He himself commanded it! For in his final mission to his fledgling church contained in Matthew chapter 28, He issued His final instructions “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
This then is the mandate for the church and for Sunday schools to exercise a teaching ministry to all people.
But who specifically is the “Everyone” who needs this teaching?
- 1) Firstly Children need this teaching. From a very early age they need to be taught about Jesus at home. But in today’s society where parents are too busy and seldom spend time with their children, this does not often happen. Then the role of the Sunday school becomes doubly important. It is in the Sunday schools that children can learn about Jesus and the love God has for them. About a heavenly Father who cares and understands.
2) Then its for young people. As they prepare to step out into their own lives, they need to be taught to commit themselves to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. On the basis of statistics alone, which show that in Africa today there are more young people alive than any other age group, we need to centre our attention more strongly on providing “Good Bible Teaching” to young people.
3) What about adults? They, too, need the teaching of God’s word. How to be successful parents, how to exercise a ministry of service, how to study the Bible for themselves, how to grow in their Christian lives; these and a dozen other topics are the kind of teaching adults need today as much as they ever did in the past.
4) All people! Come let’s widen our vision. – All people living in South Africa today! Not just your friends, your church, your language group or race but All People. Consider just one statistic which shows that less than 7% of all children attend Sunday school.
A solemn reminder of the scope of the task before us.
(Adapted from an article by Graham Wood published in the SANSSA “Advance” Magazine 1981)
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