Sunday Schools Hampered By Lack Of Interest

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31672, 7 May 1968, Page 22

Sunday Schools Hampered By Lack Of Interest

Lack of interest by parents was one of the greatest problems facing most Sunday school teachers, said Miss D. Oldfield, superintendent of Christian education for the Baptist Union of New South Wales. “Christian education must be taught in the home right from the beginning of a child’s life as well as in Sunday school,” she said. “You cannot expect a child to receive the full benefit from only one hour’s teaching a week.”

Miss Oldfield, who is in New Zealand to conduct vacation Bible schools in Christchurch and Auckland, is the only woman in her position in Australia.

The five-day school in Christchurch will be one of the first of its kind to be held in New Zealand. It began yesterday at the St Albans Baptist Church in Thames Street. Another problem facing Christian education workers was the greater need for teacher training courses and visits in private homes, she said.

“It is important that we come to know and understand the child we are teaching in Sunday school in the atmosphere of his own home," she said.

In spite of these problems, however, from the point of view of the Baptist Church, there were tremendous opportunities in the field of Christian education. These opportunities were perhaps at present greater than they had ever been because of the new emphasis being placed on Christian education. “Some churches have been complaining that their Sunday school rolls have been falling off, but ours are continuing to increase," said Miss Oldfield. “Through the All Aid Sunday School system we are building children into the church.” Before she was appointed to her present position 10 years ago. Miss Oldfield spent some time overseas including study at the South I Western Baptist Theological

Seminary in Texas. She has also been a deaconess in two churches in Sydney for 10 years and has served briefly as a deaconess in London.