Member-only story
Why Sending My Daughter to Sunday School Makes Me Nervous
And I’m studying to be a pastor
I’m working through something here (publicly, in writing, as I do). This is not a definitive statement or a concrete stance of mine. Merely some hesitancies and nervous musings about sending my six-year-old daughter to Sunday school at church.
We’ve done it a couple of times — so far so good. But I’m nervous about sending her on a regular basis. Now, before I go much further, let me say that I absolutely love our congregation. I feel like we found the unicorn of churches. We’re a ‘Reconciling in Christ’ congregation (we’ve made a public commitment to welcome, include and celebrate LGBTQIA+ people). Our Lead Pastor (and my mentor) is a bigger geek than I am when it comes to spirituality, contemplative Christianity, and mysticism. Our fellow parishioners are welcoming and vibrant and lovely. Our music and choir talent is phenomenal — we could seriously give the Chicago Philharmonic a run for their money. And, it seems, our Sunday school crew is passionate about working with kids (muy kudos to them). The people who head the program have been doing it for quite some time and it seems the kids are happy there. They very well may have a program that’s perfect and healthy and non-toxic (theologically speaking).