Message of Fr. Vazken Movsesian, parish priest of St. Andrew Armenian Church, Cupertino, from the Nakhagoch Newsletter. Electronic version archived on: SAIN-- St. Andrew Information Network -------------------------------------- c. 1986 Fr. Vazken Movsesian Address comments to: dervaz@sain.org -------------------------------------- WHERE'S THE SUNDAY SCHOOL? You may have wondered where is the Sunday School this year? In the spirit of progressÉ. The Sunday School is based upon the idea that we want our youth, our children to learn about our Church. We want them to grow to become members of our Church. We want the to become the Church. And so, we place them in Sunday School. For over 50 years, Sunday School has served the Armenian Churches in America. Thousands of students have passed through the doors of the Sunday School in this time. The obvious conclusion we can draw is that our churches are filled with the students that once filled the classroom. However, sadly, we know that this is not so. Especially with the students of the past 20 years or so, many are no where to be found or sitting in the pews of other churches. The problem with Sunday School has been that the very nature of Sunday School lends itself to alienating the student from the church. The Sunday School program is a paradox. On the one hand, we enroll our children in the program so that they will learn about the Church. On the other hand, the classes are held outside the physical church. St. Paul refers to the Church as the "Body of Christ." The Body of Christ meets every Sunday morning for corporate worship. Our children, the ones we expect to learn our traditions, are held outside of the Body of Believers. Here lies the paradox. Three years ago, when we reorganized the Sunday School program at our parish, our intention was to give our children a "working knowledge" of our Church and Her traditions. The Sunday School staff, headed by Yeretzgin Susan, worked toward this end. Classes focused on our Living Faith, Christian expression through our ancient Church. This was our goal. Did we succeed? Last year, our Students participated in the worship services of the Church. They sang the entire Divine Liturgy by themselves. They performed all the duties of the Parish Council. They celebrated at the altar. In one statement: THEY BECAME THE CHURCH. Now, we find the students filling the chairs at our church for Sunday worship. They participate with the choir and at the altar. Did we succeed? Furthermore, their participation brings their parents as well. We took a lesson from our neighbors in Cupertino, Apple Computers. When Apple began to market their product they donated thousands of computers to the schools. Why? Surely, not without reason? They knew if enough kids learned the Apple, they would soon find their way into the homes of those kids. It worked. We modified the idea a bit for Sunday School and it worked. But what about further education? Isn't their more to our faith than the Sunday Worship? Don't our children need to learn more about their faith? Most certainly yes! But instruction does not have to take place during church services. Furthermore, it is not only our children who need to learn. We need to learn more about our faith. We need to learn about the Bible, it's stories, it's advise. We need to learn about God, about Christ. We need to learn about the Armenian Church traditions, her stories and about her heroes. As educational programs, our church has set up two extremely important programs. First the Bible Study group which meets every other Thursday at 7:30 p.m. This is primarily for adults, however it is open to all. Second, Bible Study and youth education takes place during the ACYO meetings and activities. Although ACYO is for ages 12 and up, the educational portion of the meetings are open for everyone. Formal instruction is given during this portion of the meeting about the Bible and Christ's Church. We encourage all our faithful to attend these programs. What about Sunday mornings? The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ assembles! Young and old, all part of the same Body. To worship and praise Him. Amen. --Fr. Vazken -------------------------------------- c. 1986 Fr. Vazken Movsesian Address comments to: dervaz@sain.org --------------------------------------