In 1780 a pious Gloucester man named Robert Raikes formed the first Sunday School. His purpose was to keep children off the streets while teaching them their letters, "the truths of the gospel" and "moral restraint." As time passed a further objective appeared—to lead children into church membership. Today in the U. S., 21,038,526 persons attend Sunday School, under the guidance of 2,167,848 officers and teachers in 184,686 churches. Only 17 small denominations, such as the Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists, do not run Sunday Schools.
As now constituted, Sunday Schools are a religious liability. So wrote Mrs. Margueritte Harmon Bro, mother of four,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
