The influence of sunday school on the spiritual development of children : Karinde Free Methodist Church

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to find out the extent to which the Free Methodist Church Sunday school has had an impact on the spiritual development of children of ages 6-14. The main areas of inquiry, which were foundational to this study, are the parents of the children aged between 6-14 and the Sunday school curriculum used in the Karinde Free Methodist Church. The instruments, which were formulated and used, included questionnaires for parents and teachers. The questionnaires consisted of closed-ended and open-ended questions. There were also interview questions for the children. The information gathered was analyzed and summarized by use of various tables and graphs where necessary. The findings of the study revealed the following about the Karinde Free Methodist Church Sunday school. The influence of the Sunday school in the learners' relationship with God was weak. Its influence on the children's relationship with other people was strong. It had very weak influence on the learners' relationship with nature (their environment). The regularity with whichlearners practiced lessons learnt about God was weak. Practice of lessons learnt about relating with other people was strong while practice of lessons learnt about nature was very weak. The writer recommends that the church considers training the Sunday school teachers thereby equipping them for the noble ministry to children and that the children be divided up in the Sunday school according to age groups to enable teachers minister adequately to them bearing in mind the unique characteristics of particular age groups. The church could draw a regular budget to equip the Sunday school with modem learning facilities. Parents ought to be more involved in the spiritual nurture of their children by going through the lessons learnt in Sunday school with them and helping them to apply the same in their lives.