Sunday school, also known as church school or Christian education, is a religious education school that is usually part of a church or parish. It is mainly found in Protestantism and has been an important part of the movement. A Sunday school is an educational institution that has a Christian character, although other religions such as Buddhism, Islam and Judaism have also organized Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. This means that a Sunday school teacher must pay close attention to the gifts and talents of the people they teach and train.
In 1833, the Unitarians founded their Sunday School Association to unify and advance the work of religious education among young people. This was done as a junior member of the British and Foreign Unitary Association, with which they established offices in Essex Hall in central London. The concept of Sunday school in Sweden began in the early and middle of the 19th century, and at first experienced some criticism before becoming widespread. By 1835, the Sunday School Society had distributed 91,915 spelling books, 24,232 New Testaments and 5,360 Bibles.
By 1831, 1,250,000 children in Great Britain were attending Sunday school on a weekly basis - this was about 25 percent of the eligible population. The Mother Church of Boston sponsors an online Sunday school for those who are not close to a Christian Science church. Sunday school teachers are usually lay people who are selected for their role in the church by a designated coordinator, board or committee. The Christian Science Sunday School is a one-hour weekly session where young people are taught the Bible and the power of prayer.
Always dedicated to charitable work, she began Sunday school soon after her spiritual awakening. In 1874, Miller and Vincent returned to work together to found what is now the Chautauqua Institution on the shores of Lake Chautauqua, New York. This was done with the aim of improving the training of Sunday school teachers for the Uniform Lesson Plan. The first organized and documented Sunday school in the United States was not founded in New England but in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania by an immigrant from Germany called Ludwig Höcker - he was the son of a respected and influential pastor and teacher of the Reformed Church in Westerwald.
In Great Britain, an agency called the Religious Tract Society was created which helped provide literature for Sunday school. In the United States, the American Sunday School Union (based in Philadelphia) was formed for the publication of literature. Sunday school in churches not only strengthens those who are faithful but also strengthens churches as it includes not only preaching but also teaching and community - both encourage and strengthen churches and people in their faith. Some Sunday school teachers have experience in education as a result of their occupations. In England they studied Sunday schools and teaching methods of Methodists - they were impressed by the number of students and teachers.
