Sunday School

A HISTORICAL REVIEW

Sunday School work in the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) is as old as the coming of Christianity into the country. It began in 1886, with the establishment of adult congregation by the Basel Mission (BM). The main factor that initiated the establishment of a Sunday School was the difficulty of making children understand the abstract teachings of the Bible, as a result, the missionaries realized that it were better the Bible message was translated in to terms that are realistic and clear to the life-experience of the child. Consequeently, the Sunday School was as the appropriate medium through which children could rally to learn about Christ.

Objectives

  1. To enable the children to grow into a relationship of trust and belief in Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
  2. To lead the children to Jesus Christ.
  3. To assist them grow into maturity of their faith in the community of believers. These children are guided to become communicant members of the Church
  4. To inculcate into the children the love of God's word
  5. Through the good examples of adult Christians enable children to relate well with God and with one another.
  6. To mould the character and conduct of children to become future leaders of the Church and the nation.
  7. To enable the children develop a sense of belonging and worshiping through listening, singing, dancing drama etc.

The Church provides training for adult Christians to help the children achieve the above objectives. The special attention paid to the Sunday School which is the Church of today and tomorrow is partly responsible for the rapid growth of the resbyterian Church in Cameroon.

The Sunday School office is situated at the Church Center Bamenda in the North West Province. It has two staff at the National office - Rev Nganji Christian Ndi as the National Sunday School Officer and Ms. Bate Roseline Mendi who doubles as Secretary and typist.

Sunday School Set Up

Sunday School in the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon is a wing of the Youth Department of the PCC. The Sunday School has its set up as an independent wing of thw Youth Department.

Work among children in the PCC is totally in the hands of Volunteers some of whom are retired workers. Others are dropouts from our Universities and Colleges because of financial difficulties and others are jobless graduates. All these volunteers have a process to follow before they are admitted to teach our children. Seeing the great need in this work, the Christian women and Men Fellowship Movements of the Church have taken upon themselves the work of Sunday School in most of our congregations

Sunday School Children photo

The Moderator of the PCC the RT. Rev. Nyansako-ni-Nku quoting Confucius, the great moral teacher who lived in China before Christ said, "The strength of a Church or nation is derived from the integrity of its homes." He went on to say, "if we advocate for the progress and advancement of our society, then we must first seek to build a solid moral foundation on which our Church or nation will strive".

Today, the PCC has come to realize that, that solid moral foundation is nothing else than bringing up of her children in the way of Christ. One of the proverbs of ancient times states that, "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it". (Proverbs 22:6) Hence to build a nation, a world free of such rising crime wave as; Terrorists,Thieves, Murderers, slanderers, blackmailers, embezlers, frauds, neigpotism, discrimination etc. and considering the fallen moral standards of our society, it has become imperitive for the Church and especially for Christian parents to have time with their Children.

India's great poet-Tagor, says

"Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with man"
Truely, children in a sense hold the fate of our world in thier sometimes feeble and little hands. Today, the PCC has realized that if she does not give maximum care to her children she will definitely be applying for a rotten society.

The Church is now out to see that she maintains her Children thus securing a better future. To succeed in caring for her Children, the Church has carefully structured Sunday School work as follows;

The Sunday School At Congregational Level:

The Sunday school is handled here by a number of voluntary teachers who sometimes meet with the children within the week and on Sundays. They have worship services for about 1 hour on Sundays with kids, during which they learn at least one Bible story and have other activities like sisnging, recitation of memory verses and dramas.

The Sunday School At Parish Level:

A number of Sunday Schools under a pastorate form the Parish Sunday School Association headed by a superintendant. At this level, the teachers plan for parish work and also exchange their views on their work at congregational level.

The Sunday School At Area Level:

A number of Parishes for the Area Sunday School Association headed by the President. At this level, the teachers meet to plan for area work as well as exchange their views and share experiences on work at Parish level.

The Sunday School At Presbytery Level:

The Presbytery is made up of all the groups in the Presbytery and headed by a Sunday School Organizer. There is Presbytery Sunday School Committee that oversees the smooth running of the Sunday School work at Presbytery level. With views from all Areas, the Organizer draws up a plan of activities for the presbytery, which he/she sees that it is followed.

The Sunday School At Provincial Level:

A number of Presbyteries form the Sunday Sunday School at Provincial level and is headed by a Provincial Representative. He is expected to visit all Presbyteries and run courses at Presbytery level. The Provincial Representative reports annually or otherwise to the Sunday School Officer on the situation of the Sunday School at Provincial level.

The Sunday School At Parish Level:

This is the ruling body of Sunday School work in the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. This body meets annually grouping all the Organizers of the various Presbyteries. This body meets to take decisions, resolutions and make recommendations to the National Committee for Youth work. The body plans work for the entire Sunday School in the Church. It is at this conference that Organizers are trained as trainers for their various Presbyteries.

The National Office:

This is the highest officer that controls Sunday School work in the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. The National Sunday School Office is headed by the National Sunday School Officer. He oversees the smooth running of Sunday School work in the whole Church. He plans for visits, courses, conferences for Presbytery Sunday School Organizers and reports to the Synod through the National Committee for Youth Work on the situation of the Sunday School at National level.

CONTACTS

Sunday School National Office building and Staff photo

Rev Nganji Christian - Officer

Cell: 717 56 17
Home: 336 41 38
Office: 336 12 53
E-mail: chrisnganji@yahoo.com


Ms. Bate Roseline Mendi - Secretary

Cell: 757 83 62
E-mail: mendiroseline@yahoo.com

Sunday School Activities:

The Sunday School in the Congregations, Parishes, Areas, have annual rallies at Parish level, Parish and Area come togethers, pay visists to the sick and to the needy, carry out clean up campaigns, sporting activities, organize dramas, exchange of class work by Teachers, etc. Courses are organized for Teachers, Superintendents, Organizers and Organizers' Conferences at national level. The Superintendents visit their Parishses and Congregations; the Area Secretaries do it for the Parishes and groups, while the Presbytery Organizers visit the Congregations, Parishes and Areas. The Provincial Representatives visits the Presbyteries while while the Sunday School Officer visits all Presbyterian Church Presbyteries.

The Sunday School partners in Germany and America have been suppoting the department financially for the production of Lesson Notes and some micro projects. They have also lunched a project and produced Biblical Pictures that are now helping our Teachers as teaching aids. These parners visit the PCC once in two years. While acknowledging great assistance offered by these partners, the department is yet open to more partnerships and cooperation in the area of providing Sunday School Teachers with better Training skills to efficiently handle this awesome task.

    Programme Of Activities For 2007

  • Award of National Sunday School rally prizes to the best three in Bible Quiz. These groups are:
    • Musang
    • Ntamulung
    • Mbomassa
  • Attend the workshop on Mission in Kumba in April as from the 9th to the 5th.
    • Run Sunday School Teachers' courses in
    • Bamenda
    • Batibo
    • Mamfe
    • Yaounde
  • Run a course for Presbytery Sunday School Organizers in Bamenda.
  • Accompany Sunday School partners from Stuttgart in Germany and Omaha in the United States of America visit Sunday School work in the North West and South West Provinces from the 25th May to 8th of June.

About Projects

  • The Sunday School Growth Fund (SUSGROF) suports the building of Sunday School halls. The office hopes to support some needy congregations build or roof their Sunday School halls.
  • The National Sunday School Officer will discuss with Sunday School partners on the purchase of a car for the department in May.