At the Disciple church I attend there has been no adult Sunday School since covid. What has taken its place is “Adult Education Hour” . These are 4-6 week classes with different teachers or leaders built around the leader’s expertise or a theme the church is following. The same group is hardly ever in attendance.
For the 6 weeks of Eastertide, I was asked to lead. I choose to do a concentration on parables… one per week. We had between 20 and 25 weekly. In the beginning, I asked folks about their favorites or the ones about which they had questions .
I began with the “Parable of the Mustard Seed”, then followed with those they lifted as favorites or questionable.
I decided early on to use CWW stories wherever possible as an introduction to the story of the morning. So I told Mustard Seed, Leaven, Good Samaritan, Great Pearl, Prodigal Son, and Great Banquet. We did not own a Prodigal Son story, so I put that one together on my own. I learned there had been some concern about my using the stories, so in week 5 I simply asked if using the stories was helpful or not helpful. I suggested they talk to me privately—but that didn’t happen.
They immediately responded that they enjoyed it and that seeing the story had been helpful.
One gentleman said, “When you told the great pearl, I realized how it was for our family as we moved about trying to choose a church.” A woman told the story of her giving up her work that she did well and trained to do and did well, but it was destroying her. She shifted to find a great joy and sense of worth doing less but feeling more fulfilled. Another said, “I was glad to see how the children saw a story.”
Their responses each Sunday were appropriate, often pointing to the story as they would raise a question or many a comment. The Good Samaritan had the most discussion. One gentleman had never been to an education hour before, he came to this hoping to talk about the story. His questions were great, he often would point to the figures as he spoke and raised yet another question.
This has been my experience with telling the stories to adults, young adults, and teenagers. I have used them in settings that were large and small. Numerous times I told in our college group. One time a young woman who attended another denomination growing up, one that used Godly Play, commented that the moment I opened the underlay, she was back in her story room and safe. In another setting, one older gentleman commented that “seeing the story was very different from simply hearing it.” The most interesting response I have had was telling the Great Banquet to a regional assembly; there were no verbal responses, but I was to ask the wondering questions. To one of the questions, I could hear a sigh and gasp from the audience. Teens I had in the 3-8, returning at 15-17, quickly fell into the full worship pattern, even asking for reflection. Wondering in the story seems to bring about a whole new kind of responding with adults.
There is no age limit for the power of the story!
–Petie McLean