The Sunday school of a Christian Science church is a necessary department in the church activities. Out of the Sunday school should come a goodly portion of the church membership. The quality of the teaching done in the Sunday school is thus of prime importance. The incentive of love for God and man, and the desire for the progress and prosperity of the Christian Science movement, should find ample expression, in order that the teaching of the scientific meaning of the divine Word may be richly fruitful. Divine intelligence should be sought to direct the teacher in his approach to the great opportunity which is afforded him. Christ Jesus prayed that the will of God might be done. The teacher in the Sunday school also needs to pray earnestly and sincerely that he may discern and express divine guidance in presenting the spiritual idea to the pupils.
Sunday school teachers have to deal with a variety of thoughts, some of which are fresh and childlike, while others, among the older pupils, are influenced by the educational systems in the weekday contacts. Whatever the status of the pupil in this respect, he should feel, when in the Sunday school class, the atmosphere of spirituality. He should find no barrier to keep him from freely asking questions about the lesson, from any point of view from which he may wish to approach it. Christian Science being Science, a Sunday school pupil who has, during the weekdays, been under instruction in such a subject as mathematics, would naturally expect Christian Science to be taught convincingly and demonstratively, as indeed the one all-inclusive Science. Hence, the necessity that the teacher in the Sunday school should give studious and loving thought to the spiritual preparation for the lesson hour, in order that he may feed the thoughts of his pupils in humility and grace. A sense of fellowship and love between teacher and pupils is the open door through which God's thoughts pass freely.
A good knowledge of the Bible is helpful in Sunday school teaching. Perhaps a teacher may not have acquired such a knowledge academically before he became interested in Christian Science; but as a student of this Science he will have gained a practical knowledge of the spiritual truth of the Scriptures, and this, together with what he learns from the study of the Lesson-Sermons in the Christian Science Quarterly, will enable him to guide his pupils in obtaining from the Bible and from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy the understanding necessary for demonstrating the truth for themselves. Christian Science reveals the spiritual meaning of the Scriptures; and the inspired writings of the Bible, as illumined in Christian Science, are the foundation of Sunday school teaching.
