An active Sunday School in a Church of Christ, Scientist, is as much a demonstration of divine Love as a healing church service, and it needs the prayers and love of the members as much as the service does.
Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, taught and fed with truth those who came to him, both adults and children. He taught multitudes. Do our Sunday Schools also attract multitudes? They certainly can! But in order to help them do so, church members need to dedicate themselves to praying daily for the activity.
Mrs. Eddy expected a great deal from the practice of true Christianity. She writes in the Christian Science textbook: "If all who ever partook of the sacrament had really commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of his cup, they would have revolutionized the world. If all who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross, heal the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor,—the receptive thought,—they will bring in the millennium." Science and Health, p. 34;
When the Christ, Truth, is elevated in one's thought, the spiritual attraction is irresistible to all those receptive to it. This elevation of thought that draws men to the Christ is achieved by spiritualization of thought—by putting off the false, binding beliefs of life in matter and replacing them with the understanding and demonstration of spiritual truth. The Master said of the Christ he came to reveal, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12:32;
All beliefs of limitation regarding our Sunday School can be dissolved by acknowledging spiritual verities, which originate in divine Mind. To help our Sunday School grow we must turn our thought away from the mortal, limited picture, and focus our gaze on the kingdom of heaven, spiritual reality. God's universal kingdom is teeming with activity. God is omnipotent, and there is no opposition to His Word. Because He is all-powerful and all-good, His presence and goodness can never be obstructed or resisted.
God is the only cause and source of goodness, and man is His perfect effect, reflecting all of His goodness. All true being is in God's kingdom, and God eternally cares for and loves His children.
To understand that God is Mind is to know Him as the great communicator of good and productive ideas. We can refuse to accept the false suggestion of a cause or source or power other than the Father, obstructing receptivity to His ideas. As we understand these truths, beliefs of limitation about our church and Sunday School will inevitably cease to occupy our consciousness. Spiritualized thinking overcomes mortal fears and limitations.
Sunday School growth is the inevitable result of prayer, fidelity, and obedience to God. Some may believe it is the job of the superintendent alone to pray for the Sunday School. Others may think it is the responsibility of the Sunday School teachers. But every member has the obligation to pray for his Sunday School.
Have you ever invited your students to pray daily for their Sunday School class? I did. And in two weeks' time two new students arrived in our class who had never attended before. If we are witnessing a small or depleted Sunday School, we can pray more effectively, earnestly, regularly, and unselfishly, and expect to see the power of God and His Christ manifested in our Sunday School.
Let us not allow a mere "caretaker" attitude to dictate our thought toward our friends and community. The caretaker attitude is satisfied with the present level of progress in the Sunday School. When church members devote more time to specific prayer in overcoming resistance to or hatred of Truth—in correcting disinterest, apathy, and worldliness—the caretaker thought will dissolve, and the members will be genuinely benefiting the community and the Sunday School.
The divine standard for all right action is oneness of Mind, evidenced in unity, cooperation, and harmony. An atmosphere of unity and love has a spiritual vitality and warmth that attracts. Division or callousness repels. All true aims and purposes are based upon fulfilling God's will and expressing unselfed love. We must work together to rout human will, personal outlining, limitation, and self-glorification.
A branch church might find it helpful to hold regular meetings in the interest of the Sunday School, encouraging each member to pray daily for the Sunday School and the youth of the world. A Sunday School inevitably grows when the church members devote more thought and prayer to its advancement and progress.
Do material circumstances affect the growth of the Sunday School? If your Sunday School is not growing, mortal mind, or evil, may suggest that people are at fault, or that the Sunday School is not accessible to the community, or that the neighborhood is not receptive to Christian Science. While it may seem that such factors are to blame, error parades in the disguise of person, place, or thing in order to appear legitimate. Mortal mind never wants to be seen for what it truly is—nothing. Error has never been associated with, been a part of, or attached to, person, place, or thing.
As we realize this we cannot be mesmerized to entertain thoughts of discouragement, or to make excuses for or engage in mere human evaluation of the Sunday School. We can, however, know that divine Principle, God, is in complete control of every activity of man, and this must be evidenced in the Sunday School and in the community. We can affirm that material circumstances or supposed material causes have no real influence, and therefore can have no effect on the community or the Sunday School. Only God has the power to influence His ideas. Divine Mind, God, is the only cause, and He maintains an atmosphere of harmony and prosperity.
Every teacher can improve his teaching. Inspiration, spontaneity, and love are the best guides to better teaching and more interesting and relevant questions and answers. The expression of these qualities is enriched through consecrated prayer, which enhances the teacher's preparation, study, and research. Because teaching is imparting knowledge and understanding, the one who has best demonstrated what he teaches is the most believable and effective teacher.
Can you imagine the results if every church member of every branch Church of Christ, Scientist, throughout the world prayed for his Sunday School each day? Each member can pray daily for increased progress, activity, growth, and receptivity to Truth. All one needs to do this work is already in divine Mind—the only true consciousness—and this is where all solutions are ever available. Allow time to pray each day for your Sunday School and church.
Every day we are called upon to entertain active, broadening, constructive, healing thoughts about our church, its Sunday School, and their place in the movement of Christian Science. Merely wishing for better results must yield to active, consecrated prayer.
Mrs. Eddy writes: "Our watchwords are Truth and Love; and if we abide in these, they will abound in us, and we shall be one in heart,—one in motive, purpose, pursuit. Abiding in Love, not one of you can be separated from me; and the sweet sense of journeying on together, doing unto others as ye would they should do unto you, conquers all opposition, surmounts all obstacles, and secures success." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 135.
