Love for children is an unbreakable thread that runs through spiritual education, from the earliest efforts of Jewish teachers up to the present. Even in humble households as early as 350 BC, children received at least some religious education. Jesus welcomed young people to hear his teachings—remember the now-famous lad whose meager supply of fish and bread fed 5,000 people after Jesus had blessed it? See John 6:5–13 . And Paul wrote in First Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth." I Tim. 4:12.
Despite those examples, society had a lot to learn about how children learn—a process that continues today. A big step forward came in the 1500s when Martin Luther wrote his Small Catechism, which used a question-and-answer format to explain, among other things, the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. Other churches developed their own methods of teaching. But poor children and adults, who were generally illiterate, were often left out.
What we know today as Sunday School grew out of lessons in reading and in religion that were given on Sundays, because that was the one day when mill workers, many of them children, didn't have to work. Robert Raikes, a printer and newspaper owner in Gloucester, England, in the 1780s, observed their misery and unruly behavior on the Sabbath. And instead of looking down on them, Raikes felt impelled to help them learn about the Bible's saving message. He began by hiring women to teach children aged 6 to 12 or 14 to read and to understand some basic spiritual concepts of the Anglican Church. Although other humanitarians were also responding to this need, because Raikes owned a newspaper, he had both the financial means and the ability to promote his ideas. This enabled him to accomplish much.
