Weekly Article

On the 50th anniversary of Derry Church’s Sunday School program (1933), past and present superintendents pose for this photo. Standing, l-r: Ivan L. Mease (1920-1934), Simon P. Bacastow (1916-1917), Robert S. Woomer (1918-1920), Irving L. Reist (1911-1915), Wilmer W. Steele (1917-1918); seated, l-r: Dr. EEB Sheaffer (1888-1891), Mrs. Elizabeth F. Hershey (1898-1899), George H. Seiler (1883-1887).

Growing up in a Methodist church in Chambersburg, Sunday School was an expected and regular part of every week. There never was a question of whether or not I would attend. While I looked forward to it each week, as a child and even as an adult, I never thought about how or where Sunday School began.

We must transport ourselves to industrial England in the late 1700s to find the beginnings of Sunday school, when city dwellers were working long hours in dangerous and unhealthy conditions. Skilled and unskilled workers labored six days a week, often ten to 12 hours daily. Children as young as eight often worked alongside their parents in hazardous conditions.

There were no publicly funded schools because education was considered a family responsibility. If you were poor, you were likely illiterate, impoverished, and perhaps a threat to society. On Sunday, children ran wild in the city streets, often breaking windows and robbing homes. Enduring horrendous working conditions during the week, many street urchins learned to be pickpockets and thieves.

While it is possible to find numerous examples of men and women gathering children together for religious instruction, the Sunday School movement began with Robert Raikes, a wealthy newspaper publisher in Gloucester, England.

According to journalist Tracy Early, “Deciding they [the children] would be better off learning to read and receiving guidance in proper behavior, he (Raikes) hired a teacher and set up a school that met on their free day and would thereby “get the urchins off the street.”

While it was not without opposition and setbacks, the movement soon spread beyond Gloucester. Raikes and others believed in “school on Sundays for these poor children where good Christian people would teach them to read and write, teach them the Ten Commandments, and instruct them in moral living. Maybe with a basic education, they could escape their dreadful life.” Raikes made teaching materials such as the Ten Commandments and other verses from Scripture, primers, spellers, reading books and catechism books available free of charge. Later they were paid for by donations from supporters.

The movement spread when spiritual and intellectual philanthropists read newspaper articles about Sunday schools, and by 1785 250,000 children in Britain attended these schools. For most, it was their only formal education, where they learned to read and write by using the Bible as their textbook.

The Sunday school movement was cross-denominational and open to children and adults. A typical day would offer literacy and arithmetic lessons from ten to two, then there would be an hour lunch break followed by church and catechism lessons until 5:30 pm. Religious education was a core component. 

Sunday school unions formed throughout Great Britain, and eventually sent missionaries around the world. At first these organizations were interdenominational, then evolved to become denominational. There was strong opposition to women taking on a leadership role in the movement, yet young women played an important role in the movement by raising money to fund the education of young children in Britain and worldwide.

The Sunday School idea spread, taking root in America. By 1832, there were more than 8,000 Sunday Schools. By 1875, there were more than 65,000 schools and by 1889, there were ten million children in American Sunday Schools that were performing the heavy task of public education, sponsored by Christians out of their own pockets.

The idea of education was so powerful that governments soon got into the act. Compulsory public schools emerged in America to teach the three R’s, thus leaving the handling of religion to churches, especially among those Protestants without parochial schools. As public education spread, churches devoted Sunday school time to moral and spiritual training. The American Sunday school movement took its structure from developments in public schools, developing age appropriate curriculums and organizing classes by age.

We know very little about the early years of Derry Church’s Sunday School as most of the church’s early records were destroyed in a fire in 1894. After Rev. Mitchell resigned in 1874, Derry Church did not hold any worship services until 1883. That year, the building was demolished when it was deemed unsafe.

In spite of these obstacles, a small group of Derry members persevered. Even though they were without a church building or a pastor, the remaining members banded together to establish the Derry Church Sunday School in 1883. They reached out to George H Seiler of Swatara Station, then engaged in state Sunday school work. He was elected superintendent and trained lay people to conduct classes for adults and children. A member loaned his portable pump organ and his daughter played so that there would be music to accompany hymns during Sunday School worship. For classroom space, a L-shaped wing was added to the Session House. This enlarged space was also used to hold worship services until the Chapel was completed in 1887.

While church membership was small, the Sunday School grew rapidly and class size averaged 60 students each week. Adult classes were added as interest increased. The Derry Church Sunday School sustained the church and helped it grow. Following Seiler’s tenure as superintendent, many other people led a robust Sunday school program of education and worship. The national Sunday school program provided a curriculum used by many Protestant denominations including Derry. 

By 1909, Derry had consistent pastoral leadership that encouraged a growing membership and helped expand the Sunday school program. By 1934, Sunday School enrollment had reached almost 200 students with an average weekly attendance of 146 people. In addition to classes, Sunday school included a modified worship experience often including music. As enrollment grew, more classrooms were needed. In 1935 and again in 1951, Derry Church expanded, adding more classrooms and fellowship space. Derry’s Sunday School continued to steadily expand through the next several decades. By 1968, enrollment reached 447 students.

During these decades, Derry Church Sunday School operated almost independent of the larger church, with its own leadership and budget. In addition to funding the purchase of curriculum and supplies, each year funds from Sunday School collections were earmarked for benevolence to both foreign and national charitable organizations such as the Presbyterian Home in Newville, war relief during World War II, and Camp Michaux, a church camp. Derry Church Sunday School also made donations to support the Building Fund as the church undertook new construction projects. 

Beginning in the early 1970s, the Derry Church Sunday School began to be incorporated into the larger mission of the church. The Sunday school budget was incorporated into the church’s annual budget and a new staff position, Director of Christian Education, was created.

In 1971, Derry Church hired its first professional Christian educator, Nancy Joiner [Reinert]. By then, the Sunday School had grown to include classes for individual grade levels along with numerous adult classes. Derry had just purchased a new comprehensive curriculum created by the national church. Ms. Joiner’s first task was to educate and guide Derry’s Sunday school teachers in implementing the new curriculum.

Nancy’s leadership established a robust program of youth engagement, ranging from youth groups for many ages, to creating opportunities for performing drama and music. Derry’s future growth in a music ministry was made possible by the hiring of the church’s first full time Director of Music, Herb Fowler. While Derry’s Sunday School had always included learning hymns as a part of Sunday school worship services, now music education and ministry became an integral part of Derry’s mission.

Nancy Joiner Reinert resigned in 1975 following the birth of her first child. Recognizing the importance of providing Christian Education leadership, Derry Church continued to hire full-time Directors of Christian Education, including Betsy Terry (1975-1978), Susan Eshbach (1978-1979), Cheryl Galan (1979-1984), Betty Bates (1984-1989), Candice Reid (1992-1993), and Debbie Hough (1994-2018). Debbie came to Derry Church with extensive experience in Christian education. She led a program that reached all ages, making Christian education a vital part of our ministry, mission, and worship. She created curriculums that connected popular culture and themes with Christianity, encouraged lay teachers and learners to find themselves in God’s story, and established an annual Theological Forum that brought noted Biblical and theological scholars. This commitment to Christian Education continues under the leadership of Rev. Shawn Gray, Associate Pastor of Christian Education. 

In addition to Sunday classes, Derry’s Christian Education program now includes several Bible study groups, a Tuesday evening Creative Arts program, Vacation Bible School, fellowship opportunities for children and youth, KIWI [Kids In Worship Instruction], a Children & Sacraments class, God’s Hidden Hands puppet ministry, and the Derry Discovery Days preschool.

For over 140 years, Derry Presbyterian Church has supported Christian education for children and adults. As we celebrate our 300th anniversary, the opportunities for growth and new direction of our Christian Education programs are limitless.

For further reading:

Larsen, Tim. When Did Sunday Schools Start? Christianity Today, March 2024. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2008/august/when-did-sunday-schools-start.html

Lynn, Robert L. and Wright, Elliott, The Big Little School—200 years of the Sunday School, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1971)

Phillips, Douglas W. The History of the Sunday School Movement. Audio CD; The Vision

Forum, Amazon Books 9781933431352

Early, Tracy. “Another Bicentennial: The Sunday School Movement” The Christian Science Monitor, June 2, 1980,

Short History of the Sunday School, compiled by students in Keith Drury’s “Local Church Education” course at Indiana Wesleyan University over the years 1996-2010