Practical Steps

What needs to happen in order to run a church school in a smaller parish? The smaller church school has special problems and needs of its own, which large churches often do not have.

1. Classrooms: a smaller church may not actually have separate rooms for church school, and church school may have to be held in the parish hall, outbuildings, or, as a last resort, in the sanctuary. This means of course, that one must be very resourceful in deciding how that space can become “yours” for that hour or so.

2. Scheduling: lack of space or other issues may mean that your educational program may not work as well on Sunday morning. You may have to be extremely creative in order for church school to happen along with worship within a small limited space. Perhaps, you may need to consider doing your educational program at an alternate time or even day. Some parishes find that a full day held one or two Saturdays a month works well,

3. Budget: there may be no budget line for Christian Education in your parish, or at least a very slim one. Again, creativity is a must, and the church school director needs to think about who in the parish or community might donate supplies, perhaps what other parishes might have extra or older curriculum they are not using, and even what civic groups or commercial establishments might donate items. Often, people are more generous that one expects, if the needs are clearly stated. Be sure also, that you do get a line for your program in the next budget.

4. Special Programs: putting on programs or pageants can be difficult too for reason of space, but also because most scripts are written with the idea that there will be many children to find parts for. Consider other types of productions, perhaps one with no spoken parts, but only a narrator, whereby if there are not enough children for the parts, cardboard characters could fill in. Better yet, write your own! With a thin basic story line, it is relatively easy to create characters around it that will just accommodate the children you have. Parents after all, come largely to see their children in action, not really for the quality of the performance, although that is, of course, hoped for. Look to the link at the right for an Easy Christmas Pageant as an example.

5. Staffing: this can be a problem too. Because there are fewer parishoners, there is less choice when it comes to selecting teachers and staff. It is essential first of all to have a good church school director (preferably not the priest), and to have good teachers as well. Every volunteer will not make a good teacher or helper- this is why I suggest you use an actual application for prospective teachers- it makes it easier to exclude someone who you feel won’t be right for the program without hurting their feelings. Far better for you to search out people you think would be good, even if they haven’t volunteered. They may have been holding back out of shyness, or from some past negative experience- it is up to you to encourage them to try, assuring them you will give lots of assistance, training and mentoring until they are comfortable. The concept of team teaching sometimes works well with individuals like this, although I don’t generally encourage it, unless you are sure the “team” will really function like one.

6. Curriculum: this may be the biggest challenge of the small parish. First of all, there may be no budget for this. This is when you search the nooks and crannies of your church for old material, or reach out to other parishes in hopes they may have some extra or unused materials they would be willing to donate. There may also be help from the central church with this under certain circumstances. For example, if your church is a mission parish of the Antiochian Archdiocese, it can get church school materials for free for a period of time!

If you go with the old, donated curriculum option, there are pitfalls. One of your hand-outs lists a number of areas that one should touch upon once or more within a 3-5 year period. If you use a similar guideline, you will not find yourself teaching only New Testament for five years straight, or nothing but church history. This is also why it is important for teachers to have an actual curriculum, and not “wing it.” I was in a parish once where a teacher’s favorite topics were the Great Flood, and the End Times. Unfortunately, she did not take kindly to suggestions that she expand her topics, and therefore, her students (whom she had for a number of years) ended up with a very narrow view of Orthodoxy, and Christianity in general. By using such a guideline and sticking to it, it is possible to actually use a hodge-podge of different books, publishers and materials and still have good basic coverage of a variety of topics we want our children familiar with.
But, do not reject out of hand older materials. Although it will probably be less colorful than newer items, the important thing is that there is some meat there. What does it teach. The church school director can then step in and correct some of the inadequacies in activities, worksheets, projects, etc., which older curriculums seem to have less of. Today, these things are a must for keeping students’ attention.