Pastor Ben (B): How long have you been Sunday school coordinator?  

Dawn Dykstra (D): About seven years.

B: How did you get started in Sunday School ministry? 

D: I have taught Sunday school since I was 13 years old. I started at Trinity CRC, and they were struggling with volunteers so me and a friend in grade 7 decided to teach a class together. They needed more help, and a friend and I were willing. I then moved onto volunteering with Trinity GEMS. While in university I realized I enjoy hanging out with children as a volunteer, so I might as well get paid for it. This led me to complete my university time with a teaching degree. After a break from volunteering, I started volunteering with Coffee Break when my two oldest were small. After two years of Coffee Break, Pam Van Dop needed a partner for Sunday School planning, and I joined her. I have been greatly helped by Vanessa Groeneweg during my time as coordinator who has been an essential support in the background of this ministry.

B: How was that stepping in as a 13-year-old? 

D: I started with Kindergarten, so it wasn’t much different than babysitting jobs. We read the story, did a craft, and had fun.

B: Do you see a link between your time in Sunday School and your desire to pursue teaching? 

D: It made me want to be a teacher helping with Sunday School, with kids, like I enjoy talking to them. Sometimes you’re tired and you are grumpy at home, but in general I feel like I’m a better person when I’m spending time with kids, even at school drop there’s a lift to your mood.

B: What do you see as being the value of Sunday school on a Sunday morning during the service? 

D: Sunday School gives children a place to experience God at their level and allows them to be more enthusiastic. Children could stay in church, and they would pick up on items, but as they can be more vocal this is very distracting for their own parents. We always notice what our own kids are doing more than other kids.

Since the children aren’t in church and learning directly from the pastor, it is important to use our time with them wisely. A good curriculum that focuses on teaching them the Bible helps make it a good use of their time. This also ensures we aren’t “just babysitting”.

B: What have been some joys of leading Sunday School? 

D: I really enjoy the enthusiasm of the little ones; they’re so excited to be there and they want to sing songs. Some of my favorite memories are when the teachers are silly, too. I enjoy seeing some of the older teachers as they do the actions and dance, and that really gets like the older kids involved a bit more. I also enjoy seeing the youth helpers when they can be so involved in the material.

B: What have been some of the challenges leading Sunday School? 

D: Coming out of COVID, it changed the feel of Sunday School. There was fear of disease so then some of my normal Sunday School teachers who had that break didn’t come back, or they didn’t come back for varied reasons, or there was just so much unknown. Now finally, three years later, things are starting to finally feel normal.

B: Why should people volunteer for Sunday School? 

D: We are created to live in relationship, with God, with creation and with other humans. Isolation isn’t good for us, as COVID taught, and mingling with people from different generations is even better. Cross-generational relationships allow each generation to learn from the other. Older generations can pass on their wisdom from living to the younger, while remembering their enthusiasm for life from when they were young. The older generation can also learn new ways of doing things from the young like new games and new technology. These relationships should be mutually beneficial; the older generation guiding and feeding the young, and as the young age they will remember and return the gifts given.

Like in a school, as a teacher, you have your experienced teachers and they like to do things the same as before, because it’s easy perhaps, but they also have this wealth of wisdom on how to do things. Then you get the younger generation that comes up with new ideas and so you push each other to be better. That’s what I love about a school community. You have young teachers and old teachers, and they all are forced to work together, and you create something better. So, I think in a church too, if you have your young generation with their enthusiasm and they ask questions, then the older generation can speak into that. So, I think that’s the benefit: there is the sharing of enthusiasm and wisdom. You work together to make the church community a more fulfilling place.

B: In your wildest imagination with unlimited resources, unlimited volunteers, what could you imagine Sunday school to be like as a ministry, if it’s different at all? 

D: I think it would be different. I think we would have more involvement between church and Sunday School. Right now, it is quite separate. If we had the resources and brain power, kids could do more demonstrations, act, or create artwork that goes up on the walls. I loved it when Alyssa got them to color in the map of Abbotsford. I thought it was cool to include kids in the church decoration and service because they weren’t just tucked away. They did something and they got to see it up on the stage.

B: I like the idea of being visible and making it a ministry of the church instead of just of the kids.  

D: Yes! Invite people to see and to engage. I like that

they raise money. I still like that there is tithing for Sunday School but making it more visual for them. For example, at Christmas we raise money and donate it to World Vision, and the kids see how many ducks and bunnies they’ve bought.

I just bought food for Margaret Stenersen Breakfast Program with their tithes. I showed them exactly what they got. We could be putting it in a way where there are actual visuals; maybe there could be a monthly board where we could interact with the church, too. Here we can show them what we are raising money for, reminding the kids that we’re doing it for. Then the parents are aware of what the kids are raising money for and maybe there’s a little more transparency to the greater church community of what we’re doing in Sunday School.

It’s all about relationships. Kids are crazy, but they are fun! Relationships are the overarching theme on what our purpose is in kids’ ministry — Sunday School to Youth. How do we teach them the value of going to church and help them love it? So that when they are adults, they realize it is still worth coming to. Being involved helps with that. Having the junior helpers in Sunday school is important; it makes them feel one with the church. Having lots of different volunteers helps more kids find a person to connect with.

B: You can’t be that person for all the kids, but you can be that person for one or two. 

D: Exactly!

B: Well Dawn, this has been wonderful! Any closing words or final thoughts? 

D: Sunday School is fun. I am going to miss certain parts of leading Sunday School — I will miss leading them through singing every week. I am still going to volunteer; I am still going to teach. I love spending time with the kids. I think someone else can lead with some new ideas.