World News and Trends: Britain sees steep decline in Sunday-school attendance
For more than 200 years Sunday school has been an important part of the early life of British children.
A century ago more than half of the nation's young people attended Sunday school. But, as The Independent on Sunday observed, "the traditional Sunday school is in a state of terminal decline, and the Anglican Church is pleading with other Christian denominations to join a last-ditch mission to save it." Some predict that in a few years worship will be all but dead if the march of children away from church congregations is not halted.
One reason for the decline is that few people below 40 take their children to church. Many adults do not attend themselves.
The above-referenced article states that "modern children prefer to spend Sabbath morning at football practice rather than with a teacher and a Bible." Note the use of the word Sabbath when the writer really means Sunday. This is common in Europe. The biblical Sabbath is on the seventh day of the week, Saturday, not the first.
If you would like to learn more about proper Sabbath observance, please request our free booklet Sunset to Sunset: God's Sabbath Rest. While you're at it, you may wish to send for The Church Jesus Built. These two booklets identify the root of the Sabbath problem. (Source: The Independent on Sunday.)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 2000
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Melvin Rhodes
Melvin Rhodes is a member of the United Church of God congregation in Lansing, Michigan.
