Instruction, Education, Nurture – Changing Understandings of Christian Education among English Baptists in the Twentieth Century

ABSTRACT English Baptists regarded the Sunday School as an agency for producing a flow of committed members into the local church through the instruction of children. The twentieth century began with well-established patterns of instruction. This article examines the contribution of Baptists, throughout the twentieth century, to new thinking about educational methods, continuing faith development beyond childhood and the congregation as a learning community. Some changes were adopted such as organising children in age groups and moving Sunday School to the morning. However other proposals were not and the focus on the instruction given rather than the learning encouraged remained influential.