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Christian Education

  • Christian Education

Train up a child
in THE WAY he should go: ...he will not depart from it.

Prov. 22:6

PC: St. Paul Lutheran Church & School Northville

The Ministry of Christian Literature

Past and Present

Introduction

The first Garo converts were Omed and Ramke from a village called Watrepara. Omed and his nephew Ramke, while working with a Police Dept., got baptized, and as they continued their services, they came to their village Rajasimla and began to testify their faith to their people. Despite the opposition from their relatives, they never stopped preaching the Word of God. As the days passed by, through the teaching and preaching of the Word of God by them, some of the villagers began to put their faith in the Living God, and Dr. Miles Bronson baptized 27 newly converted people on Sunday morning, the 14th of April 1867 which was followed by a worship service. On that day itself, the first Garo Church was established at Rajasimla with 30 members, including Omed, Ramke, and Rangku. As mentioned in history, Sunday School was also started since then.

(Source: The Garo Jungle Book, 1966, p259)

The Emergence

of Sunday School

After the church service, there was a gathering where they discussed the word of God, where the believers would ask questions and clarify their doubts to Omed, Ramke, and Dr. Bronson regarding the teachings of the Bible. Finally, Dr. Bronson instructed them to continue this school after the Sunday morning services, from which they were able to learn God’s word. So, whoever attended the Sunday morning service, always stayed back to learn from the Bible. This time of learning or class after the Sunday morning worship service came to be known as Sunday School in Garo’s inhabited areas of Assam. This had made them grow spiritually, and thus their knowledge about God became more vital.

The missionaries also joyfully taught God’s words so that they would be able to understand their teaching, and the people were attentive very well. They understood that Sunday School was an excellent place to learn the Bible.

Additional Services

Preparation of Teaching Materials

In those days, there were no teaching materials for Sunday schools. Finally, in 1920 the pastors and evangelists resolved to prepare Sunday school teaching materials at the Annual General Meeting of the Convention. In 1921, the GBC had prepared a Lesson Sheet for the Sunday school for the first time. However, the lessons were not prepared which could be used for all the classes or age groups.

Visual Aids

In 1992-23, seeing the need to use the pictures in teaching the Sunday school children, Dr. Harding’s wife brought Bible pictures from America and began to teach by showing the pictures to explain it. Old Christmas cards were also distributed in those days to the regular kids and those who could recite memory verses in Sunday school.

Handing over the task to the Garos

In 1925, Rev. A.F. Merrill suggested working in associating with India Sunday School Union (ISSU). However, they deferred it, saying they were not yet capable of doing so. Later in 1930, Rev. A.F. Merril started corresponding with ISSU and began to work with them. Finally, in 1934 the Sunday school work was handed over to the Garos. Mr. Rangam G. Momin was first appointed as a Sunday School Secretary and served for four years (1934-1937).

Christian Education to Christian Literature Department

Of late, GBC Christian Education Department was proposed to be rechristened as Christian Literature in GBC Major Consultation, held on Sept. 29-Oct 1, 2009. The idea was that the churches were carrying out the ministry of Christian Education. In addition, the responsibility of this dept was to prepare and publish materials for the Sunday school as it was being done till then. So finally, it had rechristened as “Christian Literature Department and was approved on October 3, 2011.

Present Scenario of Christian Literature

The GBC Christian Literature Dept. reprints the materials for Sunday schools. It also organizes Counselling Training for the evangelists under GBC, Awareness Programs for the Mission School Teachers, and the recently introduced CBM Course to the churches and associations. These CBM materials are being sold to those who are willing to follow.