Teachers are the Greatest

We always seem to underestimate the significance of simple things. One of these is the Sunday school. Sunday schools were begun in England almost 180 years ago. They were initially designed to provide education and spiritual guidance for children who were working in factories on other days of the week. Eventually the movement evolved to provide spiritual direction and Bible instruction for children in many churches.

My son Jonathan phoned home this week to report that he had just met the woman who taught his Sunday school class from 1983 to 1988. Jonathan and Emily have been in Louisville, attending orientation as Presbyterian mission workers. (They leave for Taiwan next month.) The commissioning service was held as part of the national meeting of The Presbyterian Women this week. Carolyn Coffman, Jonathan's teacher was in attendance. She and her husband Turner taught a little group of kids every Sunday morning at Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church in Suffolk, Virginia. Saint Andrew was a new church development at that time, and the number of children was small at first. So we had grades one through six at one table for most of those years. Turner was an engineer and Carolyn taught junior high school. They had many excuses for not teaching, but they took the responsibility upon themselves cheerfully.

I think that much of what Jonathan knows about Bible stories and Bible content was gained during those five years. As pastors, Jean and I were grateful to have other people showing our two sons that faith is important and that spiritual tasks are worth our best efforts. Carolyn and Turner provided that loving message to Jonathan each Sunday. When we left Suffolk and moved to Toledo, Ohio, in 1989, we could not express adequately what it meant to us and our family to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Who knows exactly how a life is shaped and directed. Only the Lord. But there is no doubt in my mind that Carolyn and Turner are central figures in the life of Jonathan.