Sabbath School

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the Seventh-day Adventist church service on Saturday. For other uses, see Sabbath School (disambiguation).

Sabbath School is a function of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh Day Baptist and some other sabbatarian denominations. It roughly parallels Sunday School in most other Protestant denominations.

Contents

[edit] Program Context

Sabbath School usually begins around 9:30am (or 10:00am, especially in the United Kingdom) on Saturday mornings before the worship service starts. The Sabbath school service for adults typically has two portions. The first portion begins with a song service, followed by a mission emphasis and a short talk. The second, and larger portion, is the lesson study. Although this is one common format, not all Sabbath School services employ it. Different churches choose to conduct Sabbath School in a wide variety of ways. Whatever format is used, and regardless of whether the worship style is very traditional or slightly more contemporary, most Adventist churches teach on the same topic or reading in a given week.

Sabbath School may be conducted in one large class, which would probably meet in the sanctuary, or the congregation may separate into smaller groups for discussion and meet in various rooms throughout the church building. International churches may offer classes in a variety of languages as well. When Sabbath School draws to a close, the small groups join back together and the worship service begins, usually at 11:00am.

One does not have to be a baptized member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to participate in Sabbath School or in the worship service. Many people attend without joining the church. Sabbath School membership is often much greater than that of the church itself.

[edit] Study Guides

[edit] Adult lesson

Adult church members are provided with the Adult Bible Study Guide (formerly known as Sabbath School Quarterly) issued four times a year. It is also known as the "Quarterly"[1] and the "Lesson". It is published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Sabbath School quarterlies are Bible study guides that cover a specific topic or book of the Bible every quarter. The quarterly is designed to be read during the week, so that during Sabbath School, the class members are ready to discuss questions and topics raised in that lesson in small groups. The Adult Sabbath School always has a heavy focus on the Bible. All Seventh-day Adventists around the world use the same Sabbath school quarterly, translated into the necessary languages (with few exceptions such as Germany, where members cover the same topic with different material). The current editor of the Adult Sabbath School lessons is Clifford Goldstein.

[edit] Other lessons

At the same time as the adult study, children attend classes aimed at their age group. Typical age group divisions are Beginner (infants), Kindergarten (K), Primary (Grades 1-3), Junior (Grades 4-6), Earliteen (Grades 7-8), and Youth (High School and University). Each age division has its own specific quarterly, which are titled by the class name up to Primary. Juniors and Earliteens often share the same quarterly entitled PowerPoints. Some Earliteen groups use a new separate publication entitled Real Time Faith. Youth use either Cornerstone Connections or Collegiate Quarterly (CQ). In some churches, the children receive a weekly magazine at the close of Sabbath school, which they can read quietly during the sermon. Kindergarten receives Our Little Friend, Primary receives Primary Treasure, Juniors and Earliteens receive Guide, and the Youth receive Insight. The most popular magazine tends to be Guide.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pacific Press Publishing Association - Search

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbath_School"
Personal tools