Sunday School Curriculum - January 2014 Update
Rwanda
The Protestant Council of Rwanda (CPR) is a nonprofit Christian organization made up of nineteen different churches and five Christian ministries in Rwanda. CPR is involved in helping churches to become more effective in serving members and the people of Rwanda. CPR helps members to do better together what they cannot do individually. It promotes Christian education both in schools around the country and in churches, particularly for children’s Sunday School.
The Sunday School ministry is a mainstay for strong churches. Many children attend church and Sunday School. But many of their teachers are not trained to be Sunday School teachers, and they have little or no materials or curriculum. This is why CPR is working with churches to provide appropriate Sunday School manuals for all teachers. CPR also organizes training for Sunday School teachers as well as pastors in many districts of the country.
Objective of the Sunday School Ministry
- to help children grow in a Christian environment
- to offer appropriate Christian education tools for child development
Each year since 2010, CPR has produced a booklet called “Uruhongore” to facilitate the work of the Sunday School teachers. In 2014, since it was difficult to use the same booklet for all the different ages of the children, CPR decided to produce age-appropriate manuals—a separate one for ages 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. Helped by a contribution from The Outreach Foundation, CPR developed and produced 1,000 booklets for the teachers of the 3-5 year olds. As resources become available, the booklets for the older children will be produced.
With the support of CPR pastors and church members, especially Reverend Appoline Kabera, training for Sunday School teachers and pastors continues. In Kigali, 133 teachers and 136 pastors responsible for Sunday School in their parishes have been trained. At the end of each training session, the trainers and trainees visited at least ten parishes around the training center. The goal of these visits was to assess how the Sunday Schools are functioning and how to apply the lessons learned in training. I have also visited different parishes to ensure the best implementation of what the pastors and teachers have learned.
Challenges
The main challenge that we are still facing in this ministry is related to the huge number of teachers and pastors that still need to be trained and the lack of appropriate material for the respective age groups of children. Another challenge is the fact that most of the parishes are located in the countryside far from the main roads. Members of the CPR staff visit parishes, but there is not a permanent employee to maintain the training through visits to Sunday School classes. There are 1,081 CPR parishes, and each parish has its own challenges. More training for Sunday School teachers and pastors is needed. CPR will continue to train teachers and pastors for Sunday School and will also begin educating more trainers to be able to reach out to more parishes.
Prayer Requests
- to continue training Sunday School teachers building their capacity and skills in childcare, especially in the ministry of Christian education for children
- to develop booklets for children ages 6-9 years old and 10-12 years old for Sunday School programs
- for the children to grow in knowledge of Jesus
- for the CPR staff as they work with churches to develop and implement these programs
- for U.S. churches to get involved in building the capacity for trainers
Immaculée Mukantabana
CPR Staff in Charge of Christian Education
Learn more about Sunday School Curriculum for Children's Education in Rwanda by clicking here.
Amount needed in 2014
The Outreach Foundation seeks to raise at least $15,000 for the Sunday School curriculum production and teachers' training. To make a donation, click the Donate Now link in the sidebar.
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