How Thom Rainer came to believe in Sunday School

Parr: I know you are an advocate of Sunday school today. What was it that caused you to go back to being a huge supporter of Sunday school as a strategy for churches?

Rainer: It happened as I began to do research as the backdrop of my writing endeavors. I went into my research experiences believing Sunday school had good things to offer, but as part of the church growth movement my focus was more on whatever was newest, latest, or greatest. Sunday school does not fit the template when you are busy chasing fads, and that is what I was doing. The Sunday school movement goes back to the late 1780’s with Robert Raikes, and its age leads many to interpret it as irrelevant. In one sense, the Sunday school goes even further back because small groups have existed in one form or another throughout the centuries. Unfortunately, I abandoned Sunday school like so many others because I was always enamored with the latest and greatest. As I began to write about some of the cutting edge strategies, I didn’t necessarily bash Sunday school- although in my earliest books I wasn’t very positive about it. But I have always been committed to do objective research.
Steve Parr. (2013). Sunday School that Really Excels.