Ready-made Audiences
Two different churches have found dramatic response to the idea of taking Sunday school where unchurched children are already clustered. Reports from Kentucky and Oklahoma:
If Dad is in prison, what does a child do on visitation days after the initial greetings are over? Mom has a list of things to discuss, and the hours waiting around a penitentiary can get long.
That's why the people of LaGrange Christian Church began classes on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Roederer Farm Center, one of three penal institutions in their small town east of Louisville. "Every week, the kids are just sitting out in the hall, waiting for us to show up," says William McConnell, minister. "Saturdays draw around 15, Sundays 20 or more. We start at 1:30 on both days and go for an hour or longer."
One problem, of course, is that the population keeps changing as fathers are paroled (Roederer is a minimum-security facility, often an inmate's last stop before release). Another challenge is that the age range can run from three-year-olds to teenagers. "But the older kids help the younger ones at craft time," says teacher Mary Ann Perry, "and we get along fine. One 16-year-old always says, 'My mom made me come'—but there's a big grin on his face when he says it. He enjoys helping the little ones cut and paste."
The Perry daughter, 12, and a girlfriend from the church are the songleaders, while McConnell plays guitar. The prison class uses the same curriculum as the church, so each child leaves with something made by hand. "At Christmastime, we made ornaments for the tree in the prison chapel," says Perry. The result: some fathers darkened the chapel door for the first time of their stay.
"Our main emphasis," says the teacher, "is on Jesus' love for each ...
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