0:00:03 > 0:00:07Now, children, I'm going to present the certificates.
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Congratulations, Albert.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12Back in 1880, Sunday school would have looked a bit like this.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Congratulations, Ellen.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17Hold your certificate for the class to see.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Nowadays, things are a little less formal,
0:00:20 > 0:00:22but the message remains the same.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25For over 200 years, Sunday schools have brought children together
0:00:25 > 0:00:28to give them the good news that Jesus loves them.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32And so on this week's Songs Of Praise,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35I shall be looking at how this national movement
0:00:35 > 0:00:38has shaped generations of young people.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43We hear how gangs of unruly children led to the establishment of
0:00:43 > 0:00:45an institution that's cherished by millions.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48I've still got my certificate for a good attendance.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Bill Kenwright explains Everton Football Club's link with Sunday school.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54You go to any Evertonian, they'll all know.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58And music from our junior and senior School Choirs Of The Year.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03For me, and millions like me,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Sunday afternoon meant one thing - Sunday school.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10When I came home from Sunday school from my very first visit,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12Mum said, "What was it like?" I said, "Yeah, it was fine."
0:01:12 > 0:01:15She asked what we did. I said, "We sang a song about a bear."
0:01:15 > 0:01:19She said, "What?" I said, "We sang a song about a bear with cross eyes."
0:01:19 > 0:01:21When she asked me what it was called I told her -
0:01:21 > 0:01:23"Gladly The Cross-Eyed Bear!"
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Turned out it was actually a line from a hymn by Fanny Crosby.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30But some of the hymns that I learned in those days
0:01:30 > 0:01:32have stayed with me ever since and
0:01:32 > 0:01:37our first hymn today is a Sunday school favourite that has become
0:01:37 > 0:01:40a favourite of each successive generation that's discovered it.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01No-one knows where and when the first Sunday school was held,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05but by the second half of the 1700s, various people were teaching
0:04:05 > 0:04:08children either in their homes or in churches.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12But it wasn't until this man, Robert Raikes,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17began his Sunday school in 1780 that a national movement started.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22Robert Raikes was a Gloucester publisher and newspaper owner.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25The story goes, according to Raikes,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28that he was working in his study on a Sunday afternoon
0:04:28 > 0:04:34and he was disturbed by the noise of boys outside playing in the street
0:04:34 > 0:04:39and he wondered why they were doing that, and realised it was a Sunday.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43At the time, very few children received an education.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Most of them had to work.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Children would very often start work maybe as young as five
0:04:49 > 0:04:54and children in the mines and the potteries worked 18-hour days.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59That was six days a week. So Sundays were the only day that they had off.
0:04:59 > 0:05:04So, Raikes had the idea to set up a school for them.
0:05:04 > 0:05:05During the course of the day
0:05:05 > 0:05:09they would have done some reading practice, possibly a little writing.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12They would then have gone to church for the afternoon
0:05:12 > 0:05:17and then come to do the catechism class after church.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21So, in that way, Raikes had kept them off the street for most of the day.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24The women who taught in the schools also benefited.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28This was enormously empowering because women at that time
0:05:28 > 0:05:33had no access to any sort of higher education, career prospects,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37and women really were able to use their skills in leadership
0:05:37 > 0:05:39in a way that there was no other area of life
0:05:39 > 0:05:41that they could do that.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Raikes published an article in his journal
0:05:44 > 0:05:48that spread the idea to other towns and cities
0:05:48 > 0:05:51but studying on a Sunday caused some controversy.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53There were Christians who thought
0:05:53 > 0:05:55that on the Sabbath you shouldn't work
0:05:55 > 0:05:59and learning writing and certainly, learning arithmetic,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01smacked too much of work on the Sabbath,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05so this was a controversy amongst the early founders of Sunday schools.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09And there weren't just worries about breaking the Sabbath.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11The propertied classes were, some of them,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14worried that if people learned to read,
0:06:14 > 0:06:19the poor learned to read, they might read radical pamphlets.
0:06:19 > 0:06:25And they weren't happy at all about the poor having uncensored access
0:06:25 > 0:06:30to the Bible and discovering that God was on the side of the poor.
0:06:30 > 0:06:31So, reading the Bible themselves
0:06:31 > 0:06:35was about discovering good news for the poor.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39ALL: Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44# Gentle Jesus, meek and mild...
0:08:43 > 0:08:46# Hear the pennies dropping
0:08:46 > 0:08:50# Listen as they fall
0:08:50 > 0:08:53# Every one for Jesus
0:08:53 > 0:08:56# He shall have them all... #
0:08:56 > 0:09:01By the mid-19th century, 1.4 million children went to Sunday school.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03They were the centre of community life
0:09:03 > 0:09:06and each one would have its own impressive banner.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09What's fascinating is the images on them.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12You'll notice that one there has got a lighthouse,
0:09:12 > 0:09:17so that's a very common image because it's about saving children.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19- That fellow looks a bit angry, doesn't he?- He does!
0:09:19 > 0:09:22That "train a child up in the way it should go"
0:09:22 > 0:09:25is from the writings of St Paul, I think.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27I think, actually, it's probably modelled
0:09:27 > 0:09:30on the actual Sunday school superintendent.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32He looks like a Victorian gentleman.
0:09:32 > 0:09:33Can you just imagine the children
0:09:33 > 0:09:35if that's looking from the wall down at you?
0:09:35 > 0:09:37You'd think you'd be very good.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39How did the banners come about?
0:09:39 > 0:09:43The banners are very much like the logos of their day.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46They were setting out what the Sunday school stands for and then,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49of course, the real purpose was for taking outside the Sunday school
0:09:49 > 0:09:52to march and you'd all march and you'd all march behind your banner.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54When? When would the marches happen?
0:09:54 > 0:09:56It could be Sunday school anniversaries,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59but the big ones were the Whit walks.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01These events were the highlight of the year
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and brought the streets to a standstill.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07And it wasn't just young children who would attend Sunday school.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11This is extracts from soldiers' letters.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13If you notice the date, it's 1917.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15- It's First World War.- That's right.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17And it's at a time when this church
0:10:17 > 0:10:20is having the Sunday school anniversary
0:10:20 > 0:10:23and all these young men, who are actually part of the Sunday school,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27have written letters because they can't be there.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29It's really quite moving.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33And like this chap here, J Partington,
0:10:33 > 0:10:34and he says,
0:10:34 > 0:10:39"I'm proud to say that it is the good teachings I've received there
0:10:39 > 0:10:44"that have been my greatest help in times of danger and temptation."
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Sunday school was all about praising children as well,
0:10:50 > 0:10:54- and dignifying them, wasn't it? - And very much encouraging them.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57So, you've got medals for regular attendance.
0:10:59 > 0:11:00It was about belonging.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02It was where you met your friends,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05it was where you had social activities.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10- "Annual sports, a public tea." - It says, "children's treat".
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Exactly. So, this is the outing.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14You can see here they're going in wagons -
0:11:14 > 0:11:17"wagons will leave the hillside chapel."
0:11:17 > 0:11:20The children's treat would perhaps be the only chance
0:11:20 > 0:11:23they ever got to go outside their community.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27And of course, the music was so important.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31The songs were such a part of Sunday school. Here's a hymn and tune book.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33And it's tonic sol-fas.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35# Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. #
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Yes. You see, they wouldn't have had an instrument necessarily,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41so they had to use their voices.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43# Sol, mi, mi, re
0:11:43 > 0:11:46# Mi, sol, sol... #
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Ha-ha! We know that one.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22When the state took over the education of children in 1870,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25Sunday schools turned their attention
0:14:25 > 0:14:27to training the body as well as the soul.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30And football has a lot to thank them for.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Everton Football Club came out of St Domingo's Sunday School
0:14:34 > 0:14:37and their current chairman, Bill Kenwright,
0:14:37 > 0:14:40knows just how important that was.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44You go to any Evertonian and you say, "St Domingo," they'll all know.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47- Really?- They'll all know.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49They'll all say, "That was our church."
0:14:49 > 0:14:52The reverend there decided to start a cricket team in the summer,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55and it was very successful and the word is -
0:14:55 > 0:14:57I wasn't there, believe it or not! -
0:14:57 > 0:15:01the legend is that to keep them fit for the next summer,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04he started a football team and that was called St Domingo's.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06And word that got round that they were good,
0:15:06 > 0:15:07so they got some ringers in,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11some people who weren't particularly from the parish of St Domingo's,
0:15:11 > 0:15:14that didn't probably go to the Sunday school,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17and so they decided to change the name to Everton,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20which was the communal home of the area.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23So, it started, famously, from a church.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26In 1892, the football club split into two
0:15:26 > 0:15:28and became Liverpool and Everton.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30The team that had been St Domingo's
0:15:30 > 0:15:33crossed over to the other side of the park
0:15:33 > 0:15:35and established their ground at Goodison.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Goodison Park was the first
0:15:37 > 0:15:39purpose-built football stadium in the land.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41- I didn't know that. - It was the very first.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43And was there still the church connection,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46- the Sunday school connection at that point?- Oh, absolutely.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49It got bigger because, if you look here,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52you'll see that is St Luke's Church.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55That is still there in the corner of our ground.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59I don't know of any other football clubs in the world
0:15:59 > 0:16:03that have a church in the corner but St Luke's is still there.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05So, are you saying that really,
0:16:05 > 0:16:10some of the values that birthed the club still exist in the club today?
0:16:10 > 0:16:13I would like to think all of the values.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14I'm a Christian.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16I just believe that the church
0:16:16 > 0:16:20and football have to be role models to each other.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23- I think community is important. - Yes.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25So, we started in 1988
0:16:25 > 0:16:30a football in the community programme.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34That football in the community programme at Everton is
0:16:34 > 0:16:40the biggest source of pride to our football club imaginable.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43We're there for the underprivileged, for the abused,
0:16:43 > 0:16:50for anyone with a problem or even a hope on Merseyside.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55If that's not based on church thinking, I don't know what is.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07For many, the mention of Sunday school
0:19:07 > 0:19:09brings memories flooding back.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11The anniversary days, I suppose,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14really became part of the highlights of the year.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Obviously apart from anything else,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20one had a new dress for the Sunday school anniversary.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24I used to think how good it would be to carry one of the banners
0:19:24 > 0:19:27in the great Sunday school parades which took place.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31And I had my eye on those poles.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33First of all, you might be allowed
0:19:33 > 0:19:36to hold one of the strings that steadied it.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39But when you reached adolescence, you might just be big enough
0:19:39 > 0:19:44and I think I just about made it to carry the actual banner.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47All the other Sunday schools in the area would come to us
0:19:47 > 0:19:50and when they had their anniversary, we would go to them,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53all troop down to the streets together.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55Over 100 of us - it was a wonderful sight.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59In the afternoon and the evening,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02a laud choir made up of the Sunday school children
0:20:02 > 0:20:08would, in inverted commas, "entertain" the congregation.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Probably about 50, 60 children, all in their best frocks and so on,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16were all arranged on the stage going up in tiers.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18I could never remember my words.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20I'd got words written on my sleeve,
0:20:20 > 0:20:25which was quite against the rules, to sing some solo.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28And it was always some daft business about birds and bees and trees
0:20:28 > 0:20:31and flowers and what have you.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33There was no amplification or anything.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35If you couldn't be heard,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37that was you off and they got somebody else in, you know.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42I can remember we had this afternoon when we were pretending to bake.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45I don't think we had any ingredients whatsoever
0:20:45 > 0:20:49and then the teachers took away our cake tins
0:20:49 > 0:20:52and they came back with all these cakes that we'd made.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57I think what they were trying to teach us is that miracles do happen.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02The thing that really stays with me is the beginning of faith
0:21:02 > 0:21:05and it is, I think, very important that children are able
0:21:05 > 0:21:08to have that starting place
0:21:08 > 0:21:12and from there, your spiritual journey develops.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Songs, definitely. I can still sing them.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18# Now, Zacchaeus was a very little man
0:21:18 > 0:21:20# And a very little man was he... #
0:21:20 > 0:21:21You have to have the actions!
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Father, just before we go, here our prayers tonight.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29We are all thy children here, this is what we pray -
0:21:29 > 0:21:34keep us till the morning light and throughout the day.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Nice little sample hymns in a very nice way.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42I remember particularly singing There Is A Green Hill Far Away,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45which helped to explain, with the music,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48helped to explain the Easter story
0:21:48 > 0:21:51in a way that children could best understand.
0:23:51 > 0:23:52Since the 1950s,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55fewer and fewer children have attended Sunday school.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59These days, there are so many other options.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Shops and restaurants are open,
0:24:01 > 0:24:03there are countless leisure activities.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Sunday schools face a lot of competition.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14And here in this cinema in Manchester,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16loads of children come every Sunday.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18But it's not to see the latest blockbuster.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21# Our God is a great big God... #
0:24:21 > 0:24:24They're here as part of Ivy Church
0:24:24 > 0:24:27and whilst their parents are worshipping in screen one,
0:24:27 > 0:24:28they're next door.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31# And he holds us in his hands. #
0:24:31 > 0:24:34Dave, why do you meet in a cinema?
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Well, the church is over 100 years old.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40We've got our own building, but we outgrew it several years ago
0:24:40 > 0:24:43and trying to find somewhere where there's a big meeting place
0:24:43 > 0:24:46for everyone to meet together, but also lots of separate rooms.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48It's blooming cold out here.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50I wish the weather would dry up
0:24:50 > 0:24:52cos I don't want to be as cold as last night.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56I know what you do in here, you do in a really contemporary way,
0:24:56 > 0:24:57but do you feel like what you do
0:24:57 > 0:25:00owes anything to the original Sunday school movement?
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Yeah, definitely. We're still telling the same stories.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05If you go to some of the younger groups,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07you'll hear that we're singing some of the same songs as well.
0:25:07 > 0:25:13You know, children have always wanted community, friendship,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and those are the key things here.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Sometimes it seems like there isn't a link to Jesus but actually,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21it's quite a big link to Jesus.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24I've learnt that it doesn't matter how you look like,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26God still loves you.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30What you see here today are the youth, the secondary school children,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33leading the primary school children, the younger children.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36I enjoy coming because I can teach the younger ones
0:25:36 > 0:25:38and then have more of an empowering role.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39For me, it's more the confidence.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42It's definitely given me a real sense of right and wrong
0:25:42 > 0:25:45and I take everything I've learnt in church out into the real world
0:25:45 > 0:25:48and I can pass that on to my friends.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51The best thing about Sunday school - it's very fun.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53Bread roll!
0:25:53 > 0:25:55It's great where I am.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57'One of the things that has changed
0:25:57 > 0:25:59'is that children are fantastic critics
0:25:59 > 0:26:01'and they know when they're bored.'
0:26:01 > 0:26:05So, I think kind of doing the similar stuff as has always been done,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07but just more and more through the language of fun.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12'Children today have big questions. They perhaps always have done.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14'You know - Why am I here? Who am I?
0:26:14 > 0:26:17'Does my life have meaning, purpose? Is there a God?'
0:26:17 > 0:26:21I love the idea that this can be a place where, for some children,
0:26:21 > 0:26:22it might be the only place
0:26:22 > 0:26:25where they can begin to unpack some of those questions.
0:26:25 > 0:26:26Jesus wrote a different rule.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30He wrote the rule which was "love your neighbour." Love everyone.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32'I don't think Jesus is just for those that have been'
0:26:32 > 0:26:34brought up in the Christian family.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37I think Jesus came for everyone, Jesus loves everyone
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and his message has always been for everyone.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Our next song is performed by
0:26:43 > 0:26:46our Junior School Choir Of The Year from Derry-Londonderry.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51We're going to sing a song about a deaf boy and how he sees the world.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53This song reminds us what the church teaches us
0:26:53 > 0:26:57about our faith - to respect everyone and to treat them equally.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12Father God, thank you for the dedication of Sunday school teachers.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14May you continue to speak through them
0:30:14 > 0:30:16so that we know that you love us.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17Thank you for all the songs
0:30:17 > 0:30:20and stories that bring the message of Jesus to life.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23May they help and guide us as we travel through life.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25ALL: Amen.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30Over 200 years ago,
0:30:30 > 0:30:34when Robert Raikes began his Sunday schools, he wrote,
0:30:34 > 0:30:39"If good seed is planted in the mind at an early period of human life,
0:30:39 > 0:30:44"though it show itself not again for many years,
0:30:44 > 0:30:48"it may please God at some future period
0:30:48 > 0:30:53"to cause it to spring up and bring forth a plentiful harvest."
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Little could he have known how successfully that seed would grow
0:30:57 > 0:30:59and what a lasting impact it would have.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30Next week, as we all get older, we focus on retirement.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33And Pam meets a number of people who've found that
0:33:33 > 0:33:35being retired is not what they expected.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Plus, treasured hymns from around the country
0:33:38 > 0:33:40and music from Tessera and Lara Martin.