This program year, Christ Church in Pompton Lakes has introduced “Pokemon Sunday School” – an exciting and adventurous model that makes Christian education fun for our children by borrowing characters and concepts from Pokemon and Pokemon Go. Here’s how it works – and it’s a work in progress.
We had our first Pokemon Sunday School for the feast of St. Francis. After giving a basic historical introduction to St. Francis, we told the children, “It’s time to find St. Francis with Pokemon Go. You can find him in two places in the Memorial Garden outside. Go together in groups of two. One of you find the first statue, stand six feet away and throw the Pokeball until you hit Pikachu, the yellow Pokemon figure, beside the statue. Follow the directions on the back of the paper.”
The directions on the back of the Pikachu paper said, “Now go find the other statue of St. Francis. It’s in the pet section of the Memorial Garden. Throw the ball again to hit Pancham and follow the directions on the back of the paper.”
The directions on the back of the Pancham paper said, “Find a copy of the church bulletin and locate the Prayer of St. Francis on pages 5 and 11: Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Go back to the classroom and discuss the prayer.”
On a following Sunday, the lesson was from Paul’s second Epistle to Timothy. After reading the Epistle together, the children were sent on a “Pokemon Go” hunt that involved finding letters and following the instructions. The final letter directed, “Go back to Sunday School and write your mother or grandmother a note telling her how happy you are to have her as your mother/grandmother.” At coffee hour that day, one of the mothers came to me with her two children’s notes and said, “I will keep these forever – it is so precious!”
Each week I use either the Sunday’s Epistle or Gospel to design the lesson. So when the family is gathered for dinner and Mom asks, “So, what did you learn in Pokemon Sunday School?” the child can say, “Oh, we had the same lesson as in the Church service.”
We invite the Sunday School teachers to make suggestions and tweaks as we continue this project. One of the suggestions received so far was that the older children considered Pokemon too juvenile. So for them we have developed a “Sunday School Scavenger Hunt,” using the same theme. I’ve included crossword puzzles, words games, and the like. Plus, the first group to finish the assignments wins a bag of Sour Patch Kids candy.
In the first two weeks, our children have learned about the saints, what an Epistle is, the function and purpose of the Vestry, found something new in the Prayer Book, and written their own Epistle to their mother or grandmother. It’s been adventurous, educating and stimulating. Most of all, it’s been fun.
One of our 6-year-old torch bearers was chomping at the bit to be in Sunday School, so she could do Pokemon. Consequently, we have reorganized the schedule of all servers during the church service to allow the Sunday School-aged children to be in Sunday School.
There has been one downside to Pokemon Sunday School. Two of our choir members, both over 80, want to go back to Sunday School.
