Let the little children come!

The church is being called to reach children beyond the walls of Sunday services, argue Nick and Deborah Pearson

The story begins in the late 1960s, when Sunday schools were woven into the fabric of British life. Nick Pearson recalls standing outside a community hall in 1969 as a teenage Sunday school teacher, part of a movement that drew in children from entirely non-churchgoing families.

These gatherings were often the first and sometimes only point of contact between the church and the wider community.

“Sunday schools thrived,” he reflects of those early days. Halls were filled, children sang, played, and absorbed biblical teaching in creative ways. For many families, sending children to Sunday school was simply part of the weekly rhythm.

But by the late 1970s, that rhythm began to change.

Cultural shifts, from increased leisure options to changing patterns of family life, saw attendance wane. Sunday afternoons became less about community gatherings and more about private time. Gradually, churches adapted by moving children’s ministry into Sunday morning services.

The change, while practical, came at a cost.

“The former outreach that targeted children in the community began to fade,” Pearson observes. What replaced it was often inward-facing, valuable, but limited in reach. Over time, fewer and fewer unchurched children encountered the Gospel through church initiatives.

Personal stories

The Pearsons’ booklet is rich with personal stories that illustrate what has been lost and what is still possible.

Bev Marshall remembers attending a 1970s Sunday school outreach with friends from her estate. “They were kind, loving, reliable and consistent,” she recalls of the leaders. It was at a camp, aged eleven, that she gave her life to Jesus. Today, she serves as a children’s pastor, her life shaped by those early encounters.

Diahann Davis echoes the sentiment. Sunday school, she writes, was “safe, welcoming and warm” and “a second home”. Though her parents were not churchgoers, they were happy for her to attend, a common openness that churches today rarely encounter.

And for John Byrne, a simple invitation to a community hall in 1974 set the trajectory for a lifetime of ministry. “My Christian journey started at Sunday school,” he writes, urging readers not to underestimate “the importance of children’s ministry, since it can change the entire direction of someone’s life”.

These stories are not nostalgic indulgence. They are evidence. Evidence that consistent, relational, community-based outreach can shape lives for decades.

So what has replaced Sunday school?

In some areas, the answer is weekday children’s clubs, a model the Pearsons have invested in for years. From the Allsorts club in Chelmsley Wood to Friday night outreach in Tamworth, these initiatives seek to recreate what was lost: accessible, engaging spaces for children with no church background.

Simple formula

The formula is simple but intentional: games, drama, storytelling, relationships, and clear presentation of the Gospel. Crucially, most attendees come from outside the church.

“We had the enormous privilege of sharing Jesus with hundreds of children,” Pearson writes of their time in Tamworth. Yet even these efforts, he acknowledges, did not match the scale of historic Sunday schools. There remains “a significant gap between the number of children reached weekly” then and now.

The challenge is not merely logistical. It is theological and missional.

Throughout the booklet, the Pearsons root their appeal in the example of Jesus. In the Gospels, children are not peripheral; they are central. Jesus welcomes them, defends them, and uses them as models of faith.

“Whoever welcomes one such child in My name welcomes me,” the booklet quotes from Mark’s Gospel.

The implication is clear: outreach to children is not optional or secondary. It is integral to the mission of the church.

And yet, the reality on the ground often tells a very different story.

Mission strategy

“How prominently do unchurched children feature in our leaders’ meetings, our budgets, our prayer life and our mission strategies?” Pearson asks. It is a searching question, and one that sits uncomfortably in many contexts.

The Pearsons do not shy away from the challenges. Today’s children face a crowded landscape of competing influences, digital media, extracurricular activities, and fragmented community structures. Engagement requires creativity, persistence, and above all, commitment.

But they also emphasise the unique opportunity.

For some children, a church-run club may be “one of the most positive and stable things in their week.” In a world of uncertainty, the church can offer consistency, care, and truth.

And perhaps most importantly, it can plant seeds.

“We may never fully know the result of sharing the Gospel with children,” Pearson reflects. Yet time and again, he has encountered adults whose lives were quietly shaped by childhood experiences of church outreach.

This long-view perspective is essential. Children’s ministry is rarely about immediate results; it is about faithful sowing.

Children’s clubs

The vision set out in The Dream We Carry is both simple and expansive, a nationwide network of children’s clubs, “not unlike the Sunday schools of the past.” A patchwork of local initiatives, rooted in churches but reaching far beyond them. It is, as Steve Reilly writes in the foreword, “a vision that is worth signing up for.”

Importantly, the Pearsons do not present a one-size-fits-all model. Each community will require different approaches, shaped by local context and resources. But the core principles remain: prayer, partnership, sustainability, and an unwavering focus on Jesus.

“Begin with prayer, make this a priority,” they urge.

They also call for practical action, putting children’s outreach on leadership agendas, allocating budget, exploring partnerships with other churches, and learning from existing initiatives.

Underlying it all is a sense of urgency, but also hope.

The booklet closes with reference to the renewed interest in Christianity, particularly among young people. Spiritual hunger has not disappeared; it has simply shifted. The question is whether the church is ready to respond.

Looking back, the impact of Sunday schools is undeniable. They shaped individuals, families, and communities. Looking forward, the Pearsons believe that vision can be “re-imagined, re-invented and reignited.”

The dream, then, is not new, but it is newly needed.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.