It may surprise you to learn that the Sunday school actually began as “school” to the poor. This Sunday school mission began in England in the late 1700's. They were actual the Sunday schools that provided basic instruction to working people in the age from 6 to 60 on their day off.

Schools opened in the United States

By the 1790's there was several of the Sunday school opened in the United States. They were opened and operated from the prospective of filling a need in society for education and spiritually growth.

The Sunday school name

The First Day Society referred to the first day of the week, Sunday. In that time, most children did not go to any school. Most never did learn to read or write. Sunday was the universal day off in America. Therefore it would have to be a Sunday school and hence the name, Sunday school.

A network of the free Sunday school

For the next thirty years, the Sunday school were part of a network of free schools that provided basic education to children. The Sunday school emphasised on religious and moral instruction. The Sunday school run by the New York Free School Society, for example, combined daily academic instruction with Sunday attendance at the Sunday school.

Robert May

In 1811, Presbyterian missionary Robert May opened an evening Sunday school in Philadelphia teaching only religious doctrine. From this beginning Sunday school teaching became a means of spreading Christianity. By 1820, the Sunday school became several hundred in the United States. The Sunday school instructed Christianity instead of reading and writing. Many Sunday school organizers began lobbying to get a system of free daily schools, so that they would be free to teach religion in the Sunday school alone on Sundays.

The Sunday school was teaching basic Christian doctrine

The Sunday school focused on teaching basic Christian doctrine to children of the un-churched poor. The Bible became the text. In 1803 the churches adopted the Sunday school institution. At this time it was decided that the Sunday school literature should be created. Because of these two goals the Sunday school Union was founded. The first lesson that was produced for the Sunday school was called, "A select list of scripture for a course of reading in the Sunday school.