Kuwait Mar Thoma Sunday School
Kuwait Parish, P.O. Box: 20130, Safat, Kuwait

"Train up a child in the way he should go: 
and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22: 6

Summary Report presented by Secretary on World Sunday School Day (2-Nov-98)

Respected Achens, Dear Parents and Loving Children:
The world Sunday school day is celebrated on Nov-1st every year around the world. Today, we celebrate this special day in our parish. In this context, I would like to briefly present you a report about the activities of the Kuwait Mar Thoma Sunday school.

Sunday School provides a strong foundation of a Christian life for majority of us. Attending the Sunday school class has influenced the lives of Christians for generations. In the case of a majority of the members of the Mar Thoma church, knowledge about the Bible was first received from the Sunday School Class we had attended during our younger days. The love for the word of GOD was first imparted through the Bible stories we heard in the Sunday School, when we were children. Sunday School is very important in our lives.

In Kuwait, it is mainly the Sunday School that is responsible for the spiritual molding of the children of our parish other than the parents. This responsibility is well understood by the Sunday School teachers over the years. With the blessings of the almighty Lord, we sincerely try to use all our God-given abilities and resources, to make the Sunday school class study very effective for each child attending the Sunday School.
The theme of our Sunday school call is "Come to Jesus and to bring every child to Jesus". We do strive to project the life of Jesus Christ as an ideal role model for each of us to follow and emphasize the fact that it is in Almighty God that all of us should trust and depend on, all through our lives. We try to impart to each child the importance of being a good witness for Jesus wherever they are. We praise the lord as our students are fulfilling that call in various parts of the world.

At present, the Kuwait Mar Thoma Sunday school have about 1200 children. Classes are conducted regularly on every Friday from 3.45pm to 5.15pm at Church hall, Parish hall and Diwania, under the efficient guidance of 72 dedicated teachers. A typical session of the Sunday school consists of 45 Minutes of general devotion, which includes a worship service, lesson reading, singing session, birthday offertory service, and prayer followed by another 45 minutes of specific Bible study in small groups. The classes were held in 75 groups in and around the church with an average 12 to 15 students attending in each class. 20 classes were held every year completing 15 lessons selected from the Mar Thoma Sunday School Samajam syllabus. Annual examinations were conducted in December based on the 15 lessons taught in the classes.
Other than the regular classes, various programmes are co-ordinated based on the special needs of our children living in this turbulent society. The sophistication in the lives of our children often expose them to the evils of our society. Our children cannot avoid them tomorrow, if not today. As a Sunday school, we teach our children to face the realities of life from a Christian perspective. We try to equip them with authentic Christian virtues and beliefs of our church, through a variety of means such as Songs, Bible study, conferences and meetings to face circumstances that needs mature thinking and spiritual guidance. Our Sunday school aims for the total development of every child and programs are arranged accordingly.
Let me present you the typical Programmes of the Sunday School in the order they are organized in a year

1. Anniversary: The Sunday school usually celebrates its anniversary during the first week of February. Prizes and merit certificates were presented to all those who performed well in the Annual exam and other competitions. About 50% of the students are given at least one prize every year. Immediately after the anniversary, the new academic year will begin.
2. Preparatory Session for Board Exam Students: Special board exam preparatory sessions for the students studying in 10th and 12th standards were organised by the Sunday School in February. Leading teachers from various Indian schools, were invited to provide guidance to our children for effectively preparing for their final examination.
3. Farewell Meeting for Out-going Students: Nearly 50 senior students will leave the Sunday school every year. The Sunday school organises a farewell evening for these out-going students in February and specially designed mementoes are presented to these out-going students during this meeting. Further, the Sunday school will provide a course completion certificate for all those who complete the 14 years of Sunday school study upon request.
4. Welcome to New Students: The new students who joined the Sunday school in Infants class are warmly welcomed during the first Sunday school day, every year in February.
5. Prayer Meeting for the students writing the Board Exam: The Sunday school arranges two prayer meetings for the students who are appearing for the board exam at Salmiya and Abbassiya in March every year. Students facing their board examinations in 10th and 12th are given special advises by our Achens and special prayers are offered during this session. Further, the teachers also try to visit the residences of the students who are writing their Board examination to pray for them.
6. Dedication Service for New School-going Students: Sunday School leads a special dedication service every year in April for the new school going children and for all the students of our parish as they commence the new academic year.
7. Junior Conference: A one-day conference is organised by the Sunday school in May, every year for the students under the age of 12 years. The junior children of our Sunday school actively participated in this conference every year and most of them still cherish the memories of that day.
8. Vacation Bible School: The Sunday school will remain closed for summer vacation for 3 months from June every year. During this time the Vacation Bible school will be organised. This year, the Vacation Bible School was conducted continuously for two weeks jointly by the Mar Thoma Sunday school and CSI Sunday school. Efficient leaders were identified and brought to Kuwait to provide the leadership for the VBS. Nearly 500 children from our parish and the Ahamadi parish attended the Vacation Bible School and its encouraging to note that the students highly benefited by the vibrant and able leadership of Rev. Abraham Scariah, who came from Germany.
9. Teens Meet: The Sunday school also tries to organise special one-day camp for our teenagers under the leadership of the VBS leader. The students are given teenage counselling on a variety of topics which are not addressed in a traditional Sunday school class.
10. Picnic: The Sunday school try to organise a students' picnic every year in October at suitable locations. The picnic for this year was conducted on last Friday at the Abbassiya Touristic Enterprises Garden.
11. Senior Conference: A four-day conference for the students of senior classes was organised this year under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Ipe Joseph, Sec. of National Council of Churches in India and the former Gen. Sec of Mar Thoma Samajam, with the theme God?s Call. About 200 senior students attended this conference. Most of the issues faced by our teenagers were addressed in this 4-day camp which was found to be very effective for the senior students of our Sunday school. Further, students and parents were given separate career guidance during this conference. The outcome of the conference was very encouraging and the idea of conducting the conference for 4 days was well received by the students and the participants encouraged us to conduct such meetings every year.
12. Note Collection Day: Note collection day is observed on first week of November. This is the only collection taken by the Sunday school for the Samajam and the money thus collected will be send to the Samajam office.
13. Witnessing Day: The Sunday school observes this very important day on the second Friday of November every year. Currently 17 students of our Sunday school have dedicated themselves for the full time service of our Lord. Nearly 75 children publicly witness Jesus Christ as their personal saviour during these days. We request all of you to keep them in your daily prayers so that they will not backslide from their commitment and be the ambassadors of our Parish in the near future elsewhere in the Mar Thoma Sabha.
14. World Sunday School Day: World Sunday School day is observed every year in November during the church worship service using the specially prepared order of worship provided by the Sunday School Samajam.
15. Christmas Program: Every year, the Sunday school organises a Christmas Carol service in December for the students. The students will be divided into 6 groups according to their age and each group is given an opportunity to present their program for the parents and members of our parish.
16. Medical Class : The Sunday School also organises medical class for the children of 14 to 16 years of age from time to time. Well qualified doctors of our parish are invited to provide effective classes on various topics such as Anatomy & Physiology, body abuse, substance abuse, health and hygiene etc. 180 children including children from other Christian denominations as well as other religious groups also tend to attended these classes.
17. English Worship & Holy communion services: Due to the space and time limitations, children attending the regular church service in Kuwait is often low. Hence, the Sunday school attempt to conduct holy-communion service during the Sunday school time itself at the Church and parish hall. In this year, two such English Holy Communion services were held by Rev. George Varghese and Rev. Dr. Ipe Joseph. Further, all through the year, the Sunday school participate and assist the parish in organising the English worship and holy-communion services in the church.
18. Teachers programs: In addition, the Sunday school organise programmes for teachers such as (a) Annual teacher's retreat (b) teachers dedication services in the beginning of an academic year (c) Study classes etc. Further, about 10 official and informal prayer meetings are held to decide on the various activities of our Sunday school for the whole year. It should be noted that the dedication and commitments of our teachers are unique and may the God Almighty bless them abundantly.

And with this request, Let me conclude this report. Thank You.

Alex P. Alex