Elder Harold G. Hillam of the Presidency of the Seventy was a lad of 14 when the Church celebrated the centennial of the Sunday School 50 years ago, but he remembers it well.
Such remembrance of a legacy has been on the mind of Elder Hillam, Sunday School general president, as the Church prepares to observe the sesquicentennial of the Sunday School this year.
"Any time we have a celebration like the jubilee [in 1899], the centennial [in 1949], and now the sesquicentennial, it's an opportunity for us to look back and to see what we have done and to realize our progress," he said. "It's an opportunity to look toward the future.
"There has been marvelous growth in the Church. Gospel understanding and curriculum have become more perfected. We're turning more to the scriptures. One might ask, what will we be doing 50 years from now?
"What we are emphasizing during this sesquicentennial celebration is gospel scholarship and excellence in teaching."
Plans are yet to be completed and announced for observance of the sesquicentennial this year. But they highlight the continuous legacy of Sunday School.
Though the first LDS Sunday School, founded by Richard Ballantyne in 1849, was directed toward children and fulfilled a role similar to what the Primary does today, there is still a bond between then and now, Elder Hillam said. The early Sunday School organization had a lasting impact in the formalization of organization, classes and curricula. Indeed, in the early days, Sunday School "missionaries" were sent out for that purpose.
As for ways in which stake and ward Sunday School organizations might appropriately observe the sesquicentennial, Elder Hillam said: "We'd leave that up to them. In the 1899 jubilee, they were encouraged to have their own celebrations. There were songs that were written, they had ribbons and banners and sashes of all kinds. It was appropriate for that period of time. I think if we were to say what we would recommend so far as celebrating the sesquicentennial, it would be for all to rededicate themselves to being excellent teachers and even better students, to understand that Sunday School is not going away, that it is one of the teaching arms of the Church."
