Sabbath School is a function of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that roughly parallels Sunday School in most other Protestant denominations.
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Program Context
Sabbath School usually begins around 9:30am (or 10:00am, especially in the United Kingdom) on Saturday mornings before the worship service starts. The Sabbath school service typically has two portions. The first portion begins with a song service, followed by a mission emphasis and a short talk. The second, and larger portion, is the lesson study. When Sabbath School draws to a close, people file back into the sanctuary and the worship service begins, usually at 11:00am. An interesting principle is that one doesn't have to be a baptized member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in order to attend and actively participate in Sabbath School. In fact, many people who are interested in the rich Bible discussions attend sabbath school without becoming members of the Adventist church. This is the reason the Sabbath School membership is often two to three times larger than that of the church membership.
Study Guides
Adult church members are provided with a Sabbath School Lesson study guide that is issued every quarter, known as the quarterly. Sabbath School quarterlies are Bible study guides that cover a specific topic or book of the bible every quarter. The quarterly is designed to be read during the week, so that during Sabbath School, the class members are ready to discuss questions and topics raised in that lesson in small groups. The Adult Sabbath School always has a heavy focus on the Bible. All Seventh-day Adventists around the world use the same Sabbath school quarterly, translated into the necessary languages (with few exceptions such as Germany, who cover the same topic with different material). The current editor of the Adult Sabbath School lessons is Clifford Goldstein. At the same time as the adult study, children attend classes aimed at their age group. Typical age group divisions are Beginner (infants), Kindergarten (K), Primary (Grades 1-3), Junior (Grades 4-6), Earliteen (Grades 7-8), and Youth (High School and University). Each age division has its own specific quarterly, which are titled by the class name up to Primary. Juniors and Earliteens often share the same quarterly entitled PowerPoints, although some Earliteen groups use a new separate publication entitled Real Time Faith. Youth use either Cornerstone Connections or Collegiate Quarterly (CQ). In some churches, the children receive a weekly magazine at the close of Sabbath school, which they can read quietly during the sermon. Kindergarten receives Our Little Friend, Primary receives Primary Treasure, Juniors and Earliteens receive Guide, and the Youth receive Insight. The most popular magazine tends to be Guide.
