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[German Version] (WSSA), ultimately an outgrowth of the World Sunday School Conventions. After the London convention in 1889 (Sunday School: I), the first ecumenical gathering of the modern era, the WSSA was founded in Rome in ¶ 1907, with 1,118 delegates representing 37 countries and 52 denominations, who had assembled for this “speedy evangelization of the world,” understood in a postmillennial sense (Millenarianism: IV). In France (III, 1.j.β) the Protestants could be united under this banner, but Catholics and Orthodox were con…

[German Version] (Aug 3, 1807, Sandisfeld, MA – Oct 11, 1891, Brooklyn, NY). Brought up as a Presbyterian, Woodruff was strongly influenced by the Sunday school movement as a student, teacher, and functionary. To encourage the spread of Sunday Schools in Europe, he retired from his business and began missionary travels in 1862, coming to Germany in 1863/1864. Since he knew no German and did not understand the situation of the German churches, he relied on cooperation with Wilhelm Bröckelmann, a merchant. After initial difficulties with the ecclesiastic…

[German Version] I. Europe and America Traditionally school and worship have also served to hand on the tradition of the faith to children and to communicate values (Children’s church: I). In the 18th century, the philanthropic English system of charity schools pioneered the Sunday school. Initially, because of child labor, Sunday schools were charity schools held on Sundays (Thomas Stock and R. Raikes). What they taught was based primarily on the catechism and, to a lesser extent, the Bible, using th…