That’s because it means “Big Friendly Giant(s).”
A perfect description for at least 3 of those Sunday School classes.
I worked in an EFCA church right out of college and “ABF’s” were a big deal. If memory serves they were a movement within churches to have intergenerational Sunday School classes that were something of a hybrid between small groups and Sunday School. More than a class, but not quite a full-on small group.
We call it Adult Bible Class.
I’ve seen it called Sabbath School. Sounds strange to my ears.
To another generation, it means a really big gun,
File this under “Things I never expected to see on this forum.”
But yeah, that’s my generation.
How about names for small group?
I’ve heard Shepherding Group. My churches use Home Fellowship Group. Both convey their churches’ respective intentions.
I like intentional names. But HFG is a mouthful, and we almost universally refer to it as small group. Still, there’s benefit to having a descriptive (even prescriptive?) name in the bulletin, on the website, etc. It helps set expectations.
You-all with different names for Sunday School, what do you call it in casual conversation?
Our church uses the term “Training Hour” but I usually end up saying “Sunday School” (I am old lol) and everybody knows what I am talking about…
Our church started home fellowship groups for the first time this fall, and we had a lot of discussion about what to call them. To make things more confusing, they’ve used the term “small groups” for a long time to refer to smaller adult Bible study groups that meet at the church on Sunday nights. We finally settled on “home groups” because it wasn’t as big a mouthful as HFGs, but still descriptive.
How 'bout “cell group” and “cell mates?”
Now is a good time to stock up on books on how the Chinese church does things.
Training Hour?
Xxxxxxxx
I just go, regardless. Cheers!
Our church has “connecting groups” or “CG’s” for short. I was joking with some friends from our old church that we call them that because “small groups” sounds too Boomer.
We have Parish Discipleship Groups (or just Parish Groups), because that’s technically how they’re organized (though you can go to any one regardless bof which parish you’re in), and they’re overseen by parish elders (which is how they organize elder oversight—geographically). I’ve been in two previous churches that called them Covenant Groups.
Sabbath School is what the Adventists call their Saturday version.
Training Union used to be a Southern Baptist thing, and a quick search says other Baptist denoms also used or still use it, but it was a separate thing from Sunday School…just before my time, so I’m not sure what the difference was.
We call it Adult Sunday School. Honestly, I’m not sure why there’s a need to call it something different, as Sunday School is a good description of what is taking place, and most people know what is meant by the name.