What is the difference between Children's Sunday and Children's Sabbath?

Many United Methodist congregations observe both Children’s Sunday and Children’s Sabbath. Both observances have value for congregations and the children in them, but their origins, timing, and purposes are quite different.

Children’s Sunday is a product of the Sunday School Movement in American Protestant congregations. It appears to have evolved from what may have been several Sundays in the year when children would be invited to provide the leadership for the weekly Sunday School assembly. On these days, while adults coordinated the assembly, children might lead an opening responsive reading, announce the theme of the day, lead in singing, offer a brief message or object lesson on the theme, and lead prayers before dismissal to the various Sunday School classes.

Inspired by the Sunday School assemblies, the practice migrated to the worship service in many Protestant denominations by the mid-twentieth century, most typically once a year. Children might be asked to serve as ushers, to lead a responsive call to worship, the confession of faith, and one or more prayers, as well as read scripture and serve as the choir for the morning.

Some churches combined a Children’s Sunday with the observance of a Bible Presentation Sunday, a separate event in the earlier Sunday School assemblies in which third graders were presented their own Bible by the local church.

United Methodists have no official date for observing a Children’s Sunday or Bible Presentation Sunday. Each congregation may decide whether, how, and when to observe these practices.  

Children’s Sabbath has a different origin and purpose. It was developed by the Children’s Defense Fund to celebrate the voices of children and to give attention to advocacy work and advocacy needs for the welfare of children. Children’s Defense Fund provides a variety of resources to help congregations of all faith traditions and the children in them create a whole weekend of events for education, awareness-raising, worship, fellowship and community building to engage the congregation in solidarity with the children of their congregations, communities, and the nation. While the Children’s Defense Fund recommends this be observed the weekend in October (third Sunday for Christians), the 2008 General Conference endorsed observing it on the second Sunday to avoid conflicting with Laity Sunday on the third Sunday.