A volunteer in the Anglican Church has been awarded a Guinness World record after being recognized as ‘the world’s longest serving Sunday School teacher’ at the same institution.
Pam Knowles, 87, set a Guinness World Record in early 2025 after organizing her 74th Christmas nativity at St Anne’s church in Aigburth, Liverpool, something she’d done as a volunteer Sunday school teacher at the same church since 1951- the same year Winston Churchill was reelected. Now she’s preparing her 75th.
She told the Episcopal News Service:
“I first started going to St. Anne’s as a child with my parents, and when I turned 13, I was asked by the superintendent at the church to help at the Sunday School. Back then, the Diocese of Liverpool set a test before allowing you to run a children’s group, and with the help of my friend I passed this.
“Over the years, the format of the Sunday School hasn’t really changed – we offer play, craft, songs and Bible stories for 3-7 year-olds. Each generation has enjoyed the same format and Bible stories. Favorites have been the birth of Jesus, Jonah and the whale, and the garden of Eden. I think little children can relate to these stories, and they often bring their own innocent take on the Bible, which is just wonderful.
She added:
“At the moment, I don’t intend to stop doing this. I still have a lot of energy, and I’m just as enthusiastic about it now as when I started!”
