The Most Unusual Sunday School Class in Town

The little flyer is yellowed and brittle with age, but its boast is still visible: “The Most Unusual Sunday School Class in Town is the Homemakers Class of Central Assembly.”

Founded by early AG leaders J. Roswell and Alice Reynolds Flower in 1937 at Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri, the Homemakers Class aimed to teach young couples how to raise healthy, Christ-like families. Themselves having six children, all of whom followed Christ and functioned as pastors, missionaries and national and district AG officials, the Flowers were well-versed on the topic of Christian homebuilding.

J. Roswell was among the leaders of the famed 1914 meetings in Hot Springs, Arkansas, from which the Assemblies of God was birthed, and served as the fellowship’s first general secretary and as the first director of AG World Missions (AGWM). His wife Alice stood alongside him, preaching, teaching, and writing. Known to many as “Mother Flower,” she carried the class on even after her husband’s death in 1970, teaching the Homemakers Class for over 50 years.

Today, nearly nine decades later, the class — now titled the SALT (Seasoned Adults Learning Together) Class — still exists. David K. Ringer, husband of the Flowers’ granddaughter Kathryn, leads the group.

Heritage and Health

When Alice Flower no longer could teach, leadership of the class passed to her oldest son, Joseph, who pastored and served as AG general secretary. As Joseph’s health declined, Kathryn’s father David W. Flower, J. Roswell and Alice’s youngest child, then stepped into leadership. At that point the class name was changed from the Homemakers’ Class to the Maranatha Class.

Ringer, a professor of over 40 years with a wealth of knowledge and experience, wrote his doctoral project on the character and ministry of J. Roswell Flower. He came alongside his father-in-law and the duo taught the class jointly as Flower’s health began to fail.

Around 2015, Jeff Peterson, who was lead pastor of Central Assembly at the time, suggested a merger between the Maranatha Class and the Challengers Class, which had long been led by Charles Harris, a renowned biblical scholar and long-time professor at Central Bible College (now Evangel University) in Springfield, Missouri.

Initially, both Flower and Harris felt such a merger was neither timely nor beneficial. Yet as both men continued to struggle in health, Ringer was asked to help teach both classes, which met in the same classroom, one at 9:00 and the other at 10:15 each Sunday morning.

“The Holy Spirit began to deal with everyone at that point,” Ringer says. “I knew Dad Flower had two goals for the class: to encourage and build up faith in and love for Jesus, and to do so by imparting knowledge of the Bible. He never tired of teaching the Bible and there was always quite an amazing sense of life to his teaching.”

As talks of a merger continued, it became clear that both classes shared these goals. Ringer says that the next big question then became whether the members of the two groups could love one another, accepting and welcoming each other.

He says, “As we began to talk about it more, it became evident that yes, we could. This was important, as these things don’t just depend on whether leaders want it. They depend on whether the people want it.”

Additionally, both Flower and Harris were concerned that Ringer be a correct match to lead the new venture. They listened to him and talked with him carefully, wanting to entrust the group into the correct hands. It did not take long for them to feel confident with his leadership, and in 2016, the Maranatha Class merged with Challengers Class, forming the SALT Class. The name was formulated by Kathryn Ringer and Harris’ daughter Alice.

Ringer humorously recalls that on the first Sunday, everyone “sat where they normally sat, unless someone else was sitting there.” In the years since, Ringer says it has been a joy to watch love develop within the newly structured SALT Class.

A Simple Goal

The Ringers pray daily for class members, working hard to foster ongoing community within the group. They also continue Flower’s lifelong burden for missions, leading the class in contributing to AGWM and AG U.S. Missions missionaries.

Kathryn stands with her husband in his leadership, serving as the class hostess alongside Alice Harris, who also serves as class secretary.

Kathryn says, “When my grandparents founded the Homemakers Class, it was meant to teach men and women how to build strong Christian families. I remember visiting the class while I was in college in the 1970s. Though it has evolved with time, and we have aged, we are still learning the Bible. That never gets old. We may have aches and pains or look different in the face, but we are learning the Word.”

Class member Nancy Savage began attending the group with her late husband John — a U.S. Air Force veteran and pilot for the Assemblies of God — in its original days with “Mother Flower” as their teacher. Nancy is the last present member of the class who began to attend under its original leadership.

Jimmie Ruth Headley, who with her late husband Lamar served as AGWM missionaries and the first directors of AGWM International Ministries also attends. She remembers feeling as though when they moved to Springfield, she and Lamar were leaving the best Sunday School teacher they’d ever had behind at a previous church. They eventually came under Harris’ excellent teaching, and then Ringer’s. She says, “I told my husband, ‘You know what? We are not missing a thing. David (Ringer) is one of the best.’”

Ringer, now 82, says that in the past, he tried to forecast what the future of the SALT Class might look like. “I tried, but I was wrong,” he says. “So, our vision for the future is simple: to nourish each other. We don’t know what the Lord has for us, so let the class nourish us no matter what comes.”