Search This Blog

Monday, September 26, 2011

First Article Christians

A fellow editor at CPH, responding by e-mail to a customer, gave me a handle on the big short-coming of so many Sunday School curricula on the market these days, including some that are very popular even in LCMS churches.

These Sunday School materials dwell almost exclusively on "first article" theme: "God is good." "God cares for you." "God loves you."

Don't get me wrong! I confess the First Article of the Apostles' Creed just as loudly as I do the second and third. But as my colleague pointed out, the truths of the First Article are essentially natural knowledge about God, things we can know without having to even read the Scriptures, teachings that can be affirmed even by many non-Christians. Sunday School material that dwells exclusively on the First Article will miss entirely the saving nature of Christ and the blessings of life nurtured by Word and Sacraments.

I'm proud to be part of a team that publishes a Sunday School curriculum, Growing in Christ, and teaches the truths of the Second and Third Articles as well as the First, one where Christ is the center of each lesson, even those in the Old Testament, and where Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar are not avoided.

How was Jesus taught in your Sunday School classroom this past week?

Thanks for all you do to teach God's children His Word.

No comments:

Post a Comment