I had occasion at least twice this month to defend the use of full-color printed material in our Sunday School curricula at Concordia Publishing House. It seems that some churches, maybe many churches, are looking for materials for Sunday School that are completely reproducible locally on the church's copier or the teacher's home computer printer.
The Logic
From one perspective, this seems to be an attractive alternative. The publisher provides everything in one book or on one CD. The teacher makes only as many copies that he or she thinks will be needed that week (and, I guess, runs back to the copier if one extra student shows up). The church saves money, because they don't have to buy extra student material that they might not need.
The Reality
The publisher has to increase the price of the book or CD, because most of the cost of developing the material (thinking, writing, editing, producing, and even printing) still exists even for the black and white book pages or digital files on the CD. The church pays the office supply store for the student pages (paper and toner) instead of the publisher. The teacher makes a couple of extra copies, just in case, and still has extras, resulting in more cost not less (but not directly to the Sunday School budget line, I suppose).
And the students miss out: no full-color, realistic Bible art; no full-color activity pages; no stickers; no full-color posters.
The Question
Am I the only one who cares?
Would teachers, parents, students, and church leaders rather just have a mono-chrome curriculum?
Isn't this a matter of priorities for the congregation? How much is Christian education worth?
Is the educational contribution provided by full-color materials not worth the investment?
How much does color help you as you teach God's children His Word?
Color does matter! For the past two years, my school has been using "create your own" religion curriculum. Sad, but true. Now, we're using the new CPH series, and the color element is definately appealing! The artistic element engages the students. We see enough black and white. Stickers and color are part of helps make Sunday School lessons truly shine the light on the Gospel! Well written, Tom!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the affirmation, Kristen. "Do it yourself" curriculum makes me nervous for more reasons than just black and white printing, though.
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