Send It Home!

A recent Sunday School product survey here at CPH has suggested that the family connections built into our student leaflets may be the components of the material least valued by teachers. The response rate on the survey was rather low; the data is not statistically reliable. But the message is troubling.

Are we guilty of paying lip service to the notion that parents are the primary sources of faith nurture for their children? We know that is God's plan. Surely we must do all we can to support and encourage faith formation in the home, throughout the week, even as we also encourage families to avail themselves of Christian education and Sunday School.

On one hand, I can imagine some of the reasoning behind the low scores some teachers give the family connection components. They are not intended for use in class. They take up space in the leaflet that could be devoted to in-class activities. The students often don't even take the leaflet with them when they leave the classroom. It could be perceived as a waste.

Instead, I might suggest that we re-think our strategy. If we value our partnership with the home in faith formation, we might:

• Encourage students to take the leaflets home.
• Point out the activities the student could show their parents or even do with their parents at home.
• Mention the Bible account summaries and family devotion suggestions to the parents in conversation at the classroom door, or in e-mail updates to the parents. Challenge them to look for these things in the leaflet their child brings home.

Finally, I would encourage Sunday School teachers and directors to make full use of two key resources as you partner with parents.

The first are the Explore More Cards feature the biblical art for each lesson along with 4 or 5 activities or discussion questions that families can use in the car or during family devotions to review and explore the Bible account more fully. Some congregations use these cards as incentives to encourage attendance. They are listed in the Cross Explorations section of our Sunday School order form, but are designed for work equally well with Growing in Christ.

The second resource are the weekly "bulletin notes" available on the Director CD (GiC), in the Director Handbook (CE), or in the Tools section of our Sunday School Web site (cph.org/SundaySchool). Many congregations already print these paragraphs in the church bulletin, but they can also e-mailed to parents before each Sunday as a way of encouraging attendance or after each lesson as a reminder to review and discuss the lesson with the students.

God bless you as you equip parents to teach His children His Word!