A Fatal Flaw

Let's assume that you have Sunday School classes in order to teach God's Word of love and grace to children in your church and community, Let's even assume that you recognize that your Lutheran church exists because it teaches a distinctively different understanding of how God comes to His people than other religions and most other Christian denominations.

Then would you choose material for your Lutheran Sunday School that was published for use in another denomination? Or material that deliberately avoids any mention of the Sacraments of Holy Baptism or the Lord's Supper in order to appeal broadly to church's of many denominations? Would you choose use, and recommend to others, material that failed to teach the things that makes the Lutheran faith Lutheran?

Do you see the fatal flaw in doing so? What we teach through the material we distribute to children and volunteer teachers in Sunday School directly impacts their understanding of God's Word. If we fail to teach a clear understanding of God's Law and Gospel, if we fail to teach about the Means of Grace, the ways in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to His people in our time, we may deprive a burdened soul of the sure knowledge of God's forgiveness in Christ.

It is for this reason that among the conditions for membership in The Lutheran Church---Missouri Synod, as set forth in the Handbook 2013, include, "Exclusive use of doctrinally pure agenda, hymnbooks, and catechisms in church and school." It is why all doctrinal material published by Concordia Publishing House is submitted to synod for doctrinal review. We want to teach nothing but God's Word of life.

God bless you richly as you teach that Word of God to His children!