How Does Video Fit?

It seems more and more that video is an integral part of the Sunday School experience in some churches. What can video do?

• It can tell the Bible story or part of the story.
• It can introduce a concept.
• It can provoke critical thinking.
• It can prompt discussion.
• It can illustrate life application.
• It can explain content.

It seems there would be some obvious rules guiding the use of video in Sunday School.

• It should present Scripture accurately.
• It should support clear teaching of Law and Gospel.
• It should assist the teaching role, not replace it.
• It should be integrated into the lesson through introduction and follow-up discussion. 
• It does not need to be long; usually 2 or 3 minutes is enough.
• It should not be used merely to entertain.

Our current Sunday School materials are supported in the middle school and high school levels by carefully selected, brief video clips. You can find them on the Concordia Publishing House channel on YouTube, or you can access easily through our Sunday School website (browse to cph.org/sundayschool, click "Tools," and scroll down to "Middle/High School Videos"; they are arranged by Old Testament units). And it is likely that video will be a component of the next generation of Sunday School material from CPH.

How do you use video in your Sunday School?

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Who Is My Neighbor?

Luke 10:25-37 is one of the most compelling of Jesus' parables, and one of the most difficult it seems for Sunday School teachers and Christian educators to "get right." At the heart of the difficulty lies one of the central doctrines of Lutheranism, the correct distinction between Law and Gospel.

In its biblical context, this account is all Law.  A "lawyer," that is a Jew who was well-versed in the Jewish religious regulations, wants to test Jesus, and asks a law-based question: "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" We are quick to condemn the priest and the Levite for their failure to do what is right for the beaten man. And we marvel at the loving actions of the despised foreigner who is willing to do the right thing. Then, God forbid, we are tempted to teach our Sunday Schools students to go and do likewise.

Dividing Law and Gospel is all about who is doing the work. We see clearly that the lawyer is looking to the Law for his salvation. "What shall I do"---and later, "desiring to justify himself"---these are Law questions. And Jesus' responds to the lawyer with Law answers: "Do this, and you will live"; "Go, and do likewise."

But Jesus is not teaching salvation by works here. He is making it clear that those who seek to justify themselves by their works are setting themselves up for failure. If salvation is a matter of loving one's neighbor as much you love yourself, and if everyone is your neighbor, you're sunk.

Jesus also gives us the opportunity to see a beautiful Gospel truth in this passage. The lawyer asks, in essence, "Who must I be a neighbor to? Who must I love? Who must I show mercy to?" After telling the familiar story, Jesus asks a very different question: "Who proved to be a neighbor? Who is your neighbor? Who loves you? Who has shown mercy to you?"

There is the Gospel! It's not about what we do! It is about what Jesus has done! He was despised by men in our place; He paid the price for our healing and care.

Go and do likewise? Yes! But before we can be the good Samaritan, we must see ourselves as the man who fell among robbers, the one who needs and receives mercy that we do not deserve, cannot earn or repay. Before we are neighbors to those around us, we are neighbors with Jesus.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Lutheran Veneer?

I regularly hear educators, who I would think might know better, talk about Lutheran doctrine as a veneer, a coating that can somehow be applied to material that would otherwise be objectionable in terms of theological content to make it Lutheran. Does that work? Or does that merely disguise heresy?

My first supervisor in the editorial business, Rev. Dr. Earl Gaulke, once asked me how much I would want to dilute a poisonous substance before I would be willing to ingest it. Would coating it with chocolate be good enough? Of course not! If I knew it was poison, I would discard it and start fresh, right?

The key teachings of Lutheran doctrine are fundamentally different than those of other major Christian education publishers. They refuse to teach about the Sacraments, which are chief among our Means of Grace, because not enough customers want to buy that kind of material. They fail to correctly discern and teach Law and Gospel. They confuse good works and works righteousness.

Yes, there are attractive features in many non-Lutheran materials. ("So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:6) But sadly, applying a Lutheran veneer is not enough.

God strengthen you to teach His children His Word!

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!

Is Lent Law?

On the face of it, Lent strikes us as Law.

"Unless you repent, you will all . . . perish." (Luke 13:3)

And what does it mean to repent? First, that that we confess our sinfulness. Second, that we believe in the work of Christ to pay for our sins. And third, that we turn from our sin to lead a godly life.

More Law? No. All three parts of repentance (confession, faith, and godly living) are God at work in us by His grace. God works in us the desire to confess, else we would not recognize our sin. God works faith in us through His Word, else we would trust only in ourselves. God works in us to will and to do that which pleases Him.

Lent is a somber season, for it forces us to see clearly that our sinfulness required Jesus' sacrifice. But, Lent is also a vivid revelation of God's love and grace. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

God bless you as you share His Lenten love with His children through His Word!

Ashes, Dust, and the Gospel

We started Lent Wednesday evening with the Divine Service preceded by imposition of ashes and the solemn reminder, "Remember you are dust and to dust you will return." It is a helpful reminder of our mortality and our sinful nature. It is Law.

The essence of excellent Lutheran education is a right teaching of Law and Gospel. At times, I suspect we may fail to get the right balance (letting the Gospel predominate) or the right order (Law followed always by Gospel). It is a failing from which humorist Garrison Keillor has often drawn his material, such as this verse from his poem Habañera.

Well, if you’re shy and from the Midwest

And grow up Lutheran, it’s always Lent

He wanted music, laughter and music

But guilt was his mother’s favorite instrument

I would desire that we make the Gospel, rather than the Law, our ultimate goal even during Lent. Let each lesson we teach in this solemn season "show us our sin," yes (Law), but also "show us our Savior" (Gospel).

May God bless you this Lent as you teach His children His Word!

 

My Car Won't Run! It Must Need New Paint!

Or I could address the real problem. My car may deserve to have its paint job touched up, but a new coat of paint is not going to help it run. Since my car has a specific purpose, which is providing transportation not decoration, I would be better off spending my time and money identifying and fixing the issues that keeps it from running.

"Our Sunday School is losing ground. We must need a new curriculum." Or you could address the real problem. Too many churches would rather focus on stuff that is visible, tangible, and seems easily remedied, than to do the hard work---train the volunteers, educate the parents, fund the mission. Contacting families who are finding other things to do on Sunday morning, building relationships with parents so that your spiritual encouragement does not fall on deaf ears, convincing church council members that Sunday School is worth allocating budgeted funds for. These are not easy tasks. They will require patient effort over a period of weeks, months, and years to accomplish.

But the mission of your Sunday School, to share the Gospel with the children and adults of your church and community, is truly worth the effort. And how much more beneficial it will be in the long run if you focus on finding and fixing the real issues behind low Sunday School attendance.

Unless, of course, your curriculum truly is the problem---the real reason (not the excuse) that families are not attending. If your curriculum fails to teach God's Word of both Law and Gospel, if it ignores the Sacraments God has provided for our spiritual nurture, if it seeks to entertain rather than instruct, perhaps it is time for a new coat of paint.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Teaching Values?

A local radio station plays a set of ad spots for a foundation that promotes "values" (compassion, friendship, overcoming, soul); in the ads we are encouraged to "pass it on." As I listen on my daily commute, I am moved to wonder how those who sponsor the ads and those who hear them imagine that we are able to pass on these values.

We know, of course, that it is possible to coerce actions that are in accord with God's Law, acts that demonstrate "values," though threats or external rewards. While such forced holiness is of some benefit to our neighbor, they are not good works since they are not the fruit of faith. Such works are flawed by resentment against the authority that requires them or selfish motives; they may lead to rebellion or self-righteousness.

Good works are those that God works in us as a joyful response to the Gospel. They are not generated by threat or reward, but by the proclamation of the Good News of God's love for us in Christ. They are truly fruit of the Spirit. They result from teaching God's children His Word.

Thanks for teaching God's children His Word!

Three Simple Things

I'm a pretty old-fashioned guy. I like calling Sunday School "Sunday School." I think it's not a bad idea for students to gather once a week for age-appropriate Bible study with their same-aged peers. I like Sunday School material with realistic biblical art, not cartoons. And I'm okay with lessons that are fairly traditional. I think every lesson should teach about Jesus with clear Law and Gospel.

But as I look at Sunday School lessons these days, I find myself looking for three simple things (in addition to great Lutheran theology).

• an activity that gets the students up out of their seats.
• an activity that gets the students talking to one another.
• an activity that lets the students express their faith in words or actions.

It's not rocket science. Activities like these will improve student attitudes and behavior. They will grow as God's children.

What do you look for in the lessons you teach?

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Do You Want a Better Sunday School?

There are no shortcuts. Whether you have a large congregation or a small one, having a good Sunday School is hard work. The payoff, of course, is worth it . . . bringing children to Jesus through His Word.

Sunday School is not about

• fun
• entertainment
• the latest material
• going easy on the church budget

Sunday School is about

• seeing Jesus
• teaching Law and Gospel
• building relationships
• partnering with parents

Here are five steps toward a better Sunday School:

1. Talk with your pastor. Invite him to encourage families to participate in Sunday from the pulpit, regularly.
2. Make a list of children who are not attending Sunday School.
3. Get to know those families yourself.
4. Find bridge families, people you know who know some who do not yet attend. Encourage them to support marginal families in their church connections.
5. Send sample Sunday School materials to families who are not attending Sunday School or who attend infrequently. Encourage them to use the materials at home and remind them that there is a place for them in Sunday School each week.

God bless you as you teach His children His word!

The Gospel

"Do this and live," the Law commands,
     but gives me neither feet nor hands.
A better way His grace now brings:
     it bids me fly---and gives me wings!
(John Fisher, 1974, from "The New Covenant")

God bless you as you give wings to His children!

Looking Ahead to the Fall Quarter of Sunday School

The lessons in the coming quarter of Concordia's Sunday School materials take us back to the very beginning of the Old Testament—the creation of the world, the fall into sin, the formation of a nation through whom God planned to send a Savior.

Of the 150 Bible accounts we study every three years or so, more than 50 are from the Old Testament. Why? Because it’s there where we find explanations of how we came to be, why we need to hear the Law, why we need also the sweet words of the Gospel. Whether taking us through the narrative history of God’s plan for salvation or giving us pictures (theologians call them types) that foreshadow the coming Savior, each Sunday School lesson we study in the Old Testament points us toward the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.

There are many good reasons to use Concordia Publishing House materials. Whether you use Growing in Christ or Cross Explorations, you’re getting lessons that balance Law and Gospel and, most important, focus on Christ as our Savior.

God bless you as you teach God’s children His Word!

Why Teach the Old Testament?

More than a third of the lessons in our current scope and sequence for Sunday School at Concordia Publishing House teach accounts from the Old Testament, four out of every ten fall, winter, and spring quarters and a generous portion of our summer quarters as well. Why?

• These lessons answer unique questions not addressed in the New Testament. How did the world and human beings begin? Why is there sin and trouble in the world? How did God prepare the world for the coming Savior?
• These lessons show the depth of God's love and concern for His people. They show His providence for both the spiritual needs of all people, and for their physical needs as well. (God provided food for a widow and her son through Elijah. He also provided food for "all the earth" [Genesis 41:57 ESV].) 
• These lessons shares God's forgiveness.
• These lessons demonstrates God's love for all nations. (Yes, Jonah, that includes Nineveh!)
• These lessons reveal Christ. He is revealed in the first Passover lamb and the blood painted on the door frames. He is revealed in the ram caught in the thicket. He is revealed in the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole for the healing of Israel.

The Old Testament lessons are divided among our four fall quarters, which means they are taught every four years. (Most of our New Testament lessons are repeated at least every three years.) This repetition allows the Bible accounts to be reviewed and taught anew in a depth appropriate to each student's age and development stage, contributing to the student's overall biblical literacy.

This fall the cycle begins anew, with lessons coming from the first 28 chapters of Genesis.

God bless you as you teach His children His Old Testament Word!

Theology Matters (Reprise)

Curriculum choice cannot be just a matter of which publisher promises the least amount of preparation time, the flashiest promotion material, the coolest gadgets, or the lowest price. If you choose material based on prep time, printing, gadgets, or cost, you may miss the essential purpose of Christian education.
 
The goal of a Lutheran Sunday School is not to entertain the children or go easy on the budget. It is to share the truth of God's Word through balanced teaching of Law and Gospel. We want to proclaim forgiveness of sins, new life, and salvation through Jesus Christ every week. If we want a curriculum that gets the job done, theology matters.

When Did You Decide to Follow Jesus?

An interesting quotation in a Sunday School curriculum publisher's promotional e-mail this morning, highlighting their "Gospel-centered" material: "Nearly 80 percent of people in our churches today decided to follow Jesus before age 18. Of that group, 50 percent decided to follow Jesus before age 12."

The e-mail then proceeded to quote Matthew 19:14: “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

There are so many troubling aspects in this for me that it is hard to know where to begin. I'm going to let that simmer for a bit and come back to it in a future post.

Let me instead focus on the real occasion for joy that is reflected in the statistics cited, assuming they are accurate. Eighty percent of parents in these churches are apparently bringing their children to Jesus! Eighty percent of children in these churches are apparently hearing the Gospel! Eighty percent of these congregations seem to be doing a credible job of teaching God's children His Word!

You and I know that a so-called "decision for Christ" can only be the result of Gospel shared, of the Holy Spirit's calling and enlightening. We know that our ability to follow Jesus results only from His power at work in us through Word and Sacraments. To the extent that some people focus on the human actions of "deciding" and "following," they miss the point. The Gospel is not about our actions, our decisions, our choosing, our following, for I "cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him" (Luther's Small Catechism, CPH 1986).

Thank You, God, for Your actions: sacrificing Your Son, forgiving our sins, calling us through the Word, Jesus and the Holy Scriptures, to be Your own. Bless those bring little children to Jesus in Sunday School each week; bless those who teach and those who learn. Amen.

God at Work: Changing Lives by Teaching Law and Gospel

(Following up on my last post, check out this new resource from Concordia Publishing House. TN)

YOU can change lives by teaching Law and Gospel!

This collection of 34 articles offers practical direction to help you understand God's Word of Law and Gospel and use it in your teaching, your relationships, and your life. For personal or group use, this book helps you to do the following:

• Learn the difference between Law and Gospel and why every person needs to hear both messages.
• Get better at communicating why we need a Savior, who Jesus is, and what He did for us.
• Teach lessons that move beyond facts to the heart of God and His purpose for our lives.
• Improve your biblical teaching and see it change students' attitudes and behaviors.
• Teach and model repentance, forgiveness, and service to others to show students how to live the Christian life.
• Find out what motivates your students (and you) and engage them.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word.

 

Teach Both . . .

We teach two basic doctrines in every Sunday School lesson, because God's teaches these two basic doctrines throughout the Bible, the Scriptures God has given us for our instruction and salvation.

Sin and grace. Law and Gospel.

A lesson that teaches only law can be curiously difficult to identify at times. It is the lesson that holds up Abraham and David and Peter as sterling examples of good people, people we should model our lives after because of their behavior instead of their faith in Christ. It is the lesson that leaves us uncertain of our salvation because we may not have learned enough, or done enough, or loved enough.

A lesson that teaches only Gospel can also sneak in. It is the lesson that lets us wallow in our self-righteousness, confident in God's love because we are better than other sinners in the world, or in our school, or in our class, when our confidence in God's love should result from faith in His Son, in the knowledge that, though we are the chief of sinners, God loves us because of His action, the sacrifice of His Son, not our action.

Sin and grace; law and Gospel. Each time you teach, teach both.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Who Does the Work?

The lesson for this Sunday in the CPH Sunday School materials is about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. It teaches clearly how our students can tell whether they are hearing the Gospel or a false religion. It is all about who does the work.

Baal
The worship of Baal and all other false god's is easy to recognize. Idolatry requires me to do a lot of work. Baal's prophets sang and danced and prayed and even cut themselves with knives, seeking to gain their god's attention and favor. They did all the work; Baal did nothing. If your students leave your classroom with a larger burden than when they arrived, they didn't hear the Gospel.

True God, True Gospel
The Gospel is good news because it tell us who really does the work. Not us. We are sinful. Our work is flawed, half-hearted, selfish, or nonexistent. We do not love God with our whole heart or our neighbors as ourselves. God does not require our work, our compliance with His Law, our sacrifice. God provides the sacrifice that will fulfill His righteous Law, and His provides the gift of His means of grace, His Word and Sacraments, that we might believe and trust in Him. He shows and tells His love, sends Jesus to pay for our sins, He gives us the gift of faith in His Son through His Spirit, and through His Word and Spirit He keeps us in that faith.

Lift Their Hearts
You have the opportunity this week to lift the hearts of your students, to lighten their burden. Help them leave their load of sin at the foot of the cross. Tell them the truth of God's love and forgiveness. Send them away with His peace and joy.

What a privilege! God bless you as you teach His children His Word.

Dear Lord . . .

Hear our prayer on behalf of the Sunday School. In Your grace and mercy . . .

• Grant that all churches find children in their midst with whom to share Your Word.
• Grant to all churches willing servants to teach and direct the Sunday School.
• Bless pastors with both the desire and ability to make Sunday School a high priority in the congregation's ministry.
• Bless congregations with an abundance of gifts to support Sunday School with excellent resources.
• Teach discernment to Sunday School leaders to recognize the errors of moralism and works righteousness and to seek an appropriate balance of Law and Gospel as they choose curriculum for their teachers.
• Give parents both the desire to see their children in Sunday School each week and the willingness to attend Sunday School each week themselves.
• Give all who teacher Your Word wisdom and understanding, both of the Word and of the students they teach, so that their lessons might be effective in building Your kingdom.

We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

Who Is My Neighbor?

Okay, so here's another "Gospel" question: "Who is my neighbor?" That's the right question!

A lawyer in Jesus' day (that is, one who studied Mosaic law) asked Jesus this question in Luke 10:29. The episode begins in verse 25 with the lawyer "putting Jesus to the test."

What Jesus teaches through this familiar parable is all Law. It was told to teach this lawyer, who Luke says "was seeking to justify himself." It is told to show the man his need for a Savior from sin. No one loves God with all her heart; no one loves his neighbor as himself. We are all in need of a Savior.

Jesus does a neat job, though of showing that "neighbor" is a two-way word. The man who fell among robbers needed a neighbor ("one who shows mercy" according to the biblical lawyer). The Samaritan we call good was a neighbor ("one who shows mercy") to the man. But that Samaritan also needed a neighbor, as did the Samaritans who rejected Jesus' ministry in Luke 9:51-56. They needed the "One who shows mercy."

To one who is seeking to justify himself or herself, the parable of the Good Samaritan reads as pure Law; he or she will be condemned. But to the one who, by God's grace, is looking for neighbor, who knows the impossibility of keeping the Law, and who asks "Who is my neighbor? Who will show mercy to me?" God sends His Son.

God bless you as you teach God's children His Word of mercy and grace!