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!

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!

"Lutheran Filters"?

I read occasionally, always when people recommend Christian education resources that are not Lutheran, that the user be sure to use his or her "Lutheran filter."

I could not agree more! But I suspect that I use my Lutheran filter quite differently than some might understand by that term.

A "Lutheran filter" is almost certainly not effective in the same way that a water filter that might be that is intended to trap particulates, microbes, and other harmful elements making water drinkable. ("Yes, that water was contaminated with cyanide, but it's okay now; I used my water filter"?) Lutheranism is not just the absence of heretical teaching. It is also the presence of specific life-giving doctrines (the Gospel, God's Word and Sacraments, the essential teaching of God's love, the concept of Christian vocation, and much more).

A "Lutheran filter" might be better seen as a visual tool that allows one to see clearly what is really taught in heterodox material so that it can be avoided completely. ("Ah, now I see the poison; I don't think I'll drink that water, filtered or not.")

If a resource was written to teach that a sovereign God demands perfect obedience and gives us His Bible to teach us how to become more like Jesus, what hope is there of correcting it? So what if it is a fun lesson? The kids you teach will really enjoy this activity?

Please, use your "Lutheran filter"!

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

CPH: Just Another Option?

All too often, I encounter the notion among colleagues, customers, synodical college students and professors, and congregations that Concordia Publishing House is just another resource provider, one option among many. They don't seem to realize that there are several things that make CPH special!

• CPH is the publisher of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. We are the only publishing house incorporated by the synod, managed by a board of director elected by the synod, for the specific benefit of the synod's congregations and members.
• CPH is the only publisher that guarantees its products will be faithful to the Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions. Our materials teach what Lutherans need to know. They are rooted in the Means of Grace, God's Word and sacraments. They are certified by independent doctrinal review. They are recommended by our synod's president.
• CPH is the only publisher that contributes to the synod. For several years a portion of our net income has been given to the synod.
• CPH is nationally recognized for exceptional service and business practices. We are a Missouri Quality Award winner (2009) and Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Aware winner (2011). We have a state of the art distribution center and process most order in less than 24 hours. We have an award-winning customer service center.
• CPH is a full-service resource provider. Offering envelopes, Sunday bulletins, ecclesiastical arts and supplies, church management software, curricula, music, Bibles and Bible studies, commentaries and scholarly works, children's books, and more!

We are committed to becoming the place you look first for products and resources. Just another option? Far from it! What will it take to convince you?

God's blessings as you teach His children His Word in 2015!

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.