Hidden Costs of Free Material

I know that churches face tight budgets. I pray fervently that congregations would be spared making choices between increasing the sub-standard pay for their church workers or purchasing quality material for their Sunday School. The lure of free Sunday School material may be hard to resist.

But consider these hidden costs of free material.

• Loss of color art. Free material is usually all black and white. Gone is the full-color art work, craft pages, and stickers found in material that costs something. Loss of art results in less realism, and less comprehension.
• Cost of photocopies. Most free material is available through Internet download or perhaps as files on a CD; it offers exclusively reproducible student material. The local church is on the hook to print no only the teacher guides, but also all the student material. And, as most church workers know, copies on the church copier are not really free.
• Expectation of quality. There is a subtle price we pay in what we expect of free material. "Okay, there are some typos, but it's free." "Well, no, it's not really Lutheran, but it's free." "It's a little more work for our leaders and volunteers, but it's free."
• Weak theological content. This one deserves to be mentioned again. I have yet to see free Sunday School material with strong biblical, Christ-centered, truly Lutheran content.
• Lack of doctrinal review. This is the reason, of course, for weak doctrine: no free Sunday School curriculum offered today goes through the doctrinal review process used by all entities of The Lutheran Church---Missouri Synod.  

Is it truly worth using free material if it fails to teach God's clear Word of Law and Gospel? Near the end of his reign King David was moved to offer a sacrifice in thanks for God's compassion in the face of David's sin. Ironically, the sacrifice was made in the spot that would eventually become the location of Solomon's temple. David bought both the place of sacrifice and the wood and oxen from a Jebusite named Araunah, though Araunah had offered to give them to David for free. David's response? “I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24).

God bless you are 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!

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!

It's Good to Be Lutheran!

There is a reason why your church identifies itself as Lutheran.

There is a reason you've decided to be a part of that congregation.

For many, though I suppose not for all, that reason is the distinctive flavor of the theology taught in a

Lutheran church: right distinction between Law and Gospel, emphasis on vocation, and adherence to a theology of the cross.

How can you be sure that those things are taught consistently in your Sunday School?

• Careful selection of teachers who know Lutheran doctrine and are "apt to teach" is a great start.
• Regular and frequent training for Sunday School teachers would be helpful.
• Choosing a solid Lutheran curriculum for use in all classes is an important first step.

I do not claim to be unbiased, far from it. But it strikes me as foolish, dangerous even, to place even the finest non-Lutheran (that is, un-Lutheran) material into the hands of teachers and students in your Sunday School. In the best case, assuming that your teachers are highly skilled, able to edit out the material contrary to the Lutheran faith and edit in the essence of Lutheran Christian teachings, and willing to take time to do so each week, the material that goes home with the student is not likely to support what your church professes. In worst case, you will be training both students and teachers in things that are contrary to the Lutheran Confessions.

Thanks for teaching God's 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!

Who Is Your Sunday School For?

Don't just blow past the title of this post. It is a serious question! For whom do you conduct your Sunday School on a week by week basis?

The student, right? Sunday School is all about delivering the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to the students in each class. That's not as easy as it might sound. It gets complicated because we must balance delivering the best content with making sure that the students and, in the case of most of our students under the age of 16, their parents desire to have this Sunday School experience of themselves or their children.

Then, assuming that you buy into the "it's for the students" mindset . . .

Sunday School is not for volunteer teacher. ("What is the easiest material to prepare and teach? I want something I can pick up and teach without spending my time studying the lesson and getting ready for class.")

Sunday School is not for the church finance board or treasurer. ("What is the cheapest alternative out there? Can we find something with reproducible student material? What about this stuff that is available free online?")

Sunday School is for the spiritual health of the student. ("Well, yeah, the theology is a little off, but the activities are really fun. And the material is cheap. And the teachers don't have to prepare.")

Forgive me if I sound harsh, but it seems to me that some congregations get off track on this at times.

Teaching Sunday School is a high calling with a vitally important goal. It truly is worth giving it our best!

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

Bad Language?

Thanks to my friend, Ed Grube, for this helpful reminder (and clever title) to our colleagues on the Parish Educators Network of the Lutheran Education Association. Ed's weekly tips are available only to LEA members (LEA.org), but his reminder is a good one; it reads in part:

"If you’re using resources from various Christian publishers, you need to look out for bad language. One example is the inclusion of phrases like 'invite Jesus into your heart.' This may reflect 'decision theology,' popular in some circles but definitely not reflective of biblical Lutheran doctrine. . . . Don’t assume volunteer teachers will discern such things; help them to grow."

Bad language has its root in bad theology, at least when viewed from a Lutheran perspective. Decision theology, for example, flows from a flawed understanding of our fall into sin; it rejects the total depravity of mankind (see Romans 7:18). Instead it suggests that we only "fell partway," that we have, in and of ourselves, some ability to contribute to our salvation, to "work our way back toward God." This contradicts our Lutheran convictions of salvation "by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone." It's the child's mantra, "I can do it myself." It rejects our reliance on God.

Is it just a problem of language, though? No! If it were, we could fix a decision theology lesson by editing a few words or adding a couple of Lutheran sentences. The problem is not just with the language, but with the theological basis, with the heart and core of the lesson.

The bad language is a warning that the central premise and the resulting Bible discussion and lesson activities come from a unLutheran unstanding of Scripture. A little clean-up or even minor surgery may not be enough to save this lesson; major surgery or a whole-body transplant is required.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word.

Doctrinal Review, a Huge Asset

From time to time, I am asked about the impact of doctrinal review on the products we produce at Concordia Publishing House.

For those who are unfamiliar with the process, every thing that we publish at CPH is reviewed to ensure its faithfulness to the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions before it is published.

• The reviewers are appointed by the office of the president of the synod. They are chosen for their theological credentials and assigned reviews for material that is within their area of knowledge and expertise; the reviewers for children's material are different from those who review our Concordia Commentary Series, for example.
• The process is completely anonymous; the reviewer is not given the names of the authors or editors of the material they review and the editor does not know who the reviewer is. All communication is handled through a highly discrete doctrinal review clerk at CPH. 
• Material can be determined to be "in agreement with Lutheran doctrine," "in agreement, but here are some suggestions for improvement," or "not in agreement" with specifics noted, suggestions made for correction, and a requirement that the reviewer see the material after it has been corrected.
• Material is never subjected to "second opinions." Once approved, the material (a hymn text, for example) may be used many times, but it is not resubmitted each time; reviewers are not invited to critique one another.
• Finally, a reviewer's decision can be appealed, but only to Synod's doctrinal review commission. Such appeals are very rare and are almost never made by the publishing house. Our goal is always to bring our material into compliance with the reviewer's decision.

It can also be noted that CPH has an internal "doctrinal review" system for artwork we commission for use in our curricula and books. Editors familiar with biblical culture ensure that illustrations depicting biblical or liturgical people and scenes do so accurately.

I've worked under this system for over twenty years, and have grown to appreciate it. On a few rare occasions, I have chaffed at having to revise an activity to accommodate a reviewer's concern. Far more often, I have given thanks that a reviewer helped me speak clearly or rescued me from putting material in print that could mislead someone or teaching something in error. The doctrinal review process guarantees that what our material teaches is the truth according to God's Word, not the truth according to Tom Nummela.

Far from having a negative impact on our ability to produce excellent material, the doctrinal review process guarantees that the material you purchase from us is the best we can make it.

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