Why Teach the Old Testament?

The arrangement of lessons in Sunday School materials published by Concordia Publishing House incorporates four quarters, 52 lessons, from the Old Testament. Given the duplication of a few key lessons in the New Testament (especially lessons around Christmas and Easter), nearly one-half of our lessons are from the Old Testament.

Why?

It gets us in trouble with some customers, those who would really prefer that we align fully with the three-year lectionary. The Old Testament is not presented chronologically in the lectionary. Readings are usually chosen to connect in some way with the Gospel lesson and theme of a Sunday in the Church Year.

So why?

I see at least three reasons:

• The Old Testament, along with the New, is the historical account of God's relationship with His people, especially the unfolding of His plan for our salvation. Those who wish to understand and appreciate the Bible need to know the Old Testament.
• The lessons in the Old Testament are important, not because they teach about wonderful, faithful people of God, but because they point us to Jesus Christ and the salvation God accomplishes for us through Him. We study these people not as examples of their behavior, bu as examples of those with faith in Christ.
• Every account in the Old Testament can and should be tied to that salvation history and studied to see how it points us to Christ.

We are nearing the end of the current cycle of Old Testament accounts. Next fall we will return to the beginning, to the accounts of the creation of all things and especially the creation of humankind as the crown of creation.

Do you think our current scope and sequence includes enough Old Testament? Too much?

Which Old Testament accounts do you think are missing and should be included?

God's blessing as you teach His children His Old Testament Word!

All in One Room?

Our Sunday School team here at Concordia Publishing House gets occasional requests for "all in one room" Sunday School material. We talked about it again last week. We are generally not inclined to pursue it. It's not that we are insensitive to the needs of small congregations. Small Sunday Schools face many challenges and we want to help.

But we are, first and foremost, sensitive to the needs of children. Preschoolers and sixth graders in the same class just doesn’t work very well. The learning opportunities for one end of the age spectrum or the other will be lost.

We have experimented with models that test the limits of age-appropriateness. Our 2013 summer material offered just two levels: non-readers and readers; it seems to have been well-accepted. Cross Explorations and Growing in Christ can be combined to serve three levels: Early Childhood, grades 1-3, and grades 4-6. These seem to be the “functional minimums” for effective Christian education that uses volunteer teachers in the setting common to most congregations. They are the minimums our Sunday School team would like to strive for.

We have decided to work instead to provide resources (free ones if possible) that can support the small Sunday School in emphasis, volunteer enlistment, and student recruitment. Too often "all in one room" is a last resort of a congregation that is not pursuing the better, but more difficult options of emphasizing Christian education, enlisting volunteers, and reaching out to unenrolled students. The better alternate is to accept the burden of small classes that still provide age-appropriate instruction for children.

What pushes congregations you know toward "all in one room"?

What help do you think congregations need to overcome the barriers to a more robust Sunday School?

God bless you as you teach His children His Word.

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!

Another Once-a-Year Sunday School Building Task

Here's another step you should take to build up your Sunday School, and other schools as well.

Once a year, you should take a close look at the Sunday School material offered by your denomination's publisher.

• If you don't use their material already, you should give them an opportunity to win you over.
• If you already use material from your publisher, you should check out other material that you don't currently use, and you should look closely at the material you do use, asking how this material could be improved to serve you even better.
• In either case, you should write your evaluative comments into a letter or e-mail and send it to the publisher.

Why should you do this?

• Your Sunday School will grow through the new resources you discover, the discussions you have about what's important in your material, and the conviction that your curriculum is the best you can find.
• Your publisher is part of your church family. They are your friends. They deserve your support if you are able to give it, and they deserve your help in improving their product.
• Things change. The material you checked out in 2006 or even last year has certainly changed, hopefully for the better, based in no small part on feedback just like what you will provide.
• If the publisher is missing the mark, they deserve an opportunity to improve.
• You will almost certainly see something great that you hadn't noticed before.
• The material they publish will teach the theology that your church believes and will avoid the errors your church body seeks to avoid.
• The improvements you suggest will help your congregation. They will also help hundreds of other congregations who have the same needs.

Will they listen?

• If your church publisher is Concordia Publishing House, they will!
• Your feedback will be acknowledged within twenty-four hours.
• Your suggestions will become part of our "Voice of the Customer" database, used to guide product development.
• While not every idea can be implemented immediately, every idea has impact.

CPH has samples of both Growing in Christ and Cross Explorations available through our Web site, cph.org/sundayschool. If you want an even boarder look, a full set of samples can be sent to you for examination. We want your business; even more, we want your feedback. Click the envelop icon on our Web page, write to sundayschool@cph.org, or write to me: tom.nummela@cph.org.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

How Is Your Sunday School?

Is it dead?
About twenty percent of the congregations in our church body report having no Sunday School at all.

Is it small?
About twenty percent of the congregations in our church body report having 1 to 25 students in Sunday School.

Is it average?
About half of our Sunday Schools have 100 students or less.

Is it worthwhile?
God has promised to bless His Word wherever it is taught; He is at work blessing your Sunday School.

One not-quite-simple step each congregation should every year is to contact every family with children of Sunday School age with an invitation to Sunday School. By mail is okay; by phone or in person is even better. If you visit, take along an extra leaflet from the appropriate grade levels. Show how the Gospel is central to every lesson.

Three other important ways to support your Sunday School:

1. Hold it at a separate hour from worship; don't place these two vital ministries of your congregation in competition.
2. Offer visit-friendly adult Bible studies at the same time as Sunday School; not all your parents will be willing to volunteer in the Sunday School all the time.
3. Maintain contact with each family from the time of Baptism until the time you begin Sunday School with a Cradle/Nursery Roll program; let them know that you care about their children and are looking forward to seeing them in Sunday School when the time is right.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Have you set your VBS dates yet?

No, it's not too early. The best time to set and announce your VBS dates for next summer would have been during your VBS this past summer. Kids and adults are excited about the experience; get them to put it on their family calendars for next year. The benefits may be small but tangible. You'll have a nucleus of attendees and volunteers who will be planning their summer around those dates, guaranteeing fewer scheduling conflicts.

Have a great VBS and know that God blesses you as you teach His children His Word.

CPH's VBS for 2014 is "Gangway to Galilee!" You can get the flavor here.