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.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Monday, February 10, 2014
The Best Material for Lutheran Congregations
The best Sunday School material for a congregation is
material that is aligned with the beliefs and practices that the congregation
confesses to be true and valuable. An LCMS congregation that
uses material from a different denominational publisher will encounter teachings that are contrary to our understanding of Scripture, teachings that are deeply embedded in the central premise of each lesson and supported in each of that lesson's elements. These
errors are not easily removed or covered over with a layer of correct language.
The best material is material in which such errors do not exist.
God bless you as you teach His children His Word!
God bless you as you teach His children His Word!
Monday, February 3, 2014
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.
"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.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Which Sunday School Would You Choose?
- Unified (all classes study the same Bible account)? OR
- Topical (different material at each age level)?
- Closely graded (one or two grades of children in a classroom)? OR
- Several grades (or all grades) in a single classroom?
- Self-contained classrooms? OR
- Children rotate to different locations for different activities during the hour?
- Lessons tied to the Church's lectionary? OR
- Chronological study of the biblical narrative?
- High tech? OR
- As simple as possible?
Sunday School can be about a lot of choices. As I look to the future, I have the opportunity to make some of these choices to benefit our customers. We will be asking our customers about their preferences in several ways. Maybe this blog can be one of them.
Given the five choices above, which would you choose and why? Which would benefit most the children you serve? I'd love to hear from you at tom.nummela@cph.org.
God bless you as you teach His children His Word!
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Making the Most of Lectionary Ties
Do you use Sunday School material from Concordia Publishing House? Do you use the three-year lectionary outlined in the Lutheran Service Book? Then you probably have noticed that this is one of the quarters when the Sunday School lessons and the Gospel accounts read in the Divine Service line up rather nicely. This Sunday, for example, the Gospel reading and the Sunday School text are identical: Matthew 4:12-15, Jesus calls His first disciples.
This is nice because teachers and parents can call a child's attention to the parallel texts. You can use the church bulletin in your classroom or parents can use the Sunday School leaflet at appropriate points in the church service. Later in the day on Sunday the family can review the Bible account from a base of knowledge, discuss it together, and enjoy sharing what was learned. If you're lucky, your church is using the "Explore More" cards that were designed initially for use with the Cross Explorations curriculum, but available for use with Growing in Christ as well. These cards provide activities and discussion starters to help families maximize their time together.
The last four weeks of this winter set of lessons present a bit more of a challenge. The Gospel lesson each week is a portion of Jesus' "sermon on the mount," from Matthew 5. The Sunday School lessons may not, at first, seem to relate.
But they do! It would be tough for even the most creative teacher to teach what is essentially the same narrative, the occasion of Jesus' sermon on the shore of Galilee, four weeks in a row. However, the concepts about which Jesus teaches in each week's installment of this important chapter of the Bible are expanded on in Sunday School by studying a related Bible narrative.
Children learn what it means to be blessed (Matthew 5:1-12) by studying Jesus' blessing of Zacchaeus. They learn what it means to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-20) by studying the work and resurrection of Dorcas. They learn an alternative to anger (Matthew 5:21-37) by exploring Paul's letter about Onesimus. And they learn about dealing with enemies (Matthew 5:38-48) by seeing how God and Ananias care for Saul.
Make of point of teaching these worship connections in the lessons ahead. Your students will be glad you did!
God bless you as you teach His children His Word!
This is nice because teachers and parents can call a child's attention to the parallel texts. You can use the church bulletin in your classroom or parents can use the Sunday School leaflet at appropriate points in the church service. Later in the day on Sunday the family can review the Bible account from a base of knowledge, discuss it together, and enjoy sharing what was learned. If you're lucky, your church is using the "Explore More" cards that were designed initially for use with the Cross Explorations curriculum, but available for use with Growing in Christ as well. These cards provide activities and discussion starters to help families maximize their time together.
The last four weeks of this winter set of lessons present a bit more of a challenge. The Gospel lesson each week is a portion of Jesus' "sermon on the mount," from Matthew 5. The Sunday School lessons may not, at first, seem to relate.
But they do! It would be tough for even the most creative teacher to teach what is essentially the same narrative, the occasion of Jesus' sermon on the shore of Galilee, four weeks in a row. However, the concepts about which Jesus teaches in each week's installment of this important chapter of the Bible are expanded on in Sunday School by studying a related Bible narrative.
Children learn what it means to be blessed (Matthew 5:1-12) by studying Jesus' blessing of Zacchaeus. They learn what it means to be salt and light (Matthew 5:13-20) by studying the work and resurrection of Dorcas. They learn an alternative to anger (Matthew 5:21-37) by exploring Paul's letter about Onesimus. And they learn about dealing with enemies (Matthew 5:38-48) by seeing how God and Ananias care for Saul.
Make of point of teaching these worship connections in the lessons ahead. Your students will be glad you did!
God bless you as you teach His children His Word!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Formative Assessment, a Critical Sunday School Task
We don't talk very much about assessment for Sunday School. Perhaps that is because most people, when they hear the term "assessment," think about summative assessment.
Summative assessment measures achievement and assigns a judgment, a grade. It is the grade you get at the end of the course in school. It is also all the grades for the quizzes and tests you took that are compiled to make up that final grade. The key here is that the assessment is fixed and immutable at that point in time at which it is rendered. We are judged, and often found wanting.
Formative assessment is different. It is assessment that intends to set the course for continued effort or instruction. It is the pre-test that helps the teacher to understand what the student already knows and does not yet know about a subject. It is the ongoing data from your GPS, telling you how you are doing as you approach your destination. It is the regular checkup with the doctor that suggests changes in diet or treatment for an illness.
One could argue that summative assessment has relatively little value in Christian education. The objective of such training, faith in Christ and life as one of God's children, is not subject to objective measurement or human judgment.
Formative assessment though would seem to be a different matter. When a teacher takes time to determine what a student, or a class as a whole, remembers about or knows about a particular Bible account, the teaching that follows can be more carefully tailored to the needs of those students. When a teacher takes time to investigate how each of the students in a group most enjoy learning or how they learn most easily, activities can be chosen that will capture more attention and accomplish more teaching and learning. When a teacher takes time in the middle of a lesson to check for comprehension, the remainder of the lesson can be salvaged or maximized.
So, forget the final grade! But take time to ask, "What do they know?" and "How am I doing?" Because the important thing at the end of the hour is not how much did I teach but how much did they learn?
God's blessings as His children learn His Word!
Summative assessment measures achievement and assigns a judgment, a grade. It is the grade you get at the end of the course in school. It is also all the grades for the quizzes and tests you took that are compiled to make up that final grade. The key here is that the assessment is fixed and immutable at that point in time at which it is rendered. We are judged, and often found wanting.
Formative assessment is different. It is assessment that intends to set the course for continued effort or instruction. It is the pre-test that helps the teacher to understand what the student already knows and does not yet know about a subject. It is the ongoing data from your GPS, telling you how you are doing as you approach your destination. It is the regular checkup with the doctor that suggests changes in diet or treatment for an illness.
One could argue that summative assessment has relatively little value in Christian education. The objective of such training, faith in Christ and life as one of God's children, is not subject to objective measurement or human judgment.
Formative assessment though would seem to be a different matter. When a teacher takes time to determine what a student, or a class as a whole, remembers about or knows about a particular Bible account, the teaching that follows can be more carefully tailored to the needs of those students. When a teacher takes time to investigate how each of the students in a group most enjoy learning or how they learn most easily, activities can be chosen that will capture more attention and accomplish more teaching and learning. When a teacher takes time in the middle of a lesson to check for comprehension, the remainder of the lesson can be salvaged or maximized.
So, forget the final grade! But take time to ask, "What do they know?" and "How am I doing?" Because the important thing at the end of the hour is not how much did I teach but how much did they learn?
God's blessings as His children learn His Word!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Did You Have Sunday School after Christmas?
Those who follow this blog might expect a bit of a rant here (like this one from 2011). No this year. But I have to ask the follow-up questions: why? or why not?
If you cancelled Sunday School for convenience (yours, or the teachers, or the families), I challenge you to re-think. We have precious few opportunities to teach God's children His Word. I would give up even one of them with the greatest reluctance.
If you cancelled Sunday School for safety (as our church did on Sunday, with blizzard condictions, travel advisories, and single-digit temperatures), bravo! Thanks for doing your best to keep God's children safe to hear His Word another day.
If you cancelled Sunday School for convenience (yours, or the teachers, or the families), I challenge you to re-think. We have precious few opportunities to teach God's children His Word. I would give up even one of them with the greatest reluctance.
If you cancelled Sunday School for safety (as our church did on Sunday, with blizzard condictions, travel advisories, and single-digit temperatures), bravo! Thanks for doing your best to keep God's children safe to hear His Word another day.
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