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!

Building a Sunday School Expectation

Is there a Sunday School teacher or director, pastor, or director of Christian education who believes that their Sunday School attendance is good enough? A survey conducted earlier this year by Concordia Publishing House indicates that "low or sporadic attendance" is the number one challenge for Sunday School leaders. The number two challenge? Lack of family engagement.

So, how do you motivate families, parents and children, to avail themselves of the Sunday School opportunity you provide each week? Let me suggest three actions that will make a difference.

1. Your pastor's expressed expectation for Sunday School involvement. Encourage your pastor to talk about the value of Sunday School participation for all ages as often as possible. From the pulpit, during worship announcements, as he meets with families before a Baptism, when he reports to the voters assembly. I recall the words of a mission-minded pastor who preceded me in a congregation: "Stay close to the spout where the glory comes out." When the pastor says it is important for adults and children to be in Sunday School, they will listen. If he does not make this recommendation frequently and publicly, they may feel excused.
2. Frequent public information about your Sunday School. Certainly the accurate weekly schedule, information about locations of classrooms, and a general invitation should be printed in your church's publications. In addition, profiles of faithful teachers, stories about special classroom activities, and curriculum information can be shared. Involve Sunday School classes in the worship services through singing, dramatic interpretation of the Scripture readings, or puppet shows.
3. An effective nursery roll program. Starting with the birth of a child, many congregations begin a ministry of visits and mailings to share information about a child's physical and spiritual development. This information culminates with an invitation to enroll the child in their first Sunday School class as soon as possible after their third birthday.

The goal is to create an expectation that children and adults in your congregation will attend Sunday School. It becomes what the members of [Zion or St. Paul's or you name it] Lutheran Church do. Your congregation's leaders can be reminded of the example they set in this regard. Integrate into this expectation the reason for the behavior: hear more about our Savior Jesus and to grow closer to Him and stronger in the faith.

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

The Best Class Ever!

You didn't use the suggested worship. Your students joined several other grades in a joint opening devotion led by the Sunday School director.

You didn't use the opening activity. A local news story had captured the interest of your students, so you allowed them to share their thoughts, offered some comments, and led the discussion into the Bible account for the day.

You didn't present the Bible account using drama like the guide suggested. Most of your students are not very outgoing, but they like to draw, so you had them line up at the board and have each one illustrate one paragraph of the text.

You didn't use the scripted teacher talk. Instead you phrased questions in your own words and followed up on insights your students shared.

You did remember the key point and general thrust of the lesson from your review earlier in the week, and you kept to that outline, more of less.

You didn't use the suggest application activity, but instead tied the Bible text back to the local event with which you started.

You didn't sing the suggested hymn in closing, but the text was right on target, so you challenged your students to listen carefully as you played the recording.

You didn't use the closing prayer, exactly. Your students are generally willing to pray petitions expressing their spiritual concerns, so you allowed each of them to offer a short prayer and closed with just a couple of phrases from the printed prayer.

You didn't use the leaflet this week, but you passed it out, and you noticed a couple of the students tucked it into their Bibles. Maybe they will use those daily Bible readings this week.

It was one of the best classes you've taught this quarter. The students were engaged. The Gospel was clearly shared. And the lesson material provided just enough structure and substance to get you started and keep you on track. You were the final editor, making choices and adjustments based on local conditions the publisher could never have anticipated.

Thanks! God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Why Did They Come?

Name a student or two who attended your Sunday School class yesterday. Picture them in your mind. Then ask yourself, "Why did he or she come?"

• Was it parental insistence?
• A chance to see a friend?
• Enjoying the craft activity?
• The good feeling of being able to answer the teachers' questions?
• The promise of a snack?
• Thirst for God's Word?

Intrinsic motivation, the love of learning, the thirst for God's Word, is probably a rare thing for your students. This side of heaven our desires are more often corrupted by our sinful nature. That does not mean, though, that the force of the Law is the only motive that will bring your students to class.

If your students love engaging in conversation with each other, it is not Law to give them opportunities to do that before or during the lesson. If your students enjoy craft activities, or singing, or drama, or art, it is not Law to make frequent use of those activities in your class.

Use the tools at your disposal, all of them, to draw in your students to hear God's Word, talk about their faith, and grow as Jesus' disciples.

God will bless you as you teach His children His Word.

Who Is Missing?

You are five weeks into a new quarter of Sunday School. Routines are established. The dust has settled. You know your students pretty well and they know you.

It's time to ask, "Who is missing?"

Are all the students present each week who could be? Who should be? Probably not. Make a short list today, one or two names of students you miss. What would it take to get them to class?

• A personal contact?
• A promise (fulfilled, of course) of an activity they will find interesting?
• Contact from another student?
• An offer of transportation?
• A reminder to parents of the important opportunity that is being missed?
• A nudge from the pastor?

Say a prayer. Choose one thing you can do. Do it today.

God will bless you as you teach His children His Word.

Do You Know Where Your Sunday School Material Comes From?

(Immediate aside: If you use CPH's Sunday School material, you know your material was written by experienced Sunday School teachers, edited by called church workers, and reviewed by theologians all of whom are members of, and proficient in the doctrines of, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It's a given that the material will be rooted in a conservative view of Scripture and reliance on the Means of Grace for our faith and life. It will be educationally and scripturally sound. You will not have to answer embarrassing questions about the material's content from your Sunday School parents or your pastor or board of education. It is material that definitely will NOT pass "the Temple test," and that's a good thing!)

All too often, I hear Sunday School leaders or directors of Christian education speak openly of the non-Lutheran material they use in their Sunday School, and I wonder, "Do they know where that material comes from?" How can material that avoids or denies the central role of God's Word and Sacraments, the teaching of justification by faith, be useful in a Lutheran Sunday School? The basic message I get is, theology doesn't matter. Let's use material that is trendy and cute!

It makes me sad.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

What Would You Do Differently?

It has been a while since I asked for a response on this blog, but I'm doing so today. The team I lead here at Concordia Publishing House will make some significant decisions this month about what our Sunday School material will look like for the next three years.

For nearly forty consecutive years, CPH Sunday School material has been

• unified (all grades studying the same Bible account),
• dated (written to be taught on a certain Sunday and available for purchase only in the quarter for which it was intended to be used),
• closely graded (developed for groups of children who are nearly the same age), and
• offering full-color student materials.

This is not the cheapest way to produce Sunday School material, nor the least expensive for the customer to purchase and use, but it has been used because it is an excellent way to teach God's Word to His children.

We are, however, faced with a consistent decline in Sunday School students across our church body and erosion of support for Sunday School is many congregations (less priority, lower Sunday School budgets, fewer volunteers).

So, I wonder . . .

What would you do differently? What changes make sense if we are to provide Sunday School resources in a sustainable manner (that is, offering a product valued enough by the customer to be purchased in sufficient quantity at a high enough price so that it returns to the company the dollars invested in its production)?

Undated material? (The material would be less expensive to reprint for future reuse, and possibly usable at any time.)

Broadly graded? (Designed for use by students of a broad range of, or perhaps even any, age.)

Reproducible student material? (The customer pays for local printing of student material, either black and white or color.)

Fully digital? (The customer downloads reproducible material through the Web and prints it locally as needed.)

Other options?

Obviously, we are not looking only to the readers of this blog for answers to these questions, but your input would be particularly valuable at this time. I hope you will take time to share your thoughts.

God bless the preparation of material to teach His children His Word.