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!

To Us a Child Is Born!

Merry Christmas! Thanks for teaching God's children His Word!

 

(Hear a sample of this wonderful Christmas song by Jacob and Rachael Weber here.)

What's the Hurry for Christmas?

The world will be done with Christmas on December 26th, delaying only long enough to put Christmas on sale for half-price. But what's the rush? In early times, Christmas was celebrated not just on December 25th, but for twelve more days after ("On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . ."). In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Christmas is celebrated on January 6th, the date when the Church marks the visit of the Magi.

So don't get impatient with the Growing in Christ and Cross Explorations Sunday School materials from CPH, when you don't get to the Nativity lesson until the middle of January, and that Epiphany lesson is delayed almost into February! There is a lot to bless children with in the accounts that lead up to and follow Jesus' birthday. Tell your students to enjoy the Church's celebrations of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany as they come, and promise them that that Christmas lesson in Sunday School is coming!

For wonderful explanations about the importance of the several lessons before the Christmas one, I hope you listen to Pastor Tom Baker's exposition each week in the Seeds of Faith podcasts, produced by Issues, Etc. They provide 30 minutes of background on the biblical text, and they can be downloaded for listening on the go.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Responding to Violence

Too many times in the past few weeks, we and the children we teach have witnessed sudden, violent attacks on ordinary people, people going about their daily lives with every expectation of peace and safety. It may cause us and the children we teach to be afraid for ourselves and for those we love.

It may be that conversations and questions about such events will be raised by the students you teach. You may wonder, how should I respond?

Your response, of course, will be your own, but I would encourage you to include these three things.

• Lead your students in prayer for the victims of violence, their families, and their attackers. Yes, I believe that prayer is a valid response to fear. It acknowledges that, though we may feel powerless and vulnerable, we have a God who is powerful, who loves us so much that He gave His own Son into the hands of violent men to save us. Pray that God will calm our fears, comfort those who are injured or grieving, that He will protect us from all evil, and that He will turn the hearts of those who would seek to hurt us to love---for us and for Him.
• Remind your students of God's love and power. The God who protected Abraham as he traveled, David as he defended Israel from enemies, and Daniel when he was threatened for his faith, is able also to protect us and will do so according to His will.
• Encourage your students to be strong in faith and bold in witness. Teach God's Word, the good news of salvation, each week to nourish and sustain your students.

God would not have us cower in fear. Instead He calls us to trust in Him.

 God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

“Without the Way,

there is no going.

Without the Truth,

there is no knowing.

Without the Life,

there is no living.”

 

Thomas à Kempis

 

Jesus said . . ., “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 ESV

 

Thanks for teaching God's children His Word!

Teaching Values?

A local radio station plays a set of ad spots for a foundation that promotes "values" (compassion, friendship, overcoming, soul); in the ads we are encouraged to "pass it on." As I listen on my daily commute, I am moved to wonder how those who sponsor the ads and those who hear them imagine that we are able to pass on these values.

We know, of course, that it is possible to coerce actions that are in accord with God's Law, acts that demonstrate "values," though threats or external rewards. While such forced holiness is of some benefit to our neighbor, they are not good works since they are not the fruit of faith. Such works are flawed by resentment against the authority that requires them or selfish motives; they may lead to rebellion or self-righteousness.

Good works are those that God works in us as a joyful response to the Gospel. They are not generated by threat or reward, but by the proclamation of the Good News of God's love for us in Christ. They are truly fruit of the Spirit. They result from teaching God's children His Word.

Thanks for teaching God's 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!