# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1947_S261
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

PARISH EDUCATION 268
Il. PARISH EDUCATION

Report of the Board for Parish Education
(Memorial 201)

The Centennial of our Synod marks an important milestone
in our educational history, for the furtherance of Christian educa-
tion was one of the primary purposes of the new Synod. Three of
the eight objectives of Synod pertain to the promotion of Christian
education. These are:

1. The training of ministers and teachers for service in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church;

2. The publication and distribution of Bibles, church books,
schoolbooks, religious periodicals, and other books and literature;

3. The furtherance of Christian parochial schools and of a
thorough instruction for confirmation.

As we celebrate the Centennial of our Synod, we recognize
that our system of Christian education is one of the choice bless-
ings which God has granted to us during the first century of our
existence. Contemplating this blessing, we acknowledge with
grateful hearts the goodness of God in leading our fathers to
found agencies of Christian education, in blessing their expansion,
and in preserving them. ;

Our fathers prized Christian education. In their homes they
sought by instruction and training to bring up their children in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In addition to home in-
struction in God’s Word, they founded parochial schools. At the
same time they made provisions for the professional training of
Christian teachers. So concerned were they with the Christian
training of their children that they set for themselves the goal:
“No church without a school.” Unfortunately they did not, as time
went on, realize that goal. Whatever the reasons may have been,
whether these were valid or not, more and more congregations
came into being which did not start a school at the time of their
- organization nor later. These congregations were not, however,
indifferent to their obligations to provide for the religious instruc-
tion of their children. They established various part-time agencies
as substitutes for the parochial school. These included the Sun-
day school, the Saturday school, the summer school, or the vaca-
tion Bible school, and released-time classes. Even congregations
with schools did not usually enroll all of their children in parochial
schools. To meet the spiritual needs of such children and to pro-
vide further opportunities for mission work, these congregations
also established part-time agencies. The growth of our part-
time agencies has been remarkable.