# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S243 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) Ve + é 276 PARISH EDUCATION a a the missionary spirit and toward generous giving for missions. The children in our Sunday schools can also be trained to active missionaries among their associates. A healthy g " school will be strong in Christian education and strong in evangelism. . Sunday School Hymnal.— A rule of pedagogy requires that worship materials, such as hymns and prayers, should be adapteg to the age level of those who use them. Contrary to this Tule we at the present time compel our Sunday schools to use an adult hymnal or go elsewhere for hymnals suited to the Capacity of Our Sunday School Hymnal, though still used, is out of date and contains hymns that do not meet the standard set by our Church. As for hymnals published elsewhere, many of then contain cheap and non-Christian songs and may spoil the taste of the children for the better type of hymn. The complaint is made that the Lutheran Hymnal does not contain enough hymns for children, that it is too large and too expensive to be handled by children. It would, of course, be a mistake to publish a Sunday school hymnal that would discourage children from singing the excellent chorales and English hymns appearing in the Lutheran Hymnal and sung by the adult con- gregation. To preserve our musical heritage, we favor publication of a Sunday school hymnal containing a judicious Selection of hymns and tunes taken from the Lutheran Hymnal. In addition, this hymnal should contain a limited number of simple hymns not found in the Lutheran Hymnal, and prayers and devotions for the Sunday school. Since the Six Chief Parts of Luther’s Small Cate- chism are prayed rather generally in our Sunday schools, they should be printed in the hymnal. Synod has already taken the first step toward providing graded worship materials by authorizing publication of a Child’s Garden of Song for children of Primary age. We believe a hymnal should now be prepared to meet the needs of children of more advanced age and request an enabling resolution. Other Part-Time Agencies Our Vacation Bible Schools, Weekday (Released-Time) great blessing in the educational program of our Church. All three showed sizable gains in pupil enrollment and in attendance by non- member children, with the Vacation Bible School showing the greatest gains. The enrollment of the Saturday School was the highest in its history. This is true also of the Weekday School, PARISH EDUCATION 277 yen though it suffered from the agitation that was lately raised against schools of its kind. Statistics on these agencies for the past triennium show the wing: follo . Vacation Bible Schools Children of ; Schools Pupils Non-Members 1946 969 45,287 14,426 147 1,225 71,852 25,897 1948 697 97,272 32,957 Weekday (Released-Time) Classes Congregations Children of Participating Pupils Non-Members 1946 382 14,747 4,922 1947 __. ee. 371 14,234 5,254 . 682 17,548 5,646 Saturday Schools Children of Schools Pupils Non-Members 654 12,857 1,203 559 10,443 1,498 780 15,803 1,641 work have by no means been exhausted. For this reason, and in view of the fact that 70 per cent of our children are entirely dependent on our part-time agencies for religious instruction, the expansion and efficient use of them must be matters of our earnest concern and prayerful consideration. The Board for Parish Education is happy to announce that the three series of Vacation Bible School lesson materials which it planned for use several years ago are now complete. Confirmation Instruction The Superintendents’ Conference and the Educational Confer- ence of the Board for Parish Education have explored the problem of confirmation instruction and have recommended that a manual © supervision of Vice-President Harms still obtain in our Church. There is a great variety in the standards set for confirmation instruction, as to the length of time required, the number of class hours a year, the age for confirmation, and the requirements set