# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S247 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) i i t f \ 284 PARISH EDUCATION ful materials for use by individuals, families, and congregatig the first family life workshop was held at River Forest jin the summer of 1949, with an attendance of 50. There was representation from 22 of Synod’s Districts. The constructive suggestions w : Orked > out by this group made it extremely practical, challenging, and useful, and opened new vistas of service for a family-centereg ~ ministry. The following materials were produced during the trienniun. An Agency tract: A Family Life Program for the Parish, a 50-page digest of the first family workshop; a folder on family worship made available for free distribution to the churches; special articles in our church periodicals; a book of approximately 250 pages entitled Helping Families Through the Church. One of the largest tasks before the committee is the setting up of an adequate list of materials for use in the local church. To that end six subcommittees are helping with the screening of about 100 audio-visual aids. These screening groups are located in various parts of the country. Some 400 books and pamphlets are now in the process of being evaluated to give us lists of the best literature available. Because the young married people (age 25 to 35) are a stra- tegic group, and because there is at present an increase of couples’ clubs and young married people’s classes, the Family Life Com- mittee has invited our national organizations, the Walther League, the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, and the Lutheran Lay- men’s League, to co-operatively produce, with the Board for Parish Education, some guidance materials for such couples’ groups and classes. A beginning has been made to inaugurate family life education throughout the Districts of Synod. Further action in that direction has been curtailed by limitations imposed by the Fiscal Conference. To undergird Christian family life, the committee sees the following needs. Each parish should become much more conscious of its families and develop closer home-church co-operation through a family-centered approach to education. Pastors want and need more guidance in marriage counseling and a more effective pastoral approach to the family. This guidance should be supplied. Parish classes and organizations need to gear their planning more specifi- cally to family needs and the development of wholesome family living. Congregations need help for a practical and simple approach that will help each family set up family worship. Our churches should be encouraged to use one month a year to emphasize the building and maintaining of a Christian home. The resolution on the Christian home of the Centennial Convention outlines a con- structive program that is both preventive and remedial. This reso- PARISH EDUCATION ~—s_—i. 285 cannot be implemented without giving insights, skills, and materials to our churches. To do so, personal training must be given similar to that supplied for the Bible Study Program. The convention of Synod should ratify the President’s action in merging the two committees, rescind that portion of the 1947 resolution pertinent thereto, and authorize the Board for Parish Education in the future to fill vacancies and make additions to the committee through proper appointments. . Since the Christian home is the most potent teaching agency: the Church has, Synod needs to be reminded of the strategic im- portance of setting up a constructive Christian family program. Lutheran Education Week Lutheran Education Week continues to be the annual high point of the promotional work of the Board for Parish Education. Inaugurated in 1944, this event has found increasing acceptance in our congregations. The themes of the annual observances during the past trien- nium have been: In 1948, “Christian Growth Through Christian Education,” emphasizing the fact that Christian education is the God-ordained means to provide Christian growth. In 1949, “Search the Scriptures,” emphasizing the importance of Bible-centered education for all age groups. In 1950, “Everbody Needs Christian Education,” emphasizing that the Church offers blessings through Christian education to young and old alike. The widespread use of the materials offered for Lutheran Education Week indicates to us that our congregations are finding the materials helpful in emphasizing to their membership the im- portance of Christian education. More and more Lutheran Edu- cation Week has come to mean also an inventory of the congrega- tion’s educational program and an opportunity to report on the educational program available in the congregation and the ways in which that program can be improved. If the event continues to be such a time of inventory, it cannot but prove to be a blessing for all of the congregations of Synod. : The Status of the Teacher Our synodical officials found it necessary during World War I and World War II, and in connection with the late Selective Serv- ice Act, to clarify the status of the Lutheran teacher to Government officials in connection with the draft. During the past year, prob- lems have arisen in connection with the payment of income tax on a teacherage and with the proposed amendment to the Social PARATIETTPIRES 2 SESE NEBR SIRE TE PREY 2S REN SIE REE TES GE SELLER II EMS SETI OOO LST IEE CL LO NE LOTT LEE PEO CIES BIE CG RECN EES CLES SOIT EE LOIS ENA AEE AE PEDRO TOO ont se ay pao