# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S1030
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

268 :
PARISH EDUCATION

relative to additional faciliti
and te acilities for teacher training at Our ¢o)

Resolved, That we i
of teachers and that, to this ond. the need of "
1. We encoura
Ve Be the teachers’ col]
bility of extending their summer cet, I
areas of Synod; °e!

C.. Our Sunda
. Y Sch
tinue, number of Sunday schoo be
e i
int S increase, and we are gradually approachin
TY parish will have a Sunday school ing the “sy when

leges.

~S€TvVice-tya:,.
@ining

PARISH EDUCATION 269

could have at least four times as many infants registered.
e.of the Nursery Roll lies not so much in the listing of
ofthe children as in the program provided for them
parents by the Church, Contact and guidance is pro-
y. such materials as quarterly letters to parents, prayer
and Bible story leaflets for parents to teach in the home.
2 and more three-year-olds are beginning to attend Sun-
hool in special Nursery classes, the enrollment having
= hed 20,000. The Board for Parish Education recognizes the
“ait need for a Nursery course correlated with the “Life in
i a lessons and plans to prepare new Nursery class materials
¥ goon as present production projects will allow the necessary time.
* In the fall of 1951 an extensive revision of the Concordia
Sunday ‘School Lessons appeared as the “Life in Christ” series.
The former two-year course was simplified and extended to four

years on the upper levels. In the fall of 1953 the third of the four-

year cycle of lessons will appear. Circulation figures indicate a wide
use of the lessons outside the Missouri Synod. Suggestions from
the field are carefully weighed, and efforts are constantly being
made to improve the materials.

Most Sunday schools still need more adequate facilities for
better use of teaching materials and expansion of enrollment.
Graded opening procedures on at least two levels are considered
as important as graded class teaching on the level of the child’s
development. Some churches still fail to provide the necessary
Bibles and tables for Bible-directed study by older children. This
situation ought to be remedied at once if we are to do more than
tell stories in our Sunday schools.

“Mission Story Talks for Children” are appearing in the new
mission magazine, the Mission Call, and colorful weekly children’s
envelopes with mission and stewardship messages are available
from the Department of Stewardship, Missionary Education and
Promotion. .

A planned effort to reach the unchurched in the community
needs year-round attention. The observance of Rally Day,
monthly Mission Sunday, and frequent contact with a Sunday
school prospect list is a minimum program of evangelism for the
Sunday school. Churches are asked to consider the special ad-
vantages of the Home Department for extending thé outreach of
their Sunday school.

More and more Sunday schools are holding weekly or biweekly
staff meetings, although far too many still report no lesson-prepa-
ration meetings whatever. The quality of our Sunday schools
depends more on the quality of teachers and their teaching than
on any other factor. A special report by the Sunday School