# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S306
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

PARISH EDUCATION 805

In the number of vacation Bible schools, in the enrollment of
vacation Bible schools, and in the increased outreach in contacting
the children of nonmembers, this development shows that our
congregations recognize the contribution that a vacation Bible
school can make to their educational program both in providing
more time for Christian education and in being a missionary
agency. While this is a large-scale use of the vacation Bible school,
there would appear to be many more congregations who could
make profitable use of this agency.

During the past triennium the Board has given increased
attention to effective materials for the vacation Bible school.
The fact that most teachers in the vacation Bible school are
volunteer teachers makes necessary materials that can be dealt
with readily by such a volunteer group. To help teachers, improved
teacher’s manuals for each department of the vacation Bible school
have been produced. The program was also developed by the
addition of Nursery Department materials.

The production of materials for the vacation Bible school has
always involved the question of the number of sessions for which
materials should be prepared. The growing demand for materials
geared to a two-week school has caused us to reduce our materials
from a three-week program to a two-week program. Congregations
that desire to conduct a three-week school will be able to enrich
the program with other materials.

The weekday classes have suffered a rather marked decline
since 1948, when 682 such classes were reported. It appears that
many more congregations could make use of the released-time
program, or if they prefer, adapt the innovative idea of a Wednes-
day school, which combines both Christian education, recreation,
choir practice, and fellowship. That a released-time program has
a number of attendant difficulties is undoubtedly correct. Con-
gregations, however, need to recognize the necessity of adequate
time for Christian education. The mere combination of Sunday
school and vacation Bible school does not yet provide adequate
time for a rounded program of Christian education.

The Saturday school also shows a rather static picture. This
does not mean congregations should have both a weekday program
and a Saturday school program, but one or the other would seem
to be a desirable opportunity for Christian education in almost
every congregation in Synod.

The 1953 convention adopted the following resolution on
adequate time for Christian education,

“WHEREAS, Only 32 per cent of our children are enrolled in
our Christian day school; and