# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1956_S329
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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PARISH EDUCATION 329

granted to those who complete the entire series of twelve courses.
To date, 389 certificates and special awards have been issued.
According to the number of teachers applying for credit during
the past several years it appears that during the next triennium
upwards of 5,000 credits will be issued per year. The annual sale
of textbooks during the past three years was 25,214, 38,751, and
41,044, revealing a growing participation in the program from year
to year.

God/s rich blessing has rested on our training enterprise from
the beginning to the present time. Circulation of textbooks repre-
sents millions, perhaps more than twenty million hours, spent in
classwork and in private study of the twelve textbooks. These
myriads of study hours connote a better-indoctrinated laity and
improved teaching in our Sunday schools. Training programs
tend to grow stale and lag in the course of time. Thanks to the
promotional efforts of Concordia Publishing House and of our
District boards and officials, our program has held its own during
these twenty years. It has done better than that. There is more
interest today than at any time in the past, as is evidenced by the
increased circulation of textbooks and the larger number of teach-
ers working for credit and earning certificates. For the success of
our program we thank the Lord, whose mercy and blessing have
crowned our weak efforts.

At this time we set up another Ebenezer and go on to another
decade of planning and promoting, earnestly invoking God’s help
at every step. The committee hopes to revise some of the current
textbooks and to have new ones written. Some experimentation
will be made with audio-visual aids to determine whether materials
ought to be offered in connection with the training course. In
short, the committee hopes to remain sensitive to Synod’s needs
and to make provision for them.

But The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod still has a long
way to go before it can be satisfied with the status of Sunday school
teacher training in its midst. Despite the large number of teachers
gained for our training program, there are some 3,000 groups of
teachers who have not been introduced to a single one of the
courses. We can reasonably assume that fifty per cent of our
teachers have received or are receiving some training. That leaves
fifty per cent, or at least 30,000 teachers, who are without benefit
of specialized training. That so many thousands of teachers are
going to their classes every Sunday poorly prepared for teaching
is nothing short of tragic! How long is this situation to continue?

When our training program was inaugurated, the committee
suggested the slogan “Every Teacher a Trained Teacher.” The
committee made explicit its interpretation of the term “trained.”