# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S343
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

PARISH EDUCATION AND SERVICES 343

teachers. These will be of a general nature and for
multiple use.

The Gate, a quarterly offering a variety of courses for
adult classes, has appeared.

The Vacation Bible School Department produced two
complete programs during the biennium: ‘‘Tell the Good
News” and “Living God’s Way.”

No special materials have appeared related to the
weekday school.

The Concordia Catechism Series, which was intro-
duced at the New York convention, has come into wide
use in a variety of ways.

The following materials have or will soon appear for
use in Lutheran schools:

The Story of the Early Christian Church: A Programed
Guide to the Book of Acts (1968).

Music Makers (1967) and Sing in Harmony (1968), Books
Five and Six in the Concordia Music Education Series.

Concordia Art Education Series (1968—69), Fine Arts
Supplements to A Curriculum Guide for Lutheran
Elementary Schools.

Follow Him (1967) and Serve the Lord with Gladness
(1968), chapel talks for Lutheran elementary schools.

Materials for Patterns of Performance, including Stan-
dards and Requirements, Section I, 1968—1969, and
Resource Bulletin-1, 1968—1969, both emphasizing
school purposes and fine arts curriculum development.

Revision of three Teaching Units in Religion for Lutheran
Secondary Schools, specifically Survey of the Old
Testament, Church History, and Christian Doctrine.

Upgrading of Lutheran Secondary Schools Bulletin, a
quarterly journal for teachers.

Contributed to Nigeria, a 1968 National Union of Chris-
tian Schools (Grand Rapids, Mich.) social studies text
for junior highs.

Annual issues of Instructional Materials Guide for
Lutheran Elementary Schools.

3. Special Areas

a. Sex Education. Special materials which have been
prepared for the church and which have appeared since
the New York convention include the highly successful
and much-praised Sex Education Series, a five-book
series to help parents and teachers deal with the task.
Many evaluations have rated it as “‘the best.”

b. Teaching the Mentally Retarded. A new series of
eight units with six lessons in each has been developed
for the mentally retarded in special education classes.
The materials are geared to basic concepts and minimum
vocabulary designed for the older child or young person.
Teachers manuals accompany each unit.

A special training manual for teachers of the mentally
retarded has been produced as part of the Concordia
Leadership Training Series.

c. Leadership Training. The following Leadership
Training courses appeared:

Worship and the Arts, by Robert E. Wunderlich

Interpreting the Holy Scriptures, by Herbert T. Mayer

The Church Teaching Her Young, by Allan Hart
Jahsmann

Helping the Retarded to Know God, by Hans R. Hahn
and Werner H. Raasch

d. Inner City. While teaching materials for the inner
city have been slow in developing, one unit suitable for
vacation Bible school or general use is in preparation.
The New York resolution authorizing the employment
of a person to develop inner-city work has not been
implemented because of lack of funds and lack of autho-
rization by the Board of Directors. The Board of Parish
Education hopes that cooperative efforts with the edu-
cation commission of the black clergy will be productive.

A 10-session poster course developed by Joel Nickel
and William E. Schmidt is in process of production. This
course, entitled ““Say and Do Love,” is a unique experi-
ment in the use of the inductive method with printed
visuals for the teaching of religion.

4. Exploring Curriculum Projects with The American
Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America

During the past 2 years the Coordinating Committee
for Cooperative Parish Education Projects, which is
composed of staff members from the three Lutheran
bodies, has explored the possibility of developing some
joint curricular materials. No immediate plan for a joint
curriculum is envisioned, although joy was evidenced
because of the joint acceptance of the contemporary
translation of Luther’s Catechism.

A joint project related to developing a study booklet
which points up the contributions nonwhite and minority
ethnic groups have made to the history of the Christian
church is under way.

Guidelines have been developed for responsible
action by each church body in relation to each project.
The committee has also developed guidelines for ongoing
exploratory meetings to raise questions and make dialog
possible regarding topics, materials, and functions that
might be developed jointly.

C. Departmental Reports
from the Field Services Division

The Field Services Division has five departments:
School, Part-Time Agencies, Youth, Adult, and Family
Life. Each department seeks to help congregations, in
cooperation with District boards, in meeting the educa-
tional issues described in Part I of the board’s report.

The following department reports will identify the
unique issues facing each area of parish education,
describe the way the department is dealing with these
issues, and suggest needed action on the congrega-
tional level.

Staff members of the Field Services Division are
grateful for the staff reorganization which has taken
place, whereby the various departments can better
coordinate their work in the service to God’s people.

1. Lutheran Elementary and Secondary Schools
One of the Missouri Synod’s unique contributions
to American Lutheranism is its system of elementary