# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S351 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) PARISH EDUCATION AND SERVICES 351 classes for adults to the needs of their people. This is one answer to the problem of enrolling people for con- tinuing education in the church. New enlistment helps should accent service to people and not subject matter. 8) We must assist each other to acquire the skills of evaluating our efforts in adult education so that we be- come aware of new needs and thus reshape our goals to contemporary situations. A certain sequence is obvious here. However, con- gregations may begin at almost any point. They will discover how the steps in the process are interdependent. 5. Family Life Education a. History To activate services to the family, the Synod in 1944 authorized the Board of Parish Education to include family life education in its portfolio. For two decades the board has made major and minor contributions to this field with such materials as Ministry to Families, a hand- book for congregations, the basic volume Helping Fam- ilies Through the Church, the 14-book Parent Guidance series, the Family Research Series, the 6-book Sex Edu- cation Series, and special Family Life Bulletins. It has provided leadership training through many national, District, and regional workshops. The aim of family life education is expressed in a sin- gle sentence: ‘‘To help every family by the grace of God to become a spiritually growing, responsible, Christian family unit.”” In pursuing this goal the board has been ably assisted by many pastors, professors, teachers, family sociologists, laymen and women who served on its Family Life Committee. It has explored needs, kept abreast of the family education field, tested various approaches, and developed functional projects to help meet the needs of today’s families. b. Issues and Needs The family today is called on to make adjustments to many rapid changes that separate the mid-20th century from the past. Among the causes of rapid change are: urbanization, which cut the roots from rural and small- town life; technical changes like the automobile, radio, television; the cataclysmic experiences of two world wars; secularization of life due to various impacts, such as the ethos of technology erasing certain religious prohibitions. In the last four decades the family has been bombarded with new philosophies and revolutionary approaches to life. Sociologists observe such changes as the following: (1) Marriage has moved from being procreative-centered to being unitive-centered. History emphasized the pro- creative; the population explosion deemphasizes it. (2) The nuclear family has almost displaced the extended family. It demands good lovers, but often makes poor parents. (3) The parent-marriage period has been short- ened (the woman is free of childbearing earlier), and the nonparent-marriage period has been lengthened. (4) The family has moved from a one-vote system to a two-vote system, which is more complex. This requires much more by way of maturity and good relationships. (5) Now the companionship aspect of marriage is put first and the institutional aspect second. Marriages cannot be held together today as formerly by external coercion. They must be held together by internal cohesion. (6) Marriage has moved from partners with rather fixed roles to part- ners with fluid roles. Today both husband and wife play many roles related to homemaking and earning. (7) Formerly mating was within the same nationality, social structure, and religious belief. Now marriages are taking place across national, racial, and religious barriers. (8) We are recovering in our time a more Biblical view of sex, that is, one that is more positive. Sex is a part of God’s creation and therefore good. Yet for more than a thousand years the church taught an “antisexual religion.” Despite these changes the family is not breaking down; it is making adjustments as it evaluates changes, and it needs the help of the church in doing so. The family is still the basic social unit as determined by God’s bisexual creation. New research in the field of birth control and the 1968 papal encyclical have opened a controversy that raises new questions around two poles: human sexuality and authority in ethical problems. These questions are before our people both from the viewpoint of overpopula- tion and of soundly Christian and Biblical ethics. Chris- tian people ask for guidance based on all the facts. What should guide Christians in regard to sexual attitudes and behavior throughout the life-span? Contrasting Biblical, theological, humanistic, and sociological views call for sound examination. It is estimated that there are one and a half million abortions in the United States annually, with up to 10,000 resulting deaths. New legislation is being adopted in many countries. When does human life begin? Is the fetus a person? Questions like these call for responsible answers. The role of parents in Christian nurture overshadows many of these problems. One public school superinten- dent writes, ‘We live in times of tension and angry vio- lence. Many of our youngsters are rebellious because they do not have the security and control of a stable home. . . . To operate a productive learning program, the teachers need the support and cooperation of the home. When objectives and purposes of the home are different from those of the school, there will be little learning done in school.” The home is the major value-developing agent in the average person’s life. It has been, it is now, and it will be in the future. Such is the nature of the God-created family. That is in accord with the mature philosophy of the Old and New Testaments. For the best growth— physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually —the church must team up with the home. Christian nurture grows out of the whole style of life of the home and will not be achieved by simply devising curriculum plans which assume it. The church must seek parent involvement in the educational program by emphasizing the duties