# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S353 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) PARISH EDUCATION AND SERVICES 353 through one of the finest annual program packets issued by any denomination and through its learn-by-doing workshop type of annual conventions. District depart- ments and agencies of social ministry, such as Family and Children’s Service agencies, in many parts of Synod are providing an educational service with various kinds of institutes for parents, families, and couples; for instance, short courses in communities, congregations, or a cluster of churches. We are asking all District family life com- mittees to work closely with Lutheran social ministry boards and agencies to emphasize the preventive program of family education. d. Divine Imperative Education is big business in the state and in the church. It has become highly organized and institution- alized in a rapidly growing, ever more complex society. We have much more to pass on to the next generation than the ancients had to transmit. Life is no longer the simple existence it was when Israel was a nomadic, agri- cultural people. After confirmation the youth is bom- barded with numerous concepts from varied philosoph- ical viewpoints. Yet the basic truth set forth in Deut. 6:4-6 remains: If the Christian faith is to be a way of life, not merc!, religious content in memory, it must first be in the hearts of the adults to whom God gives the child. They, above any others, out of the fullness of their own faith must teach the faith in their own style of life in the home. Such was also the direction of the apostles to the first Christians who lived in an alien society in such places as Ephesus and Colossae (Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:16-21). Despite the highly organized education of our day a youngster from birth through high school spends only 13 percent of his waking hours in school. Both the Biblical directive and the modern situation call for intensification of Christian family life education. D. Special Assignments and Activities 1. Parish Renewal Through Education The New York convention adopted a resolution to strive for Parish Renewal Through Education. This resolution encouraged each congregation to make a searching examination of the nature, scope, and effec- tiveness of its educational program; instructed the syn- odical Board of Parish Education to develop self-study documents to assist congregations in this self-examina- tion; asked District boards to assist congregations in the process; and encouraged each congregation to act on its findings so that it could maintain its strengths, correct its weaknesses, and provide the maximum pos- sible program of Christian education for the sake of the church in mission. The Board of Parish Education prepared a study guide on the theological basis of the work of the church in Christian education under the title The Church at Work—Teaching. A_ self-evaluation manual entitled Inventory, Planning, and Action in Christian Education was also prepared. District Boards of Parish Education were asked to identify field-test congregations, and 32 congregations from 31 Districts participated in the field- testing of these materials. On the basis of the evaluations and suggestions from the field-test congregations, the materials were revised. A Leader’s Guide for The Church at Work—Teaching was produced. A Project Director's Manual was de- veloped with detailed suggestions for guiding the pro- gram. A pamphlet entitled The Congregational Census for Parish Renewal Through Education was produced. The materials for Parish Renewal Through Education were made available to congregations through District Boards of Parish Education. Most Districts conducted workshops to train circuit or regional leaders to brief congregational leaders on the materials and program in circuit workshops. It is hoped that congregations will make use of the materials in 1969—70. Congregations have been asked to appoint a project director and a self- evaluation committee to make the self-study. Parish Renewal will also be the theme of Parish Education Month, 1969. This will encourage congrega- tions to participate in this important effort to expand and improve the educational program in all congrega- tions of the Synod. 2. Confirmation Study Project The Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod has been a participant with The American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in America in a study of confirma- tion. The Joint Commission on the Theology and Practice of Confirmation made its report to the Presidents of the three church bodies in December 1967. Included in the recommendations was the suggestion that a study pro- gram be authorized in the three church bodies under the leadership of the respective Boards of Parish Edu- cation. Dr. Harms assigned the implementation of this proj- ect to the Board of Parish Education. Arrangements were made with District Presidents to present the report of the commission to the Synod through pastoral con- ferences. Ninety-nine such workshops on the Report of the Joint Commission were arranged, and a staff of 48 persons was recruited to conduct the workshops. Copies of the Study Book and the Leaders Guide were sent to all pastors of Synod under date of Dec. 30, 1968. Following the workshops on the Report of the Com- mission, all pastors were encouraged to conduct study sessions in the congregation, with their church council and with church-school teachers. Congregations were provided with a questionnaire which the pastor was asked to summarize and to return to the Joint Commis- sion by Aug. 1, 1969. The purpose of this feedback from the congregations was to assist the commission in eval- uating the recommendations that were made. On the basis of the return the final report of the commission will be prepared and presented to the church for considera- tion at the 1970—71 conventions of these three church bodies. Our Synod will receive the report at its 1971 convention.