LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 282

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282 PARISH SERVICES

Church workers generally described their training as deficient.

Thanks to a generous fraternal benevolence grant from the
Aid Association for Lutherans, the BPE launched Phase II of
its special education research project on Oct. 1, 1980. Sue Cutt,
formerly of Special Lutheran Classes of St. Louis, joined the
BPE staff as assistant director of Phase II. She will be working
with Jan Case, who headed Phase I of the project.

Phase II, an 18-month followup, implements many of the
Phase I findings by developing special education services in
Lutheran schools and congregations in five selected “pilot”
Districts of the LCMS. As part of the project. school and church
workers in these Districts will be trained for the development of
new special education programs. Training materials and
training activities for Lutheran school and church staffs will
be written for Lutheran District. school, and parish workers in
each pilot District. These training materials and activities will
include topics such as—

Strategies for developing awareness and commitment;
Special education models of instruction;

Guidelines for establishing special education;
Gathering resources for special education services:
Special education teaching methods and materials;
Staff development:

Family education; and

Guidelines for evaluating special education programs.

As a result of the Board of Parish Education project, an
increased percentage of individuals with special education
needs will begin to receive Christian education services from
Lutheran schools and congregations.

VI. Forward in Remembrance Through Our Sunday,
Weekday, and Summer Schools

Through the Scriptures we are called to remember what God
in His grace accomplished for His people in times gone by.
Through the history of the church, also that of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod, we perceive the actions of God who,
in His steadfast love, continues in every age to call people into
His fellowship, nourish them in their faith, equip them for
service in this world, empower them to lead others to Jesus, and
finally lead them into eternal glory.

Our Christian faith points to the future. We look forward to
the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when He will
usher in the New Age of eternal bliss. In the meantime we seek
by the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill our calling to convince
all people of their need for God's grace in Jesus Christ. to lead
them into the company of God’s elect, and to encourage one
another to live and work as God’s people on earth until God
Himself calls us into our eternal heritage.

For this work of ministry in its wider sense we are blessed
with Sunday, weekday, and summer schools in addition to our
Lutheran elementary and secondary schoools. It is difficult to
overemphasize the importance of all these agencies. However,
many children baptized in our churches never attend a
Lutheran school. Most of our congregations are small. More
than 75 percent do not maintain a Lutheran school.

Certainly we shall continue to emphasize the value of
Lutheran schools and encourage congregations to establish
and maintain them. But we also have a serious responsibility
toward the vast majority of our members (adults and youth as
well as children) who do not attend a Lutheran school.

Sunday Schools

During the past two years, the long decline in enrollment
that began in 1965 has slowed. In fact, in 1979 our Sunday
schools showed a slight gain. The gains in 1979 were recorded
in the nursery, kindergarten, and adult classes, which com-
pensated for the continued losses in grades 1—12. We thank
God that a growing number of adults recognize their need for
growth through the Scriptures and that they are enrolling in
Sunday morning study groups. Their participation in Sunday
school both enriches their own lives and provides a fine
example for children and youth.

We also are pleased with the growth in nursery and
kindergarten classes. This growth reflects the growing number
of births in the United States and Canada—a growth that some
observers believe will continue and eventually surpass the
“baby boom” of two decades ago. If these prophecies are

fulfilled, we now need to prepare ourselves to reach out to the
growing number of children to be born in the next years.

To assess where we are now in Sunday school ministry and
to prepare for future years, our Synod joined in the observance
of the 200th anniversary of the Sunday school movement
during 1980. Aided by a grant from the Aid Association for
Lutherans. our synodical Board of Parish Education joined
representatives of other Lutheran bodies in an important
research project during the spring of 1980. This project enabled
us to ascertain where our Sunday schools are and to gain clues
as to our future directions. On the whole, the findings are
promising and provide reason for optimism concerning LCMS
Sunday schools. The conclusions of the research project within
the LCMS were incorporated in Bulletin No. 57680, “Sunday
Schools of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod on the
200th Anniversary of the Sunday School Movement.”

In October 1980 representatives from Lutheran bodies met
in Madison, Wis., to assess their Sunday schools and to
consider directions for the future. LCMS representatives iden-
tified these challenges for the years ahead:

—More intensive attention to careful teacher selection.
training, and support;

—More encouragement to congregations to conduct Sunday
school at least 60 minutes every Sunday for all 52
Sundays of the year;

—Greater emphasis on reaching out to all people in the
community: .

—Greater attention to the cultural milieu of students and
people in the church’s community:

—Provide a wider variety of Sunday school groupings to
serve the greatest number of people (e.g.. groups for
families and for single adults);

—Cultivate a greater sensitivity to the needs and “hurts” of
people;

—Develop a closer relationship for long-range planning
between the Board of Parish Education and Concordia
Publishing House;

—Provide parents more help in teaching their children and
seek greater parental involvement in the Sunday morning
program;

—Improve the image of the Sunday school as a useful
educational agency and generate more excitement among
congregations in their Sunday school;

—Assist congregations to develop clear aims and focused
plans for their Sunday schools to enable them to make
maximum use of the Sunday school hour;

—Ascertain the actual needs and wants of Sunday school
teachers through a research project by the Synod and its
Districts;

—Continue to emphasize that Sunday school is for every-
body—adults and youth as well as children;

—Explore possibilities for different kinds of materials for
the different cultural groups we seek to serve:

—Provide more assistance to boards of Christian education
and Sunday school administrators: and

—Continue to make the Christian life by and in the grace of
God in Jesus Christ the core and center of Sunday school
ministry.

Another concern is the need to provide a personal ministry
among people from the time of their baptism to the time God
calls them to Himself in heaven. More than 50 percent of our
congregations do not maintain a nursery roll to serve the newly
baptized and their parents. This condition needs to receive
more attention.

Sunday school teachers need to be carefully selected,
trained, and supported in their important ministry. One excel-
lent way that congregations can provide their teachers with
training, new ideas, and greater appreciation for their Sunday
school ministry is to encourage and enable them to participate
in the Eighth North American Lutheran Sunday School
Convention to be held at the Palmer House, Chicago, Il., July
16—18, 1982. Some of the aims of the convention are to—

in teachers opportunities to develop their teaching
skills;

Offer teachers settings in which to exchange ideas;

Inspire teachers with a renewed sense of the significance of
their Sunday school ministry;