LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 60

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60 PARISH, YOUTH, AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES

study of Ecclesiastes, produced in cooperation with the Lu-
theran Women’s Missionary League and targeted especially
for women’s Bible study groups.

Jonah—God’s Rescue Mission, edited by the BPS staff, is a
10-session study of the Book of Jonah, also produced under the
auspices of the LWML.

Equipping the Saints: Resources for Church Camps, edited
by BPS staff, is a 48-page book containing models for education
programs in a variety of retreat settings. It was produced for.
and distributed to, Lutheran church camps.

. Operation Good News, a Bible correspondence course, is in
the early stages of publication. Edited by BPS staff, the course
was developed in close cooperation with the Synod’s Board for
Evangelism. The course provides a community-outreach
evangelism resource for the local congregation. Included in the
course materials are: (1) an administration manual, with
complete directions for setting up the program; (2) an enroll-
ment card packet; (3) a certificate of completion; (4) two
individual student booklets with pull-out test sheets on the
back of each. All materials for the program will be sold by
Concordia Publishing House.

In development for publication in 1984 is a four-quarter
Bible survey course. The course is designed to answer the need
for a basic, easy to read and use, Lutheran theological
chronological survey of the Bible that will equip members of
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (especially those
newly received into membership) to use the Scriptures mean-
ingfully and profitably.

Also under development is a Forward-in-Remembrance-
funded Bible study course in Spanish on the life of Christ.

The BPS.CPH Guide to Growth catalog lists almost 100
extant courses for adults, including the still-popular “That We
May Grow” series. As new courses are produced, some of the
older courses wil] be discontinued.

K. Concordia Sex Education Series

Replacing the ‘‘old” BPS’CPH series of 1967 is the all-new
BPS/CPH Concordia Sex Education Series published in the
summer of 1982. As did the old series, the new series aims to
help all members of the family grow in understanding and
appreciating their sexuality as a good gift of God, to be used
responsibly. Like the old series, the new series points to the
resources God gives parents and children: forgiveness through
Christ; the power of Christian example; the sure guidance of
God’s Word.

Titles and intended age and grade levels for the series
books:

Each One Specially (Book 1) ages 3—5; I Wonder Why(Book
2) ages 6—8; How You Got to Be You (Book 3) ages 8—11 The
New You(Book 4) ages 11—14; Lord of Life, Lord of Me(Book5)
ages 14 and up; Sexuality: God’s Precious Gift (Book 6) adult.

How to Introduce the New Concordia Sex Education Series,
a free booklet, provides complete directions and helps for
congregational introduction of the series to parents.

The books are intended for use in Christian homes and
schools. Accompanying the books is a series of six full-color,
sound filmstrips for use in Christian classrooms. A teachers
manual with study helps accompanies each filmstrip.

L. Life of Luther Series

Prepared especially to help congregations of the Synod
celebrate the 500th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther’s birth,
the Life of Luther series aims to help students (1) learn the
biographical and geographical facts of Luther’s life; (2) see
Martin Luther as a “real” person, with all-too-human faults,
who was yet used by God to reform the church; (3) grow in
understanding and appreciation of the Biblical truths that
inspired the Reformation; (4) grow in trust in the God who has
saved us, solely by His grace in Christ, through faith, revealed
in the Scriptures, the sole source and norm of doctrine.

The series provides group-graded instructional materials
on four levels:

Kindergarten—Grade 2 (teachers guide; flannelgraph kit of
figures to ‘‘show and tell” Luther’s story; workbook for Kinder-
garten; workbook for grades 1 and 2)

Grades 3—35 (teachers guide/ leaflet and story’ workbook)
Grades 6—8 (teachers guide and student book)

Grades 9—I1 (teachers guide and student text—A Man
Called Martin Luther, CPH, 1980)

The series is designed to be an affordable, easy-to-teach,
extremely flexible four-session “‘mini-curriculum.” It can be
used in any teaching situation—day or weekday school, Sun-
day school, vacation Bible school.

For adult learning about Luther and the blessings of the
Reformation, the board recommends four courses of the extant
“That We May Grow” adult series. These courses focus on
confessional documents that came out of the Reformation:

Augsburg for Our Day—A Study of the Augsburg
Confession

We Believe, Teach, Confess—Formula of Concord

Our Lutheran Heritage—Study of Selected Doctrines

Daily Discipleship—Large Catechism

M. Writers Workshops

St. Louis (1979) convention Res. 7-11 resolved “that the
Synod encourage its members, as they become aware of those
having special talents for writing, to commend the writers to
the attention of Concordia Publishing House and the Board of
Parish Education and to recommend their participation in the
various workshops sponsored by the Board of Parish
Education.”

With the assistance of a generous grant from the members
of the Aid Association for Lutherans, the editorial staff of the
board has once again been offering workshops for potential
writers of curricular materials, preprimary through adult
levels. The workshops have been held in a variety of locations,
two workshops per year in the summers of 1981, 1982, and 1983.
All workshops were held at Synod terminal schools, usually in
connection with each institution’s regular summer program.
In 1981: Concordia College, Bronxville, N.Y., and Concordia
Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.; 1982: Concordia College, River
Forest, I]., and Christ College, Irvine, Calif.; 1983: Concordia
Gcllese. Seward, Nebr., and Concordia College, Portland,

reg.

N. To Update the 1943 Translation
of Luther’s Smal] Catechism and the Exposition Thereof

Resolution 7:02 of the 1981 St. Louis Synod Convention
reads as follows:

WHEREAS, The Board of Parish Education has encouraged the
Synod to work toward updating the wording of the 1943 translation
of the Enchiridion (Luther's Small Catechism); and

WHEREAS, The 1943 edition of the exposition of Luther’s Small
Catechism is a concise summary of the chief parts of the Christian
doctrine; and

WHEREAS, Many confirmands find the 1943 edition of the
catechism difficult to understand because the language of the King
James translation is not commonly used today and the exposition
reflects that language; and

WHEREAS, There are newer translations of the Bible: therefore be
it

Resolved, That the Synod in convention direct the Board of
Parish Education to study the updating of the Enchiridion and the
exposition of the 1943 edition of Luther’s Small Catechism (com-
monly known as the blue catechism); and be it further

Resolved, That the Board of Parish Education present the results
of this study with a plan of action to the next convention of the
Synod.

Action: Adopted (9)

In accordance with the resolution, the board has taken the
following steps to ‘“‘study the updating ... of the 1943 edition”:
A questionnaire was developed to survey Synod pastors on the
need for a revision of the 1943 translation and exposition. The
questionnaire also asked: If there is a need, what direction
ought a revision best take? The board consulted with Synod’s
Department of Research and Planning regarding the adequacy
of the survey instrument and the kinds of sampling techniques
and procedures needed to provide valid survey conclusions.

After all revisions were made in the questionnaire, it was