Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 346
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 346

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

346 PARISH EDUCATION AND SERVICES

newal suggests a congregational study of its educational
needs and ways to meet these needs. Congregations
may find that, while contributions ought to remain the
main source of school support, a nominal tuition may
also be required. Tuition for member children is not
unscriptural. However, high tuition can cause congre-
gations to lose their sense of responsibility for the school.
A study of the congregation’s educational needs, includ-
ing the financial needs, usually reveals stewardship
performance as the real issue. For that reason any
school study should include a thorough study of steward-
ship performance and potential. Such studies enable
congregations to take proper remedial action.

4) New Schools. During a time when some people
question the value of the school, congregations without
schools may hesitate to establish their own parish schools
or join in interparish school efforts. Congregations with
school potential can start new schools or Participate in
interparish school efforts if they are serious about giving
their children a thorough Christian education. This
applies to Lutheran high schools as well. District Boards
of Education and the Synod’s board are ready to help
congregations examine their needs and their potential.

Interparish schools in rural and urban areas offer
possibilities for cooperation that have not been fully
explored in many communities.

Congregations in Fort Wayne, Ind., are planning
a school system with its own superintendent for Fort
Wayne and the surrounding area. This experiment has
implications for many other areas of the Synod. Inter-
parish schools, central purchasing, combined bus
routes, and other avenues of cooperation are practical
possibilities.

5) Public Aid. Whether or not to seek and accept
public aid is a matter to be decided by good practical
judgment; it is not a doctrinal issue. No government
agency can give financial aid without proper admin-
istration of the money it grants. Such administration
often requires that a school be an approved school, that
the school provide safe and sanitary facilities, and that
it observe compulsory attendance laws. In accepting
aid, a congregation commits itself to vigilance to make
sure that acceptable conditions continue. It commits
itself to integrity in observing legislation regarding civil
rights, quality education, and other acceptable legisla-
tion that may govern the aid. The approach should be
one of confidence as an equal partner in the American
educational enterprise.

The church’s chief cause for alarm should not be
rising costs but declining commitment to the cause of
Christian education, including the schools. As long as
the church is the church, full-time Christian education
should remain a practical option for many children and
young people in the church.

2. Part-Time Agencies: Sunday School,
Vacation Bible School, Weekday School

Our congregations maintain a variety of educational
agencies in their ministry to children, youth, and adults,

including the Sunday school, the vacation Bible school,
and the weekday school. The operation of these schools
is affected by the quality of leadership provided for
them, by the facilities made available to them, and by
the courageous dealing with problems that must be
solved to maintain any quality educational program.
The Board of Parish Education has continued to pro-
mote the part-time agencies as important educational
agencies in the parish education program.

a. Issues Confronting the Part-Time Agencies

1) Dealing with Change. We tend to deal with the
present in patterns established as responses to condi-
tions prevailing at some point in the past. But rapidly
changing conditions in contemporary society affect the
attitudes and expectations of children, youth, and adults.
These changing conditions affect also the operation of
the schools of the church. The church must do more
than simply continue the programs of the past and the
operational conditions of the past. Rather, the church
must evaluate the various current settings provided for
formal Christian education and make changes and
improvements as necessary. The Parish Renewal
Through Education project provides a vehicle for such
self-evaluation and improvement.

The Sunday school remains an important part of the
congregation’s program of Christian education. Con-
gregations must seriously question, however, whether
one hour per week is adequate for a serious program of
Christian education. The adequacy of the Sunday school
is further affected by a relatively high rate of absenteeism
in many congregations. A recent survey indicated that
on a given Sunday morning only 63 percent of those
enrolled were present on Sundays.

The vacation Bible school provides important con-
tributions to the congregation’s programs of education
and evangelism. Problems of advance planning including
providing strong leadership for the school, setting the
most advantageous dates for the school, and recruiting
and training the staff must be dealt with annually.

The weekday school has not been included in the
educational programs of most congregations. For chil-
dren not attending a Lutheran elementary school the
weekday school provides special advantages in Chris-
tian education because of its time schedule of 2 or 3 hours
and the varied activities possible with more time. Pro-
fessional teaching staffs can help the weekday school
achieve maximum effectiveness. The weekday school
merits consideration by every congregation.

2) Enrollments. The 1967 enrollments in the part-
time agencies were as follows:

Sunday Schools 868,449
Weekday Schools 59,780
Vacation Bible Schools 396,981

It is useful to consider these enrollments in relation
to enrollments since 1960:

Year Sunday School Weekday School Vacation Bible School
1960_____ ss 802,980 44813 338,435
1961__ «827,893 36,658 358,766
1962 «853,827 44,843 377,489