Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 358
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 358

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

358 PARISH EDUCATION AND SERVICES

governed by middle-class values and customs. Curriculum
materials avoid terms, phrases, illustrations, activities,
photos, and artwork that judge or degrade people on the
basis of race or culture. Such curriculum materials are
needed for all agencies in every congregation. Educators
in urban congregations report that curriculum materials
that meet the standards described above are also appro-
priate for urban and inner-city use.

Providing appropriate curricula is an arduous task.
It means critically examining extant materials and pro-
viding adequate revisions. It means setting and following
adequate guidelines for new publications. Accomplishing
this task requires time, money, and appropriate skills.
This task involves many people. Writers, editors, and
artists all need guidelines and appropriate skills.

All Board of Parish Education staff members are
involved in dealing positively with urban issues. Never-
theless, the board’s work is seriously hampered because
no full-time person is available to provide leadership
and direction. The New York convention authorized the
Board of Parish Education “to appoint an editor-con-
sultant in urban education who is to prepare and edit
teaching and resource materials and provide field ser-
vices to Districts and parishes”: it further resolved, “‘That
the Synod reassess the priorities given to the allocation
of funds in order to give high priority to this concern.”
To date financial difficulties have made it impossible for
the Board of Directors to grant the board authority to
fill this necessary position.

6. Research in Christian Education

The synodical Handbook under the subheading “func-
tions” of the Board of Parish Education, p. 154, item
7.25 ff., instructs the board to “initiate and direct research
activities necessary to promote and improve parish edu-
cation.” Yet the research project the board presented to
Synod in 1965 and 1967 was not approved and the board
has not been able to engage in the basic kinds of re-
search that would provide empirical data on which it
could build programs and develop effective materials.
It has had neither manpower nor funds.

What is needed is (1) a trained educational researcher
attached to the staff of the Board of Parish Education
to advise, design, and direct projects, (2) the funds to
cover the cost of such projects. It is assumed that the
technical aspects of data gathering and processing would
be through the Research Department of the Synod;
however, this department has neither the manpower nor
the funds to do the educational research that is needed.

If it is true that it is difficult to distinguish between
the educational effectiveness of Christian and general
education, some effort should be made to determine why.
This will take time and money, neither of which have
been available to the board.

While no comprehensive research was undertaken,
some brief surveys were made.

One study attempted to assess the actual attendance
in Sunday school as compared to enrollment. It also
inquired into the extent of multiple enrollments and the

extent to which multiple-enrolled students accounted for
the ‘“‘best’’ attendances. The data supported the thesis
that the students enrolled in more than one agency also
were on the average more faithful in Sunday school
attendance. The study also supported the thesis that we
tend to emphasize instruction at the preconfirmation
level. There is little multiple enrollment at the primary
level and even less at the postconfirmation level. We
seem to hold some kind of “once a Christian always a
Christian” theory which makes Christian education after
confirmation purely nonessential.

Further research will be needed to determine the
kind of educational program needed to develop different
attitudes to the problems.

A survey inquiring into the observance of Lutheran
Education Month in the congregations of the Synod
indicated that approximately one half of the congrega-
tions of the Synod had a special emphasis on Christian
education in the regular Sunday services, apparently
by observing Rally Day. Less than 5 percent indicated
an educational emphasis in the regular Sunday service
apart from the Rally Day observance. About 20 percent
of the respondents had used the discussion topic from
Advance magazine. A similar number used the occasion
to evaluate their Christian education program. About
15 percent prepared a report on Christian education to
the congregation. The only other area yielding measure-
able results was the distribution of tracts on Christian
education by about 35 percent of the parishes. If the 300
congregations who replied were representative, and they
seem to be, we have data on what might be called a min-
imal promotional thrust for Christian education in The
Lutheran Church-— Missouri Synod.

In an effort to rescue the possibilities of minimal
research for the Board of Parish Education, an ad hoc
committee of the board recommended the appointment
of a research coordinator for the staff who can serve as
resource person for the staff as well as liaison with
Synod’s Research Department. Guidelines for action are
being developed.

The urgency with which the Synod must look at and
provide for educational research was emphasized by
the educational executives in a special meeting April 10,
1968. They called for a ‘‘deliberate plan of serious re-
search activity involving current and future educational
activities of the church. This includes a look at ourselves,
listening to the consumer, and developing innovative and
experimental approaches.”’

The convention is again asked to authorize basic
research for the Synod’s teaching tasks in a special
report.

Research is the modern tool for progress. Our fathers
were not so reluctant to use modern tools when they
established Concordia Publishing House 100 years ago —
began publishing the oldest educational journal in the
United States more than 100 years ago, established a
radio station nearly 50 years ago, and entered television
programing 20 years ago. We have waited too long
already.