LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 368

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368 PARISH SERVICES

subject to rending pressures. As one attempt to assist the parents
and children of our Synod to live together in God-pleasing
harmony and with mutual respect and love, a special project,
Effectiveness Training for Lutherans, has been initiated by the
Board of Parish Education. It was funded initially (May 1973
to December 1974) by the Aid Association for Lutherans and
conducted in cooperation with Dr. Thomas Gordon, Pasadena,
Calif. Mr. Norman Junghans is the Synod’s Project Director
and has been with the Board of Parish Education since June
1973.

The Project Director of Effectiveness Training for Lutherans
assists the Districts of the Synod to enable parishes to sponsor
Parent and/or Teacher Effectiveness classes for their parents
and staffs.

These classes usually require 25 hours over an 8-week period
and teach communication skills which, when used in the home
or church, result in warmer feelings, closer relationships, and
the development of more responsible children. The process
accents the dynamics of Christian love, and views the family
and school as a community of persons growing in ‘the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”’

The classes are taught only by Lutheran personnel — pastors.
teachers, and dedicated lay people — who have been specifically
selected by their District and licensed to teach after completing
an intensive, prescribed course of instructor training in special
skills and Christian nurture. To date 415 persons have been
trained as licensed instructors in ETL and more than 7,000 have
enrolled and completed the course.

In addition to the Parent Effectiveness courses, courses are
also available and have been taken by many under the programs
of Teacher Effectiveness Training and Leadership Effective-
ness Training.

At the time this report is being written, plans are being
finalized for further implementation of this highly successful
program. Under the leadership of Mr. Junghans cooperation
is being effected with the branches of the Aid Association for
Lutherans, with The American Lutheran Church, some sections
of the Lutheran Church in America, and with the Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod.

In addition to classes in the United States and Canada,
classes have also been taught in England (by Dr. Martin Luebke,
Concordia Seminary, Springfield, Il], and in Guatemala, by
Rev. John Durkovic).

The ultimate purpose of this program is to assist our parents
and teachers to act as role models of functioning, loving Chris-
tian people for our children and young people—Matt. 5:13:
“You are the salt of the earth."

D. Family Related Media Resources

Requests for resource materials prompt the Board of Parish
Education to be continually involved in the preparation and
production of books, pamphlets, tapes, study guides, and plan-
ning helps for a ministry with people in families. The following
items have recently been offered by our board in cooperation
with Concordia Publishing House: Engagement: Your First
Year in College: Moving: Welcome Retirement: Newlyweds:
Firstborn: Alone. Alone. All. All Alone: Divorced and Chris-
tian: We've Tried Family Devotions: Happily Ever After: Mar-
riage: Abortion? For Christian Living in Families: Family Life
Education in the Parish: Hey Families. Let's Talk: Listen:
Marriage Counseling Cards.

Additional information, ideas, and family life education
models are shared in workshops, mailings. and articles in
Advance. Interaction. Inspirit. and study courses in The Gate
and Mission:Life.

God has blessed our Synod with an abundance of personal
and material resources. It is our prayer that there will be a fuller
awareness of a continued need for personal and familial evalu-
ation and education so we capture more of the fullness of life
that is already ours in Christ our Lord.

X. Weekday, Summer, and Sunday Schools as Places
for Assisting Persons to Be Messengers of the Lord

In receiving a person into its fellowship through Baptism the
Christian community assumes the responsibility to nurture that
person in the Christian faith and to equip him to be an effective
messenger of the Lord.

Statistics suggest that we in The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod have been faltering in fulfilling this responsibility, par-

ticularly in the recent past. Of the children baptized in our
churches during 1935—52, 85 to 94 percent were later confirmed
(junior confirmations for 1949-66). However, the junior con-
firmations for 1967—73 show a steady decline in the percentage
of children baptized who are later confirmed. The figures below
indicate the percentage of young people confirmed as com-
pared with infant baptisms 14 years prior to the year of con-
firmation.

1967 — 84% 1969 — 79% 1971 —71% 1973 — 68°
1968 — 81% 1970 — 70° 1972 —67%

When one takes into account that we confirmed youth who
were baptized in other Christian churches, these percentages
become even more telling. We can try to explain away the
decline by pointing to infants baptized as a matter of form,
children lost through geographical mobility, and other factors.
Yet the decline remains, and we are challenged to become more
effective messengers of the Lord to our own children and youth
as well as adults.

With gratitude to God we can point to our excellent Lutheran
elementary and secondary schools. Yet less than 25 percent of
the infants baptized in our churches are later enrolled in a Lu-
theran elementary school. We need to continue to give serious
attention to our weekday, summer. and Sunday schools as
places for assisting persons to be the Lord's messengers.

A. Weekday Schools

Our ideal goal is that every child and youth in The Lutheran
Church— Missouri Synod receive at least 6 hours of formal
religious instruction each week (Lutheran elementary school
plus Sunday school). For many reasons this may not be pos-
sible. A more realistic goal is that children and youth be enrolled
in at least 3 hours of Christian education per week (weekday
school plus Sunday school). This requires that every congre-
gation in the Synod evaluate its ministry of Christian education
and offer weekday programs of religion to all children not
currently enrolled in a Lutheran elementary school. Tradi-
tionally we have provided this opportunity to all seventh- and
eighth-grade students (confirmation instruction). Our challenge
now is to expand this weekday educational ministry to involve
also all children in elementary schools. By God's grace we have
made good progress in strengthening our weekday schools of
religion. Weekday schools have continued to enjoy numerical
growth in spite of the decline in our child population. Table I de-
scribes our growth during the past biennium but also stresses
the challenge before us.

As this report is being written, the Board of Parish Education
is launching a significant effort to increase the quantity and
quality of weekday instruction in the Synod. Funded through
resources available from the Synod’s 125th Thankoffering, this
special effort will identify factors that make for a good weekday
school on the local level. It will also identify successful District
strategies for weekday school expansion. These congregational
and District models will then be shared throughout the Synod.
In addition the Board of Parish Education will provide special
promotional tools designed to help all in the church derive
greater blessings from that important and growing Christian
education agency —the weekday school.

B. Summer Schools

Summer programs of Christian education continue to enjoy
wide popularity. In addition to the traditional 2-week vacation
Bible schools, congregations are trying experimental programs
such as evening sessions for the entire family, 1 day per week
throughout the summer, and weekend programs.

Summer programs continue to be an important ministry to
the unchurched. Approximately 30 percent of our vacation Bible
school enrollments are nonmembers.

Unfortunately, approximately one third of our congregations
do not sponsor a vacation Bible school. Thereby they lose the
opportunity to make good use of the summer months to enrich
the Christian education of their own children and to serve the
unchurched in their community.

The 1972—73 vacation Bible school statistics are:

Year No. Schools Pupils Nonmembers Teachers
1972 4,202 354,248 114,600 43,025
1973 ____ 4,200 345,392 114,945 42.619