The biggest change to Sunday School curriculum in more than two decades will occur in many Alabama Baptist churches the first Sunday of September. The change in curriculum also means some changes in The Alabama Baptist.
On Sept. 3, the most widely used lesson series among Alabama Baptists, the Life and Work series, will be eliminated. The Family Bible lessons, which was the Baptist presentation of the International lesson series, also will be gone. The Life and Work series focused primarily on Bible passages reflecting the needs of Baptists and Baptist church life. The International series presented Scripture passages studied by most mainline denominations on a given Sunday.
In place of the two lesson series that have ceased publication, LifeWay Christian Resources is promoting the Family Bible Study lesson series. Part of the reason for the name is that the new series provides for family members of all ages to study the same Bible passage on the same Sunday. Families then will be able to reflect together on a common Bible passage studied that Sunday.
A major change in the way Sunday School lessons are taught is suggested for young and median adults. Instead of class members preparing for Bible discussion, the teaching guidelines suggest learning activities for adults during the class and follow-up activities during the next week.
The catch words used to explain the change is that instead of “preparing and encountering,” one will now “encounter and continue.”
The Exploring the Bible series, a book study approach to Bible study, will remain unchanged.
For The Alabama Baptist, the change in Sunday School curriculum means a change in the way Sunday School lesson commentaries are presented. For more than 20 years, the state Baptist paper has printed weekly commentary on each of the three lessons. For the past five years, all three commentaries appeared on the same page.
Beginning with this issue, there are only two lessons — one for each of the new set of curriculum series. Writing the lessons will be the religion faculties of Samford University and the University of Mobile. Samford will write the Family Bible Study series; Mobile, the Exploring the Bible series. Various faculty members will take turns writing the commentaries. This will allow Alabama Baptists to know and to learn from the religion faculties firsthand.
An unfortunate result of the change is that long-time writers of the Life and Work lessons, Earl Tew for 15 years and David Tew for the past five years, will no longer write for The Alabama Baptist. (See story, page 4.) Through the years their writings have been outstanding. They have been dependable, always having their lessons on time to meet the printing schedule.
Because the Life and Work lessons were the most widely used, the influence of these two pastors extended to tens of thousands of Baptists in hundreds of Alabama churches and beyond. Seldom do we ever go into a Baptist church in the state without someone expressing appreciation for the help the Sunday School lessons provide each week.
At The Alabama Baptist, we are deeply indebted to the Tews for their tireless contributions to the state Baptist paper and to Alabama Baptist life.
The change in Sunday School lessons also produces an opportunity to respond to a widespread reader request. Beginning in this issue and appearing each week will be a Christian crossword puzzle. The puzzle will always appear on the page with the Sunday School lessons. The answer to the puzzle will be printed upside down on the same page.
Responding to reader requests and reactions is important to The Alabama Baptist. That is one reason the first professional readership survey in five years has been commissioned. Beginning the last of August, hundreds of readers will receive telephone calls from the Center for Advanced Scientific Research at the University of Missouri. This is one of the most renowned readership research centers in the nation.
The randomly selected subscribers will be asked to spend about five to eight minutes answering questions and sharing their reactions about their state Baptist paper. The results of the research will be compiled, analyzed and studied by the staff and the state paper’s board of directors.
The results also will be reported in The Alabama Baptist so all readers can know the opinions shared by subscribers.
The research project is important to the future of the state Baptist paper. If you are one of those contacted, please take time to answer the questions as completely as possible. The results will be used to help direct future changes in the content and the appearance of the state Baptist paper.
This is a time of change for The Alabama Baptist as well as for Sunday School work. Your help in making the change as positive and as helpful as possible will be appreciated.
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