in order to ascertain the courses to be offered. To be sure the local church board will have certain courses they feel should be a part o f the program but the adults should have some voice in the basic offerings of the rest of the curriculum. Courses are offered for a 13-week period which we designate as a quarter. When one quarter is completed, registration takes place for the new offering of classes. Some classes, such as Bible survey, Will of necessity be longer than one quarter, but many can be completed within 13 weeks. There are many advantages to this program. Bible study will be more effective because the new Christian may choose or be guid ed into basic courses in simple truths of Bible study, Christian living, basic Christian doctrines, your church distinctives, etc. More mature Christians may choose more advanced courses such as prophecy, archaeology, inductive Bible study, and church history. Any student may choose areas of special interest or need for sub- Two of the most helpful books to aid you are, “Creative Methods for Adult Classes” by John Mc Kinley, Bethany Press, and “ For ty Ways to Teach in Groups” by Martha ‘Leypold, Judson Press. Some of the best curriculum re sources for the content of your adult elective classes can be found in the Regal Books selection from Gospel Light Publications, the evening hour adult training ma terial from Scripture Press; Al- dersgate Adult Bible Study mate rial, Winona Lake; and the Growth by Groups and Dialogue materials from Huntington Vel- ley, Pennsylvania 19006. Adults will learn if we offer them the opportunity. Consider your program. Consider electives. Churches who have established these programs are experiencing attendance growth that often dou bles that of previous programs but most important a newly awak ened interest in study of the Word of God has been the final out come. Continued on page U2
program o f the Sunday school and the Sunday evening program. The adult elective program was instituted to alleviate the tradi tionalism and stagnation that was evident in many adult Sunday school programs. Most classes were arranged basically accord ing to age, sex or marital status. Adults entered a Sunday school class and remained there for years regardless of who the teach er was or the topic being taught. Because of this arrangement many adults lost the opportunity to broaden their range of ac quaintances of other Christian adults who were similarly mired in their everlasting class. A question to be considered here is would we today be expe riencing the interest that is pre valent in secular education if these schools and colleges oper ated on the premise of the “ same class, same teacher” for the stu dent year after year? The answer is obvious. Must this philosophy continue within the Church school program ? Fortunately many have changed their approach and the most popular and successful inno vation has been the elective sys tem. The elective program simply means that the adults have the opportunity to choose the Bible course that they need and that interests them. Most churches who adopt the elective program con tinue to maintain the same class structure based on age grading. These classes meet together the first 20 minutes for the purpose of fellowship, worship, business and social activities. When the actual lesson time arrives, the adults from the various class groups move to the elective class that they have selected for that particular quarter. In this pro gram adults are offered their choice of several sh o r t-te rm courses covering a variety of sub jects geared to their special needs and interests. During the teach ing session, adults of all ages at tend classes together. Generally the entire adult popu lation of the church is surveyed
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Mr. Wright is Associate Pro fessor of Religious Education at Talbot Seminary and Christian Education Consultant for Gospel Light Publications. T h e r a p i d r i s e of adult educa- cation within the past decade is a phenomena that often defies explanation. The increased enroll ment in night classes at both sec ondary and college levels attests to this fact. Educators are en couraged and thrilled by the de sire on the part of our adult popu lation seemingly to increase their knowledge and skills. But is there any evidence of this interest in learning reflected in the educational program of the local church? What about your church? How many adults seri ously study and make any attempt to learn from the average Sunday morning program? Statistics and facts are very nebulous here al though many churches that are progressive in their programing and methodology are seeing evi dence of positive change. These adults are measured in terms of the number of those attending the class, and the amount of study and interest that takes place away from the class. This pro gressiveness in programing and methodology does not alter the basic content of the adult study course which must always be the Word o f God. The most basic change that has taken place is found in the adult
JULY, 1968
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