DownloadJuly 13, 2009 issue
Falling use of curriculum a concern
By John Longhurst For Mennonite Weekly ReviewCOLUMBUS, Ohio — In the 1980s, almost 100 percent of Mennonite Church USA churches used the Foundation series from Mennonite Publishing Network for their children and youth Sunday schools.
In the 1990s, that figure slipped to 75 percent for the Jubilee series.
Today, only about half of MC USA churches use Gather ’Round, MPN’s most recent Christian education material from an Anabaptist perspective.
“This is a troubling trend,” said MPN executive director Ron Rempel, speaking at the MPN “roundtable discussion” July 1.
Rempel noted that if it wasn’t for other denominations that are purchasing Gather ’Round materials, the series would not be viable.
“Purchases from other denominations make it profitable,” he said.
Roundtable participant Dave Maurer, pastor of Bethel Mennonite Church in West Liberty, agreed that the decline in use is troubling. But, he said, it is a much bigger problem than whether MPN can persuade churches to buy the Gather ’Round curriculum.
“Mennonite churches are asking if they can do outreach and be Anabaptist,” he said. “They feel they have to drop Anabaptism if they are going to do outreach. I don’t believe they are mutually exclusive.”
He went on to say that churches are also influenced by the surrounding Christian culture, and what they hear on Christian radio.
“That tends to form them as much, or more, than what we do on Sunday mornings,” he said.
Other denominational publishers are also struggling with the issue of denominational identification, said Eleanor Snyder, who directs Faith and Life Resources for MPN.
In some places, the bigger issue is that “Sunday school is dying,” she said, and publishers are “scrambling to know what is next.”
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