WELS Congregation Promotes ELCA Program, Female Bishop

Cheryl Anderson column: School finds new life in honor of former superintendent

Jim Krause would've loved the changes in the youth program at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Appleton. But he also would've been humbled.

In November, at its 95th anniversary celebration, the church dedicated the Krause Youth Center, named for the former Sunday school superintendent who died of cancer May 16 at age 55.

"He never wanted attention, just to be faithful to the Lord's work and do what he loved doing, which was making sure kids knew about Christ," said the Rev. Tom Mielke, pastor of youth and adult discipleship.

"He was a single man, and this was his family," added youth coordinator Pamela Franzke, who worked alongside Krause for many years.

The newly remodeled space and rotational program is called The Underground, offering a fresh name and new approach to Sunday school. It's based on the church's vision logo, a tree with two branches and lots of leaves. The ground surrounding the tree is God's word, the place youth should be firmly rooted and where they receive the nutrients that allow faith to grow.

The main room — once St. Matthew's School's cafeteria — looks as if students are underneath a tree complete with worms and badgers painted on the walls. Rejuvenating the children's Sunday program also has been a boon for the congregation, which after 82 years closed the grade school following the 2007-2008 school year. It has offered members the opportunity to be a part of the program, sharing facts about their vocations and how God influences everything they do.

The idea behind The Underground was to recreate the excitement children had coming to vacation Bible school during summer vacation through crafts, music and God's word, not to make it an extended day of school.

"Kids like activity, and kids learn in different ways," Mielke said of the 30 to 40 children who regularly attend. "We really want to make learning about God's word fun instead of drudgery for the kids, and we believe this was an opportunity to keep the kids moving and get them excited and give them different exposure."

The implementation of The Underground also has deeper roots, said church administrator Jon Ruddat. It's based on Faith Inkubators' Bible Song method, which connects Sunday school to home and home to worship.

"It's a much different environment for the children to learn, and different ways in shorter time segments," he said, adding that the theory behind the curriculum is based on brain research that found the way children learn and the way their brains think are different from what traditional programs teach. "Bible Song integrates music, the arts and sign language into teaching the children the truths of the Bible and how to apply it."

Teaching children about God was Krause's strongest suit.

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GJ - What is Faith Inkubators? It is a program from an ELCA pastor.

Rich Melheim's Biography

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Rev. Rich Melheim
Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Current News/Blog: The Melheimian Sabbatiblog
Rich Melheim grew up on the plains of North Dakota but never did own a pick up with a gun rack. An entrepreneur, author, speaker, playwright, songwriter, family counselor, business systems consultant, amateur complexity theorist, log cabin builder, preschool designer, cartoonist, and student of the human brain, Melheim has appeared on 50 network television news shows from WNBC-NY to KTLA to CNN consulting on family issues.
Rich is also an ordained Lutheran pastor with a specialized call from the St. Paul Area Synod (ELCA) to experiment with family-connected Christian education systems.

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Ten Foundations of Faith Inkbuators

1. Jesus Christ is the only Son of the Living God.
2. The Bible is the only text book you need for Christian education.
3. A living, loving Christian role model in the home is by far the best delivery system for passing on the Christian faith.
4. Christian parents are charged with the honor and responsibility to raise their children to know Jesus. The church should help them, but not do the job for them.
5. The family is a church (“wherever two or three are gathered in my name…”) and must be inspired, challenged, and trained to model all the functions of the church (education, proclamation, prayer, acts of loving service, etc.) in the home.
6. Everything you do in church on Sunday should go home in bite-sized chunks Monday – Saturday to continue and deepen the discussion between parents and children.
7. You gotta open the kid before you open the book. – Rich Melheim
8. Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. – Gail Godwin
9. "It's a sin to bore a kid with the Gospel" – Jim Rayburn
10. The passing on of the faith to the next generation is much too important a task to be left in the hands of those who are paid to do it. – April Ulrich Larsen - ELCA Bishop.


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GJ - The program looks Pietistic. Isn't it odd that WELS is spending money to buy an ELCA program?

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "WELS Congregation Promotes ELCA Program, Female Bi...":

Several Wels churches tried the stepping stones program a few years ago, at the time I heard that WLCFS worked with the Faith Inkubators program to change it to be inline with WELS doctrine.

http://www.mlc-wels.edu/home/administration/pastor/evangelismday/evanday2009sched/

Rev. James Mattek: Rev. James Mattek is currently CEO of Wisconsin Lutheran Child and Family Service, Inc. He oversees a nursing home, assisted living facility and an independent retirement facility. He
also oversees a team of WELS counselors, which includes 2 PhD psychologists, as well as Ministry Support Services which serves WELS
clergy with their personal, mental and spiritual issues.

WLCFS is also developing a family ministry program called "Faith Stepping Stones" and a teen program called "Peer Leadership Training". He served Immanuel of Findlay, OH for the first 17 years of his ministry. He then served for
five years as pastor at Trinity, Watertown, WI. He served the WELS as chairman of the Governing Board at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and as a member of the Board for inisterial Education. He is married with four children.

WELS also promotes it here:

http://staffministry.net/resources.php?c=7