wfn.org | Two PC(USA) Entities Vie for Curriculum Market

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

21-February-1997 
97093 
 
97093     Two PC(USA) Entities Vie for Curriculum Market 
 
                        by Bill Lancaster 
      
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Recent decisions regarding who in the Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) is to create, produce and market Christian education curriculum 
has placed two entities in competition with each other.   
 
     The 208th General Assembly (1996) decided that the General Assembly 
Council (GAC), through its Congregational Ministries Division (CMD) would 
be in charge of creating, producing and marketing curriculum that was 
written specifically for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  At the same 
time, it decided that Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) could 
market other curriculum.  
  
      
     And the rub:  both operations have to be self-supporting because of 
budget cuts at the General Assembly level.  The curriculum situation was a 
topic of considerable discussion in the CMD Committee Feb. 5-6 during the 
GAC meeting here. 
      
               PPC has announced they are offering a wide variety of 
attractive, though not Presbyterian-specific, curriculum, including the 
popular Augsburg "Witness" material.  Many PC(USA) congregations are 
already using some of the materials now offered by PPC. 
      
          Many Christian educators and pastors in the denomination for 
years have pressed churches to use Presbyterian-specific curriculum.  Fewer 
than half have done so.  Their argument has been that if you want to rear 
Presbyterians, use Presbyterian curriculum.  But congregations that have 
not found PC(USA) curriculum teacher-friendly or having the content they 
wished to teach have switched to curriculum similar to what PPC is offering 
-- or, in some cases, non-Reformed  materials.   
 
          Now, with PPC's endorsement, they can use good ecumenically 
produced curriculum guilt-free.  Even some CMD folks say the PPC material 
is good, though not Presbyterian-specific. 
      
          Where does this leave people in the church?   They may think it 
is great to have so many curriculum choices and opt for non-Presbyterian 
alternatives.  CMD folks and educators say there is going to be a lot of 
confusion about what curriculum to use.  And consternation is being felt by 
some educators and CMD folks who sense the rug is being pulled out from 
under their decades-long emphasis on using Presbyterian-specific 
curriculum. 
      
          So there is some unhappiness among educators and CMD folks.  As a 
result, some people in the pew may not feel so guilt-free using what they 
want and like from PPC.  
      
          The PPC curriculum offerings: 
      
          "Witness,"  an ecumenical curriculum produced by Augsburg 
Fortress Publishers  
          "The Whole People of God,"  an ecumenical curriculum produced by 
Logos 
          the "Bible People" series, "Life Search," "Adult Bible Studies," 
"Youth Search," "Bible 
          Lessons for Youth," and "One Room Sunday School," all produced by 
Cokesbury and 
          the United Methodist Publishing House 
      
          "Generation Why?" "Fast Lane, Who's In Who's Out?" "Morphed" and 
"Understanding 
          Gangs" -- all ecumenical materials published by Brethren Press 
and Faith and Life Press 
          "Kerygma,"  which has been developed over the years by a group of 
Presbyterians  
          courses on Handel's "Messiah" and Brahms' "Requiem," developed by 
the United 
          Methodist Publishing House.   
      
          PPC president Davis Perkins says PPC materials are being offered 
as a "complement" to Presbyterian-specific materials.  "There's no way to 
avoid the fact that we are offering materials which Presbyterian churches 
may buy," he said in a telephone interview.  But he also said they are 
encouraging congregations who are now using Presbyterian-specific 
curriculum to continue using it. He said PPC has been involved in recent 
revisions of the "Witness" materials, which are a modification of Lutheran 
materials for an ecumenical audience. 
      
          The GAC, through the CMD's Curriculum Publishing Program Area, 
plans to produce a new curriculum, "Covenant People,"  and both CMD and 
PPC, together with the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church 
(Disciples of Christ), plan to produce a successor to the popular "Bible 
Discovery" material called "Basic Bible."  
      
          As a preliminary resource to "Covenant People," the CMD has 
developed "Becoming a Covenant People."   According to Frank Hainer, 
associate for curriculum development for adults, CMD will ask five 
specially chosen churches to participate and will send five copies of 
"Becoming a Covenant People" to each presbytery for distribution to 
congregations.   
 
          The congregations are asked, "What does it mean to live in 
covenant with God and with each other?"  and "What could the Presbyterian 
Church be, with God's help?"   The congregations, using the materials, are 
asked to formulate a vision and communicate that vision with two other 
congregations and the CMD.   
 
          They will then be invited to participate in developing the 
"Covenant People" curriculum by responding to three proposed formats. 
Starting March 3, four PresbyNet ( the denomination's computer 
communication network) groups will be started to share information and 
ideas about "Becoming a Covenant People."  
      
           "Bible Discovery" has been the CMD's  bread-and-butter 
curriculum, according to Hainer.  But both "Bible Discovery" and its 
companion curriculum, "Celebrate,"  will run out in the year 2000 and 
"Basic Bible" will follow.   
 
          "Basic Bible," with both CMD and PPC involved, was to have been a 
core moneymaking curriculum for CMD, but under the new arrangement, CMD and 
PPC are to split the PC(USA) share of the income from it. 
      
          As a result, CMD's Curriculum Publishing arm withdrew most of its 
editors and creative people from "Basic Bible," saying that since they were 
not getting all the PC(USA) income from it, they could not afford to devote 
as much staff time and in fact would have to redeploy that staff time to 
the development of other income-generating materials.   
 
          Their withdrawal left "Basic Bible" having to seek creative 
people elsewhere or reduce the number of age levels produced.  The "Basic 
Bible" steering committee opted to reduce the number of age levels, 
according to a written report to the CMD from Donna Blackstock, CMD 
associate director for curriculum publishing.   
 
          However, Perkins told Presbyterian News Service that the 
reduction in age levels was not caused by the CMD's withdrawal but was done 
for different reasons.   
 
          "Covenant People" now has to be the chief breadwinner for the 
CMD, according to Hainer. And CMD will develop "Covenant People" for all 
age groups and offer "Basic Bible" along with it. 
 
     The CMD is also developing so-called "BRIDGE" resources -- educational 
books that are not curriculum and not Presbyterian-specific -- which can be 
sold in denominational and secular bookstores.  
      
          Meanwhile, PPC is hiring some part-time "congregational resource 
interpreters" who will train PPC staff, answer help lines in Louisville, do 
telemarketing to churches and possibly conduct    workshops, according to 
Perkins.  And the CMD's Curriculum Publishing Program Area is exploring an 
advisory committee of experts and an advocacy team of cheerleaders to 
promote their materials.   

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