We Believe

The denomination's curriculum publishers have begun unveiling new Christian education resources for congregations - under the rubric of "We Believe" - that draw on suggestions from a series of half a dozen telephone focus group discussions I led last September (and follow-up surveys carried out this winter). In a report to the board of the organization for which I work, the publishers highlighted revamping of the pre-school curriculum, as more age-appropriate, and development of several new series of topical studies for youth and adults, including a more personal devotional called "I Believe" (pilfering from National Public Radio's segment?), a study guide with responses to questions middle-school youth (most in confirmation classes) have posed, and a series about theological issues that contemporary music, TV, books, and movies raise (pilfering from the study guides already in the magazine "Presbyterians Today," for which we also did market research) ("The Gospel According to 'Idol,'" or "The Gospel According to 'Deal or No Deal'?"). One of the joys of doing applied research is seeing your research generate actionable findings that policymakers actually follow (and sometimes in areas that you care about - in this case, teaching and learning about ethics and spirituality - and that you're personally involved in - in this case, elementary school-aged children's Christian education curriculum we use in Children's Fellowship.