MACON, Ga. (ABP) — In an attempt to meet needs and re-connect with its Baptist constituency, the publishing arm of Mercer University will begin offering children's Sunday school literature this fall.
The move, according to Mercer University Press officials, is the first in a new line of Bible study and devotional materials for children and adults that the publishing house hopes will find a home in Baptist churches.
“It's our hope to stay connected to Baptist churches and emphasize Baptist distinctives in whatever we do in this line,” Marc Jolley, director of Mercer Press, said.
Mercer's move to provide children's curriculum comes a few months after another moderate Baptist publishing house, Smyth and Helwys, discontinued its children's Sunday school curriculum. The organization is based in Mercer's hometown of Macon, Ga. The two publishers formerly shared office space, but Smyth and Helwys is now on its own.
In November, the conservative Georgia Baptist Convention voted to sever its 172-year-old ties with the university.
The curriculum line will be called CrossWalk. Jolley said the first half-year of a CrossWalk curriculum for children in grades 1-6 is scheduled for a rollout in October, “in time for Advent.” The second half should follow in the summer of 2007.
The timing is significant, according to a Mercer Press news release, because the curriculum is not dated and will instead attempt to adhere closely to the major seasons of the Christian year — Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and so forth.
“We're selling this as a service to the church, because…they can buy it once and use it for several years for each of those grades,” Jolley said.
Besides following the liturgical calendar, the news release said, the curriculum will be specifically tailored to the needs of moderate Baptist churches by emphasizing Baptist principles. The curriculum “will be the most comprehensive, thorough, theologically sound, user-friendly, church-committed, Christ-centered curriculum available,” the release said. “It will also be the most ‘Baptist' children's curriculum available.”
Bo Prosser, coordinator of congregational life for the Atlanta-based Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, said the question of where to turn for children's Bible study materials was a hot topic during the CBF Children's Ministry Network annual retreat in March. Prosser said the group discussed other options — including United Methodist materials — but that there was “no one clear-cut choice.”
“Mercer has come about in the last month,” he said. “We met with them [and] feel really good about the model they were trying to put together. I think it will be a very viable teaching option for many of our churches.”
Jolley said the curriculum was in the works before Smyth and Helwys dropped their children's literature and was not meant to compete with it or any other publishing house's material. “Let me emphasize: This is undated material, and whatever we do I regard not as competitive, but as a complement,” he said.
Jolley said Mercer's primary motivation in beginning to offer Bible study and devotional material is to maintain ties to local congregations, even if it is no longer formally a part of the Georgia Baptist Convention.
“We are looking at ways in which we can stay connected to Baptist churches,” he said. “That's really the main reason — to stay connected to our Baptist heritage.”
Smyth and Helwys officials did not respond to an ABP reporter's request for comment on the new curriculum by press time for this story.
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