nineteen hundred and forty-six - Amazon Web Services

382 SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
5. Earnest Christian parents are seeking help such as this department has
been designed to give.
6. Many casually concerned or unconcerned parents will welcome this ministry
as it becomes available.
The function of this department is to create materials for family guidance
in Christian home living. This has been interpreted by the Board to be its
distinctive and exclusive task. At the Board's meeting of December 6, 1945,
the report of the Division of Editorial Service, presented by Dr. Chiton J.
Allen, included the following section:
DEPARTMENT OF HOME CURRICULUM
We feel that the Board has taken one of the most significant steps in
its history in the establishment of the Department of Home Curriculum.
The election of Rev. Joe W. Burton as editor of the materials in this field
has received enthusiastic approval throughout the South.
The functions of this department will be the planning and preparation
of materials for use in the home in the interest of Christian family life.
For example: materials to furnish guidance to parents in Christian home
building; materials to be used by the family group to enrich the home
atmosphere, strengthen the bond of family unity, and develop the personalities
of the family group.
We believe that the publication of a monthly periodical specifically in
the area of Christian family life is imperative. The periodical would be
made available to churches, just as our other literature, and would be
designed for distribution in every church home, and particularly where there
are growing children. It would be designed to magnify the sanctity of
marriage and parenthood, to give guidance and inspiration to fathers and
mothers in the practical matters of dealing with the many factors that
contribute to the building of a Christian home, and to help parents capture
to the fullest the opportunity they have in the rearing of their children.
In the light of this need, we wish to recommend that such a periodical
be authorized, publication to begin as soon as it is deemed feasible to the
editorial secretary in consultation with the executive secretary, the secretary
of the Division of Education and Promotion, and the business manager.
It is of course expected that Mr. Burton will need time to explore the
curriculum needs in this field and to make specific preparation for the work
to be done. He will desire to work in close co-operation with the Sunday
School Department and the Training Union Department to the end that the
most effective means may be devised for reaching the people with the
materials to be published. We have the conviction that a crusade to save
our homes is near the foundation of all that we seek to do for Christ.
Our first major effort in this Department, as noted in the above report, is
the launching of a new home magazine. We addressed our energies immediately
to this first task, upon entering into the present relation with the Board.
Definite plans have now been made for the publication of HOME, A Magazine
for the Christian Family, beginning with the issue for January, 1947. T
new magazine will absorb Cradle Roll Home and The Better Home. It will be
issued monthly. A wealth of material will be carried each month for the enrichment
of Christian home life. These plans, made in consultation with the various
divisional and department workers, have been heartily approved by the Board.
In publishing HOME the Board offers the churches an opportunity to minister
in a vital way to the homes of their membership. For we do not know of
any other way, nor would we want any other, to circulate this magazine except
through the churches. We seek then, and must have, the full support of pastors
and other responsible church leaders in this undertaking.
You, brother pastors and fellow kingdom workers, must secure our circulation,
if our editorial service in this home magazine is to reach its intended
objective. You are our agents to secure readers. Your recognition of the
value of this ministry will lead you to do your utmost to see that the magazine
reaches the homes of your church. Only by reaching them can it give the
spiritual uplift to homes such as contemplated in the columns which we will
supply. As we work together, then—you building our circulation and we