[1]NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–There is a time for everything, the writer of Ecclesiastes says, even change.
LifeWay Church Resources, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, has taken those words to heart, reorganizing its organizational structure and now announcing changes to the division’s Children’s Music Series product line.
“One of LifeWay’s core values is about employees: ‘We will strive to provide a workplace that enables and encourages employees to maintain a biblically balanced life with God, family, work and other relationships,” said Rhonda Buescher, Music, Publishing and Recording.
“Due to recent changes in the LifeWay Church Resources organizational structure, product mixes and employee workloads were assessed,” she said. “Our staff and (LifeWay’s) board of trustees agree that by focusing resources and energy on three product lines instead of five in the fall, winter and spring quarters, we could be more successful in providing solutions that will spiritually transform individuals and cultures.”
Beginning this fall, the Children’s Music Series will be comprised of three components: Music Time, Music Makers and Young Musicians products. Music & Me, a product designed for three-year-olds, and the Children’s Choir product line, a combined age group product, will no longer be offered.
Children’s Music Series offerings for summer quarters will now include Music Time and Young Musicians only. This reflects a desire to practice Christian stewardship, Buescher said, as LifeWay Church Resources recognizes churches’ shift away from summer choir to short-term summer music camps.
[2]Customers who had previously ordered Music & Me or Children’s Choir products will be asked to choose a different product. These two deleted product families no longer will appear on the dated order form.
Music Time will now accommodate ages three through kindergarten, offering special activities for three-year-olds in each issue. Both Music Makers and Young Musicians products will continue to focus on the grades 1-3 and 4-6 age groups they had previously, but will also include various activities and suggestions geared to younger or older children.
“The Children’s Music Series is a sequential curriculum designed to help children and their leaders know Jesus Christ,” Buescher said. “Children have an opportunity to learn about Christ, receive Christ, grow in Him, and worship Him through learning Scripture and music as a tool for praising Him. That goal has not changed.
“Our desire is to focus our energy and resources on a smaller number of curriculum product families in order to provide more effective solutions for churches,” she continued.
For more information on the changes in the Children’s Music Series or specific music ministry questions, please call 1-800-436-3869.
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