American Baptist Society

I think that is correct. It was originally a Bible publishing and distribution organization and, like most of those belonging to denominations, got involved in publishing Sunday School literature, and then books and Bible study materials. It was similar, in its early days, to what eventually became the Baptist Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention which is now Lifeway. When it operated as a "society," along with the foreign mission society, the home mission society, etc., it raised money by going around to the individual churches and asking to be included in their budget. My Dad, who is still a pastor in the ABC-USA, would tell you that the societies who had the best preachers as leaders would be the ones that got the most money. It wasn't the most efficient way to do publication work, but it sure kept the societies in touch with the local churches--at least with the larger ones.

 

The ABC-USA is doing pretty much the same thing that the SBC has done in recent years. They are reorganizing the tasks and services assigned to denominational departments for more efficient operation, and are streamlining the number of different departments that are operating.

Things in Baptist denominational life are changing. One thing that has really changed in both ABC-USA and the SBC is the use of Sunday School literature and Bible study curriculum in the churches. When I was growing up as a preacher's kid in an ABC-USA church, the Sunday School literature, anything related to Bible study, and just about any other publication used in the church came from Judson. It was almost regarded as a "sin" to use anything else. But a lot of independent publishers in the Christian book industry have crossed a lot of those boundaries and the "brand loyalty" of the older generation just isn't there anymore. Almost half of what Judson produces these days is sold to non-ABC or non-Baptist churches. When I pastored an SBC church, the Sunday School Board had experienced a steep decline in orders from SBC churches, but was broadening its appeal to churches of other denominations, hence the "Lifeway" name came about, to avoid the strict Baptist identity.

Our church, which is two thirds former Baptist, uses several publishers for both Bible study and Sunday School material. We mainly use Baptistway in our adult departments, which comes out of Dallas, and our youth and children use Smith and Helwys stuff.

 

Not to turn this thread into a VBS one, but I would ask you to reconsider Lifeway this year, not because it is SBC, but because of the ethnic stereotypes being used. It lumps all Asian cultures together as if they were all the same, andsome have found it offensive. Check out Gospel Light (SonGames), Standard (Power-up), and Group (Lava lava island) for Gospel based materials, without the ethnic issue. I am from a former ABC, now CBA church, and we are using Gospel Light.