Frank Klos

FRANK WILLIAM KLOS, JR. (1924-2002) was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on July 20, 1924 to Frank, later a steel industry executive, and Irma (nee Bayha) Klos. He was baptized at First English Lutheran Church in that city, the parish where he grew up until leaving for college. He first felt a call for the ministry when at age 12 he prayed with his grandmother whom he enjoyed visiting. He spoke at prayer meetings and took an active part in parish life. His role model was his pastor, the Rev. Dr. C. G. Aurand, who later became his step-father.

He enrolled in Gettysburg College, a Lutheran-related liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at the onset of World War II. After a semester, he enlisted in the Army in 1942. Assigned to the Army Tank Corp, he was selected for officer training and attended both Michigan State and the University of Michigan. He received a shoulder injury during a field exercise and did not serve overseas. After the war, he returned to Gettysburg College, graduating in 1946 with a Phi Beta Kappa key. He married Sarah Wolfe, also a student at Gettysburg, in May 1946.

Klos immediately enrolled in the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, near the college. His time lived so near the battlefield of Gettysburg left him with a lifelong passion for Civil War history. Graduating in 1949, he served a large parish in Martinsburg, West Virginia, first as an associate and later as senior pastor. During his parish years, he earned his S.T.M. degree from LTSG. In 1955 he was called to work with the Board of Parish Education of the United Lutheran Church in America, located in Philadelphia.

His career in educational ministry was spent in the service of the Lutheran church and spanned the period when Lutherans were uniting. He served as field director for Vacation Bible Schools and Weekday Church Schools. Then he joined the team of curriculum developers who were putting together the first comprehensive, well-researched, multi-faceted Lutheran educational program, called the Parish Education Curriculum. Before long, he undertook editorial work, which consumed the bulk of his career, eventually becoming Director of Program Resources in the Division for Parish Services of the Lutheran Church in America.

His function as an editor must be understood within the context of the practices of his Lutheran church. Editors actively participated in curriculum design. They would design courses in detail and work with writers in fulfilling the design. Often, they would extensively rewrite or revise the material and more often than not write the leader guide for the course. Editors would also be responsible for certain segments of the total curriculum. For Klos, this meant overseeing adult and catechetical resources.

Klos was involved in several innovative education projects for the Lutheran church. He developed the Impact series, one of the first multimedia resources for Christian education on social issues. He shaped the Word and Witness program, an innovative year-long adult education program that combined Bible study with the theory and practice of evangelism. He pioneered in developing weekend retreat resources for congregations. He also was deeply involved in other curriculum series, such as the School of Religion, in-depth studies for laity, and "I Believe," a three- year program of catechetical instruction. Klos later took an active role in the inter-Lutheran study of confirmation and wrote the book that introduced the new practices to the church, Confirmation and First Communion.

Blessed with a very "catholic" mind, he enjoyed a wide range of interests that kept him closely in touch with current culture in all its aspects. He developed a talent for art early in life and continued that interest throughout his life. He painted in various media, but particularly enjoyed creating cartoons, many of which were published.

His special interest in visual communication brought him as educational consultant to the team developing the "Davey and Goliath" TV series for children. He wrote several scripts (including the initial episode) for this remarkably popular series which at this writing (2006) is still aired on a number of TV stations. In 1978, Temple University in Philadelphia granted him the Ed.D. degree for his thesis describing the development of the series.

Klos worked on several educational committees of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., including Friendship Press. He was also active in his community, serving as a school director and on the parks and recreation board of his Pennsylvania township, before moving to New Jersey.

He retired in 1987, as the Lutheran Church in America was merging with The American Lutheran Church to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA moved its educational and publishing offices from Philadelphia to Chicago and Minneapolis. In retirement he served several parishes as Interim and Visitation Pastor. With his wife, he also volunteered as a docent at the then-new New Jersey State Aquarium.

Frank and Sarah had four children: Kathryn, Eric, Beverly, and Thomas. Frank entered eternal life on July 15, 2002.

Quotes

These representative quotations come from Klos (1968) Confirmation and First Communion (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House; Philadelphia: Board of Publication of the Lutheran Church in America; St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House):

"[T]he church has within its educational ministry the opportunity to encourage people to grow cognizant of the human needs which the people of God must meet." (p. 89)

"Central to all Lutheran theology is the doctrine of the Word of God. It is the magnifying glass under which all our doctrines are scrutinized … The way we organize our churches, develop codes of ethics, publish our Christian education courses, in short, everything we do depends on how we understand the word." (p. 77)

"The church conceives its primary responsibility to the young in its care in personal terms. Its concern is to help each child according to the fullness of his potentialities, to guide his maturing partnership with God through Christ, to encourage him to keep this relationship at the center of his life … The more the church can help the child feel his 'belongingness' to the people of God, the more the church can assist him in accepting and using the spiritual gifts his congregational life can offer." (p. 119)

"True to its apostolic impulse, the church seeks to proclaim the gospel to people everywhere. But what do you do when those to whom you want to tell the good news do not speak the same language you do." (p. 105)

"We must allow people to be themselves. No, even more than that, we must allow people to become the kinds of persons they are capable of becoming. Paul was convinced that God through his grace assigned each person a unique role." (p. 101)

Joining the Long-range Program for the Parish Education Curriculum

In the 1950s the United Lutheran Church in America (ULCA) thought the time was ripe for a radical new approach to religious education as a whole. It was called the Long-range Program and the resulting materials were called the Parish Education Curriculum (PEC). The project attracted the attention, support, and interest of several Lutheran bodies. Eventually some of them merged to form the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) in 1962, which became the home for the Parish Education Curriculum. Some other Lutheran synods merged in 1960 to form The American Lutheran Church (TALC). TALC brought out its own curricula that was quite similar to that of the LCA and based on many of the fundamental insights developed in the early stages of cooperative planning.

S. White Rhyne, executive director of the Board of Parish Education (BPE) for the United Lutheran Church in America invited Klos to join the field staff of the BPE in 1955. He directed the field work, conducted leadership training for Vacation Church School and Weekday Church School programs, crisscrossing the country from coast to coast by car or train. (Dr. Rhyne had a thing about air travel and preferred that his staff use terrestrial means.)

The development of the Long-range Program that would result in the Parish Education Curriculum was entrusted to W. Kent Gilbert (1919- 2005), who had joined the staff of the Board of Parish Education of the United Lutheran Church in America in 1950. [See Dr. Gilbert's entry in this database for more information.] Gilbert secured a doctorate in education from Columbia University, and from the outset of his career in the church-wide agency was marked as a leader with great potential. His leadership abilities were called upon to put together a team of editors, educators, and consultants to formulate a new curricular development.

At a dinner meeting for the members of the (governing) board in the spring of 1956, Dr. Gilbert spoke to the gathered board members, staff, and spouses laying out his expectations, hope, and dreams for the emerging curriculum. Soon after, he invited Frank Klos, a fellow Gettysburg graduate, to leave field work and to join the Long-range Program team.

Work on the Long-range Program was conducted in a collegial atmosphere that emphasized team work, and Klos played an active, creative, and imaginative part in the team. The Long-range Program shaped the development of the new curriculum (called the Parish Education Curriculum, or PEC).

Age-group Objectives

Age is generally more important than gender, socio-economic status, race, or any other aspect of human existence. Accordingly, the first task was to decide something about the nature of each age level of learner - and, at the same time, relate that age level to the learning and church teachings appropriate at such level.

The result was a document entitled Age-group Objectives, set out in tabular form. Across the top were placed the key themes of importance for Christian education: God, church, Bible, fellow man (sic; this was in the late 50s!), physical self, persons of the Trinity, Father-Son-Holy Spirit, individuals, groups, and world. Down the side ran the three dimensions of life: understanding, attitudes, and action patterns (in more current terms, the cognitive, affective, and executive domains).

However, there was an omission, and it was one which Frank Klos quickly noticed. There was no "culture" column. Vainly had he sought to include such a column. So Klos did what he did so well: he got in what he wanted anyway, making use of his abundant imaginative and creative skills. He developed a number of cultural thrusts through his work as an editor.

His attraction to a culture should come as no surprise to anyone who knew of his varied interests. Besides the church which he loved Frank Klos was profoundly involved in such a variety of cultural matters, including art (both classical and popular), the Civil War, being a forest ranger, playing and writing music for his guitar, movies, and the theater. No wonder he yearned to incorporate matters of culture into a Christian education curriculum!

Catechetical Ministry

A major segment of PEC fell to Frank Klos as he undertook one of the heaviest responsibilities of his career: designing and editing a three-year course of instruction for youth in the 12-15 year age range. Lutherans had long held the tradition of instructing young people in Luther's The Small Catechism. The pastor usually taught these "confirmation" or "catechetical" classes taught during the week. At the end of the course, sometimes after an examination of their knowledge by the church council, the young person would receive the rite of confirmation and be admitted to holy communion. By the late 50s, a widely (but far from exclusively) adopted pattern for such instruction had emerged: one year of Bible review, usually in grade 7, and one year of The Small Catechism in the following year. The confirmation rite on Palm Sunday or Pentecost would end the second year when the confirmands received Holy Communion for the first time.

While he would work within the generally settled parameters of Lutheranism, Klos was well aware that the time had arrived for a Lutheran instruction course for the young to pose, and suggest answers to, questions which the youth of the sixteenth century had not been asking. The three-year program brought a radical change. In PEC, a review of the old and new testaments and an introduction to church history and mission was assigned to Sunday church school in grades 7-9. Catechetical classes would parallel these during the week, using the I Believe series that was organized like the Apostles' Creed into Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The sheer time investment for a three-year program precluded the pastor from doing all the instruction himself. Thus, the desired participation of lay people into the catechetical process was achieved.

Confirmation Ministry

The emergence of new catechetical resources brought into focus the general unhappiness with the way Lutherans understood confirmation. As soon as the ink was dry on the three-year I Believe series, Klos found himself in the middle of a profound, inter-Lutheran study to re-examine the traditional practices of confirmation and first communion.

The Joint Commission on the Theology and Practice of Confirmation brought together the Lutheran Church in America, The American Lutheran Church, and the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Frank Klos served as recorder and, later, wrote the study book that brought the Commission's report to the wider church audience, Confirmation and First Communion.

The practices in place during the late 60s had grown by topsy. For example, the pattern of baptism/catechetical instruction/first communion was established by an archbishop of Canterbury in the Middle Ages and had over time acquired the status of revered tradition. Confirmation practices lacked a clear theological rationale. Did one "receive" the Holy Spirit in the laying on of hand? Was putting the hurdle of intensive instruction before coming to the altar rail making confirmation a dreaded "work" that denied grace? Was the idea of asking young people to take vows of faithfulness proper and sensible? Why did so many youth effectively drop out of church activity following confirmation?

On the other side, congregations liked the rite which had taken on the celebratory aspects of a rite of passage. It was often viewed as a time when young people "took the faith as their own," having been baptized as infants but now able to make their own decisions about Christ and faith. In this regard, it functioned as a Lutheran parallel to "believer's baptism" and "decision for Christ."

After intensive study, research, and debate, the Commission suggested some changes. It defined confirmation as "a process of pastoral and educational ministry of the church which helps the baptized child through Word and sacraments to identify more deeply with the Christian community and participate more full in its mission." The end of this process, at the close of the 10th grade, could be marked by an optional rite or ceremony. If practiced, this rite would be understood as an affirmation of baptism rather than as a separate rite conveying any benefit not already given by God through baptism. The rite of confirmation and one's first communion would separate. The suggested age for first communion, based on developmental considerations, was Grade 5.

After widespread study of Klos' book in congregations, the three churches voted to adopt the Commission's report in 1971. Since then, the practice of admitting children to holy communion (after brief instruction and preparation) has become widespread in American Lutheranism.

Moving the rite of confirmation/affirmation of baptism to the end of the 10th grade met with more difficulty. American youth live in a culture that does not make it easy to hold their interest in matters religious as they progress into their teens. Most congregations who use the rite (and they are still the vast majority) confirm youth at or near the close of the junior high/middle school years.

The theological understanding of the rite of confirmation as an affirmation of baptism has become widespread in American Lutheranism. A number of churches use the rite of affirmation of baptism with all their members on a periodic basis since this rite is not necessarily a one-time thing.

Davey and Goliath

One of Frank Klos' greatest contributions to education, and an expression of his deep interest in visual communication and media, was his work on the team developing a series of stop-motion television programs entitled "Davey and Goliath". The original series aired through the years from 1961 to 1978, but the series has enjoyed a renewal and rebirth in the early 21st century, and has been given attention on national television.

It began as a project of the Department of Press, Radio, and Television of the United Lutheran Church in America, where Marshall Stross and Dick Sutcliff has responsibility for the series. The episodes would in some way reveal an aspect of "What God is Like." The Clokey Studios photographed the series using the claymotion technique that animates three-dimensional clay figures. Klos became involved in the project to bring the perspective of a church educator.

This series attempted to reach children, through the medium of children's television, with a message they might not otherwise hear. It was the message of God, of God's love, of God's care. Each 14-minute segment was designed to be aired not so much on Sunday mornings (where many ended up) but on Saturday mornings. The reason: the hope that there might be triggered an interest in Sunday school attendance.

The inspired title "Davey and Goliath" was reached after only some experimenting with other possibilities. "Davey" was a young boy, in the age range of 7-9, who had a close pal and pet, the dog "Goliath". (The initial target audience was children aged 7-9; this was later expanded to be ages 7-10.)

Davey and Goliath would share many adventures together that showed them something about God. For example, Davey gets lost at the circus, but eventually is found. "Well," he concludes, "God is like that." God searches until he finds.

Klos wrote some, and edited virtually all, of the Davey and Goliath episodes. He wrote the initial episode and one of the 30-minute Easter specials. His doctoral dissertation at Temple University describes, in microscopic detail, the many stages in the development of this series, which was concluding its first round in 1978 as Klos wrote his dissertation.

His wife, Sarah (known to everyone as Sally), tells an interesting anecdote. "Our daughter Kathy's husband, Jim, was watching the rerun of the Easter special last year (2005). He called to Kathy who was out in the kitchen, 'You've got to come and listen to this. It sounds just like your father talking.' Neither he nor Kathy realized that Frank had written the script."

One very important aspect of the series was its appeal, in several places, to the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, a catholic movement designed to effect catechetical instruction in places other than catholic parochial schools.

In the series, Davey does not use Christ-language, although Lutherans tend to see everything through Christ. Klos appreciated the strength of the first and third articles of the Creed and felt that Lutherans were shortsighted to focus on "monotheism of the second Person of the Trinity". By this he meant that Lutheranism was so preoccupied with Christ that it made it difficult to talk about anything in faith or religion apart from Christ. There were, however, several 30-minute productions, including one on Christmas and one on Easter (but none for Pentecost). Here culture and theology merge, and a broad-based appeal even with the use of some theological terms became possible.

The "Davey and Goliath" series lives on in both re-runs and new productions. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), heir to the LCA, has sold rights to the existing stock of films in order to set aside about $1 million for new productions. In 2004, The Luther Institute in Washington, D.C., posthumously awarded Klos its prestigious Wittenberg Award for his work on the creative team that developed the series. In presenting the award, Eric Shafer, then Director of Communications for the ELCA, said, "If Stross and Sutcliff were the directors and producers, and the Clokeys were the animators, Frank Klos was the heart of 'Davey and Goliath'."

A Communicator

Klos supported the view that educational ministry (in contrast to the more limited concept of Christian education) described education in a more broadly based manner to include all learning opportunities available in the congregation. In short, it was not limited to classes, or to any one age group. And it was promoted to be something "alive" - code language for "avoid being limited to the dull lecture format".

In his article "Making Educational Ministry Come Alive" (1974), Klos begins with this acronym:

C - Communication

O - Objectives

M - Media

E - Each Person

He devotes most of his pages to the first of these, namely, communication. As we have noted many times on these pages, this term summarizes better than any other single term his real commitment in Christian work.

In a somewhat amusing way, Klos works in a few details on how "communication" can fail, especially among the young. For many a child, God's (or the Lord's) name is "Harold", not "hallowed". Lead us not into "Penn Station" rather than "temptation" is another. Children may think of a "cross-eyed bear" instead of "my cross I bear". True, most persons outgrow these childhood misunderstandings. But Klos' warning was both colorful and timely: double check from time to time to make sure that what is said is received in an understanding way.

Klos made full use of what had become common terminology in the 1970s: source (of a message), the encoding (putting the intended message into a certain fixed format), the use of a signal to effect a transmission process, then decoding the signal by the intended recipient at the intended destination. Then the terms "static" and "feedback" entered in. Klos was calling attention to the many ways, some very serious, in which an intended communication can become distorted.

Klos calls attention to the fact that much of Christianity can be described as a "theology of the Word" - "Word" thought of both with a capital letter and a small letter. The history of the church shows a certain preoccupation with correct verbal formulations, as in the creeds, catechisms, and hymns. Implied but not discussed is the rather provocative question: What if something like the theater (a matter of Greek, not Hebraic, culture) rather than preaching had become the medium for transmitting the Christian message?

Klos pointed to the importance of clearly stated objectives. But now a new concern arises: Can objectives become simply manipulative? Had the LCA PEC gone too far in trying to "micromanage" the learning process, leaving too little room for surprises? It may be that by 1974 this concern had arisen to a degree not felt in the early 1960's. In secular communicating there had arisen the problem of "subliminal cuts" as subtle attempts to influence behavior. Klos was warning of the misuse of objectives and holding out the importance of "surprises" in the learning process.

Regarding media, Klos was much impressed with Marshall McLuhan's notion that the arrival of the electronic age was making obsolete the world of the printed word, which had been around since Gutenberg in 1455. Klos discusses the phrases "hot media", which - like newspapers - provide enough context that the user is not so deeply involved, in contrast to "cool media" which, like television, tend to demand more involvement by the use, along with the vision of a "global village", meaning the arrival of instant communication throughout the globe. (By the early 21st century we have become accustomed to the idea of the global village; in the 1970's it was just emerging as a reality.)

Klos then turns to the incarnation as the prime example, in Christianity, of the truth of the McLuhan insight that "the medium is the message". God's primary saving action was not to send an army, nor a political leader, nor a book, but - a person.

He continued to help his colleagues understand the importance of communication, especially the insights and theories of Marshall McLuhan.

The Personal Side

Frank Klos enthusiastically embraced education, for himself as well as for others. Over the years from 1962 through his retirement, he acquired two Master's degrees and a doctorate in education, the latter from Temple University in Philadelphia. He succeeded in due time to become Director of Program Resources for the Division for Parish Services of the Lutheran Church in America.

Klos kept a pipe handy. When circumstances permitted it, or when circumstances were such that he might want to bite down on something and check himself before speaking out, he would light up his pipe.

He was both a Pirate fan and a Yankee fan. One can imagine how conflicted he was during the now-long-ago 1960 World Series between these two teams, when a home run by Bill Mazerowski settled the series for the Pirates.

His sense of humor, often tied to his cartooning passion, was much appreciated among his colleagues. When a colleague would leave the staff, he often provided a set of cartoons that set the staff to laughing. Years later, one recipient of those cartoons said, "Many times since have I dug out those precious little items, to enjoy the humor and creativity of this gifted Christian educator."

He was also no stranger to a touch of irreverence. One occasion arose in his response to an office memo that gave detailed instructions, when the offices in Philadelphia were being moved, as to how the premises of 1228 Spruce Street would be vacated and the premises of 2900 Queen Lane occupied. This struck Klos as an invitation to write a counter-memo, which called up the memories of army discipline, marching on command, and the like. He signed it "Hammurabi".

His wide ranging interests took his mind and talents in many directions. He loved music and enjoyed writing songs for his guitar. One of them titled "Come Along with Me to Bethlehem" still receives requests for permission to use.

He also loved books. They crowded every nook and cranny of his homes. His library was given to Gettysburg College after his death. The college had to send a large truck to convey the hundreds of boxes of books from his library, which included over 250 books on the Civil War, his historical passion. He had also gathered a unique collection of books on cartooning that Gettysburg College used to establish a special library section on that subject. Quite appropriately, after his death his home church named the parish library after him and his surviving wife, Sarah.

The educational ministry of the Lutheran church continues into the 21st century. That ministry has arrived at this point in time still fit to serve the gospel, partly because Frank Klos had made a lifelong contribution to it. One wonders, for example, how many children (now grown) had their first encounter with God's love because of a Davey and Goliath show on television. One wonders how many pastors were given fresh insights, courtesy of him, on how to improve the educational ministries in their own parishes.

One need not wonder long. The answer is: many. Many more than we can ever know. Of course, Frank Klos did not work alone. He was almost always a part of a team. In what might be called the best of both worlds, he was a team-player who never lost his individuality.

To Christ alone be the glory. Amen, and amen.