Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Christian Education Division of Curriculum Development Committee on the Christian Home Records

In 1955, the Board of Christian Education's Office of Family Education appointed a research sub-committee to ascertain the religious needs of American Presbyterian families. This research undertaking was designed to articulate a philosophy on the Church and the Christian home which would result in the development of the home as the center of Christian teaching. The sub-committee, later elevated to committee status, was known as the Committee on the Christian Home and was chaired by Roy W. Fairchild. Its responsibility was threefold:

l) to collect, digest and compile available information concerning American family life

2) to evaluate existing curriculum in light of this information

3) to make recommendations regarding necessary curriculum revisions.

As part of its research mission, the Committee interviewed 845 parents representing some 63 churches and analyzed 1000 questionnaires from Presbyterian pastors and another 1000 from parents. It reviewed the literature of theology, social psychology, social work and history, observed and evaluated significant work in family education and conducted various pilot program experiments. From 1956-1959, the Committee generated a series of reports based on its research and in 1959 issued a preliminary report to the 171st General Assembly of the UPCUSA. In 1961, the Committee's findings were published in Families in the Church: A Protestant Survey by Roy W. Fairchild and John C. Wynn.