Adult religious teaching

Preface

In the present situation, confronted by adult educational leaders of the local church, method offers the best approach to more effective teaching. It is not easy to change the organizational and administrative arrangements of adults. Many are wedded to class and other organizations by long allegiance. Overhead ecclesiastical authorities have put the stamp of their approval on certain types of societies. To change these types would not repay the effort required and opposition encountered. It is likely, however, that educational methods and spirit can utilize for practical results almost any plan of organization.

The author’s conception of education as concerned with arrangements for the development of desirable changes is doubtless inadequate as a description. It will, however, suffice as a preliminary assumption which looks toward more effective procedure than that which is ordinarily encountered in church school adult classes and church adult organizations.

The author hopes to stimulate in many minds an interest in the possibilities of adult education. The growing recognition that adults have greater ability to change and learn than have children and younger adolescents gives a new outlook and expectancy to all leaders and teachers. The further realization that adults constitute the infiuential element of human society puts a new responsibility upon adult teachers. Furthermore, when church leaders come to consider the tremendous interest and serious pur-

4 PREFACE pose in adult education outside the church, the opportunity available in classes and other edueational organizations within the church becomes apparent. The adults of the church may be changed in desirable and foreseen particulars. Once changed, their influence will become predominant in the direction of education for youth and childhood. It is a pleasant fiction among educational leaders of the present day that adult education exists solely to prepare adults to minister to their children. Adults are most helpful to childhood and youth when they are led to realize the fullest meaning of adult life. They have their own experiences and problems which cannot be overlooked. If typical life situations and needs of adults are overlooked by those in charge of adult Christian religious education, the men and women who exert the strongest and most immediate influence over their children will not have sufficient background of Christian experience to meet the responsibility. |

The writer is especially indebted to Mr. Glenn McRae of the Christian Board of Publication, and Mr. Roy G. Ross and Dr. M. EH. Sadler of the United Christian Missionary Society for helpful criticism. To the latter, specially, he feels indebted for the careful reading of his manuscript and many constructive suggestions. He also remembers in gratitude his wife, who was his constant companion and adviser during the days when the work was taking form.

CHARLES DARSIE.

April, 19380.

Table Of Contents

CHAPTER

J]. Aims AND OBJECTIVES —~ _ — ite ivers or TRAcHING. ~~ =~ 2 X III. Tae Puace or Specian METHops - Peewee RIL LESSON: 2 en VY. THe APPRECIATION LESSON —~ — — VI. Worsuire as A TEACHING METHOD — VII. Tae TuHinkine Lesson —~ _~ _ —

VIII. Tae Use or tHe BIBLE - _ _ _

Chapter I

The fundamental assumption of Christianity is that human nature can be changed. Without denying the limitations of biological heredity, our religion takes for granted that all things are possible with God and that God’s way of modifying human nature is the method of Jesus, the method of teaching to the world all things whatsoever he has commanded us. This view of human progress makes religion and education the strong forces of society.

The church is the organization of these religious and educational measures. The world waits for a church that feels the motives and adopts the methods of Jesus if, indeed, a living world can wait for anything. As Christians we believe that the salvation of society can come in no other way.

IMPORTANCE OF ADULT EDUCATION

Society, however, is as its adults. Adults provide the money and insist on their fitness to dictate the program. Whether their claim of fitness be conceded or not, we must admit that adults control the situation. The hope of the future may lie in the education of the young; but the training of the young is in the hands of the mature; not only the mature who are professionally prepared as educators but the parents, the business and social leaders, the newspaper writers and the movie actors. This is an adult world. As fast as the young enter into important life responsibilities, they become submerged in this sea of adult attitudes, customs and assumptions. It follows inevitably that in so far as changes in the world are necessary the mature members of society must be primarily affected.

This is also true of that portion of society which we call the church. The adults of the church control our religious arrangements. They furnish both money and plans; they control the preacher and the program; they say to youth, ‘‘Thus far shalt thou go and no farther.’’ To make any effective changes in the church it is necessary to change adult church members. This is the office of adult religious education.

IMPORTANCE OF AN AIM

In what respect do adults in the church need to be changed? The answer to this question provides aims and objectives for church leaders. Education enlarges life by giving meaning to knowledge and ability for its use. Therefore an exact appreciation of what changes need to be made leads to effective and satisfying teaching. Aim in teaching takes the enterprise out of the dark. The teacher cannot always observe whether his aims are being accomplished ; but, at least, he sees what he is trying to do. Only when definite ends are in view is good teaching differentiated from poor teaching.

The average church has a sufficient force of capable leaders to accomplish effective educational results if their labors were unified and made intelligent by mutually appreciated aims. The adult teachers of a church need a leader to help them to thus unify their purposes. In general education this type of leadership is called supervision; but adult teachers will not be patient with any type of supervision which assumes the form of dictation. The collective aim should grow out of conference and such mutual contributions as will make each teacher a party te the aim. The aim thus discovered will assist teachers in the quality of their work. It will give both the direction and the enthusiasm which are essential to success.

The spirit of education as determined by its aim is becoming more and more Christian. In modern education the aim centers in the class member. ‘‘The need of the pupil is the law of the school.’’ This is also the law of Christianity. Jesus died that all might have life. The teachings of the Bible and the ordinances, ministry, and ritual of the church are means for the making of Christian personality. Therefore the measure of success in religious education is the degree to which personality is thus enlarged.

Aims TuHat CHANGE PERSONALITY

In what particulars does personality need to be enlarged? In those items that have to do with our relationships to God and his purpeses. Men and women need a sense of friendship and co-operation with their heavenly Father, together with the poise and freedom from fear which grows out of such an experience. They also need to teach this faith, to organize and lead, to witness to the truth, to co-operate and to sacrifice.

This statement indicates the kind of aims that adult teachers and groups of leaders might formulate. It is too general, however, to be practical. It needs to be broken up into something more specific. Teachers who aim at something in particular are more apt to attain their end. By something in par- _ticular is meant outward acts and habits which express concrete ideals. In moving a pile of boards it is necessary to pick up one board at a time and to take the top board first. Of course the whole pile is to be moved. One cannot, however, lift the whole pile at one time. The objective for the individual lesson is the removal of the uppermost board. The aim of a course of lessons is the lifting of a whole row of boards. With the removal of one board at a time the whole pile will be moved. _

A certain class was confronted with a situation where half of its hundred members were opposed to the modern missionary enterprise. Members openly affirmed in the teaching sessions of the class that the ‘“‘heathen at home’’ and the needs of the local church left little opportunity for outside effort. The teacher felt that this attitude could be changed. Three measures to that end were adopted. First, duplex envelopes were introduced, so that opportunity was given each Sunday to contribute to others as well as to the local work. Second, the management of the school was requested not to ask for missionary contributions from the class until the purpose for which the offerings were to be used was thoroughly explained. The management was willing to do this and the result was more information for all econcerned. The third measure was a restrained method on the part of the teacher whereby the members of the class discovered for themselves that Christianity does not primarily consist in the maintenance of the local church but in the extending of the Kingdom of God. Gradually the whole class came to feel this age-long characteristic of the gospel. No ‘‘preachments’’ were made on the subject and no ‘‘I-toldyou-so’’ statements. The class came to giving habits and missionary ideals. The leading objector to missions became the chairman of the missionary committee.

This teacher’s work is an example of the deliberate selection of an aim by a teacher and a wise employment of known educational methods in working out that aim. The religious education of class members depends on the successful accomplishment of successive enterprises of a similar character. The Bible, of course, has an important place in this procedure. But men and women live their spiritual lives within the limitations of their physical and mental experiences. Into these experiences are introduced those habits and ideals which make the Christian message a living reality.

INDIVIDUAL LESSON OBJECTIVES

A carpenter needs to keep his eye on the head of the nail regardless of the ultimate purpose of his task. In like manner the teacher must center his attention upon those immediate and specific results which make for his ultimate aim. Habits and ideals, undergirded by thinking and based upon truth, become in succession the heads of the nails upon which the teacher concentrates. As his class members acquire these skills and motives coupled with spiritual knowledge, they develop in friendship with God.

The question then is, just what is the teacher trying to accomplish in the lives of his class members at some particular time? Then, by breaking this general aim into items of accomplishment and pursuing these items one by one, definite progress may be achieved. Let us suppose a situation where it is desirable to develop a class in open-mindedness, an important quality of a well-rounded Christian personality.

Open-mindedness as an aim is too general to be useful. Asa matter of fact there is no such thing as oOpen-mindedness in general. We are open-minded on some questions, and, at the same time, narrow-minded on others. Therefore it is necessary to inquire in what respect the class needs to become open-minded. Are we thinking of race relationships, social customs, theology or scientific theory? Toward each of these, members of the group have emotional attitudes; in a narrow-minded group they have prejudices. If the aim of the teacher is to change these attitudes of prejudice to more desirable attitudes, each should be approached separately.

Let him begin with the race question. Even this is too general for people have different feelings toward particular races. Many who are tolerant toward the Chinese are prejudiced against Negroes. Others who feel kindly coward colored people are antagonistic toward the Japanese. Our feelings with regard to a particular race are colored by our experiences with individuals of that race or by the sentiments of the home or social circle. The modification of our feelings must take place as they were originally acquired, race by race.

The teacher begins by attempting to build a habit of fair consideration toward a particular race. He arranges for his class to form the acquaintance of an attractive individual of that race. Intolerance generally springs from ignorance of another’s good qualities. The member of the other race is introduced in a way that will not be repugnant to the feelings of the class. If possible he is permitted to make a worth-while ecntribution to their lives. A repetition of this experience gives a habit of pleasant expectancy. At the same time feelings of disgust or pity are modified.

Feelings are still further modified by the introduction of new facts concerning the race in question. Customs are explained together with their historic origin. Racial ways of viewing the problems of life are introduced and feelings inherent to these conceptions are made understandable. Stories are valuable aids in this process. No member of the elass is criticized for his attitudes, but each is given repeated opportunity to enter into aspects of human living that he has never before considered.

At this point the teachings of Jesus are brought in. Growing habits of tolerance are undergirded by spiritual thinking. God’s feelings for all his children are unconsciously compared with our own attitudes. The missionary spirit is injected. The class is encouraged to work out its own salvation. There is no dogmatism employed. Feelings cannot be commanded. The aim is a widening, intelligent appreciation of another race. This appreciation must, of course, grow from within.

It would be well to begin the education for Christian attitudes toward other races with the acquaintance of a people against whom there is no great prejudice. When feelings begin to broaden, more difficult antipathies may be approached. The appreciation of one race or nationality helps with another. Possibly it would be -well to begin the modification of narrow-mindedness in another field altogether. Some groups would do well to begin with the problem of industrial relations. Others with that of world peace or of scientific theory. In any event open-mindedness is secured by modifying attitudes toward something in particular. The ‘‘glittering generalities’? may be added when general principles have already found expression in actual cases.

Overcoming reticence in religious matters is another general aim. Ideals that are ‘‘bottled up’’ often do much injury to the spiritual life. The teacher may begin with an attempt to secure an evangelistic habit and attitude. Again there is a necessity for particular cases where the individuals of the class may witness for Christ. The teacher selects some expression of Christian idealism likely to be happy and satisfying. An evangelistic campaign may make personal evangelism popular. Or some social reform may appeal to human sympathy and make expression easier. Anything will be effective that brings to individuals the joy of standing openly for God and the right. Thus the new habit is begun.

The teacher is the judge of where to begin. He must plan for the accomplishment of his aims. He must take advantage of such situations as may arise. The new impulse is supported by encouragement; if necessary, by arranged enthusiasm. Christian principles from the Scriptures are introduced. Different forms of Christian expression are encouraged one after another until the habit of letting their influence be felt is established in the group and in the individuals of the group. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!

By securing common understandings with regard to such aims as have been described and by the adoption of educational methods for their accomplishment the whole religious outlook of most churches can be changed. The modification of attitude with reference to two or three important phases of Christian experience could be effected in as many years. The possibility and desirability for such changes being recognized and agreed upon by the leadership as a whole, results would follow. There would need to be common understandings between the pastor and his adult teachers and other officers. The necessity for training in teaching methods would appear. Skill would come by practice. The pastor’s sermons would make their contribution. Church work would gain interest by causing the organization to discover the reasons for its existence.

SAFEGUARDING E‘REEDOM

In ali this process cf education the freedom of the individual must not be sacrificed. The best teacher is the one who makes his class member independent of teachers and able to maintain a thoughtful attitude toward Christianity in the face of propaganda.?. He is to be the servant of Jesus Christ, not of the last dogmatic promoter who chances to throw his spell over the community. The aim of church leaders must not be to enslave. But no individual Christian is free until he has been made acquainted with and appreciative of the highest Christian ideals of his age and of the church of which he is a member. Only out of the background of religious ideals and practices can he intelligently make decisions for himself.

The end in view is a thoughtful Christian personality, devoted to the Kingdom of God, skilled in service and led by the Holy Spirit. Out of the practice of Christian stewardship and missionary giving the individual can evaluate the missionary enterprise. Set free from childish race prejudice he can love his neighbor as himself, accommodate his manners to the best interests of the race for which he has developed an appreciation, and become a free man in Christ Jesus. No program of education that does not contemplate eventual emancipation from ignorance, superstition and prejudice is Christian. The habits and ideals that are chosen as aims of the leaders of the church must contemplate this freedom

1Coe, George A., What Is Chrisiian Hducation? Scribners.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ie for the individual. Through contro! to freedom is the watchword of the Master. ‘‘From henceforth I call you not servants, but friends. The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth.’’ Eventually he becomes a friend by coming to know all things.

ADULT EDUCATION DETERMINATIVE

Leaders of the adult organizations of the church need to know that adults are the determining influence in the work of all age groups. Horace Mann said that the world goes forward on the feet of little children; but that is only half the truth. The feet of little children go where the hands of adults direct. Adults control the church by providing its ideals. When the adults are changed, the church is changed. This is the strategy of adult teaching.

Two or three years of co-operative effort would lead to outstanding resuits in any church. The co-operation should take place in an atmosphere of conference and prayer. Prayer will not take the place of cenference nor conference the place of prayer. Leaders need to become partners with each other and with God. Plans should be recorded that they may become well understood policies. Various classes and societies should assume specific responsibilities. The minister is the natural Jeader. His pulpit and pastoral teaching are integral parts of the procedure.

It will not be possible, at least immediately, for the entire church leadership to attain this unity in many instances. This means that the individual teacher will be deprived of the co-operation of others in his plans. This does not mean that he must work without plan or purpose. He cannot, of course, expect the church-wide results that would attend a more co-operative effort; but he can secure definite results within the membership of his own class. Every adult class is a point of vantage. Each adult leader has a God-given opportunity.

The individual teacher must often plan his own work. Asking and receiving from God a growing vision of the perfected church, he conceives the part his class will have in this goal. Then he breaks this general aim into specific aims and the specific aims into still more specific lesson objectives, attempting them one by one. The individual teacher thus becomes a kind of John the Baptist, a forerunner of the Kingdom of God. His class leads the way to better conditions throughout the whole church.

The Spirit of God is the supervisor of the teacher. Since the chief function of a supervisor is to assist teachers in their aims and aims are the essential in good teaching, spirituality is a most important factor in a teacher’s success. Without a vision the people perish. Without a spiritual aim the adult teacher is as a blind leader of the blind. Teacher and class fall together into the ditch of non-progressive nonessentials. A permanent situation like this is the tragedy of the church.

Maxine ApuLT EDUCATION EFFECTIVE

The constant tendency is present for a teacher to dream of spiritual accomplishments that are too hazy for definition or accomplishment. Aims must be reduced to specific acts in order that ideals may find effective expression. It will greatly help the teacher to make what Charters? calls a ‘‘job-analysis’’ of the duties of a Christian. This would begin by listing the typical acts of a professed follower of Jesus. It would note the kind of conduct that distinguishes him from one who is not a Christian in similar situations. What does a Christian home maker do, a Christian business man, a good member of the church? These typical acts need to become habits; and habits can be taught by wellunderstood methods. When learned by the members of the class, these typical Christian habits become the expression of an ideal.

Many adult teachers have as their conscious aim the giving of spirituality to their class members. But in common usage the word spirituality means almost anything of a sentimental nature connected with religion. It would help the teacher to define exactly what he desires his members to do as an expression of the spiritual impulse. If he means the ability to pray in public, that is one thing. If he means the elimination of vulgarity from their speech, that is another. Both are expressions of spirituality. Sacrificial giving of self or money is another. The building up of an appropriate habit is the approach to the general ideal. And the particular habit to be developed must stand out in the teacher’s thinking.

This was clearly the method of Jesus in the development of his disciples. The first typical acts were

*Charters, W. W., Curriculum Construction, The Macmillan Company, pp. 34 ff the deeds of merey which characterized his ministry. He preached to the poor, comforted the brokenhearted, healed the sick and cast out demons. Into these typical acts he called his disciples. As they helped, he taught. The philosophy and idealism of the kingdom were expressed in beatitude and parable, Question and answer gave support to the new habit and ideal. Precepts were repeated until their beauty became fixed in the mind. The Scriptures were cited at opportune moments. Each incident of Jesus’ ministry was definite and purposeful. He knew definitely what changes he desired to effect and worked toward his ends with no loss of time. Even controversy was grasped as an opportunity. While his teaching procedure varied with the occasion, he ever kept his aim in view. In his thinking, the night was coming when no man could work.

Making Hacu Lesson Count

The time at the disposal of a church leader is too valuable to be wasted. In this busy world it is not easy to get the people together. Meetings should count by planning an objective for every session. There are but fifty-two Sundays in a year and vacations and special days make large inroads. Church societies likewise get together for few meetings when results are noted. The preparation for each session calls for a narrowing of purpose. The good leader will continually be asking, ‘‘Just what objective am I aiming to accomplish today? How will the accomplishment of this cbjective further my general aim?”’

Many public schools require teachers to make lesson plans for each class that they teach. These plans are submitted to a supervisor. While it would not be practicable to require suck a thing of church teachers, it would be a valuable exercise for them; and, if there were pastors or cther supervisors who could give skilled advice, the submission of teaching plans would become most helpful. It is both practieable and helpful for teachers to make plans and submit them on paper to themselves. Many teachers never look in any critical way at what they are trying to do. Let the lesson plan begin with a statement of the general aim and of the particular objective to be accomplished by the lesson and proceed from that beginning to indicate how this desirable result is to be obtained.

Since special objectives have to do with the progress of the class, they may have to be shifted even after the teaching session has begun. The progress of classes cannot always be predicted. Anything may happen in a class session. The prepared teacher ean shift tactics. An alternate plan or two is often most necessary. The process of teaching is a living experience, always changing with circumstances and for that reason always an adventure.

It is taken for granted that teaching is more than the imparting of information. If the giving of information constituted the only act in teaching, lessons could be planned for weeks and years ahead. But teaching is giving meaning to information and Securing thereby the enlargement of life. This is Jesus’ ideal. He taught with authority and not as the scribes. Some have thought that this authority of Jesus meant dogmatic statements. But it was the scribes who used dogmatic statements. They imparted authoritative interpretations of Scripture with deadly effect. Jesus, however, began with life situations and left his hearers in ever larger life situations. He made no effort to ‘‘put things over.’’ He knew that things which are ‘‘put over’’ do not stay put. There is a difference between propaganda and teaching. Propaganda leaves its victims in bondage to the will of the teacher. Teaching leaves the learner free to think and choose, equipped with the ability to use such facts as he needs.

There should be a clear-cut aim in the mind of a teacher or church leader before he begins a course of leadership. The aims of church leaders are more effectually worked out together in consultation with the pastor. They can, however, be formulated for themselves by individual teachers. An aim, when it is adopted, should be resolved into appropriate acts which are so introduced into the class as to become habits of expressing the appropriate ideal. Appreciation of the ideal and logical thinking concerning it, together with necessary facts, become a part of the realization of the aim. These steps in the process are managed by attempting definite objectives in successive sessions of the group. These objectives are attempted with persistent purpose one by one, without haste but without delay.

Suacestep CLAss PrRogect FOR THE TRAINING CLASS

(This project is suggestive only. It is not to bind the training class or its teacher in any way. <Any project that will assist class members to acquire the ability to find teaching aims and objectives is equally worth while. It is better for class members to select the project that they wish to pursue than for their task to be dictated by either the teacher or the textbook.)

1. Select a general aim that you feel to be important to the religious progress of an adult class, your own preferably.

2. Indicate specific habits which should be cultivated to express the aim, selected.

3. Indicate any prejudices or social customs that you anticipate would interfere with the accomplishment of the aim, or the formation of appropriate habits.

4. What particular habit would make the easiest approach to the accomplishment of the entire aim?

5. The appreciation of what Christian truth would seem to be a preparatory step?

6. Can you cite any instance of Jesus’ having accomplished a similar aim in the lives of his disciples? How did he do it?

Coe, George A., What Is Christian Education, Scribners.

Charters, W. W., Curriculum Construction, The Macmillan Company.

Bower, W. C., The Curriculum of Religious Education, Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Chapter II

Three terms, discussed in this book, need to be carefully distinguished, aims and objectives, types of teaching, and methods of teaching. The aim or objective is what the teacher desires to see accomplished in the lives of his class members. The type of teaching is the kind of activity which the teacher is attempting to create in the class and by means of which he hopes to accomplish his aim. The method of teaching is the way in which the teacher proceeds to accomplish the type of teaching selected. Seme examples may make these distinctions clearer. The inculcation of the practice of personal evangelism is an aim for an adult religious teacher. Appreciation of the value of human souls is one type of teaching to this end. The discussion or the lecture method may be used by the teacher.

To give another example: The practice of reverence is an aim; drill in hymns and responsive readings is a type of teaching; while discussion is the method. Still another example: The practice of the stewardship of money is an aim; drill in giving habits, appreciations of sacrifice and thinking concerning our obligations to God are types of procedure; while both discussion and lecture would doubtless be the methods which the teacher would employ.

In general, there are three types of teaching;

drill, appreciation, and thinking. These types of teaching are concerned only indirectly with methods. The aim or cbjective determines the type of teaching; it does not determine the method. Method is determined by such matters as the size of the class, the room in which sessions are held, the preference of the teacher or class, or by some accidental circumstance. The type of teaching, on the other hand, is not in any sense a happening. It is the actual process of realizing the objective. When the objective is thinking, a thinking lesson is the only type of lesson possible. The selection of the type is automatic.