Organizing and building up the Sunday school

Table Of Contents

PAGE

I. The Historic Principles Underlying the Sunday School Movement 7

II. The Constitution of the Sunday School 14

II The Constitution Of The Sunday School

The general characteristics of the Sunday school, as they have gradually developed during its long history, must be considered in any plan for organizing and conducting an individual school. The institution should be studied both ideally and practically: practically, to ascertain what the Sunday school has been and is now; yet ideally, with a view to developing its highest efficiency and largest usefulness. Such a plan for the specific Sunday school may be called its constitution. It is desirable to have the constitution in written or printed form, but it is not necessary. There is no more complete system than the government of Great Britain, yet it has no written constitution; and Mr. James Bryce has shown us in America that the instrument known as the Constitution of the United States by no means represents our own actual method of government. In every nation there is an unwritten law, wrought out of a people's consciousness, which is more imperative and enduring than any parchment scroll or printed form.

The general principles to be maintained in establishing and developing a Sunday school are the following:

i . Aim. The primary aims of the Sunday school are religious instruction, character-development, and effective service. It is not to teach history,

Constitution of the Sunday School 15

nor science, nor sociology, but religion; and not merely to impart a knowledge of religion to the intellect of its pupils, but, infinitely more important, to make religion an effective force in the life of the individual scholar. As a Christian institution, in the definition given by one of its greatest leaders, 1 "The Sunday school is a department of the Church of Christ, in which the word of Christ is taught, for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ, and of building up souls in Christ.' ' If it be in connection with a Jewish synagogue or temple — as are some of the best Sunday schools or Sabbath schools in our land — it is for the purpose of instruction in the faith of the ancient fathers, and of making their teachings live again in the men and women of to-day. A true religious education, such as the Sunday school seeks to give, will include three aims: (1) knowledge, (2) character, (3) service. There must be an intellectual grasping of the truth; a character built on the truth, out of faith in God, and the life of God inspiring the human soul; and service for God and humanity. The Sunday school seeks to develop not only saints in fellowship with God, but workers for God, who shall strive to realize on earth the kingdom of God, not seeking to be ministered unto but to minister. There have been centuries in the past when the Christian ideal was the cloistered saint, living apart in communion with God. But that was a pitiably incomplete conception of the perfect man. In our age we have the larger ideal of saintliness with service; and to promote this should be the aim of every Sunday school.

1 Bishop John H, Vincent.

2. Method. To attain its aim the Sunday school employs the teaching method. The Sunday school is not, as some weak-minded people have called it, "the nursery of the church." Nor is it, as it has been named, "the Bible service"; for, although it holds a service, it is more than a service. It is not — or should not be — a gathering of groups, large or small, where silent hearers listen to sermonettes by little preachers, miscalled teachers. It holds a service imbued with the spirit of worship, yet worship is not its central purpose. It should have music, but it is not primarily a service of song. It should be pervaded by an atmosphere of happiness, but mere enjoyment is not its object. The Sunday school is a school: and the very word shows that its aim is instruction and character formation, and its method is that of teaching. For the work of a Sunday school the essentials are three:

(i) There must be the living teacher who is fitted to inspire, to instruct, and to guide. His part is not merely to pour knowledge into his pupils, but to awaken thought, to guide the search for truth, to call forth expression in character and in action. 1

(2) There must also be the scholar who is to be taught. It is his part in the process of instruction not merely to listen and to remember, not merely to receive impressions, but to give expression to the teaching, in life, in character, in influence, and in service. The true effectiveness of the teaching in the Sunday school will be shown by

1 For qualifications and functions of the teacher see Chapters XIII and XIV.

Constitution of the Sunday School 17

the reproductive power of the truth in the life of the scholar.

(3) There must be a text-book in the hands of both the teacher and the pupil. In any school for religious instruction one book will of necessity stand prominent, that great Book of books which records the divine revelation to man. The Sunday school may teach history, geography, institutions, doctrines, literature of the Bible, but these only as a framework or a foundation for the education of the heart into a personal fellowship with God. This character-molding, faith-impelling force is the divine truth taught in the Bible through the experiences and teachings of patriarchs, prophets, priests, psalmists, sages, and apostles, and above all by the words and life and redemptive work of the Master himself. And the subjects of study in the Sunday school need not be limited to the text of Scripture. There may be extra-biblical material for the teaching of character and service; and all this should be open to the Sunday school.

3 . Relation to the Church. However independent of the church organization the Sunday school may have been in its beginnings, and however selfdependent some union Sunday schools may of necessity be in certain churchless regions, the general fact is established that the Sunday school as an institution belongs to the church, is under the care of the church, has a claim upon moral and financial support by the church, should be a feeder to the membership of the church, and should gratefully accept the supervision of the church. It should regard itself and be recognized by all as in many ways the most important department of the church.

4. Government. All power must be under direction, and the mighty energies of the Sunday school especially need a wise, strong guidance. In the general management of the Sunday school two elements should be recognized: (1) the rights of the workers and (2) the authority of the church.

(1) It must ever be kept in mind that the Sunday school is an army of volunteers. Its workers are men and women who of their own accord give to the school without compensation their gift of service. Those who make such a contribution to the success of the Sunday school should certainly have a voice in its management.

(2) But it is not to be forgotten, on the other side, that the Sunday school is not superior to the church, nor independent of it, but subsidiary to it; hence the church should be able to exercise some control over the school if such control shall ever be needed. For example, in the choice of a superintendent, who is the executive officer of the school, the ruling body of the local church and the working body of teachers and officers should unite. No one should undertake to conduct a church Sunday school unless he thus has the definite assurance that his teachers are with him, and that his church is officially supporting him.

5. Officers. Little need be said here on this subject, for it is one with which every worker is familiar.

(1) There must be a leader, or manager, the executive head of the school, who is universally styled the superintendent. If we were organizing a new institution, and not describing one already world-wide and with officers already named by

Constitution of the Sunday School I 9

Common usage and consent, we would prefer that the executive of the Sunday school receive the title of Principal or Director; but the somewhat awkward word Superintendent is settled upon him, and will remain.

(2) There must also be an assistant superintendent, or more than one, as the size of the school may demand. The better title is associate superintendent, as is now given in the larger number of well-organized schools. The superintendent should have the privilege of nominating his own associates or assistants, the nominations to be confirmed by the board of teachers and officers.

(3) There will be a secretary, with such assistants as he may require, to be nominated by the secretary and confirmed by the teachers.

(4) There will be a treasurer, to care for the funds, and to disburse them as ordered by the board of teachers, or the Sunday school as a whole.

(5) Lastly, but most important of all, there must be the working force of instructors, the faculty of the institution, its teachers, who should be carefully chosen. The pastor, as well as the superintendent, should have an active voice in their call, since they are his coworkers in the religious instruction of the congregation.

6. Membership. In the conception of a Sunday school, both ideal and practical, the constituency for which it is established must be considered. As has been noted, it was originally for children only, and only for children who were destitute of home training, and outside of church relationship. The earliest Sunday schools were what are called in England ragged schools, and in America mission schools. But in the noble evolution of the movement the Sunday school constituency has been vastly enlarged; and now it is recognized that the Sunday school is for all ages and all classes. It should embrace the young and old, the ignorant and intelligent, the poor and rich, the sinner as well as the saint. The Sunday school which ful* fills its mission to society will welcome all the world.

Ill

THE NECESSITY AND ESSENTIALS OF A GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL

i. The Necessity of Grading. As the result of the gradual and unguided evolution of the Sunday school through a century or longer, most schools are now divided in a vague way into certain departments, generally known as the Primary, or Infant Class; the Youths Department, or Boys and Girls; and the Adult Department, or Bible Classes. Many who have charge of schools such as these regard them as graded, and so report them. But the mere naming of departments does not constitute a graded school. Whoever studies the ungraded or loosely graded Sunday school will perceive in it certain evils which can be removed only by a thorough system of grading, maintained faithfully through a series of years. Some of these conditions which make the graded Sunday school an absolute necessity are the following:

(i) The School as a Whole. The close observer, looking at the entire school, notes first of all that its gains and its losses in membership are at the extremes of its constituency. It is the normal condition for the gains to come in the Primary section; for the little children in families are attracted to the school or brought there by older children. There is almost invariably a constant increase in this department, requiring frequently the organization of new classes in the grade above, among the younger boys and girls. But, on the other hand, there is a constant loss of older scholars. In most schools, at the age of fourteen, in what is known as the early adolescent period of life, the pupils, for one reason or another, begin to drop out, and few enter to take their places. Almost every school is thus growing at the bottom and dying at the top. The Primary classes are full, but the classes of those above fourteen years are usually small — two large boys here, three yonder. And although girls continue in the school more frequently than boys, there will appear the same conditions — some large classes of girls and young women, but others where discouraged teachers are sitting down with one, two, or three pupils. Six or eight years ago these same classes came out from the Primary Department, each with eight or ten pupils; now they are mere skeleton classes, barely alive, and threatened with dissolution. Every earnest, thoughtful superintendent would rejoice to find some plan that will guarantee large classes of young people between sixteen and eighteen years of age, for this is the most vital period in the life of the individual. Such a plan is proposed in the graded system.

(2) The Condition of the Classes. Fixing the attention upon the several classes, the critic of the school system notes three unfavorable conditions:

(a) There is the inequality in the size of classes, to which reference has already been made. When classes come together by accident, pupils bringing their friends, or new members joining whatever classes they please, some classes of boys or girls will inevitably be too large for good government

Necessity of a Graded School 23

or good teaching, and others will be too small to create any enthusiasm, either in the teacher or the pupils.

(b) There is also an inequality in the ages of pupils in the same class. A class may include one pupil or two pupils sixteen years old, and others as young as ten, or even nine years; some who during the week are in the high school, and others who can scarcely read the verses assigned to them.

(c) Where these inequalities of numbers and ages exist there is a lack of that class spirit which is an essential element of power in a well-ordered Sunday school. Every class should be a unit, with a strong social bond; but this ideal cannot be realized when there are in the class two or three youths in the noisy, assertive, self-conscious stage of early adolescence, and others who are several years younger. Nor can there be a proper social bond in a class with only two or three members. They are likely to be irregular in attendance, to find excuses for absence or for leaving the school, until at last the discouraged teacher and the listless scholars together drop out of sight.

For the correction of these evils of inequality in numbers and in ages, and of this lack of class spirit, the only successful method is to grade the school, and resolutely to keep it graded.

(3) Difficulties of Administration. The difficulties which confront the superintendent in the management of an ungraded school are many and great.

(a) The first and ever-present difficulty is in obtaining teachers for new classes. The constant growth of the Primary Department is his perennial perplexity. To relieve the congestion in the crowded Infant Class its older pupils must be brought into the main school, and teachers must be found for them. The superintendent is always seeking, and often seeking vainly, for new teachers.

(b) Another difficulty is found in the attempt to transfer scholars from one class to another. No matter how much out of place a pupil may be, it is almost impossible to transfer him to another class without incurring the displeasure of the teacher, the scholar, or the scholar's family. And however overgrown or ill-assorted a class may have become, to divide it is a delicate task, almost sure to cause ill feeling. Also, when there arises the need of a teacher for a new class just emerging from the Primary Department, the natural plan would be to combine some of the skeleton classes in the other departments, and thereby release a teacher for service with the new class. But the superintendent who attempts this plan finds that almost invariably it results in some of the older scholars leaving the school because their teacher is taken from them.

2. The Essentials of a Graded School. Briefly stated, the essentials of a graded Sunday school are the following: 1

(i) Departments. The graded Sunday school is organized in certain distinct groups, of which the most important, for our present purpose, are the Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Depart -

1 For a more complete statement, see the volume of this series on The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice, by Dr. H. H. Meyer.

Necessity of a Graded School merits. To these will be added the Beginners and Adult Departments when the subject comes up for a complete treatment. Each of these departments should have, if possible, a separate room; but if these rooms cannot be provided in the building, the pupils should be seated by departments in the different parts of the one room. Perhaps it may be assumed that there is a separate room for the Primary Department; then let those who have most recently come from the Primary be seated on the right block of seats; the Youths or Intermediate in the middle; and the Senior classes on the left block, or vice versa. The younger classes of the department should have the front seats, the older those in the rear, in regular gradation. The school may be arranged in the order shown in this diagram :

Older

Fourth Year

Fourth Year

Older

Third Year

Third Year

Young Women

Second Year

Second Year

Young Men

First Year

First Year

SENIORS

INTERMEDIATES

JUNIORS

PLATFORM

(2) Classes, The number of classes should be fixed for each department, and their relationship established, so that when a group of scholars is promoted to a higher grade in the same department, or in the next department, they do not enter as classes, but as individuals; not to form new classes in the department, but to be placed in classes already formed. This plan will keep the classes in the Senior Department always full, and avoid the unfortunate skeleton classes of the ungraded school. It will also impress upon the pupils the importance of faithful work.

(3) Promotions. There should be annual and simultaneous promotions throughout the school. One Sunday in the year should be set apart as Promotion Sunday; and on that day all promotions should be made. Those who are to be advanced from the Intermediate to the Senior Department are called out by name and placed in their classes, which are not new classes, but old classes replenished with new members. These promotions will vacate the seats of the Fourth Year classes in the Intermediate Department. But these seats will at once be filled by the Third Year now becoming the Fourth Year, and taking their seats; the Second Year pupils becoming the Third Year; and the First Year the Second Year. The First Year of the Intermediate Department will be left vacant, to be filled by promotion of the Fourth Year in the Junior Department, and the moving up of classes to the year above in the same department ; and the First Year of the Junior Department will be filled by promotion from the Primary Department.

Necessity of a Graded School 2J

(4) Teachers. As groups of scholars pass either from one grade or from one department to another there must also be a change of teachers. This constitutes the crux of the entire system, and in its inception is apt to prove the most formidable obstacle in grading the school. The pupils, however, are accustomed to a system of promotions in the day school, and expect to leave their teachers when they change their grades ; but many of the teachers in the Sunday school, not being trained under the system, dislike to lose their scholars, and show their dissatisfaction in ways that affect their pupils. This difficulty must be overcome by tact and an appeal to unselfish motives; teachers must consent for the sake of the common good to give up their old classes and take new ones which begin in the department. The teacher may remain in the grade and receive a new class each year as his pupils advance to a higher grade ; or he may remain with the class and advance until the pupils pass from their former department to a higher one, as from Primary to Junior, from Junior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior. He should then return to a new first year's class in his own department and lead it through the course. If any teacher asks, "Why cannot I go with my class into the Senior Department ?" the answer is that if the plan be permitted for one it must be recognized for all; and in the Senior Department there will follow an increasing number of classes, with a relatively diminishing membership in each class. The scholars also need the inspiration of contact with different teachers. Furthermore, the teacher who is adapted to the Junior or Intermediate Department is rarely a suitable teacher for Senior scholars. Hence there is need of a careful assignment of teachers no less than of pupils. Therefore, to maintain a graded school the pupils must change teachers when they change departments.

(5) Lessons. There should be graded lessons for each department. If a graded system be followed in the school, as it should be, with different subjects, text-books, and lessons for each department, giving to the entire school a regular, systematic, progressive curriculum, this requisite will be met. If, however, the uniform lesson for all the school be followed, as at present is still the case in many Sunday schools, the graded teaching must be given in the form of supplemental lessons, taught by the head of the department where it has a separate room, or by the teacher if the departments must be assembled in one room. In some form the graded teaching is an absolutely essential requisite of the graded school. Most schools, when once thoroughly graded, will realize the need of the next step in the evolution of the institution — lessons graded in subjects as well as in methods for the several departments.

(6) Basis of Promotion. The question is often asked, "Should promotions be made on the basis of age, or as the result of examinations ?" The examination system may be regarded as desirable in the Sunday school, but there are as yet few schools where thorough examinations can be rigidly insisted on as a part of the school system, and promotions invariably made to depend upon standing. A school which meets only once a week,

Necessity of a Graded School 29

for a session of less than an hour and a half, and with but one lesson period of forty minutes or even less, cannot maintain the same strictness in its standards as the public school. Moreover, new scholars^are continually entering the schools, and, while most of them begin at the foot of the ladder in the Primary Department, yet others enter at various ages and in various grades. Any system of promotion based merely upon acquirement attested by examination is sure to become in many instances a meaningless form when applied to the Sunday school. Yet acquirements and examinations need not be ignored in the graded Sunday school. There may be certain ages at which the pupils shall by right pass from a lower grade to a higher. But it may also be arranged that pupils who are exceptionally bright, wellinformed, and studious can be promoted a year in advance of their classmates by passing examination. Let the examination be given in writing to all the pupils, and let all be urged to take it; with the promise that those who pass will be promoted, even though they be less than the required age. But let it also be understood that failure to pass the examination will not keep the student for more than one year from promotion. In other words, the examination may well be made the door through which earnest students may pass on, and so keep abreast of their equals in training and ability.

IV The Grading Of The Sunday School

The question is often asked, "How may an ungraded Sunday school be placed on a graded basis ?" The work may seem simple, and easy of accomplishment, but when it is undertaken difficulties arise which must be intelligently and tactfully met.

i. The Difficulties. If all our Sunday-school teachers were trained educators, accustomed to the methods of the public school, they would see at once the advantages of the graded system, and heartily enter into it. But most of our teachers are untrained, and their range of vision often fails to reach beyond their own class and their immediate environment. The relation between teachers and scholars is personal rather than official; and on both sides the personal equation often complicates the problem. In every school there are a few teachers who are so strongly influenced by their feeling for their pupils that they fail to recognize the needs of the school. There are also scholars, especially in the sentimental early adolescent age, who are unwilling to leave their teachers when promotion is offered to them. But unless the change of teachers is maintained the graded system will utterly fail to benefit the school; it will be graded in name only, and not in fact. This part of the program must be carried through, even though it may cost the school

The Grading of the School 31

the loss of a teacher or two teachers and their scholars.

2. The Remedy for this difficulty is only to be found in carefully considered action by presenting the necessity and value of the plan so clearly that the teachers as a whole will fully understand it, appreciate its importance, and heartily accept it. The grading should not be attempted upon the mere fiat of the superintendent, nor on the vote of a bare majority of the workers. The teachers must recognize the self-sacrifice which it requires, and must make that self-sacrifice generously, giving up their scholars for the general good. The possible objections of the scholars are more easily overcome, for they are accustomed in the public schools to promotions with change of teachers, and readily accommodate themselves to the same system in the Sunday school. Thoughtfulness and kindness, with time, will soon remove the hindrances from the path of the graded school.

3. The Method of Grading. The school may be graded in either of two ways, the gradual or the simultaneous method.

(1) In the gradual method the superintendent, with the concurrence of the teachers, may announce that after a certain date all promotions will be made in accordance with the graded system, leaving the classes as they are until the time for promotion arrives. Then promote from Primary to Junior, from Junior to Intermediate, and from Intermediate to Senior, according to the principles of the graded school; and in four or five years, if the system be maintained, the result will be a school fully graded in all its departments.

(2) In the simultaneous method of grading, the plan must be carefully matured, and general cooperation of all assured. The following plan has been tested in more than one school, and found to work successfully:

(a) Let a careful committee be chosen to arrange the details of grading. The committee should consist of teachers acquainted with the scholars as far as may be practicable, and should, of course, include the superintendent. They should also take an abundance of time for their work.

(b) Obtain the ages of all the scholars between eight and eighteen years of age, and, approximatively, the ages up to thirty. Let this list be made quietly by each teacher for his or her own class. It may be desirable not to inform the pupils for what purpose the enrollment is made. Instances have been known where scholars have understated their ages, hoping thereby to remain with favorite teachers.

(c) Let the committee go over the lists and assign the scholars to classes according to age and acquirement. In some degree social relations should be considered, so that each class may be as far as practicable a social unit. In the Intermediate Department boys and girls should be in separate classes, and not more than six or eight pupils should be placed in one class. No announcement of the assignment of scholars to classes should be made until the day fixed for the reorganization of the school. It will be a good plan to prepare a map or chart of the schoolroom, with the place proposed for each class indicated upon it.

(d) On the day appointed, after the opening

The Grading of the School 33

exercises, first let the seats or rooms set apart for the Senior Department be vacated; and then let the roll be called according to the new list.

"Class No. 1, Senior Department. Mr. A ,

with the following scholars. " As their names are called let them take their places, until the list of classes and scholars in this department is filled. Next vacate the seats assigned to the Intermediate Department, and let these teachers and pupils take their places; then the Junior Department, according to the same plan. The Primary Department can be graded by its superintendent or teacher without aid from the committee.

Let it be understood that every scholar must take the place assigned to him at the time when his name is called ; and that only for an important reason can an assignment, when once made, be changed. In a large school there will be found a few cases where the committee has made a mistake, even with the greatest care; and these mistakes should be rectified, but not until the pupils have taken their new places temporarily in the scheme of the school.