The organization and administration of the Sunday school

Front matter

ORGANIZATION ADMINISTRATION

TE SUNDAY SCHOOl

CUNINGGIM

Contents

Chapter Page

Foreword 5

I. The Importance of the Sunday School. . 7

Chapter I The Importance Of The Sunday School

Note the way your officers and teachers think and act toward the Sunday school, and what effort they make to acquire skill in doing their work. What would you say is their estimate of the Sunday school's importance? Do you think that estimate is correct?

1. Education and Religion. Horace Bushnell said, "The soul of culture is the culture of the soul." Perhaps this truth has not been grasped in popular thinking with sufficient clearness. There can be no true culture that does not involve the religious life. Any education that does not give due place to religion is fatally defective.

Education has been defined as "the harmonious development of all the human powers." Though we may not regard such a conception as adequate, it certainly has some value. Of course, if education is to be viewed in this light it will be seen to include religious development. For one of the human capacities is the capacity for religion. No interest of the human soul is more universal than that which leads us to feel after God. Scientific investigation of individuals and of races has taught us that religious aspiration is a fundamental tendency of human nature. Potentially, at least, humanity is, as Sabatier has said, "incurably religious." Therefore, if education is to concern itself with the harmonious development of the capacities of the human being it cannot ignore religion.

If we look at education less from the viewpoint of the child's nature than from that of his environment we are led to the same conclusion as to the importance of religious culture. We may define education as "adjustment to one's environment/"' but when we come to define "environment" it is impossible to stop short of the spiritual. There can be no complete adjustment to environment which does not include proper relations to Him in whom "we live, and move, and have our being."

Again, if education be defined as "adjustment to the spiritual possessions of the race," as President Butler puts it, religion must have a dominant place. For when the spiritual possessions of the race are defined, one finds along with those that are scientific, literary, aesthetic, institutional, a religious heritage that outshines all the others. We are heirs of all the ages religiously as well as in other respects. If, then, the child has a right to his full inheritance he must not be deprived of religious culture. One cannot be regarded as well educated who has not been led into the possession of his rich religious inheritance.

Some prefer to define education in terms of "efficiency." They say that the truly educated person is the socially efficient person. Even so it is still true that religion cannot be omitted from the scheme and leave the goal attainable. The "socially efficient" person must carry his full share of social responsibility and do his full share of service in all

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social relationships. The man who is economically or politically efficient, but who is not effectively sharing in the great religious activities of the world cannot be said to be "socially efficient" in the largest sense.

No matter how we view education, it cannot be adequately defined without including the culture of religion. The person who is not developed religiously, who is not properly adjusted to his religious environment, who has not come into the possession of his religious inheritance, who is not religiously efficient, is not educated in the fullest sense.

2. Religious Education in National Life. If religion is essential to the individual it is no less necessary to the nation. If the culture of the soul cannot be wisely omitted from the education of any one child it certainly ought to be provided for all the children of the land. This means that any sound national system of education must make adequate provision for training in religion.

The Bible is interwoven with every phase of national life. To be fully understood American history must be read in the light of the Bible. So also with our literature. It is impossible to appreciate English or American literature apart from an intimate knowledge of the Scriptures. American law finds its highest sanctions in the principles of justice laid down in the Word of God. American ideals have been inspired by the prophets and the teachings of Jesus Christ. More important to our national life than all other literature is the Bible, and a knowledge of this Book is necessary to intelligent citizenship.

But the Bible is chiefly a book of religion, and unless we so regard it we miss the very heart of its message. It is well to know Bible literature, history, and customs ; but these are only the outer forms that carry in them the real message of God to man. It is the religion of the Bible that our nation must know and feel if we are to have national character and stability. Only as the nation conforms to the will of God can it reasonably hope to abide. It is of supreme importance that the national system of education shall imbue the people with a truly religious ideal. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

3. A Challenge to the Church. But how is the national system of education to be made religious? It must be done, if done at all, through the three great educational agencies of the nation — the home, the public school, and the church. These are all mutually related and form integral parts of our national system of education.

The most important of these three institutions is the home. It is divinely designed and adapted for the work of character building ; and where the home meets its opportunity and responsibility, religious culture receives proper attention. But unfortunately such homes are the exception rather than the rule. Some day the American home may become more efficient in this respect, but at present it is to be feared that the great majority even of Christian parents in America are giving no serious attention to the religious training of their own children.

The public school has largely relieved parents of responsibility for education in general, but it

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does not and, in the nature of the case, cannot supply the needed religious culture. Let us hope that some way may be found for making the public school more effective in developing Christian character, but for the present it is debarred from dealing directly and adequately with the religious needs of the pupil. The democratic principle of the separation of church and state on the one hand, and the difficulties growing out of denominationalism on the other, combine to exclude religious instruction and training from our public schools. In the present situation there is little reason for expecting the public school to make any large direct contribution to religious education.

The situation places upon the church a great responsibility and opens a corresponding door of opportunity. If religion has an essential place in the training of the individual or the nation, and if religious training is supplied neither by the home nor the school, the only other agency to meet the need is the church. And this is not the easiest but the most difficult part of the educational process. The magnitude of the. task calls for the most earnest endeavor on the part of the church. If the church fails, the result will be fatal. Home and nation are both depending on the church for the spiritual leaven that is necessary to save us from the ruin of secularism.

4. The Place of the Sunday School. The church carries forward its educational work through various agencies. Broadly speaking, all the work of the church is educational. The various congregational meetings, the departmental organizations — such as the Epworth League, missionary societies, brotherhoods, and various clubs — all these are seeking the development of Christian character. But the Sunday school is the only agency that undertakes seriously and systematically to promote the religious education of the whole membership of the church and the entire child life of the community. If, therefore, the church must be responsible for the religious development of the nation, it follows that the task devolves mainly upon the Sunday school.

5. The Mission of the Sunday School Considered More in Detail. (1) At present it is the chief agency for recruiting the membership of the church. Just what per cent of the additions to the church membership comes through the Sunday school may be hard accurately to determine, but eighty-five per cent is the figure usually given. It is also conceded that as a class the members of the church who are won through the Sunday school in childhood are more likely to develop strong and stable Christian character than adults who are reached either through revivals or by individual appeals.

(2) Not only is the Sunday school an efficient recruiting agency for the church, but it is doing a great work in the development of Christian character. Indeed, this is its greatest task, and its methods are peculiarly adapted to the achievement of this end. The Sunday school is simply the church organized for religious education. It is the church school of religion. It aims to fashion the rising generation after the likeness of Christ and to train even the adult church membership to do the work of Christ. When we recall that a large per cent of

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the members of the average church are either inactive or ineffective, or both, we are impressed anew with the bigness of the task of the Sunday school. And when we think in terms of the whole nation, the task becomes almost overwhelming.

(3) The Sunday school is the field where the laymen find their largest opportunity for Christian service. It is distinctly a laymen's movement, and through it many thousands of men and women are freely giving their time and effort to the task of building the kingdom of God. What the Sunday school has accomplished in training lay workers for the church no man can say; but it is certain that if the work of the Sunday school should suddenly cease, the result would be national disaster.

6. Sunday-School Work Calls for Skill. In view of the strategic importance of the Sunday school as one of our nation-wide educational enterprises the need of skilled Sunday-school workers is imperative. "Anything that is worth doing is worth doing well." This saying applies with peculiar force to the work of the Sunday school. In all its departments it demands skill of the highest order. And skill in the Sunday school is not achieved by mere wishing. Here personality is being dealt with in its highest phases and most complex relations. Here not coarse material but souls are being fashioned after a definite Model. If other teachers need skill for their work, the Sunday-school worker needs it more.

But difficult as is the Sunday-school task, it is not beyond the ability of those who earnestly strive to accomplish it. It is only necessary to give heed to the advice of Paul to Timothy, "Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2. 15).

In the light of this chapter write an estimate of your own Sunday school and suggest plans by which its members can be helped to realize the importance of its work.

"The Graded Sunday School in Principle and Practice," Meyer, Part I, Chapter I.

"The Modern Sunday School and Its Present-Day Task," Cope, Chapters I and II.

Chapter II What The Sunday School Should Do

What is the aim of your Sunday school? Ask your superintendent. Ask at least one of the teachers. Write the answers in your notebook.

1. What the Sunday School Is For. Just what is a Sunday school for? Some officers and teachers would say, "To teach the Bible," or "To teach the children what they need to know about God and Jesus." Some pastors might say, "To increase the membership of the church." Occasionally the Sunday school is treated as if its principal function were to raise money for church benevolences. Each of these statements omits some vital part of the Sunday-school task. Let us go into the subject a little deeper.

Jesus came preaching the good news of a kingdom in which all men could find God, their Father, and do his will in brotherly service to their fellows. For this kingdom he lived and died ; and he expects those who make him the Master of their lives to help in extending his kingdom into all the world. The Christian purpose is to fill society full of the ideals and aims of Jesus Christ. Christians are doing this in two ways: (1) by supporting all movements for correct ideals in commerce, in industry, in education, in public affairs; (2) by aiming at the development of sound and symmetrical Christian character in each individual. It is with the second method that the Sunday school is mainly concerned. The pupil is central. Every plan of the school must be shaped to encourage the growth of his spiritual life. Whatever does not contribute to this end must be reshaped or discarded. The test of the Sunday school is its effect upon the life of the pupil.

How will your school meet this test? By what standards do you judge it?

2. What Christian Character Is. Just what do we mean by Christian character? Our frequent use of such terms as "weak character" and "strong character" gives us a clue to the answer. A man of strong character is one who decides matters for himself. He is not swayed by others like a man of "weak character." A man of good character is he who chooses good actions rather than bad. Hence, it is in the choices one makes that character is displayed.

It follows that obedience is not always an expression of character. Obedience may be forced; it may result from fear ; it may be rendered because of other low motives; it may be the simple result of habit. And even good habits are not all there is of character. To act in the same way every time a given situation occurs is well worth while provided the reaction to the situation is morally sound; but a trained animal may do that well. Situations are constantly changing, so that the proper habit is often lacking, and a person must of necessity make voluntary choice. In such situations what a person wishes will determine his course of conduct. Char-

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acter appears in the expression of individual purposes. This is self-expression.

A Christian, therefore, is one who takes as his ideal of life the teachings of Jesus and guides his actions by the spirit of Christ. He constantly seeks to know the mind of Christ more fully and feels the presence of God in his daily life. He finds God in nature and in the world of men and draws near to God in private devotion and public worship. His greatest joy in life is the service of his fellow men. In a word, a Christian has "the mind . . . which was also in Christ Jesus." The Sunday school is a success when it leads its pupils to adopt Christian ideals of life.

In preparing to teach or conduct the worship in the Sunday school how far should the formation of character be the conscious aim?

3. How Character Is Formed. When we try to account for characters with which we are familiar we find ourselves speaking in terms of personal influence. "Evil associations," "a good home," "loyal .friends," are readily recognized as forces that help to form good character. Just how do these influences operate? Every person has a tendency to act like those about him. Sometimes this is done consciously; but frequently the words or deeds of others influence us unconsciously by what is termed "suggestion." The lad learns profanity from his playmate without the slightest mental effort. A burst of laughter sets us smiling though we may be entirely ignorant of its cause.

By unconscious imitation we reflect not only the deeds but even the very feelings of those about us.

The attitude of parents toward their neighbors is accurately reflected in the feelings and deeds of the children. This openness to suggestion and readiness to imitate are particularly marked in childhood. Bit by bit modes of feeling, thinking, and doing are copied until they become a part of character. It is by personal influence, exerted through suggestion and adopted in imitation, that the will of the child comes to be turned definitely in one direction or another.

However, about the time a child reaches the period of adolescence he begins to question his habits, to ask the reason for his acts, and so to choose for himself. It is then that the factor of choice comes in to work along with suggestion and imitation. Here the youth begins to choose his own ideals from among the various suggestions that come to him and to shape his conduct to fit his chosen ideals. Thus, adolescence is the most critical period in character formation. At this period emphasis should be laid upon the responsibility for conduct growing out of freedom of choice, which lies at the very foundation of all strong character.

If we would develop Christian character in the young we must provide a Christian atmosphere wherein Christian attitudes and conduct abound. Only as ideals of Christian living are set before them in real life can children make these ideals their own. No amount of instruction or rewards for good behavior or punishment for bad conduct can compare in effectiveness with the personal influence of a real Christian in shaping the character of a child. The chief schooling of the character of a child is to be

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"his participation in our work and in our fight to set up the kingdom of God in the world." 1

Not only must we provide a Christian environment for the young, but we must also see to it that young persons have plenty of opportunity to act in response to Christian ideals. It is useless to set before the boy the ideal of helpfulness unless he is given some opportunity to be helpful. Only when the ideal is acted out does the child really make it his own. "Impression" must find "expression" if it is to become fixed in character. When the child has been properly trained in the preadolescent period, as he approaches adolescence and begins to rely upon his own judgment the chances are that, with the aid of a conscience quickened by the Divine Spirit, he will make right choices.

While changes in the whole life are more marked at the beginning of adolescence than at any other period, changes are going on all the time. Character, good or bad, never ceases to grow. The proverb "As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined" is quite true. We cannot make the twig nor cause it to grow; but we can determine whether it shall make a straight or a crooked tree and we can retard or hasten its development. Character formation is growth, and the teacher can assist and guide the development of life. It is important, let it be said again, that the teacher know the conditions and needs of the growing material at the particular stage of development with which he proposes to deal. The boy of eight and the youth of twenty will respond to different stimuli, and they will also respond

1 "Education in Religion and Morals," Coe, page 182.

differently. The same person will make a different response to the same influences at different periods of life. Our business is to see that influences and opportunities for action are both so adapted to the enlarging capacity of the pupil that he will be constantly developing in the direction of mature Christain character.

4. How the Sunday School Can Assist in the Forming of Christian Character. As before indicated, the process of forming character is going on constantly in every human life. What can the Sunday school do to assist in the formation of Christian character, and how is this assistance to be rendered? In the light of the foregoing discussion it must do two things: (1) Provide friendly contact with persons of strong, symmetrical Christian character; and (2) afford opportunity for definite Christian activities.

(1) The resources in the Sunday school for the first requirement are usually abundant. First of all, there are the officers and teachers. Pupils are quick to respond to the influence of the teacher who shows a real interest in them, is regular in his habits, and gives evidence of earnest preparation for the task of teaching. They cannot "catch" the Christian spirit from a teacher who is destitute of it, but they respond readily and generously to wholesome, joyous, active, companionable Christian living. Character is contagious.

Next, the Sunday school has for lesson material all the great personalities of the Bible and of Christian history. Courageous Abraham, loyal Ruth, incorruptible Joseph; Amos, wrathful against social injustice ; Paul the hero, the Good Samaritan, and a

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hundred other illustrations from life or parable — these are all at hand to be made to the pupils real persons whom they can study and discuss and companion with. And what shall be said of Christ Jesus, our Lord? — he of the boundless love — of his joyousness, his patience, his manly vigor, his delight in the plain people, his self-sacrifice for all? The more vividly the pupils of the Sunday school see him, find him real as he teaches and heals and lives with the people of Galilee and Judea, the more readily and completely will they respond to his leadership. Through every stage of their growth pupils can come to know God the Father more and more fully as he is revealed in Jesus his Son. Bringing the pupils near to the Father is the real goal of religious education.

(2) While every kind of proper activity should contribute to and give evidence of the pupil's growth in religion, there are two types that should be present at every stage of his progress. The first is Christian conduct toward his fellows. Opportunities for this will constantly arise in the life of the home, the school, the playground, or the shop. Other opportunities will come in special needs of those about him, in community work, in appeals for a suffering world, in the cause of missions. Special classes in the Sunday school should afford the more advanced pupils opportunities for training for leadership in the Sunday school and in the other work of the church. The second type of activity is the pupil's direct dealings with God as expressed in public and private prayer, in the singing of hymns, and in public worship.

The two parts of the Sunday-school task are to guide the pupil's growth in Christian conduct and Christian worship.

5. The Need of Knowledge. One more factor must be considered without which the influence of the teacher can neither be strong nor abiding. I mean knowledge. This the teacher must both possess and be able to impart. Before pupils can respond to the influence of Christ they must know his life and teaching. They cannot share intelligently in missionary interest and enterprise until they know real conditions in missionary lands. As their interests widen, their knowledge must broaden. They must first know the Bible as a book of stories, but later it must be taught to them as a great book of literature and a repository of history. And when their attention is turned to our own nation, they should learn that God is a God of nations as of individuals, and his hand should be revealed in our own national and ecclesiastical history. Especially, if they are to be fully conscious of the presence of God in the world of to-day, they must be made acquainted with present-day religious movements and spiritual forces. When they come to take up responsibilities as members of the community they should understand the relations of Christianity to social, political, and industrial life. Moreover, they will find their place for permanent religious work in the church of their affiliation and will need training in the plans and methods of the denomination with which they are identified. The Sunday school must make generous provision for the acquisition of all these kinds of knowledge.

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6. The Threefold Function of the Sunday School. The task of the Sunday school has three aspects: It must guide the growth of the pupil in religious knowledge, it must train the pupil in Christian worship, and it must guide the pupil into the fields of Christian service and see that he knows how to serve well. No one of these functions can be definitely separated from the others in the organization and work of the Sunday school. Consciously or unconsciously, every teacher has to do with all three. To achieve the highest possible kind of success a Sunday school must have a well-developed program for all three functions.

1. Reread sections one to three of this chapter, testing them in the light of your own experience. Do you find their statements illustrated in your Sunday-school class? Write in your notebook the illustrations that occur to you.

2. Make a list of any new ideas that sections four and five have brought to you. How would they alter your work in the school? Write the answers in your notebook.

Think over the work of your Sunday school and list under the headings "Guiding Growth and Knowledge," "Training in Worship," and "Training in Conduct" all the different things that are done. What items come under none of these heads? Which division shows the most adequate program? Which is weakest? How do these actual conditions affect the development of the pupils? Write the answers in your notebook.

"What Is Education?" Welton.

"Education in Religion and Morals," Coe, Chapter VIII. "The Pupil," Barclay, Chapters I to III. "The Teacher," Barclay, Chapters II and III.

Chapter III Organizing The Sunday School

Asceetain the enrollment of your school, including the ages of the members of each class. Does each class represent a distinct age group? What departments are recognized in the school? Upon what basis are the pupils grouped into classes?

1. Organization Determined by Membership. The organization of the Sunday school should be fashioned according to the material in hand. It is not a cut-and-dried scheme of departments; it is rather an arrangement of the pupils according to their own needs; such an arrangement as will best promote the purpose in mind — the development of Christian character.

At the present time the Sunday school includes within its active membership various groups of children, young people, and adults. Ordinarily it ministers also to many who are not able to attend the regular weekly session of the school — babies, mothers, the sick and infirm, etc. Indeed, it has come to be recognized that the membership of the school ideally is one with the constituency of the church.

If, then, the organization of the school is to meet the needs of the entire membership, actual and possible, it must be adapted to the several groups, whether young or old, who attend the regular session, and also to those who for any reason are kept away. This requires not only the correct arrange-

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merit of those in the school proper, but also the adoption of plans for extending the benefits of the school to the larger constituency. Only the former is considered in this chapter ; the latter is discussed in Chapter XI, "The Extension of the Sunday School."

2. The Necessity for Grading. Practical conditions make it necessary for the pupils of a school to be grouped. There are not teachers sufficient for each pupil to have a teacher to himself, even if this were desirable. But this is not desirable. Education is not simply a process of individual development but of social adjustment. There is therefore educational value in the grouping of pupils. It is demanded both by practical conditions and educational theory.

But the grouping of pupils should not be a mere haphazard putting of them together. The arrangement should be in keeping with the law of life's needs. There are two fundamental principles that must be borne in mind. In the first place, emphasis must be given to the fact that the pupil is the determining factor in the whole work of education. The materials, the method, the organization, must be fitted to the pupil. We can no longer think of making the child to conform to arbitrary standards, as has too often been done. Standards must be made to fit his needs. Those things must be given him for his spiritual development which he can assimilate, and they must be given in such a way to make assimilation possible. In the second place, the pupil is a developing being, with different needs at the various stages of his growth; and the Sunday school is composed of pupils at many stages of development. The Sunday school must be graded because God has graded human life.

Earlier books in this series have discussed at length the several periods of development. It is necessary here only to recall a few important facts. Not only are there differences between maturity and infancy, childhood and adolescence. In the last two periods the observant worker will note variations that necessitate further division into early childhood, middle childhood, later childhood ; early adolescence, middle adolescence, and later adolescence. Each of these periods covers several years of growth; each year is marked by certain possibilities and needs differing from those of other years. The characteristics of each separate year are not of course so marked as are those of the several larger periods; even the line of separation between the several periods cannot be absolutely and sharply fixed at a given time ; there is gradual progress from one year to another and from one period to another. Yet the general characteristics of each period are fairly well defined.