Church school objectives

Foreword

This brief manual is designed to furnish a year's program of study and work for the Sunday School. It is not intended to cover every phase of Sunday School organization and effort. It affords a program of study for the regular monthly meeting of the Workers' Conference or Teachers-Officers' Meeting. It also expects the Study Meeting will be followed by an earnest and well-planned effort. The total result of this program of advance ought to be a Bigger and Better Sunday School.

The writers of the various chapters are specialists in their several lines. The editor has simply assembled the material and given it a common form.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Planning for a Big Year, by Louis H.

Koehler 1

Chapter I Planning For A Big Year

The program will not work itself. While the Bigger and Better Sunday School program carries a certain amount of weight and influence because of its intrinsic value, let us be reminded at the outset that if any or all of its objectives are reached, it will be by means of definite planning and labor. The program needs to be studied carefully and specific plans made for carrying it through to completion. Do not imagine because these objectives appear worth while that the entire school working force will be deeply interested at once. Plan to capture their interest for each successive objective and goal.

Use the monthly conference of workers as the means to this end. Undoubtedly, one of the best ways to put across a Sunday school program is by means of the monthly Workers' Conference. While it is possible for one man in the school to do quite a bit by way of advance ideas and work, yet no one school can reach its possible goal of attainment without the hearty support of practically all its working force. " We cannot successfully legislate beyond the point to which we educate " is suggestive, and all wise leaders will see that the right kind of educational agitation and propaganda is carried on before a vote is recorded on progressive movements. There is need of the vision becoming the property of all, and it takes time to give visions. Through study and reflection and conference it is possible for the workers to become enthusiastic supporters of every objective in. this great program.

Campaign Committee

Strong executive leadership is necessary to any successful group enterprise. After the Workers' Conference has decided to enter the campaign for Bigger and Better Sunday Schools the next consideration must be the selection of the best leadership available for the year's effort. Needless to say that this choice of a small campaign committee ought to be made with extreme care. It ought to be appointed as early as possible. The superintendent ought to be a member of the committee. A small sum of money ought to be allowed the committee for its necessary expenses. The duties of this committee are threefold: (a) Responsibility for each month's study meeting of the workers' conference; (b) responsibility for the campaign of effort which is to follow each study meeting ; (c) responsibility for keeping the local school in touch with the general movement by reporting to the school what is happening in other schools, and by reporting to headquarters what the school is planning and has achieved.

The Monthly Study Meeting

It is best to plan the programs of the Study Meetings several months ahead or for the entire year. One person should be in charge of the program for any given meeting, choosing for his assistants three or four persons to whom he will assign definite subdivisions of the main topic. In assigning the topics he should have two things

Planning for a Big Year in mind, the actual situation in the local school and the ideal condition with its reasons.

1. The one who has the task of reviewing the actual condition of the school on any given subject can often present his matter most effectively by use of the blackboard, employing statistics or a graph.

2. Use two or three persons for the presentation of the ideal plan and the reasons upon which it is based. See that these persons have information and literature. Practically everything depends upon the way in which these persons accept their responsibility for this task. If they study the problem diligently, read chapters and books upon the topic, visit other schools for observation purposes, correspond with specialists along this line, they will be able to write a paper or give a ten-minute talk that will bring clearly before the conference specific possibilities. The general topic should be broken up into three or four subtopics, as for instance, on " Finding and Training Leaders."

a. Where and How Discover Prospective Leaders?

b. What Means and Methods should be Created for Training Purposes ?

c. Church Supervision and Support of the Training Faculty.

Now let the pastor and superintendent give ready assistance to those selected to prepare the topics by loaning them texts on the subject, assisting them in outlining, and giving them addresses of Sunday school folk and headquarters with whom correspondence might be carried on ; and almost every worker will do his share.

After two or three papers have been read, each bearing directly upon the realizable ideal, let the chairman take charge of a discussion period for 30 or 45 minutes, during which time members of the various classes and departments will speak upon the topic, their arguments based in part upon the vision given through the reading of the papers. It is important that the discussion be carried on with the expectation of a practical effort on the part of the school. The purpose of the conference is not alone that of giving vision but of using the vision for immediate ends. The problem should be solved, the needs met. If papers have been written after diligent study and observation, and if the discussion has been carefully directed, then the next step can be taken.

Bringing Things to Pass

The Campaign Committee should not permit any monthly study meeting of the Workers' Conference to adjourn without some action approving a definite plan of effort and making provision for putting the plan into effect. In the study program, the principles and aims having been reviewed, a motion can now be made relative to solving the problem, overcoming the difficulty, attaining the standard, reaching the goal. There should be freedom in the discussion before the vote is taken, and if the first two steps have been carefully considered it is more than likely that the conference will adopt a program of activities for the month or quarter looking toward meeting the needs and reaching the goal.

At this point the Campaign Committee is ready with a recommendation that the special effort of the month be given to the committee they are prepared to name. This special committee will bring the action of the Workers' Conference before the entire school body as a recommen-

Planning for a Big Year dation. Thus the school feels the matter is worthy of support and in practically every case will ratify the action of the conference. Sunday school spirit is thus engendered, and if the objective is brought before the school every Sunday for prayer it will greatly help. Right here let it be clearly understood that the passing of the resolution does not solve the problem. If attendance is to be increased the school members must work along certain lines of endeavor; if equipment is to be secured, even though the money is in the treasury, it must be purchased, placed, and rightly used; if evangelism is to be stressed, then certain classes and individuals should be personally interviewed, preparation classes for church-membership organized, results conserved.

The Appendix contains recommendations of a list of books. It would be well to have some of these books for their use. In many cases the State or City Director can supply suggestions of helps and leaflet literature. It would be stimulating and suggestive to learn how another Sunday school is planning or has achieved the same piece of work.

The Campaign Committee will understand that its task is to produce and conserve results. In some cases the special work can be completed within the month and a final report made to the Workers' Conference. In other cases the effort will reach into the following month. In every case an earnest attempt should be made to complete a given task and add a permanent result to the school.

The Campaign Reporter

A third task of the Campaign Committee is reporting. It ought to report to the school and to headquarters. The school is not alone in this big effort It is marching forward with many other Sunday schools in your own State and in the nation. The campaign in the local school will be stimulated as the workers are made acquainted with the triumphs which have been won on other battlefields.

Make it somebody's responsibility to report to your higher officer — the State or City Director of Religious Education. He desires some report of (1) the year's plan as adopted by the school, and the results of your special efforts, (2) increased membership and improved attendance, (3) teacher-training classes, (4) advance in departments, (5) building improvements, (6) evangelistic results, (7) cradle roll increase, (8) Vacation School plans, and (9) delegates registered for the Summer Assembly.

The final result of this kind of action taken monthly will be to bring about educational unity among the workers. Catching a common vision of the ideal, the workers will pray and labor with unwonted zeal. Sunday school spirit will be created, and the entire school body will catch something of the enthusiasm of its leaders. The Workers' Conference will become the very center and heart of the school, pulsating life and energy to all departments and activities. Surely this is a simple way to attain. But let no pastor or superintendent slight it because it looks simple. It demands work on the part of the leaders. Topics must be carefully thought out and assigned to selected individuals at least a month in advance. Books and other literature must be placed in their hands, the discussions must be to the point, support must be won for the motion. Any workers can see

Planning for a Big Year at once that by this kind of action the school will take advanced positions in the matter of increased membership and regular attendance, trained leadership, improved building and furnishings, evangelism and preparation for church-membership, work for little children, and summer vacation plans. The close of the year will show the school far in advance of its standing at the beginning, while at the same time the workers will have developed a method of handling school problems that will help them meet most of the needs that may arise in the future.

Chapter II Membership And Attendance

The Protestant Churches of America stand convicted of the spiritual neglect of the Childhood and Youth of America. Over 27,000,000 of nominal Protestants under twenty-five years of age are not enrolled in any Sunday school or other institution giving regular religious instruction.

Such a statement is a ringing challenge to every live pastor and to every Sunday-school' officer and teacher. In self-respect our churches cannot allow such conditions to prevail longer and not make an organized enthusiastic effort to meet the challenge, and enroll the boys and the girls and the young people in our Sunday schools. Further, the day has come when we want the older people as well as the younger ones enrolled for Bible study. Fathers influence the boys, and mothers are an example to their girls in other walks of life. Why should they not be in this fundamental part of the influence and the life of the church? Every soul in the community should be reached with an invitation to study God's word. In our day the wail of the Psalmist, " No man cared for my soul," ought never to be true in a Christian community. The margin of the Bible suggests " sought after my soul." The spirit of a live Sunday-school drive for more members is exactly described in these words " sought after," and in the words of Jesus in the parable where the shepherd sought the lost sheep " until he found it," and having found, we gather them in. 8

Awaken the Interest

It sometimes requires considerable urging to get a complacent and self-satisfied school to realize its duty to enlarge its borders. Just as a non-missionary church is spiritually dead, so a non-growing Sunday school is stultified. There will always be those also who think the effort useless. A sermon by the pastor, a talk by a visitor on what some other school accomplished, the persistent effort of a pastor, superintendent, or teacher with a vision is often needed to get things started. After having aroused in the Workers' Conference a sense of responsibility for those who might be in the school and are not, and having decided to enter upon a campaign for new members, there are certain necessary next steps. The very, first of these is a review of the condition of the school to see that all is in good working order. Before asking extra work of the car the motorist tightens the nuts, greases the gears, fills the tanks, examines the tires. Small use to add new members to a boy's class that has no teacher. One of the first efforts will be to provide a teacher for every class. The cordiality of our invitation will be doubted if there are no extra seats for new comers and not enough song-books to go around, so attention must be paid to our equipment. All that can be done to brighten the Sunday-school surroundings and to improve the order and efficiency and attractiveness of the school program will contribute directly to the success of a membership drive. A solemn face and manner are expected of ushers at a funeral, but the Sunday-school usher should be chosen for his cordiality. His hearty handshake makes the stranger feel at home.

B

The Survey

Who is there to invite to the school ? Those who once were members; members of church families who do not attend; any one who attends no other school, and newcomers who have not attached themselves to any church. How are these new members to be found? It is not enough to depend upon the vague and indefinite knowledge of the teachers as to where' new scholars are to be found. The only sure and thorough way is to have a systematic survey of the entire neighborhood from which the Sunday school draws or should draw its support. For the school survey is a necessary annual event. Population is constantly shifting, new people are coming in, new houses are being built, last year's figures cannot be relied upon for this year's work.

In smaller communities it may be sufficient to conduct the survey once in two or three years, though the danger is of too infrequent rather than too frequent repetition.

A Survey by all the Churches or by One Church?

Once in three to five years (depending upon the rate of change in the community) all the evangelical churches ought to unite in a thorough, systematic community canvass. For this task careful organization must be made, months in advance.

Within the three- or five-year period each live church within the community ought to go out with its own special invitation. In a spirit of Christian comity care will be exercised to avoid any suggestion of proselyting. When a family expresses a preference for another church, the canvasser ought warmly to urge their attendance and loyalty to that church, and a record should be kept so as to notify the pastor and Sunday school of their choice.

But the larger number of families in the ordinary community are indifferent toward church and religion. They have no preferences that have any influence in their lives. In a general survey when cards are sorted among the churches, and a certain machinery must be put into operation before another party calls (if they ever do) and extend them an invitation, this class of the religiously indifferent are likely to suffer.

When one warm-hearted church goes out into the community because it is seeking men, women, and children, it will take advantage of the first call and any opportunity which that call affords, to press home a personal, gripping invitation. No doubt will be left in any one's mind but that somebody wants them, wants them particularly, and if they don't come next Sunday to the Baptist Sunday school somebody is going to be disappointed. Why, the visitor even offered to call on Sunday and take them to the school and introduce them !

The Invitation

For a survey* two sets of cards should be prepared, an invitation- and a record-card. The invitation-card should be a neat, attractive card of about post-card size, having printed on one side a word of explanation and a cordial invitation something after the following manner :

The churches of this community extend to you a very hearty welcome to worship with them. There is a place for each member of your household in the Sunday school. If you have not already done so, we urge you to bring the children and enjoy with them the privilege of study and fellowship which the Sunday school offers. There is good singing, an interesting talk, a warm welcome awaiting you.

On the reverse side of the card should appear a list of the churches cooperating in the survey, with the location, name of pastor, and time of regular services. If the school is conducting the survey alone, the card will naturally contain only the notices of that church, and the invitation will read something like this :

A cordial invitation is extended to you to attend the services

of the Church. If you -are not attending

regularly elsewhere we wish you to know that there is a place in our Sunday school for you and all the members of the family, from the Cradle Roll to the adult classes.

The record-card for the survey should be prepared with ruled spaces for:

Family name

Children

Other members of household

Church preference

Remarks .

This card is for the use of the canvasser only and should be carefully filled out after the invitation-card has been given as a means of introduction. There is no impertinence in the questions and none will be suspected when the canvasser has explained the reason for the call. But some people will not be at home, and a return call will be necessary. In such cases the address should be carefully filled in on the blank card so that no one shall be missed on the second round.

Dividing the Territory

Having prepared the cards the next step in preparation for the survey is a carefully drawn map of the section to be covered. From this will be made the assignment of territory. In a cooperative effort each school usually assumes responsibility for the survey in a given section, This makes it easier to check up the results and place responsibility for any failure to do the assigned work. Within a given section the work should then be allotted to the workers, each being given a definite portion. Usually it is found advisable for two to work together. There is more cordiality and sociability about the invitation in that way and approach to people is easier. There should be an agreed time within which the survey is to be completed. If the territory is well divided, a week should be sufficient. In any case it should not be allowed to drag. Local conditions will decide the day and time of day that is most convenient for the survey. Many have found Sunday afternoon the most favorable time, others find the early evening better.

Those chosen to make the survey should be mature men and women. It is not a task to entrust to children or very young people. Each district should have its captain, whose duty it is to see that his workers have been appointed to cover his entire territory, that substitutes are provided if necessary, that each one thoroughly understands his duty, and that the necessary invitation- and record-cards and pencils are provided. It is the captain's duty to get a report from each of his workers, collect the record-cards, and arrange for any necessary return calls. The captains together with the committee will carefully go over the survey-cards and tabulate the results for future reference, then turn over to each church those cards belonging to it.

The Membership Drive

It is only after this survey has been completed that a thorough and systematic drive for new members can be begun.

With the results of the survey before us we can know definitely what our task is. Unless the survey is made before the meeting of the Workers' Conference which this chapter is discussing it will be necessary to appoint an Invitation Committee to receive the report of the survey and place a follow-up work of visitation and invitations. Going over the list carefully, the committee will enlist the aid of the pastor, the church visitor, teachers, Sunday-school officers, Home Department visitors, Cradle Roll superintendent, and members of the different classes. By every sort of friendly, personal, neighborly touch we must seek to make the follow-up of the survey a real missionary effort.

The Goal

This should be nothing less than the enrolment of every available man, woman, and child in the community. The canvass should have nr mind the Home Department and the Cradle Roll as well as every other department of the Sunday school. True, this is the ideal, and we shall probably fall short of its full attainment; but the higher the aim, with an abundance of intelligent labor, the larger the success. Such a goal appeals to men when a live program is offered. They like to link up with a school that is worth while in numbers as well as in other achievements. Few men are so bad that they do not have some sympathy for a gbod life. They understand that the Sunday school is in their midst to help boys and girls and men and women, and so to help homes and all the best in life. Prayer, patience, and perseverance, with tact and good cheer, will reach indifferent parents and skeptical men who like to see things done.

The Motto

A motto of the right sort stirs the boys and the girls and the young people. " We are all here " may serve in some schools. You recall the answer of Cornelius to Peter after Peter had seen the wondrous vision with the sheet let down from heaven. The background is wholesome for many a Sunday school. Not just the bright, prettily dressed ones do we want. We must have them, and we want to lead them into the joy of winning the neglected ones, the poor little ill-dressed waifs and the neglected older boys and girls and young people — older folks too. " We are all here " is up to date in happy song, and it has Biblical and psychological dynamite for a Sunday-school campaign to awaken and capture a community.

A Membership Contest

A spirit of friendly rivalry stimulates the effort to bring in new scholars. It is sometimes undertaken between two schools, in which case the contest should be hedged about by certain restrictions. The competing schools should not tap the same territory, and no gains should be counted unless they show some measure of permanency, such as one-month's or three-months , attendance.

Within the school a contest may be carried on between certain classes -or by dividing the school into the Reds and the Blues. Buttons may be distributed and a reward offered, such as a banquet for the winners, given by the losers at the end of a definite period, say three months.

Advertising

The survey has been the first step* in advertising the existence of the school. Interesting news items for the column of the local paper telling of the drive for new members, announcing the captains of the Blues and the Reds, little personal items about the meetings of the Men's Class, the ball-team of the Intermediates, and many other facts will serve to keep the school before the public. A small advertisement may be run each week announcing the time of and place of the Sunday school. Attractive posters in the neighboring store windows, or on the church bulletin-board, announcements from the platform, notices in the church calendar, invitation-cards and postals mailed to all on the survey list, and many other means of calling attention to the school may be used.

Special Programs

Strangers are attracted to a church or school when there is something going on that shows the school to be alive and interesting. For this purpose special program features, such as orchestra numbers or a special speaker, may be played up. But any feature of that sort must not encroach upon the lesson period. A large school in an

Eastern city in its zeal for increased attendance put on various attractions which entirely swamped the school program. The crowd came to be sure, but very few became permanent additions to the school.

Maying Them Want to Come Again

When by our canvassing and advertising, our personal invitations, our telephone calls, notes, and post-cards; when by calling for them and being refused once but calling again ; when by much patient persistence in welldoing and many prayers for grace and guidance we have persuaded the stranger to attend the school, how shall we persuade him to come again?

1. A cordial welcome at the door. It is very discouraging to enter a strange room and feel oneself the center of all eyes and not know where to stand or sit or whither to go. Ushers should always be at the door to welcome strangers with a pleasant word and hand-clasp, escort them to the proper department or class or provide them with seats in the visitors' section until the enrolment officer can attend to them. The ushers should see that visitors are supplied with hymnbooks and Bibles.

2. Entering a class. All the previous work may be undone by the attitude of a class toward a new-comer. If there is a spirit of exclusiveness or snobbery, there can be no real cordiality of welcome. It is a very important part of the teacher's work to build up in her class a feeling of good fellowship through social contacts and class organization, but these must be permeated by the Christian spirit of neighborliness to be effective in the spiritual growth of the members. Especially in classes in certain teen-ages the teachers need to nourish carefully the right class attitude. Class prayer-meetings will help and talks with certain members of the class.

3. Recognition of new members. The visitor should be urged to enroll as a pupil in the proper class and should sign an enrolment-card. A simple recognition service for new members may be conducted once a month, when all new members are asked to stand or come forward, and the superintendent says a few words of welcome.

4. Attractive general exercises, good singing, earnest praying, businesslike reports, varied program, a wellprepared teacher, and an attentive and cooperating class make the visitor feel he has gotten something worth while and worth coming for again.

5. But old habits are difficult to break and new ones take a long time to acquire. With many of those whom the membership campaign has attracted to the Sunday school it will be necessary to exercise great patience. They must be reminded again and again by telephone, by calling for them, by a word dropped as they are seen at school or on the street.

Rev. A. E. Henry in " A Working Plan for The Church School " suggests the following :

A Cradle Roll Reception for mothers and babies held in the afternoon with toys for the babies, refreshments for the mothers, a plaything or picture-card to take home, and some one to take a group picture.

A Primary Party, mothers invited, games and a story for the children.

Home Department Social; get church-members to volunteer the use of their cars so that the aged and the semi-invalids may attend.

Camp-fire and Egg-roast or a hike for boys' and girls' classes, separately.

Father-and-Son Banqwet.

Mother-and-Daaghter Luncheon.

Regular business and social meetings of men's and women's classes.

Making the Attendance Prompt and Faithful

Ask the secretary to dig into the records and show by a curved line -on a chart the average attendance for several years. Analyze the report by classes (in a small school), departments, and sexes. Note the largest irregularities.

Ask the secretary or a special investigator to go into the causes of absenteeism. It will be necessary to distinguish between real'and reported causes.

Tardiness will need to be examined. Secure the facts. Any investigation of the reasons for tardiness will help in the correction.

Helps

Records need to be kept faithfully. There may be carelessness by the *class officer or the school secretary that needs remedying. The secretary's report ought to record promptness and tardiness.

Reports of individual attendance and promptness will be a great help. Some well-organized schools aim to give parents and scholars a quarterly report. A quarterly summary can be made from the superintendent's desk, giving special honors. A good plan for weekly report of attendance calls attention to the percentage of enrolment by departments.

Promptness in opening the school session will help establish habits of promptness. A chronic weakness of many schools is the uncertain hour of beginning. It is small wonder scholars become careless when leaders set a pitiful example.

A goal of a higher average attendance set for a quarter or a year sometimes helps. After investigating what the school has done in average attendance careful consideration should be given to a reasonable advance. This new mark should be voted by the Workers' Conference and the school. Each Sunday's report will then be compared with the goal which has been set.