The class leader

Front matter

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Contents

Chapter Page

I. The Office of Class Leader 9

II. Six Things a Class Leader Should Have 21

Chapter I. The Office Of Class Leader

] HE Methodist Episcopal Church is dis- ^- languished as an organization which secures thorough supervision of all departments of its work. Every interest is watched over. Its various officers are charged with the duty of overseeing the particular interests committed to them, and these officers together constitute a vast array of sentinels, whose scrutiny extends from the grand body to each individual. Nothing is overlooked, unless these sentinels be guilty of negligence and unfaithfulness.

Let us glance at this remarkable system of supervision.

io The Class Leader.

In the first place, the General Conference is the supreme regulator and law-giving powe the whole Church. It appoints General Superintendents, called Bishops, whom it charges with the duty of traveling through the Ch at large, that they may inspect its w: vide preaching and pastoral oversig' congregations, and from their knowledge of the whole work, distribute the ministers the most wisely among the Churches. The Bishops are responsible to the General C_ every four years subjects their administration Xo a careful review, and if need be, to correction.

The Annual Conferences, into whole Church is divided, are the chief supervising bodies in the territorv embraced wi1 their respective bounds. To them the pre ers are responsible for their conduct and administration. Xo clergyman can pass unc lenged by his Conference if he be suspected of immorality or of wrong administration.

The Churches in each Annual Conference are arranged into districts, and every district

TJie Office of Class Leader. 1 1

is placed under the supervision of a Presiding Elder. This office is supplementary to that of Bishop, the Bishops being unable, because of the great extent of the work, to exercise that minute oversight of the ministers and Churches which is necessary. The Presiding Eiders are, therefore, in fact, assistant Bishops. They travel over their districts about four times a , preaching in all the churches, presiding at the love-feasts — which reveal by the religious testimonies therein given the spiritual condition of the membership — and holding Quarterly Conferences, in which is brought under review, once a quarter, the condition of the individual Churches. They make themselves acquainted with the laity and ministry, and advise the Bishop respecting them.

There are also District Conferences, which examine into the qualifications of candidates for license to preach, and are empowered to grant licenses ::■■ such candidates as they judge to be worthy, This Conference also reviews annually the character and labors of the Local

Preachers and Exhorters, and renews or withholds their license.

Each individual Church, also, is furnished with a perfect system of supervision. The pastor is the bishop or overseer of the entire membership of the charge to which he is appointed. It is his business to watch over their souls ; to exercise discipline ; to teach, reprove, rebuke, with all authority ; to statedly preach the Gospel ; to visit from house to house ; and to administer the sacraments.

The pastor, however, cannot exercise all the requisite personal oversight. The membership in many Churches is numerous, the demands made upon the pulpit are more and more stern, requiring a large amount of time to be given by the preacher to the studies and thinking necessary to the preparation of the Sabbath sermons ; and with the numerous calls and interruptions inseparable from his office, it is impossible for him to give that thorough attention to all the details of spiritual superintendence which the care of souls demands. The Church has made most wise and adequate provision for enabling the pastor to make his supervision complete by means of the services of Class Leaders.

All the members in full connection, and all on probation, are placed in classes, and each class is put in charge of a Leader. It is his office to see each person under his care once a week, that he may know the state of their souls. His office, therefore, is spiritual supervision.

This was the intention of Mr. Wesley. He says, * I called together all the Leaders of the classes, (so we used to term them and their companies,) and desired that each would make a particular inquiry into the behavior of those whom he saw weekly. They did so. Many disorderly walkers were detected. Some turned from the evil of their ways. Some were put away from us. Many saw it wirh fear, and rejoiced unto God with reverence."

The Leaders visited the members of their classes at their own houses at first but this being found inexpedient, it was, says Mr. Wesley, " agreed that those of each class should meet altogether. And by this means a more full inquiry was made into the behavior of every person. Those who could not be visited at home, or no otherwise than in company, had the same advantage with others. Advice or reproof was given as need required ; quarrels made up, misunderstandings removed ; and after an hour or two spent in this labor of love, they concluded with prayer and thanksgiving." The founder of Methodism sought, through the Leaders, to ascertain the condition of the membership. "February 2, 1747, I began," he says, " examining the classes ; having desired the Leaders, such as had leisure, to give me a short account in writing of those under their care. Among others I received the following note : ' Dear Sir, I hope my class are bending one way. K. T., etc., seem to retain their confidence in the Lord. W. R., etc., seem to be shut up in a fog, and arc not able to get out on any side. They are very dead, and yet very sore ; nothing seems to dp them any good, unless it be smooth as oil and yet sharp as a razor. ML S., etc., seem to be in earnest, seeking the Lord. J. T., etc., appear to have a desire, and to be widely seeking something."

Mr. Wesley kept himself thus advised respecting the condition of the Societies through the Leaders ; and an adequate oversight of the spiritual affairs of our Churches can now only be maintained by means of the same agency.

As the Presiding Elder is, in our economy, an assistant or sub-bishop, so is the Class Leader a sub-pastor. Bishops Coke and Asbury, in their Notes to the Discipline of 1777, say, " Every Leader is in some degree a Gospel minister ; " and the Bishops, in their Address to the General Conference of i860, designate the office of Leader, a " sub-pastorate.'* The Leader, then, is to care not simply for his class collectively, but for all the members separately. He should at all times be able to report to the pastor, as in the instance given by Mr. Wesley, respecting the religious experience and life of each. He should be acquainted with their way of living in the world, so that any thing wrong in their conduct may be corrected, and the Church not be permitted to suffer because of the disorderly behavior of any member.

This part of a Leader's office is of very great importance because of the fact that a pastor is often removed after a service of one or two years in a Church, and, if not then, must be changed at the end of three years. It therefore happens that for a large portion of the time the minister is comparatively a stranger, personally, to most of the Church-members, and cannot know with any definiteness concerning their walk except as he obtains information from others ; and it is the office of the Leader to render him that information.

But the Leader cannot do this without painstaking. He must watch his flock like a shepherd. If he simply hold class-meeting once a week, and look no further after his members, his knowledge of them will be very imperfect, lie should know them, not simply in the class room, but in their daily life, their company, diversions, business ; in their besetments, perplexities, discouragements ; their temptations, falls, and uprisings. He should know their peculiarities of character, temperament, and condition, and so be able to rightly admonish, advise, and encourage them, and communicate to the pastor what it is needful for him to know concerning each.

By such means only can the thorough and intelligent spiritual supervision which the Church, by its economy, contemplates, be exercised over all the membership. " No public ministrations will be sufficient to maintain the life of religion in individuals, or to preserve the purity of the body, without faithful Leaders in the Society. The hedge of discipline cannot be kept up, nor proper order be enforced, without the aid of Leaders. But this aid cannot be expected of them unless they be men of God. If they be not strictly and universally conscientious, they will not help their preachers to urge the observance of our rules." — Cantio7ts and

Directions addressed to Class Leaders.

Mr. Wesley at one time, while investigating the affairs of the Society in Dublin, read to the Leaders a paper on the nature of their office, in which he says ;- —

"'I. That it may be more easily discerned whether the members of our Societies are working out their own salvation, they are divided into little companies called Classes. One person in each of these is styled the Leader. It is his business, (i,) To see each person in his Class once a week, to inquire how their souls prosper ; to advise, reprove, comfort, or exhort them : (2,) To receive what they are willing to give toward the expenses of the Society : and, (3,) To meet the Assistant* and the Stewards once a week.

'"2. This is the whole and sole business of a Leader, or any number of Leaders. But it is common for the Assistant in any place, when several Leaders are met together, to ask their advice as to any thing that concerns either the

* The Assistant was the preacher in charge under Mr. I ejr.

temporal or spiritual welfare of the Society. This he may or he may not do, as he sees best. I frequently do it in the larger Societies ; and on many occasions I have found, that in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

" ' 3. From this short view of the original design of Leaders it is easy to answer the following questions : —

" € (1.) What authority has a single Leader ?

" ' He has authority to meet his Class, to receive their contributions, and to visit the sick in his Class.

" ' (2.) What authority have all the Leaders of a Society met together?

" ' They have authority to show their Classpapers to the Assistant, to deliver the money they have received to the Stewards, and to bring in the names of the sick.

" ' (3.) But have they not authority to restrain the Assistant if they think he acts improperly ?

" ' No more than any member of the Society has. After mildly speaking to him, they are to refer the thins: to Mr. W.

" ' (4.) Have they not authority to hinder a person from preaching.

"'None but the Assistant has this authority.

" i (5.) Have they not authority to displace a particular Leader ?

"'No more than the door-keeper has. To place and to displace Leaders belongs to the Assistant alone.

" * (6.) Have they not authority to expel a particular member of the Society ?

" ' No : the Assistant only can do this.

" * (7.) But have they not authority to regulate the temporal and spiritual affairs of the Society ?

" ' Neither the one nor the other. Temporal affairs belong to the Stewards ; spiritual to the Assistant.' "

Chapter II. Six Things A Class Leader Should Have

^JghTKAT is it to be a Class Leader ? This Acr question is not difficult to answer. A Class Leader is one who leads a class. But this answer makes one no wiser. To give an answer which shall compass the whole question, and furnish a real and vivid portraiture of a true Class Leader, is not so easy. This I propose to try to furnish.

There are several elements necessary to make a Class Leader worthy of the name. None of them can be absent. A single vital deficiency is fatal. There are numerous things that are desirable, and the possession of which would contribute to the influence and efficiency of a Leader, such as being a good singer, having an eloquent utterance, and a pleasing countenance ; but they are not necessary. There are other elements that are indispensable, lacking which no man ought to be a Leader. Of the latter, and not the former, I propose now to speak.

I. The Working Spirit.

I once knew two men, members of the same Church, who each held the position of Leader. They met their classes regularly ; but they were seldom at the weekly prayer-meeting, and could not be induced to take part in revival work. In special meetings for the conversion of sinners, while from night to night the pastor and the earnest portion of the membership were toiling at the altar, they were found in stores talking about the affairs of the town, and listening to the general gossip. Standard-bearers in the Christian army, they fled from the field in the time of serious engagement. Were they Class Leaders ? They bore the name, they enjoyed the honor of the position ; but — I press the question — were they really Leaders ?

Another Class Leader I knew who was quite active in the work of the altar in the time of revival, but whose seat in church when there was no revival was vacant at more than two thirds of the services. Regular in meeting the class ; gifted in prayer, in song, and in speech ; yet habitually absent from the house of God more than two services in three — was this person a true Class Leader ? I think there can be no hesitation in the mind of any one who has just views of this office in rendering an emphatic nay.

These three persons whom I have described are representative cases. They belong to classes which are fearfully large. Their counterparts can be found in all portions of the land. Their sad example works evil, it is to be feared, more than their counsels and prayers in the class-room can ever avail for good. They are heavy weights upon the Church. They are Class Leaders only in name. They are hinderances instead of helps to the spirituality of the membership, and to the Church's aggressive warfare upon the world.

We get, then, in the light of these examples, a perception of the first thing which is absolutely essential to constitute a true Class Leader — namely that lie have a mind to work.

To be a Class Leader, in the true sense, is to be a Christian worker. It were better, I hesitate not to say, to have no Class Leaders at all than to have the office filled by men who have no zeal for God, no love for souls, no heart for earnest spiritual labor. The Leader of a class is, as we have shown, in a sense, a pastor ; and his work is of such a nature that he cannot perform it unless he be alive to it, and have a love for doing it.

That he may be a useful worker in the Church it is not only necessary that he have a disposition to labor, but also that his example in the Church be good and wholesome. What does it avail that the leader manifest much ardor and emotion in a time of revival, and be instant in season and out of season, if in other times he show no love for the prayer-meeting or for the public worship of God on the Sabbath ?

man can exert a healthful spiritual influence in a Church who is inconstant and irregular in his attendance at his own Church. This is especially the case if he be a Leader. Where is he ? will be the question that will arise in the minds of scores as they see his seat vacant. Why not here ? Does he not love the house and the w r ord of God ? Is he sleeping, visiting, recreating, entertaining company, or wandering around to other Churches in search of novelty and excitement ? These, and inquiries of like import, will be made mentally from Sabbath to Sabbath by numbers who will never speak them aloud ; and perhaps by some who may not be so discreet.

Such a course cannot but impair the usefulness of any Church member, and especially of a Church officer. . No matter how fluent his utterance, or tearful his eyes, or pathetic his tones when he addresses his members in the class-room, or labors among the serious and penitent in revivals, there will be a sad lack in all his exercises of that power which only a good and well-directed personal influence can give. An indispensable requisite in a real Class Leader is, that he love the Church's ordinances and regularly attend them. He must be able to say, " I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness/'

II. Blamelessness.

Another thing which cannot be dispensed with in a Class Leader is, blamelessness of life. He is a teacher of experimental and practical religion, and it is necessary that his life be in harmony with his teachings. If he be a business man he must illustrate the principles of Christianity in his business. His integrity must be beyond question.

I once knew a Leader who was a very active and prosperous man of business, but who was quite generally spoken of, among even his brethren in the Church, as addicted to suspicious business methods. Now and again it would be said that he was "tricky." He would not always faithfully represent his goods, and would take advantage of the ignorance or weakness of a customer to secure the best of the bargain. Such, at least, was the reputation he bore. While some would not credit these things, and adhered to him strongly, others had little confidence in his religious professions. Now this man's influence was weak just at the point where it should have been strong : it was evil where it ought to have been good.

Another Leader, who was a married man, was remarked by his members for his special attentions to and familiarity with a certain female member of his class. He was apparently very devout, his exercises in the class-room were very emotional, but his honor was suspected. So strong became the suspicions that some of his members resolved to test them. Their investigations resulted in the discovery of grievous moral aberration, and he was displaced from his office and cast out of the Church. Yet for some time he had exercised the leadership while his influence was most damaging to the cause he professed to serve.

28 Ihe Class-Leader.

Another man whom I knew was a Leader, and continually accused of falsehood. It was difficult, if not impossible, to get direct proof of palpable lying, and yet such was his volubility and recklessness of speech that his word had very little value with many who knew him. He did not have a nice sense of truth, nor did he always exercise strict fidelity to it in his utterances. As a consequence many, both in and out of the Church, had no confidence in his veracity.

Such examples show the absolute necessity of moral blamelessness in those who are leaders of the flock. They must be men of good report. If they be slandered, they must remove the slander and vindicate their integrity. If they do not, no gifts, or social standing, or wealth, or any thing else, can render them influential Class Leaders. They must be beyond reproach and above suspicion or their religious counsels and admonitions, though given with tears, will be worse than vain.

This purity of character is so vital that all

Six Tilings a Class Leader Should Have. 29

Class Leaders should exercise the utmost care in regard to it, I do not mean that they should be so self-inspective and self-conscious as to lose their freedom of feeling and action. They should not be afraid to give play to their natural aptitudes lest they should seem to transgress the proprieties of their office. No man can be a power for good in any great degree unless he be natural, and this he cannot be unless he be freely himself.

A man walking on moral stilts is a ridiculous spectacle. The affectation which says, " I am a Class Leader, and I cannot walk on the pavement of every-day life, as ordinary Christians do, but must move with my feet above it," can only render a man distasteful, if not disgusting, to sensible people. Let hirn walk where others walk, a man with men ; his heart in sympathy with every interest and pain and joy and grief of humanity ; putting on no airs of superior sanctity, but maintaining " a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men ;" watching against the smallest violation of truth, honor, justice ; against holding fellowship with

wrong in any form ; and he will be sure to enjoy the confidence of all who know him, and the esteem and love of those who fear God.

III. Good Common Sense.

The Class Leader must not fail to have good sense.

What merchant would place a man in charge of important trusts whose reason and aiscretion were at fault ? who lacked a ready perception of the fitness of things, and whose : ment was erratic ? The man who can be depended upon to do about the right thing in the right way, and at the right time, is the one that wise employers select to manage and guard large interests.

The weightiest interest that a pastor can commit to any of his members is that which he places in charge of the person whom he appoints Class Leader. The Leader has in ids hands the guiding and shaping of the eternal destinies of immortal beings. It is his office to lead his flock into green pastures and beside still waters. He is to admonish them when they do wrong, to recover them from their wanderings, to animate and cheer them when weary and discouraged, to instruct them when ignorant, to counsel them in their difficulties, and in general to watch over them as one who "must give account."

A work of such delicacy and responsibility requires the exercise of such wisdom and skill as only sound common sense can supply. Extraordinary piety and devotion, even, cannot compensate for the want of this. A man may be truly good, and thoroughly in earnest to do good, but if he lack wisdom he cannot be relied upon as a safe guide. I do not mean by wisdom, wide knowledge of the world, of books, or of men, though this is desirable. Without such knowledge a man may be a useful Class Leader ; but without the wisdom which is born of good sense he cannot be, because he cannot wisely counsel, admonish, reprove, encourage, and otherwise edify the members of a class.

This quality supplies a Class Leader with tact. This thing called tact is what wins on most of the battle-fields of life. It is this which renders some men so successful in managing men, and making them subservient to their purposes. It is this which enables some persons so readily to disentangle themselves from unfavorable complications, to repair with ease a mistake, or to settle a difficulty. Tact gives a man the best use of his resources, and leads him to do the best thing in an emergency. No man is or can be the possessor of this ready skill in action, which we call tact, only in proportion as he has common sense.

How tact comes into use in the conduct of a class-meeting is shown in the case of a Leader who writes : " I hear and respond to the evidences offered, unless they have too much sameness and become dull, and if so I suddenly turn my experience into a prayer or singing meeting, get them waked up, and perhaps as suddenly return to experiences."*

* Letter of II. II. Webb to the writer.

Other men would go on with a somnolent influence deepening in the class to the end, and have the members leave with the feeling that the class-room is a dull place ; but the Leader whose sense is clear and alert contrives to exorcise the demon of dullness, and makes the meeting lively and profitable.

This quality was also illustrated by a Class Leader in England whose time was so much occupied in business that he could not always get the opportunity to call promptly upon his members whom he missed from class-meeting, but who yet saw that it was necessary to reach them somehow. So he hit upon a device in the shape of a little card, a specimen of which is here given, which he sent in an envelope to iMr. FarnelVs kind regards, and will he very happy to see you at Class on Tuesday next, at I Eight 0? clock in the Evening, in No, 1 Vestry, Boldm^

* On the reverse side this text is printed : " Come thou with us, and we will do thee good."

each absentee, the cause of whose absence he did not know, previous to the next class night, by some one who would deliver it ; and he " almost always found it effectual in bringing them to the class."*

Many a Leader has allowed a class intrusted to him to dwindle to extinction, because he did not possess the tact to place himself in communication with and bring back to the class-room his absenting members.

I am far from saying that all Leaders who do not use the precise methods given above are deficient in good sense ; but I do say, that good sense leads a man to see and to overcome clifculties and hinderances to efficiently leading a class, as well as in other spheres of activity and success. Other things being equal, the Leader, with genuine, ready sense will always greatly surpass him who lacks it.

The exercise of the very best judgment is often demanded in replying to the experiences

* Letter of William Farnell, late of England, now of Brooklyn, N. Y., to the writer.

Six Tilings a Class Leader Should Have. 35

related in class-meeting. Sometimes a Leader's tact will lead him to use language that to an observer would seem unsuitable, but which he perceives is needful to divert the thoughts of the person addressed from morbid contemplations, and turn them to more genial themes.

Captain Bilderback, who was a very successful Class Leader for many years in Salem, New Jersey, when some one had recited in his class-meeting a story of Satanic assault, instead of replying by a discourse on the philosophy of temptation and giving minute directions for overcoming the tempter, in his peculiar manner said, " Brother, the next time the devil comes to you take a big club to him."

Such a reply would not soon be forgotten by the person addressed, and the novelty and homeliness of the simile, and the manner of its utterance, probably did more to relieve and assure his mind than would the most polished sentences. It would not be best for every Leader to make that reply in such a case, but Captain Bilderback was a Leader who had tact,

J and judgment to use that tact; hence he was generally ready to meet an exigence in the class-room skillfully and wisely.

David Taylor, of Jersey City, is one of the best Class Leaders I ever knew. One evening I was hearing him lead his class when not less than fifty persons were present. A member in speaking said that never since his conversion had he desired to turn back to the world. The stereotyped reply to such a hackneyed declaration would have been somewhat as follows : Of course, brother, you do not desire to go back. Why should you ? The joys of religion are so much superior to the pleasures of the world that no one who possesses them would desire to make the exchange. Hold on, then, to your religion, and never indulge a desire to part with it.

With no such smooth words did Mr. Taylor reply. But he almost startled me by saying, in tones full of earnest feeling, " I believe that you have never had any desire to turn back, but I do not think you are making much progress ;"

and then he exhorted him to advance. This was not complimentary, certainly, to that scholar in the school of Christ, and I feared for the result. But I found that no harm was done, and just that sort of remark at that juncture was what the ready tact of the Leader, who knew his man, suggested as the best thing to be said to him to quicken his Christian pace.

A Christian woman was lying on a sick-bed in rather a low mood of mind. A friend called to see her, and in speaking with her said,

"You love Jesus ?"