The Boy and the Sunday School Part 15

1. _To Pastor_, _Superintendent_ or _Teacher_:

(a) Announcing the conference, its nature, purpose, etc.

(b) That it is confined to older boys--15 to 20 years--and one adult leader from each school.

(c) From three to five delegates (Christian boys).

(d) Ask for name of adult leader.

(e) Enclose Postal Card.

2. _To Sunday School Adult Leader_:

(a) Send plan of conference and details.

(b) Enclose Tentative Program.

(c) Ask for names of boy (Christian) delegates, setting time limit and enclosing credentials.

(d) Suggest that leader have a meeting of the delegates before the conference to consider what the conference may mean to their own local Sunday school.

3. _To Each Delegate_:

(a) Send a brief letter with program.

(b) Emphasize the Christian nature of the conference; that it is for training and leaders.h.i.+p, and that he has been chosen from his school for this purpose.

(c) Suggest daily prayer as preparation.

V. Leaders' Meeting:

If possible, arrange for a luncheon or dinner conference for the Sunday school adult leaders who are at the conference. Talk over the plans, programs and hopes of the conference.

VI. Follow-Up After Conference:

1. A Second Leaders' Meeting. (Details at Conference)

2. Local Delegates' Meeting. (Details at Conference)

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON OLDER BOYS' CONFERENCE

Dunn.--What the State Boys' Conference Means to the Churches (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (.20).

Hinckley.--The Unique Value of Conferences of Older Boys (_American Youth_, April, 1912) (.20).

Scott.--Boys' Conference in Community and County (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (.20).

Smith.--The Maine Boys' Conference (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (.20).

XIV

THE SECONDARY DIVISION OR TEEN AGE BOYS' CRUSADE[9]

The Older Boys' City-wide Conference is outlined in the previous chapter. It is a good, but intermittent, form of Inter-Sunday school activity for boys. The Secondary Division or Teen Age Boys' Crusade is a permanent form for such activity, and may be launched at the Older Boys'

Conference.

The idea of the Crusade germinated in the minds of the members of the Toronto Secondary Division Committee in connection with a Sunday school Older Boys' Conference in December, 1912. The objectives around which the idea grew were a campaign for Organized Cla.s.ses in every school, an effort to reach Toronto's 10,000 non-Sunday school, teen age boys and a training cla.s.s for adolescent leaders.h.i.+p. At the evening banquet, at which the Crusade was presented, 55 Sunday schools registered for the campaign and 187 older boys signed up for training and the effort to reach the boys not in Sunday school. At a later meeting a plan of action was decided upon.

_The Objective_

The aims to be kept in mind are fourfold: (1) To magnify the Christian life and the preeminence of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord; (2) to organize the teen Christian boys of the Sunday school for organized service; (3) to reach the teen non-Sunday school boys for Sunday school attendance; (4) to train the teen boy for Christian leaders.h.i.+p.

=The Crusade Outlined=

_Campaign of Bible Cla.s.s Organization_

1. It is proposed that every cla.s.s in the teen age or Secondary division of every Sunday school be organized according to the International Standard, and that the boys of the schools be given the task. (See International Secondary Division Leaflet No. 2.)

_Campaign of Enlistment_

2. Coincident with the campaign of organization there should be a systematic effort to reach every boy of the teen age for members.h.i.+p in the Sunday school. This may be accomplished through two methods:

(a) Census and Survey. The city should be divided into districts and mapped out by squares. Then the teen age campaigners should go two and two for the purpose of a census-taking. The two-by-two system will result in more thorough work, and it gives the opportunity of helping the more timid boys by linking them with the bolder ones. An entire square should be worked by the partners, both making the same call, and every teen age boy in the town, whether a Sunday school attendant or not, can be located this way. For this purpose an ordinary filing card may be used, printed as follows:

Date ______________________

Name ______________________

Address ______________________

Religion (Catholic, Jew, Protestant)?

Attend Sunday school (yes or no)?

If yes, where? ______________________

Information gathered by ________________________

________________________