The Boy and the Sunday School Part 24

A fitting close to this chapter is the challenge to the teen age teachers of the rural schools, which Mr. Preston G. Orwig has hurled at North America:

"Every rural school has its quota of workers who are, perhaps unconsciously, limiting their own usefulness, as well as r.e.t.a.r.ding the progress of the school, by meeting every new plan of work proposed with the statement that, 'That plan is all right for the city, but it won't work here because we have so few members and our people live so far apart.' With the exception of the man who constantly reminds us that 'we did not do it this way thirty years ago,' and who, in some cases, is really a menace to the work, there is no greater obstacle confronting workers in rural schools.

"In a recent conference of Secondary Division workers in rural Sunday schools, a speaker was advocating the necessity of recognizing the fourfold--physical, mental, social and spiritual--life of the scholars, in planning for the work of the cla.s.s. The tremendous opportunity of teachers for reaching adolescent boys for Jesus Christ, through their physical and social instincts, was emphasized. Luke 2:52 was quoted to clinch the argument. In the discussion that followed everybody seemed satisfied that a broader policy of work should be pursued. At this juncture a man in the audience arose, and, in a most uncompromising manner, attempted to show that it was useless to promote such methods for rural schools, as the scattered population and limited members.h.i.+p made it impossible to develop the work along the lines proposed.

"Later in the day, two of the members in this man's own cla.s.s were interviewed, and, in answer to direct questions concerning the above two points, stated that during the winter months older boys and girls, many of whom attended that very school, went as often as three nights a week to a small pond in the community to skate, some of them traveling from three to four miles to get there. Other sports were indulged in, according to the season, and, according to these boys, they seldom experienced great difficulty in getting 'a crowd' together. Frequently their games wound up in a grand free-for-all fight.

"Now, had this teacher recognized the educative value of supervised play and planned to meet his fellows on the ice, as a cla.s.s, he would have formed contacts there which he could never hope to form by simply meeting them in the Sunday afternoon session. In addition to that he would have an opportunity to help the cla.s.s to apply practically the truths of the Sunday lesson in the activities of everyday life.

"It would be well for such workers to remember that in some of our larger cities one must oftentimes travel from one to two hours on crowded trolley cars, in distance, perhaps, eight or ten miles, in order to meet with his cla.s.s. Again, in some sections of the city, populated mostly by foreigners, the Sunday schools are often smaller, in point of members.h.i.+p, than many of the rural schools.

"It matters not whether the boy or girl lives in the city or country, the needs are the same. What is needed is 'Visioned Leaders.h.i.+p.'

"It is, in a sense, pathetic, to note that these objections are always of adult origin and are not the verdict of the boys. They, however, must suffer in a handicapped development, through the shortsightedness of their leaders. Where there's a will, there's a way."

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE RURAL SUNDAY SCHOOL

Cope.--Efficiency in the Sunday School ($1.00).

Fiske.--The Challenge of the Country (.75).

The Rural Church Message--Men and Religion Movement ($1.00).

XXII

THE RELATION OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

The church school is not, by any means, the only force in the community, as far as the boy is concerned, but it is destined to be the biggest force. The church, itself, is the most permanent inst.i.tution of the community, and will always be so, as long as humanity remains religious.

In the church are all the conserving elements of the community--slow to change, it stands for the best. Having adopted anything after approved worth commends it, it tenaciously holds it in trust. Communities may have homes and schools, but, without the church, they are not good places in which to live. The church, then, because it is most permanent, should tie the loyalty of the boy to herself. This she best does through her school--the Sunday school.

There are, however, other church forces in the community--organizations fostered and supported by the material and moral enthusiasm of the members of the church. Some of these organizations have been frankly formed for the purpose of a.s.sisting the church in some special field of religious education. This is essentially true of such boy organizations as the Knights of King Arthur, Knights of St. Paul, Knights of the Holy Grail, and the Boys' Brigade. It is essentially true, also, of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation. The first of these--the boy organizations--const.i.tutes a method which is at the disposal of the church. The second--the Christian a.s.sociation--has grown to be a mighty operating force, with hundreds of employed officers and millions of dollars of property. Save for the fact that church members compose the directorates, it is independent of the church. With this and other organizations what can the church's relations.h.i.+p be? The seeming answer would be cooperation--a glad working together for the general betterment of the community itself by tried and approved plans. However, a new condition has arisen, which offers more than general cooperation between the Church and these organizations for the teen age boy. Until recently the church school had no clear-cut method for working with the teen age lad, while the boy organizations referred to had such a method, and the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation, after years of work, has a force of more or less experienced experts in boy life in its employ. The methods of these boy organizations and the boy experts of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation must have a field of operation, and the best field, of course, is that of the church school, where boys should be found. The Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation, in its own building, touches but a minute fraction of the boy life of the city in which it operates, and, to touch the city boy life, must get out of its building.

It then has a choice of fields, Public Playground, Public School, or Community Betterment. If, however, it is true to the principle of its founding--to be an arm of the Church among young men--that which it attempts to do should be tied up to the Church, or, in the case of teen age boys, to the church school. To accomplish the latter, what shall the procedure be? Shall the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation win the boy, and then deliver him, saved for service, to the Church, or shall the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation work with the Church as part of the Church inside the church school? Common sense would say both ways, and all other ways possible, just so the boy stands saved and in the Church for service. And this is as it should be, and the employed experts of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation should render service to the Church, both within and without the Church--and this service may be through method, or organization, or both. At all times the weakness of the Church should be the a.s.sociation's opportunity to help the Church realize herself, and this can best be accomplished by the constructive suggestion that works its way out on the inside of the organization.

Little help comes from battering a wall on the outside. At least it does not help the house inside any. Cooperation, then, must be understood as the internal a.s.sistance given the Church herself to realize the need and the plan to meet it.

In this regard every organization must clearly understand the church it seeks to aid. Most organizations have singular aims and motives. The Church is a complex organization, with many needs. The church school has many divisions and departments, has two s.e.xes to minister to, embraces all ages, from the cradle to the grave, and usually has no paid officers. Through it all proportion has to be maintained--balance of organization, fair opportunity for all, young or old, male and female. A plan for the education of the teen age boy will no more solve the problem of the Sunday school than it would the educational, physical employment, or social difficulties of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation. In proper relations.h.i.+p to the other factors of the problem in church school, or Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation, it would help the whole organization. It surely takes more than plaster to make a house, important as is plaster.

The Sunday school has its own problems of organization, s.e.xes, ages, equipment, equality, fair-play, opportunity, leaders.h.i.+p, etc. No organization can help these problems from the outside, or by emphasis on any one phase. Gain in one department may be loss in another. The Sunday school needs proportionate gain.

The Sunday school, therefore, should welcome any organization or method that bids fair to help in the solution of its problems. It should eagerly avail itself, especially, of the aid that the Boy Life Expert of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation can give, thus reducing religious, economic duplication, and achieving united conservation of boy life. On the other hand, the Boy Life Expert of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation should thoroughly acquaint himself with the genius of the Sunday school, the plan of its organization, and the pith of all its problems of s.e.x and age, leaders.h.i.+p and training, aims and objectives.

He should also know thoroughly the policies of denominational and interdenominational Sunday school bodies, and, where there are denominations in plural quant.i.ty, this may mean a task worth while.

Sometimes it is a slow process. Surely, so! The Kingdom, with all the wisdom of Heaven, has been twenty centuries in the building, and it has been wrought out in the Church. The contribution that each man or woman makes must be small, but likewise great in its possibilities, if wisely, patiently given.

An organization cannot be permanently helped by introducing into its life the methods of another without the process of a.s.similation; neither can strength be given merely a part of the body to cure the whole.

Organic tone is needed. Intelligent, Sunday school-wide cooperation!

This is the invitation of the church school to all existing organizations. The conditions of the challenge are not easy, but the task is interesting and worth while, and the promise of increased efficiency is great indeed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON SUNDAY SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Lawrance.--The Cooperation Sunday Schools Desire (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (.20).

Flood.--A Federation of Sunday School Clubs (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (.20).

Alexander.--Sunday School Use of a.s.sociation Equipment (_American Youth_, April, 1911) (.20).

FOOTNOTES:

[1: Makes provisions for sick and shut-ins but essentially meant for adults.]

[2: A large part of this chapter is taken from Secondary Division Leaflet Number 2, International Sunday School a.s.sociation.]

[3: Older Boy]

[4: Adult]

[5: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division Leaflet Number 4, International Sunday School a.s.sociation.]

[6: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division Leaflet Number 1, International Sunday School a.s.sociation.]

[7: The Executive Committee of the Department should have members.h.i.+p on the Sunday School Board.]

[8: These conference may also be state wide in their scope.]

[9: This Chapter is largely drawn from International Sunday School a.s.sociation, Second Division Leaflet Number 5.]

[10: This Chapter is a compilation of articles written by the author in the _Westminster Teacher_ and _Illinois Trumpet Call_.]

[11: This Chapter is a blending of articles written for the Boy Scout Master's Handbook, the _Adult Magazine_ and hitherto unpublished material.]