SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1084, 24 March 1911, Page 4

SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK.

Everyone who desires that our young people should be brought up in a healthy moral atmosphero will read with interest the annual report of the Sunday School Union, which we publish in another part of this issue. In view of the absence of religious instruction from the curriculum of our State schools, it is satisfactory to learn that the authorities are "thoroughly alive to the necessity of securing the utmost efficiency in the methods, appliances, and, most particular of,all, the staffs of the schools." A great forward movement is ; wc are told, about to take place. There seems to be a general feeling throughout the Eng-lish-speaking world that tho Churches are not making the best use of the opportunities the Sunday schools afford for moulding the characters of the rising generation. More modern methods are needed as regards organisation and teaching, and to secure this it is absolutely necessary that tHose who have to impart instruction should themselves have been properly, trained in the art of teaching. Good intentions and religious zeal, though of course essential, arc not tho only qualifications necessary for Sunday school teachers; they must also be able to maintain discipline and to give their lessons on tho most approved lines. Moreover the general equipment of the schools must be brought up to date before tho best results can bo expected. The work done in tho Sunday schools is of such great importance to the futuro welfare of Church and State that all efforts to secure cfiicicncy should have the hearty sympathy and generous support of the whole Christian community, and those earnest men and women who voluntarily devote so much time and thought to this important duty are deserving of very much more'general appreciation than they usually receive.