RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 21724, 19 May 1934, Page 3

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Fouwakd.] The vital factor in introducing the child to God and God to the child is that we ourselves are intimately acquainted with both. THK SPIRITUAL SIDE UP GRADING. A primary' teacher writes of her “ anxiety to help her young teachers in spiritual matters.” She has been warned that “ the graded methods are not spiritual enough in many cases,” and asks for help so that in her own primary ‘‘ the teachers shall bo spiritually equipped for their task, as well as taught how to teach.” In reply to this praiseworthy inquiry one feels that it is very timely. A good deal has been said in some quarters about the “ superiority ’’ of the old Sunday school methods “ in spiritual things.” Doubts have been expressed as to whether the graded school, in its insistence on better method, has killed the spirit of the work, which after all is the sole reason for its being done. I do not propose to, enter into any/ controversy as to the two methods, but in answering my correspondents 1 am certain that 1 shall be able to show the great superiority of the graded method in this all-important aspect. It must be remembered that the old method leaves everything to the teacher, who works as a unit without any regular help cither on the spiritual or other side. . THE TRAINING CLASS METHOD. In the graded school, however, every teacher is a member of a definite group, whether it be a primary or junior training class, or an intermediate teachers’ conference. It is through this group work that opportunities can be louud for definitely /helping the spiritual equipment of the teacher for his or her task, and if 1 turn now to practical suggestions in this direction it will demonstrate the soundness of this argument. A great deal can be done in the devotional opening of the training class in each grade of the school, or at the united opening of all the training classes. Something more than a perfunctory hymn and prayer is needed, if the teachers, are to be helped in their personal spiritual life. Most of the lesson helps provided for the graded school include suggestions for this devotional period. In addition to, or in,place of, an ordinary Bible reading, teachers can be helped to an acquaintance with choice devotional classics by the reading of short extracts. In the same way, finely phrased and beautiful prayers can be introduced to the teachers from some of the excellent compilations now available. Our object here is not merely to 11 open the training class in a suitable way,” but to help our teachers to find their way about the devotional literature that has proved itself of golden worth to many of us. Many a teacher has found her way to a new level of spiritual life through being introduced to some of these devotional aids at the training class.

THE LESSON FOR OURSELVES. This devotional period should be followed by a talk from the leader on 11 the spiritual message of the lesson,’’ or a -similar subject. Under any method every teacher is in danger of studying the Bible merely to teach a. lesson, forgetting that our first objective must be our own spiritual benefit from the reading. It is very easy to be so keen on finding a lesson for other people that we forget our own need of teaching. Often by way of question and answer, information can be given that will help the teachers in their spiritual life.

In addition to this there are definite occasions when the personal spiritual problems of the teachers should be ventilated. Time should be spared from the strict lesson preparation for a study and discussion of the verities and fundamentals of the Christian faith. In this connection it is worth noting that tho primary and junior leaders’ work is not far removed from that of a leader of a senior class. It therefore follows that such a book as the Senior Lesson Handbook, which deals with some of the outstanding problems of belief and conduct for young people, is of great value to other than senior department workers. With the aid of these lesson outlines a departmental leader will be able to help very materially the general spiritual culture of the teachers at the training class.

FOSTERING BETTER WORSHIP. Furthermore, in its emphasis on worship and the grading of worship to meet the needs of the scholar the new method also helps the spiritual equipment of the teacher. In discussing how the worship of the department is to be made real to the children, in talking over the reasons why we worship God and the best conditions for woi'ship, etc., we shall be deepening the content of worship and indirectly helping the teachers in their worship at tho ordinary services of the church. Indeed, in one case known to me a little friction was engendered between the minister and his Sunday school teachers because, through the worship side of their work this group of young people had developed a sense of worship that was not being met by the form of worship conducted by the minister at his services. Fortunately the misunderstanding was cleared away, and the worship of that particular church was improved and enriched in order to satisfy the growing spiritual needs of the teachers in the Sunday school—to the lasting benefit of the congregation as a whole.

Any method may suffer at the hands of extremists and of those who try to apply it without any real understanding 'of the underlying aims and principles. But when all that can bo said has been said about the graded method it can be claimed Without the slightest tear of contradiction that it has introduced a new and better standard of work into the Sunday school on the spiritual as well as the technical side; and it is the only method that specifically provides for the enrichment of the personal spiritual life of its teach-ers.-—Ernest H.i Hayes. CHLUSTTANITY AND COMMUNISM. Hr Stanley Jones visited China some time ago, and here is part of his farewell message. There is a message for the youth;of our own land here, too: “ But if our Christianity is going really to give the message and the moral power that China needs it must bo a movement that gives itself to the facing of the sum total of China's needj. it must have a living message that can transform the individual, but it must not stop there. It must go to the sum total of human relationships. It must face humanism with a greater human programme than humanism has to offer. . It must face Communism with a programme and a passion for sharing far deeper than Communism has. The only way to bent them is to beat them to it! In this

matter the Christian Church can study with profit the movement of Kagawa. He combines a passion for personal evangelism along with a passion tor so'ciaT and economic change, which makes his movement a very Christian movement. On the whole of China the Christian forces, have taken their stand on one side or the other of this matter, and have become exponents ef either a personal or a social Gospel. This makes for half-Christianity. Let us come together so that each will supply the lack of the other, and thus ‘ beat out music faster than before. “ 1 go back to India with a sense of hope in my heart, f have seen your movement at its best, 1 know. .1 have not come down to sordid details of relationships and administration. I have seen you come together with expectancy and spiritual quest. 1 therefore discount heavily my high hopes; but even with this discount 1 still have the feeling of joy and expectancy. The movement has more than survived the fiery ordeal of the last five years. This ordeal has purified it and has thrust out leaders from among the Chinese. The worst has happened and you have survived. Now nothing from without can hurt you. Yon can only he really hurt from within. The future lies with you. Lay hold on the resources of the living God for personal living and for triumphant sharing.”