RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Evening Star, Issue 23355, 26 August 1939, Page 6

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

[By Forward.] THE CHURCH AND THE CHILD. Christian nurture and training has a definite direction and aim. Its way lies in the steps of the Master. It seeks to lead the growing personality into what Thomas a Kempis called “ The imitation of Christ.” It aims at enabling our children to grow into worthy members of the Body of Christ, and that, as you know, is St. Paul’s figurative description of the church. The church, then, has the right to ask us as Christian educators what we are doing with her children. How are we to answer that challenge? The answer can be given in two ways —it ought to bo given in both of two ways. One deals with the quantity of our effort; the other deals with its quality. Let us consider quantity first We are no longer holding our own. It behoves ns to know why, and if possible to remedy the causes that produce this leakage. One is poverty. Jn town and country alike there are far too many of our people who aro on the borderline of living. Another cause of the decline is the great game of “ general post ’’ which is being played with so many of our population to-day. They move from one area to another. The Hitting of the parents works havoc in many cases with their own church attendance and that of the children at Sunday school. A third cause is that of parental indifference. Now, this cause can be dealt with effectively if those responsible will exert themselves. Wo hear agreat deal to-day of the family pew of the past generation. I should like to hear a little more of the family visitation, of the present generation. I have ample proof of the rich harvest reaped by regular friendly visitation of the homes in which our pupils live; aye, and of those other homes the bairns of which ought to be our pupils, too. A fourth reason for our failure is the inefficiency of many of our Sunday schools. The most vital cause of the mischief seems to me to be a want of spirituality; a failure to realise the sacred nature of the responsibility that is being so lightly and carelessly discharged. Instead of a growing consciousness of the presence of God, of a deepening knowledge and love of Christ, of a quiet faith in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in their own

lives, the children are put off with words—words and meaningless phrases which to them signify just nothing. It is this lack of spiritual reality that lies behind the noise and irreverence of manv schools.

The simplest remedy I can suggest for these things is that our leaders and superintendents might with great benefit to their schools make a point of taking a busman’s holiday for a month each session, and see what is happening elsewhere. Fortunately, our (Sunday schools are not all like those I am lamenting, and the man with a true Christian humility will find much in many of our schools to inspire and to enable him to achieve what 1 sincerely believe he wishes to.

Now, there is apparent one serious result of the ineffective Sunday school which is all too common, and which stolidly resents any effort to help on the part of the organiser and visitor. It is creating a prejudice against Sunday schools which may . have grave results. Ministers do not see children at divine worship in the church. They find more than half the scholars mysteriously disappearing just as the Bible class age is reached. And too often among those who do go on there is a sad lack of orderly knowledge of the Scriptures, to say nothing of Christian fundamentals. I am not surprised that in some places the Sunday school is being superseded by children’s services, and children’s churches. In these days of cheap literature, highly trained organisers, and delightful summer schools there is no excuse for a bad Sunday school anywhere. Let us see to it that the importance of our work finds its proper recognition in the church to which we belong. There ought to be a youth committee in every congregation. Its work is at least as pressing as that of foreign missions. A good Sunday school is just as indispensable an agency in the wel 1-being of a community as a good day school. Next count your flock. The number in your flock is the number of children not only in your congregation, but in the area you serve as a church. Here is an urgent task for our local unions —a work they can do better than any church, for they serve no single interest, but the good of all. Thirdly, see that your school is worthy of its task. In spite of all obstacles, hove it clean and bright; don’t let prejudice and the tyranny of customs limit your meeting to an unsuitable hour. Above all, let the sincerity of your religious purpose strip away all the secular, terests.that bring envy and ill-will into many an otherwise happy community. Finally, let the spirit of Christian fellowship set the tone of your school relationships. It will mean fellowship with your pupils in class, in thpir homes, sometimes in your pew beside yon at church service; it will mean fellowship within the circle of your school staff, where you will meet one another to speak, not only of school business, but of your teaching, and what you teach, and your children, and all the time you will find your life enriched and your powers enlarged in the fellowship of the Master whom to know is to love, Whom to love is to serve, Whom to serve is to enter upon life eternal.—Rev. W. M. Wightman. EXPRESSION WORK.

Deep Tn every girl and boy is a longing to do something well, to make something, to create, if only on a minor scale. Even a and often crude achievement on their part is sufficient to give them a sense of happiness and. healthy satisfaction. When an East End London boy of 10, in a play hour, after much labour wove a raffia mat for his present, his joy could only find outlet in the repetition oyer and over again of “I done it, miss! I done it!” He was expressing in his own fashion what every child feels more or less on creating something by himself. , Obviously this feeling of delight should be present on Sunday afternoon during the time given to expression work, for then scholars are provided with materials and an opportunity to use them creatively. In any consideration of this period in the service we should take as our criterion the scholars’ own enjoyment of it. When, after the story, they turn to work with alacrity, and for the next quarter of an hour the department presents a picture of busy each one contentedly absorbed in his or her particular occupation, we may safely conclude that the expression work has been well and oppropriately planned and is of immense benefit to the scholars. But when there is any difficulty in getting them to start, or when only some and not all appear to enjoy the time, or when the results are poor and it is plain that scholars are not putting their best into the work, then we may be sure there is something wrong with our plans. The following suggestion is made to help those departments in which expression work needs a little resuscitation. Give the girls and boys a sensible reason for doing the work, and so disperse at the outset any suspicion in their minds that its purpose is merely to show the teacher how much they know. For instance, at the beginning of a new course of lesson stories, suggest that in the stories they will be visiting new places, meeting new people, hearing new adventures. Like any proper travellers or explorers they fidll want to keep a record as they go along. Each must have a book in readiness. Older scholars will enjoy making notebooks, designing their own covers. Younger ones can prepare loose-leaf covers of stiff paper, and threaded with cord or ribbon. Future expression papers should be similarly punched and of a size to fit into the covers. The attractiveness of the books will be increased if, instead of labelling them by names, the scholars each choose a. small picture to paste on the front, thereby marking their ownership. Quiek workers can print a verse or quotation beneath their picture. The value of such books will grow, as week by week a fresh page is added. Finn for variety so that, later on, the books are interesting to look through, pages of writing being interspersed with illustrations, charts, and diagrams. The use of crayons is frequently a great help. Take, for example, the story of Penn and the Red Indians. Many children, after hearing the story, like to draw either a feathered headdress or a wigwam, and print some words of the treaty round about it. Colour at once gives a glamour to any drawing. As good figures are hard to depict, encourage scholars to draw objects bearing on the story, such as a banner, a shield, a city wall, a ship. Make a point of using these hooks in other parts of the service—extracts from one or more can recapitulate the previous week’s story or serve as a summing no of the lesson thought before the last hymn. In planning the afternoon, leave sufficient time for expression work to allow scholars really to settle down to it. If. even so, the slower ones do not finish, encourage them to do so the foilwing Sunday before attempting anything now. Better to bring one piece of work to completion than to begin several and complete none If a scholar knows he can continue another week he feels free to work at his own pace and to his own satisfaction.—Doris M. Gill.