OUR SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19760, 10 April 1926, Page 5

OUR SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

By AufLius.

Keep the child’s interest if you want his attention. The Otago School of Religious Education will open to* the winter's work next Tuesday. From 7 o’clock to a-quarter to 8 registrations will be received, and thereafter for an hour the formal opening will take place. It is important that all intending to take advantage of some of the wide variety of helpful courses offering should link up at the very beginning of the session. It has been arranged that all those who have participated in the religious education work at the Exh’bition should meet for a social function some time before its close. Details as to time, place, and nature of meeting will be aim, unced later. The Mayor (Mr 11. L. Tapley, M.P.), in extending a civic welcome to the conference delegates, spoke in high praise of the work of uimday school teachers generally. One could not. he said, too generously and strongly show sympathy with the noble work carried out by Sunday school teachers. No finer service could be rendered to the community, and he felt that that conference was one of the most valuable that it had been his privilege to welcome to the city. In welcoming to Dunedin the delegates to the Easter Conference the Mayor (Mr H. L. Tapley, M.P.) said that as a director of the Exhibition he would like to congratulate the Otago Council of Sunday School Unions on the splendid exhibit it had displayed in No. 7 building. He was satisfied the teachers present would not fail to visit it and that- they would find there much to interest them in connection with the work they were so nobly carrying on. DOMINION INTERDENOMINATIONAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CONFERENCE. The above caption may sound somewhat unwieldy, but it is intended to stress several great concepts and the possibility of their accomplishment. Fresh light on the way leads to expanding movements, ihe three M’s in education place the mind to be educated as central, the materials of instruction as occupying a cood secondary place, with the methods of instruction as a strong unifying influer The three stress the unity of life and of the educative process and in these days of superficiality and snippets they should never be lost sight of. , The recent interdenominational coutcrence with its sane methods and balanced programme was a revelation to many, and the suggestion was seriously made in more than one quarter that such conferences, on a slightly wider base, officially incor-' porating all Dominion Denominational Sunday School Associations and Bible Class Unions, should be held annually in the four chief centres in rotation, that for 1927 going to Christchurch. These conferences might consist ot; 11) The group as a whole, covering all departments and classes until raid-day. (2) denominational conferences might occupy some part of the afternoons. (3) the evenings might be given to more general or inspirational meetings carried out by children’s division, young people s division, adult division, and general. The hour has struck when a great unified programme of moral and religious education must be offered to our people. This should come through the National Council of Religious Education, which at the present is seeking to establish itself. The registrations at the recent conference numbered in all about 200, and of these 92, or nearly half, came from beyond Dunedin. This indicates a wide interest in the other parts of the Dominion in the conference, but a much larger enrolment might have been expected from the staffs of local Sunday schools. THE FINAL MESSAGE. The closing address of the conference was given on Monday morning by Mr R. Blair 8.R.E., on the subject ‘‘Where Do We Go From Here?” We seem he said, largely to lose sight of the task or the objective, and \vc certainly lose sight of the resources, personal and spiritual, at our command. Do not limit yourself. You may not be fast, you may not be a great climber. But you may have the Pauline spirit, “ I press on.” Objectives or peaks to be reached aie implied. These may be divided into two major classes: (1) Personal; (2) Organisation and administration. (1) Personal peaks. “I will be my own self at .my very best all the time. Physical, moral, social, and spiritual health. Hard training is implied. (2) These are the peaks or objectives of organisation and administration. The following were recently suggested in International Journal of Religious Education: attendance, oiganisation, and supervision, vital teaching, some constructive evangelism, trained leadership, joyous service, community wide and world-wide. EARLY ADOLESCENCE. ITS CHARACTERISTICS AND NEEDS. Valuable papers on early adolescence were delivered to the conference by Mr Robin Adair, of the Y.M.C.A. It is hoped to reproduce at least the greater part of these in this column as space permits. . . , ~ . , “ The goal of Christian education is to produce through worship, instruction and expression groups of trained, consecrated Christian lives dedicated to the task of building in this world the Kingdom of God. It can only be realised through a leadership. . « • that feels, that knows, that cares.” This is how a educationist answers the question; “What is the ultimate goal of the leadership of - youth. This, then, is our immediate t»sk: The upbuilding of balanced character in the lives of boys and girls and winning their allegiance to Christ. You say this is the richest privilege. It is, if we recognise our corresponding responsibilities and answer the challenge. This initial inquiry has emphasised the essentially practical nature of our discussion: ‘ Ih^ Characteristics and Needs of Early Adolescence.” . To register worthy results in work among boys and girls, a leader or teacher must know the underlying facts ot the adolescent life, facts concerning spiritual nature. This is a law of life as inexorable as it-is patent. Who dares trifle with one of those wonderfully complex machines without an engineer’s knowledge! Shall we be less exacting in the handling of this immeasurably more wonderful and complex fundamental machine? Lacking this fundamental knowledge, a leader may observe certain symptoms, but fail to diagnose the ailment and thus he incapable of remedying the trouble. He •will miss opportunities of securing attention and driving home his carefully studied lesson. He will find his boys strangely irresponsive to many proposals that were considered popular. The less he knows about a boy’s make-up the more acute will his perplexity be. This, then, constitutes failure. To restate the reason: It is because the leader lacks a sympathetic and coherent insight into the feelings, moods, ambitions, and physical ‘manifestations of boys or girls.