OUR SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19952, 20 November 1926, Page 5

OUR SUNDAY SCHOOLS.

By A.MPUDB “ We have failed to inspire our youth with the necessity for an aim in Life.” Next Tuesday evening, at a-quarter to 7, let it be said once again, the annual banquet of the Otago School of Religious Education will be held at the Stuart Hall. The reunion promises to be a most happy and profitable one. Books have ways of informally changing onwership for longer or shorter periods. Will 11 students and friends of the Otago School of Religious Education kindly return to each other, the library, and the instructors all books that have been taken out or borrowed, in order that a proper account may be made and all things set in order for the new year? THE SALVATION ARMY. At the invitation of Mrs Burton, a number of Darents assembled in the Salvation Army Hall, Dowling street, on the recent Sunday afternoon to participate in the worship service of the primary department. The floor of the main hall was arranged to accommodate the children, whilst the parents occupied seats on the platform behind the children. The aim of the service was to develop in the children a love for their darkskinned brothers and sisters, and took the form of a review of the three preceding Sundays’ lessons, these being based on Africa, India, China respectively. Various pictures, illustrative of child life in these countries, Copping’s “Hope of the World,” and posters all helped to make the service interesting and instructive, and for one hour and a-quarter the “grown-ups,” as well as the little folk, concentrated on the various elements which made up the afternoon’s programme. The expression work took the practical form of making books of Sunday school tickets to be -cut to these mission fields, and monetary contributions'were made by the children for similar purposes.

WHAT CAN THE CHILDREN DO?

On Saturday evening last, in the Dundas Street Sunday School Hall, a happy company „athercd for a few hours of fun and frolic in the way of a fancy dress social, arranged and carried out by the senior boys f the Sunday school. To add to the success of the evening one of the junior classes (also boys, by the way), under their teacher’s guidance, conducted a refreshment room, and it is doubtful if those lads ever felt happier and more useful in all their Sunday school life. The seed of the movement wgs sown by the superintendent of the school one Sunday afternoon when he felt particularly the bareness and cheerless aspects of the walls in the Sunday school assembly hall. The senior lads put their heads together, and shortly afterwards proposed the social idea, received promise of support, and formed a committee to make necessary arrangements. The juniors then came along and asked the older boys for leave to run the refreshment room; this was granted, and so the two classes combined in their efforts to brighten up their school. With a very little assistance they carried the movement through most successfully. Surely now theirs 1 shall be the glow of happiness and worthy pride when the proceeds of their endeavour have provided a few bright pictures to cheer their school, and how heartening is that small harvest to the superintendent, and how cheering to the teachers as a body. ANNUAL THANKSGIVING SERVICE. The annual thanksgiving service of the Otago School of Religious Education was hold in Moray Place Congregational Church last Sunday evening. The service, which was of a warm devotional nature, was conducted by the Rev. W. Saunders. A feature of the service was the fine singing of the choir. Mr Saunders, taking as his text Amos 3:8, said : Tre Church can make priests: it takes God to make a prophet or a teacher. The making of a priest is largely a mechanical process, but a prophet is instinct with life. The world is crying out for prophets. The question was asked; “What is a prophet?’’ and the answer given, “ho is a man who stands out in front of God or forthtells the message from God.” How is a prophet to be made? (1) He must have a vision of God, and from this vision will come his message and commission. (2) There must be training. Training the emotions is not enough, the whole being must be disciplined by formal application to set task under competent direction. (5) There must be soultraining or training of the self by (a) Communion. including players, which must be warm with life-blood touched with the spirit of God (b) Books, including the Bible. It was not the quantity of reading that counted, but the quality and method. All were invited to use the means at our disposal. A small volume by Everett Greenwood. “Three Lectures to Preachers’’ (2s 6d) was specially recommended as being heartscarching and strong for teachers as well as preachers. It is hoped that in duo course a most searching and eloquent sermon will bo published verbatim. PLANS FOR LIFE. “Some parents make a mistake by nor advising with the child about his plans for life. If your child were going away on a journey, you and your friends would advise him how to prepare for it. The choice ot a life-work is far more important; it carries so much responsibility that we shudder when we think how lightly many of our young people drift into their vocations. Have a talk with your child’s principal, teacher, or vocational counsellor.’ —Extract from letter sent by Vocational Guidance Department of the Pittsburgh Public Schools to the parents of elementary and high school pupils. SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION IN GERMANY. The first post-war Sunday School Convention in Germany was held at Leipzig recently. The Convention was attended by over 200 delegates representing Baptist. Methodist, Episcopal, Congregational, and •Evangelical Churches. The Convention was arranged at the suggestion of the British Committee of the World’s Sunday School Association, which gave a contribution to the German Free Church Association towards the expenses. Without this gift it would not have been possible to have organised the Convention. Reports received from the committee and some of the ministers who took part in the proceedings testify to the very fine spirit which permeated the whole Convention, and the great service the Convention has rendered to the cause throughout the whole country. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL IN NEW ZEALAND. Encouraging items concerning Sunday school work in New Zealand (says tho World’s Sunday School News) are indicated in the annual report of Rev. L. B. Busfield, secretary of the Auckland Sunday School Union. The churches are evincing a keen desire to build up the religious educational work of their respective denominations. There are now quite a considerable number of men and women wuoso time and energy is wholly devoted to Sunday school and Bible class work. Conferences of Youth Workers are becoming popular and profitable. Earnest attention is being given to tho problem of training teachers. The efforts of the various provincial bodies in this respect are worthy of all praise. Young people are being trained to regard Sunday school leadership as a life vocation. In tho South Seas Exhibition recently held for several months in Dunedin, a Religious Educational Court was an established and popular feature. New Zealand is oarticularly fortunate in having a very effective and well-organised Bible Class Movement, and it is to this movement that the churches look for leaders in church and Sunday school enterprise. Students in theological colleges are now being given some instruction in religions pedagogy and are doing practical Sunday school work to enable thorn to be better fitted for future leadership. Libraries for Sunday school teachers are being established in various parts of the Dominion, and an earnest inquiry exists which be(okens better things,.