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CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 

 
CHURCH-SCHOOL 
 LEADERSHIP. 
 
 MAY 22 1926 
 AN OFFICERS’ MANUAL \% 
 Cor ooo, sew 
 
 OF PRACTICAL METHODS, FOR WORKERS IN 
 THE CHURCH’S SUNDAY, WEEK-DAY, 
 AND VACATION SCHOOLS 
 
 
 
 
 ” Sigh 94 
 W. EDWARD RAFFETY, Pu.D., D.D. 
 
 Editor of the PThteewononal Toaeaar of 
 eligious Education” 
 
 Author of “ Brothering the Boy,” etc. 
 
 
 
 New Yorre CHICAGO 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 LONDON AND EDINBURGH 
 
Copyright, Mcmxxvi, by 
 FLEMING H REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave, 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 
 
To 
 FLORA TILTON RAFFETY 
 
 Pal O’ My Heart 
 Mother of Our Four Children 
 
 Mary Virginia | 
 
 Gordon Edward 
 
 Grace Richmond 
 
 Howard Tefrew 
 

 
AUTHOR’S FOREWORD 
 
 an officers?’ manual of practical methods for 
 
 workers in the church’s Sunday, week-day, and 
 vacation schools. Books on feacher training have 
 crowded the book shelves, but training books for the 
 administrative officers are few and far between. It is 
 the ‘‘ between ” gap that this manual hopes to fill. The 
 instructional program of the school is of first consid- 
 eration, but the newer educational approaches have left 
 executives without sufficient guidance. Materials and 
 methods of religious education in the church school are 
 important, but engineers are needed to make effective 
 the school’s educational machinery. 
 
 Christian statesmen, general educators, and many 
 other high-minded Christian business and professional 
 men, as they scan the horizon of American social con- 
 ditions today, are challenging the churches of Jesus 
 Christ to make good in religious education. ‘To meet 
 this challenge, the churches must put on an adequate 
 program of religious education for the needs of life. 
 The chief educational agencies of the local churches are 
 their Sunday, week-day and vacation schools. If these 
 are to be efficient a trained church-school leadership is 
 absolutely essential. 
 
 The following pages are a cross section of the 
 author’s own experiences, studies, and continent-wide 
 
 7 
 
 ie some time there has been an insistent call for 
 
8 FOREWORD 
 
 observations through many years, as pastor, seminary 
 professor of religious education, editor-in-chief of Sun- 
 day-school publications of his own denomination, and 
 as editor of the “ International Journal of Religious 
 Education.” He has participated in hundreds of insti- 
 tutes and conventions in all parts of the country, fac- 
 ing the concrete problems of workers in the local 
 schools, He is prayerfully anxious to help all such who 
 yearn for the better way. 
 
 If this manual, even in some small way, can put ef- 
 fective methods into the hands, and vision, purpose, 
 and courage into the heads and hearts of the local 
 church-school leadership, the author will be humbly 
 grateful to the Great Leader whom to know aright is 
 life eternal, whom to love aright is peace and joy un- 
 speakable, and whom to serve aright is the highest 
 honor which earth or heaven can give. 
 
 W. E.R. 
 Chicago, IU. 
 
CHAPTER 
 
 I, 
 
 VI. 
 VII. 
 VIII. 
 
 CONTENTS 
 I 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 
 The Church-School Leader’s Great Objec- 
 tive DRS A Es 
 
 II 
 ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP 
 
 The Home, the Church, and the Commu- 
 nity CEES vet Lh flak RR aL Seen Oe 
 The Church School, Better and Bigger . 
 The Sunday Session, Expanded and En- 
 riched Sa Srapar ty. hale Lee aa tie hil east Wk 
 The Week-day and the Vacation Church 
 Schools LEN anK de nessa 
 
 II 
 EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP 
 
 The Pastor’s Leadership . 
 The Director of Religious Education 
 The Superintendent, an Executive 
 
 IV 
 SUPERVISORY LEADERSHIP 
 Knowing and Leading Children . 
 
 Knowing Young People 
 9 
 
 PAGE 
 
 13 
 
 27 
 44 
 
 58 
 
 67 
 
 87 
 100 
 IIg 
 
 139 
 160 
 
10 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XI. 
 XII, 
 XIII. 
 
 XIV. 
 USE). 
 
 XVI. 
 XVII. 
 
 AVITI. 
 
 XIX, 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Leading Young People 
 Knowing and Leading Adults : 
 The Supervisor of Teachers and Teaching . 
 
 V 
 SECRETARIAL LEADERSHIP 
 
 The Directors of Records, and Finances . 
 The Directors of Reading, and Publicity . 
 
 VI | 
 EXPRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP 
 
 The Directors of Worship, and Music . 
 
 The Directors of Evangelism, Community 
 Service, and Missions . : 
 
 The Directors of Recreation, Senile 
 and Special Days 
 
 The Directors of Physical Weltare, ne 
 Home Cooperation . og 8 te! 
 
 VII 
 A TRAINED LEADERSHIP 
 
 Leadership Training 
 Index sparse en are 
 
 PAGE 
 177 
 IQI 
 
 199 
 
 215 
 230 
 
 247 
 274 
 290 
 
 306 
 
 315 
 319 
 
I 
 INTRODUCTORY 
 

 
I 
 
 THE CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADER’S GREAT 
 OBJECTIVE 
 
 HE “go-getter” leader has a goal, and 
 reaches it. Any leader, be he military, politi- 
 cal, industrial, social, educational, or religious, 
 
 must have before him his great objective, and con- 
 stantly keep it there until he passes under his trium- 
 phal arch. 
 
 A simple, concrete, definite, easily understood, never- 
 to-be-forgotten objective for the church-school leader, 
 both for himself and for those he leads, can be put in 
 one short sentence, viz.: 
 
 Good for something worth while for others. 
 Or, these seven words can be reduced to two: 
 Good foursquare.. 
 
 Foursquare in the sense in which Tennyson used it,— 
 “ He stood foursquare to every wind that blew.” The 
 great objective for both the leader and the led is to be 
 - good foursquare—not good on merely one side of his 
 character or two or even three, but on all four. At the 
 risk of perpetrating a paradox, a foursquare leader 
 may be described as an all round man. 
 
 We graphically analyze the factors in this objective 
 by placing them around a square and then put within 
 the square the one word which gives meaning and mo- 
 tive to the objective itself. ‘ 
 
14 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 For the sake of his pupils, his associates, and for his 
 own sake, the church-school leader should be,— 
 
 GOOD 
 
 It is not our purpose to enter into any philosophical 
 discussion of what is meant by abstract goodness, but 
 to think in terms of real human personalities, the com- 
 monly recognized, though imperfectly realized charac- 
 teristics of that being who is known as a good man 
 or good woman. Why do you think Mr. So-and-So is 
 a good man? Well, for one thing, he is honest— 
 “honest as the day is long”—and no refiner could 
 make a lie so white he’d tell it. Then, he is fair- 
 minded, sincere, dependable, always helping some one. 
 In brief, by goodness, we mean all of these virtues and 
 dozens more rolled into the one thing whose price is 
 above purchase by radium. Sometimes reference is 
 made to an individual as “ true blue,” “ all wool and a 
 yard wide.” These and kindred expressions convey 
 our meaning of genuine goodness, a goodness that 
 bears no label of color, creed, or clothes, goodness that 
 laughs at calendars and is not frightened by the thun- 
 der of Sinai. It is just the same on Monday as Sun- 
 day, and obedience to the Decalogue and the Sermon 
 on the Mount is its meat and drink. We do not mean 
 a so-called skin-deep, superficial thing, spuriously 
 
THE GREAT OBJECTIVE 15 
 
 called goodness, a self-advertised product made in the 
 mill of a diseased and defective egotism, the show- 
 window stuff which attracts some but very soon dis- 
 gusts all. Once in a while such pietistic hypocrites get 
 into church prayer meetings and there do their acro- 
 batic word stunts, juggling worn-out phrases and the 
 clanging cymbals of cant. 
 
 As a boy, growing up on a farm in the midst of 
 apple orchards, I loved the red, luscious fruit, but 
 longed for the time when I could see a real orange tree 
 ladened with real, golden oranges. The time came 
 when as a college boy, in a far off city, I rushed across 
 the street to see—no, not an orange tree, but a coun- 
 terfeit tree with tied-on, counterfeit oranges; and I 
 turned away in disappointment and disgust. From 
 that day until this, there has always been in me a 
 righteous indignation at sham and pretense. 
 
 Again, these Pharisaical “loud speakers” may be 
 heard on the street corners. It is somehow inherent 
 in all virile men and women to love genuine goodness, 
 whether clad in rags or rich raiment, and to hate 
 hypocrisy in prince or peasant. The humblest and 
 poorest may be richest in that which counts most with 
 man and God. 
 
 A great shoe company which sells its products direct 
 through its own stores had a very clever ad. in its 
 display windows several years ago. Crowds were at- 
 tracted to the unique sight. There people gazed at a 
 huge shoe, perhaps three feet long. It seemed to have 
 been cut by a big, circular saw exactly in half from 
 the middle of the toe to the middle of the heel, into 
 eastern and western hemispheres, so to speak. As you 
 looked, you could see it was a real shoe in material, 
 for where leather was supposed to be, there leather 
 
16 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 was. It was an ingenious device to reveal the true 
 worth of the shoe. The thing the writer has never 
 forgotten was the small sign that hung in the window 
 which read, ‘‘ Good through and through.” A certain 
 great automobile concern for many months in all its 
 ads simply used one word, “ Dependable.” So it is— 
 the very thing that ties us toa friend. ‘ Good through 
 and through ”—‘“‘ dependable.” It is nothing else— 
 not his wealth, scholarship, genius, position. He may 
 be rich, but a rascal, learned but unreliable, clever but 
 crafty, have social prestige, but be soulless. No; it is 
 genuine goodness that wins confidence and knits soul 
 to soul in eternal friendships. 
 
 The church-school leader who would get his pupils 
 and associates far on the way toward this worthy goal 
 must earnestly strive to attain it first for himself. Les- 
 sons may be forgotten, but lives never. No artist 
 paints for memory’s walls a picture more enduring 
 than that of genuine goodness. 
 
 - Goodness is not a passive, sponge-absorbed quality. 
 It is an active, virile thing. <A really good man does 
 not give up, door-mat fashion, to be trodden under the 
 feet of men, or hie away, hermit-like, to lonely caves. 
 That is laziness, not goodness. Virile goodness mixes 
 with the multitude, Christlike, to heal and to help, 
 and, if necessary, plaits the cords and drives the dese- 
 crating money-changers out of the Temple. As Emer- 
 son said, ‘‘ Our goodness must have edge or it is none.” 
 
 Leaders, especially, must help young people to un- 
 derstand that virility of mind and body are not in- 
 compatible with real goodness of heart, that a man or 
 a woman may be intellectually great and, at the same 
 time, genuinely good. Paul was no less a scholar when 
 he became a devout follower of Jesus Christ. Ralph 
 
THE GREAT OBJECTIVE 17 
 
 Connor, in one of his early books, wrote this impor- 
 tant truth: “No man is a great man who is not a 
 good man.’ Most biographers belie this statement, 
 but it certainly is true when tested in the Divine Bureau 
 of Weights and Measures. Goodness is not static; it 
 is dynamic. Nobody ever is good because he is com- 
 manded to sit still and absorb goodness. We involun- 
 tarily fill our lungs with air, but goodness does not 
 come that way. No criminal, on retiring, can throw 
 open his windows, go to bed and wake up a pious man. 
 Rocking-chair-do-nothingness does not result in good- 
 ness. We are good because we will to be good. 
 Lowell well says, ‘‘ Goodness is an achievement of the 
 will.” And another puts it thus, ‘“‘ We can be as good 
 as we please, if we please to be good.” In the fight for 
 personal goodness, it is not hammock swingers, but 
 hammer swingers that are needed. Temptations must 
 be given a death-dealing blow. Moral exercise gives 
 moral strength. 
 
 The church-school leader’s life and lessons every 
 day and every week must insist on three great truths: 
 know the right, dove the right, do the right; these three, 
 but the greatest of these, and the hardest, is do the 
 right. These three lead to triumphant power and 
 goodness. 
 
 _ The paramount test question, perennially put to all 
 church-school leaders, is this: Is the one great ob- 
 jective toward which you and yours are always head- 
 ing a sincere, unchangeable yearning to be genuinely 
 good? With Kingsley, we joyfully exclaim, “ Be good 
 and let who will be clever,” and with Tenny- 
 
 son, ‘’Tis only noble to be good.” Large class or 
 school enrollment, lessons taught and learned, organi- 
 zations set up and perfected, much money raised and 
 
I8 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 expended—all these shrink into nothing if the great 
 objective is lost. Kingsley well concludes that “ noth- 
 ing that man ever invents can absolve him from the 
 universal necessity of being good, as God is good, 
 righteous, as God is righteous, and holy, as God is 
 holy.” 
 But we must be 
 GOOD 
 
 FOR 
 SOMETHING 
 
 Nea laa 
 
 As Thoreau long ago put it, “‘ Be not simply good; 
 be good for something.’’ Not only good in the moral 
 sense, but good, meaning efficient. Not only be good, 
 but make good. Of no church-school leader ever let 
 it be said, “He is good, but good for nothing.” 
 Rather let the leader deliberately say “ for me and 
 mine, we will be good for something.” The day has 
 forever gone when in church-school work one person 
 should be expected to do everything, to be a sort of 
 Jack-of-all-trades around the church. In the factory 
 system, and in all efficient organizations, the long- 
 established principle of division of labor works, in- 
 deed, has become an economic necessity, so should it 
 be in educational and religious enterprizes. The real 
 leader sets twenty to work rather than attempt to do 
 the work of twenty. Better policy for leader; far 
 better for the led. But the leader is leader truly 
 when he discovers abilities to suit duties to be done, 
 
THE GREAT OBJECTIVE 19 
 
 and weds talents and tasks. And this is God’s own 
 way. What God has joined together, let no bungling 
 leader put asunder. To every man his job. The 
 leader not only discovers and connects, but suggests 
 books to be read, courses to be pursued, or other train- 
 ing to be secured that every member of the “ machine ” 
 may be good for some one thing, extra good. Here is 
 a familiar motto, sometimes adopted by church schools 
 and young people’s societies, as an inspiration to indi- 
 vidual members: 
 
 I cannot do everything 
 But I can do something. 
 What I can do, 
 
 I ought to do; 
 
 And what I ought to do, 
 By God’s help, 
 
 I will do. 
 
 This is reasonable and right, and its realization 
 means happiness and efficiency in service. If you area 
 church-school superintendent, be a good one, so like- 
 wise a teacher, secretary, or other officer. Anything 
 worth doing is worth doing well. Don’t forget Paul’s 
 motto—‘ This one thing I do.” Many a lesser leader 
 has literally leaped into joy and success by such a re- 
 solve persistently, constantly followed. The spirit of 
 “off agin, on agin, gone agin, Flannagin,” gets no- 
 where. Scatteration shatters all hope of worth while 
 accomplishment. Concentrate and get somewhere; 
 dissipate time, strength and ability, and only the ditch 
 of defeat lies ahead. The leader obsessed with this 
 great objective, “ good for something,” visualizes his 
 work, plans his program, fits folks in, and then helps 
 his helpers come to the fullest register of efficiency. 
 
 The writer some time ago saw a big sign across a 
 
20 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 small business place. It read ‘‘ Misfits a Specialty.” 
 Looking inside, he saw the Hebrew tailor sitting cross- 
 legged, happily making over ready-made suits. He 
 could “ fit ’em, tall up and down, or big all de vay 
 round,” any size or shape, and do it while they waited. 
 Miniatures of this sign might well hang over the doors 
 of many church schools,—“ Misfits a Specialty.” No 
 church-school leader can afford to have this sign face 
 him. The wise leader not only knows the tasks to be 
 assigned, but when choosing his personnel always has 
 a definite, kindly understanding that the job is more 
 important than the job holder, that he is the trustee of 
 the whole church, charged with the welfare of the 
 church school and must be fair to pupils, parents, and 
 all who hold him responsible. 
 
 Yes, it takes will to be good, and will to be good 
 for something. 
 
 But we must be 
 
 GOOD 
 
 FOR WORTH 
 SOMETHING WHILE 
 
 The doing of little duties well leads to the day of 
 bigger things. Nobody ever came to the time of say- 
 ing dollars who did not first of all save dimes or even 
 pennies. No one should despise the day of small 
 things. But for most of us, we have a lazy content 
 that keeps us living on the lower dead levels, when we 
 should be reaching up and living up to the more diffi- 
 
THE GREAT OBJECTIVE 21 
 
 cult and challenging duties. The church-school 
 leader himself must be good for something worth while. 
 Where vision ceases, not only the people, but their 
 leaders, perish. How many schools need to be lifted 
 out of their ruts. There are church-school workers 
 assigned to five-foot step-ladder jobs who ought to be 
 given extension ladders, work in which they can grow 
 and go, on and up. Even in a small school there are 
 enough latent, undeveloped abilities to work wonders, if 
 some far-seeing, near-seeing leader would get busy. 
 Let us all remember that there is a yearning that is a 
 divine discontent. Even the church school commonly 
 called good must be careful. A satiate may be an opiate. 
 For institutions, as for individuals, not to progress is 
 to retrogress. Oliver Cromwell put on the fly leaf of 
 his Bible his initials ‘‘ O. C.”’ and the date of his birth, 
 “©1599,” and these significant words in Latin, Qui 
 cessat esse melior, cessat esse bonus,” which being in- 
 terpreted reads, ‘‘ He who ceases to be better, ceases 
 to be good.” Again, we see that goodness is not a sta- 
 tionary thing; we go on to de better and do better from 
 day to day, or daily we slip back. Appropriate for all 
 church-school leaders is this couplet: 
 
 Be not content with thy good to rest, . 
 Until thy good becomes better, and thy better best. 
 
 ‘This applies to leaders and led, to knowledge, skill, 
 character, and conduct. Is this not what Browning 
 meant in that line: i 
 
 Our reach should exceed our grasp, or what’s a heaven 
 for. 
 
 And did not the yearning psalmist of long ago have 
 this very thought in mind when he said and sang: 
 
22 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.. 
 Or, the better translation has it: 
 Lead me to the rock that is too high for me. 
 
 Not only a church-school class, but a whole school 
 might well adopt as a slogan: 
 
 We Specialize in the Impossible. 
 
 The church-school leader must himself be good for 
 something worth while and then inspire others to reach 
 on and up until they, too, attain unto this goal. 
 
 But we must be 
 
 GOOD 
 
 FOR WORTH 
 SOMETHING WHILE 
 
 FOR OTHERS 
 
 A certain kind of goodness may be self-satisfactory, 
 and lead to self-glory, pedestalling itself apart for ad- 
 miration or adoration. A culture for culture’s sake is 
 of little value to the needy world. ‘The church-school 
 leader ever should keep before himself that he and his 
 must be good for something worth while for others. 
 We pray, study our Bibles, govern our lives by Chris- 
 tian idealism—all, not for ourselves alone, but for 
 others. 
 
 No life-dictionary has anything bigger and more 
 important than the two “great-big-little” Anglo- 
 
THE GREAT OBJECTIVE 23 
 
 Saxon words, get and give. By these, life’s attitudes, 
 skills, habits, ideals are formed. The relation of these 
 in our lives determines all character and conduct. 
 Fach is necessary. Each may assume dangerous pro- 
 portions. Their proper balance is imperative. Church- 
 school leader, let this poem also carry its message to 
 your heart: 
 
 GET AND GIVE 
 
 For what do you live? 
 
 For what you get 
 
 Or what you give? 
 
 ‘Which is the dynamo 
 
 That makes you go— 
 GET Or GIVE? 
 
 Get from the world its treasures, 
 Knowledge, friends, and health. 
 Heap to the full your measures, 
 God, and good, and wealth. 
 But,— 
 GET tO GIVE. 
 
 Don’t be a miser, 
 A slave to your gold; 
 Giving is wiser, 
 A hundredfold. 
 So,— 
 GET and GIVE. 
 
 GET—you must 
 If you would GIvE; 
 GIVE you must, 
 If you would LIvE; 
 For,—getting without giving 
 Is existence, not living. 
 _ Then,— 
 GET and GIVE and LIVE, 
 
24 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Finally, in our analysis of the church-school 
 leader’s great objective, we come to place within our 
 square one word: 
 
 GOOD 
 FOR CHRIST WORTH 
 SOMETHING WHILE 
 FOR OTHERS 
 
 Jesus Christ must be kept at the center of any life 
 that would be genuinely good. Remove God from good 
 and nothing is left. Essentially, goodness is God-ness. 
 God in Christ forgives sin, cleanses the soul, makes 
 and keeps it good. Would we be good for something? 
 He knows what that some-one-thing is for each of us. 
 Would we be good for something worth while? He is 
 our Guide and will lead us to put the emphasis on the 
 thing worth while. Would we be good for something 
 worth while for others? He who “ came not to be min- 
 istered unto, but to minister,’’ to give “‘ his life a ran- 
 som for many,” knows that our investment in others 
 will help Him to get His will done in the world. 
 
 The writer has one prayer in his heart as he closes 
 this chapter and introduces readers to the following 
 pages, and it is this: may all of us who are lovers of 
 and leaders in the church school be good for some- 
 thing worth while for others, for His sake, whose we 
 are, and whom we serve. 
 
IT 
 ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP 
 
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II 
 
 THE HOME, THE CHURCH, AND THE 
 COMMUNITY 
 
 HURCH-SCHOOL leadership is a bigger thing 
 than leadership in an institution called the 
 
 church school. The church-school leader must 
 see the home as the primary agency of religious edu- 
 cation, the church as a whole functioning in religious 
 education, and the place and responsibility of the com- 
 munity, as such, in the general scheme of religious 
 education. 
 
 IN THE HOME 
 
 The Christian home is God’s first institution for the 
 religious education of childhood and youth. The or- 
 - ganization and administration of religious education 
 there is simple and even now largely patriarchal, the 
 father being priest, pedagogue, and program builder. 
 At least, he should be the responsible head. However, 
 in the best types of home religious education, the fam- 
 ily as a whole shares in the planning and participates 
 in the program itself. 
 
 Religious educators ee that in the last analysis 
 
 2 
 
28 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 the home is the citadel, the hope or despair of it all. 
 As goes the home, so goes the success or failure of any 
 program of religious education. For the normal home 
 is the chief factor in the welfare of children and young 
 people, physically, industrially, socially, morally, and 
 religiously. No institution can take its place or do 
 what the normal home can and should do for its mem- 
 bers, young and old. ‘The family is the social and 
 religious storm-center of modern civilization. Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt, Christian statesman, was right when 
 he said, ‘‘ Our civic life, in the long run, will rise or 
 sink as the average family is a success or failure.” 
 Long ago, Jacob Riis, Christian reformer, wrote in 
 Peril and Preservation of the Home, ‘‘ Upon the home 
 rests our moral character; our civic and political lib- 
 erties are grounded there. We forget it to our peril. 
 Our American citizenship, in the long run, will be, 
 must be, what the American home is.” He was doubt- 
 less thinking not only of the tenement home, but of all 
 homes everywhere. A nation-wide program of re- 
 ligious education that does not root itself in the home 
 is doomed to defeat. 
 
 That the home is the fundamental religious educa- 
 tor of immature life, is true, because of the primal 
 laws of: (1) biology, i. e., the elemental law of life 
 itself that the two parents are responsible for the new 
 life; (2) sociology, i. e., in keeping with the law of in- 
 timate association and social dependence; and (3) 
 theology, because of God’s law put upon his people in 
 his covenant with Abraham. Every child has a con- 
 stitutional right to a sound body, a trained mind, and 
 a nurtured soul. 
 
 Church-school Jeaders must help homes to function 
 as God intended in the religious education of their 
 
THE JIOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 29 
 
 members. \ The living in congested cities, with their 
 factory sys.ems, commercial enterprises and complex 
 net work of social organizations, makes it difficult for 
 some homes to religiously make good as did the sim- 
 pler homes of our forefathers. Love of luxury and 
 love of leisure are often responsible for the home los- 
 ing its religious grip. Granted that it is harder than 
 ever for families to sit together in a period of religious 
 instruction and expression through worship, neverthe- 
 less, if this thing is accepted as God’s will, time will 
 be found somewhere during the twenty-four hours of 
 every day. Generally speaking, we do what we want 
 to do of the possible things, if we persistently want to 
 do it. First things first. The heart of religious edu- 
 cation in the home is in the daily use of the Scriptures, 
 prayers, and hymns. Courses are now available in 
 book and magazine form, so that no family can offer 
 an excuse so far as materials and programs are con- 
 cerned. (Further suggestions are made in chapter 
 nineteen, under the duties of the director of home co- 
 operation. ) 
 
 After all, religious education in the home is more 
 than mere formal instruction in the Bible and related 
 Christian truth and the offering of prayers and hymns 
 of praise around a family altar. This is the funda- 
 mental and central thing. Other important factors 
 are: grace at meals; personal devotions upon rising or 
 retiring, frequent silent, ejaculatory prayer and praise, 
 the general spiritual atmosphere or morale created by 
 right relationships and dealings of members of the 
 family with each other in the daily home routine, the 
 telling of wholesome, humorous stories and incidents, 
 the upward influence of good music, good pictures, 
 helpful books and periodicals, and the constant culti- 
 
30 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSH P 
 
 vation in conversation and conduct of th’. Christian 
 graces of kindness, courtesy, appreciatio:i, patience, 
 unselfishness, gratitude, humility, sympathy, cheerful- 
 ness, confidence, forgiveness, and genuine love. All of 
 which does not come by accident! Somebody, pre- 
 sumably the parents, religiously sets the home in order. 
 
 cE 
 
 IN THE CHURCH 
 
 While the church school is the church’s major | _ 
 agency for its teaching ministry, it is not the only | 
 one. Other organizations within the local church 
 already are at work in the field of religious education, 
 emphasizing worship, missions, temperance, social ser- 
 vice, recreational, and other interests, and serving dif- 
 ferent age groups. That the church-school leaders 
 may be informed of the bigger task, brief mention is 
 made in this chapter of the organization and adminis- 
 tration of religious education in the whole church and 
 in the community, in all of which church-school leader- 
 ship should intelligently and loyally participate. The 
 very limits of this manual prevent fuller treatment. 
 
 In any church where there are as many as two or- 
 ganizations in the field of religious education, there 
 should be (1) a Church Council of Religious Educa- 
 tion, (2) a Church Board of Religious Education, (3) 
 and these, in turn, should set up religious education 
 policies and programs for the whole church. 
 
 A Church Council of Religious Education. This 
 
THE HOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 31 
 
 Council should be large and representative. It should 
 be composed of the pastor, one or more representa- 
 tives from each of the official boards of the church, 
 the executive officers of the following: church school, 
 (which will include the superintendent and all general 
 officers, principals and officers of all divisions and de- 
 partments, officers of all organized classes, and every 
 teacher and assistant), the young people’s societies of 
 every description, women’s and men’s organizations. 
 In a big church there should be elected at least ten 
 members-at-large, and in a smaller, at least three. For 
 a large church, this would make a large, deliberative 
 body, and such is needed, for, under wise leadership, 
 it is a good plan to let all the “‘ 57 varieties ” of people 
 talk some things out of their systems. The smaller 
 church would have fewer organizations and, therefore, 
 a smaller council. The size is not the important thing. 
 The value of such a council lies in its representative 
 character, so that a comprehensive, adequate program 
 of religious education can be constructed, with every 
 angle of approach being known and recognized. The 
 above is offered as a reasonable suggestion for consti- 
 tuting such a council. In some communions, provision 
 is made for the formation of such a representative 
 group. In any case, this large, deliberative body will 
 function through a smaller executive group known as 
 a Church Board of Religious Education. 
 
 A Church Board of Religious Education. Every 
 church should have a board of religious education com- 
 parable in every way with the other official boards, 
 such as the board of deacons, elders, trustees, stew- 
 ards, or other responsible general officiary. This 
 board of religious education should be nominated by 
 
32 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 the Church Council of Religious Education and elected 
 by the church as a whole. It should serve as the ex- 
 ecutive committee of the Church Council of Religious 
 Education. It should consist of from three members 
 in the small church to not more than nine to fifteen in 
 the large church, one-third of the membership to be 
 elected annually and to hold office for three years. The 
 pastor should always be a member ex officio of this 
 board. Being a religious education board, only those 
 educationally equipped should be chosen. This board 
 should never be selected on the basis of organizational 
 representation. On it should be men and women who 
 are educators and administrators. It should report 
 regularly to the Council for information and advice, 
 and to the church as a whole for final adoption of poli- 
 cles and programs. It is the one executive body func- 
 tioning for the church as a whole in its work of re- 
 ligious education. This board should adopt a simple 
 constitution, elect its own officers, and the few needed 
 committees, and hold as a sacred trust its great respon- 
 sibility for the religious education of the children, 
 young people, and adults of the church. 
 
 In some churches this board of religious education 
 will: (1) conduct a survey of all educational organi- 
 zations within the church as to purpose, program and 
 product; (2) give general supervision to all the edu- 
 cational work of the church; (3) set up the church’s 
 educational policies and standards; (4) choose and 
 cooperate with the director of religious education, 
 where the church employs one; (5) choose all courses 
 of study; (6) select teachers and those who super- 
 vise them; (7) plan for adequate educational building 
 and educational equipment; (8) seek to correlate and 
 unify courses, programs and agencies; (9) prepare the 
 
THE HOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 33 
 
 financial budget for church’s program of education;' 
 (10) give every possible assistance to the church- 
 school superintendent and other executive officers of 
 the church’s educational agencies; (11) keep in touch 
 with denominational and interdenominational religious 
 education organizations, and bring findings to the at- 
 tention of the church; (12) call in specialists in re- 
 ligious education for expert counsel. All things con- 
 sidered, it is doubtful if there can be a more impor- 
 tant board in any local church. 
 
 A Religious Education Policy and Program for a 
 Local Church. Every church, large or small, should 
 have its own religious education policy. General De- 
 nominational and Interdenominational church-school 
 Boards are ready to help and should be consulted. 
 City, County, State, and International Council of Re- 
 ligious Education will furnish valuable information to 
 this very end. The Church board of religious edu- 
 cation should work out such a policy, present it to 
 the Church Council of Religious Education for sug- 
 gestions, and then offer it to the church for adoption. 
 We here suggest certain keywords, as hints toward 
 the construction of such a policy. Investigation. 
 Each church should survey its field and forces, its 
 strength and its weaknesses. The church board of 
 religious education, or other strong committee, should 
 make a thorough study of the matter, giving months, 
 if need be. If a separate committee, it should be rep- 
 resentative of all interests and should be elected by 
 the church. The church should learn the nature of its 
 constituency, the age groups to be served, number 
 now reached and number that should be enlisted. It 
 should know its present leadership personnel as to 
 adequacy, skill, training, and general efficiency in re- 
 
3+ CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 ligious education. All organizations of the church, 
 doing any kind of religious education, should be im- 
 partially investigated as to purpose, program, people 
 served, literature used, and results achieved. As to 
 whether it works locally, because of far away pres- 
 sure from some headquarters somewhere, following a 
 set form of operation wholesaled for the whole coun- 
 try or continent, or whether this organization grew 
 indigenously to serve an immediate need, in either 
 case, is it functioning, is it overlapping and compet- 
 ing with another agency, is its chief business real ser- 
 vice to its members, or is it merely used as a pumping 
 station for statistics and funds to fill the reservoirs of 
 a national movement? The investigation should in- 
 clude a thorough study of budgets, educational equip- 
 ment as to building and furnishings, and it might well 
 report on community conditions that help or hinder 
 the church in its attempt to religiously educate its con- 
 stituency. The investigating committee must work 
 without bias, and report fully the facts as found with- 
 out recommendations of any kind. This report should 
 be made to the Church Council of Religious Educa- 
 tion, whether made by the board of religious educa- 
 tion or the special committee. If made by a special 
 committee, after thorough discussion by the Council, 
 the report might well be turned over to the board of 
 religious education for further consideration and such 
 recommendations as the board may think best for the 
 church’s whole program of religious education 
 
 A good slogan for such a time of survey is: “ The 
 interest of each is the concern of all.” Investigation 
 will inevitably lead to a desire for correlation of pro- 
 grams offered to prevent overlapping and competition, 
 which will in turn mean conservation of time, strength, 
 
THE HOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 35 
 
 money, leadership, and definite organization for the 
 utilization of every good idea of every agency in an 
 adaptation to local needs—all of which will mean that 
 every age group will be benefited by the cooperation 
 of forces in a unified, far-reaching program of re- 
 ligious education. Around these key words a board 
 of religious education can formulate an acceptable 
 working policy. Such a policy will make generous 
 provision for four things, viz.: (1) a thoroughgoing 
 system of graded instruction for all ages, (2) expres- 
 sion through graded worship, (3) expression through 
 graded recreation and related activities, and (4) ex- 
 pression through graded philanthropic and missionary 
 service, 
 
 
 
 IN THE COMMUNITY 
 
 I 
 
 Let us face the challenge of Christian statesmen, 
 public school educators, and others who look to the 
 churches for the religious education of American child- 
 hood and youth as the only hope of our civilization. 
 We see at once that the task is too great for individual 
 Churches, single-handed. They must organize to set 
 forward the great cooperative cause of Christian edu- 
 cation as the several regiments of an army, each regi- 
 ment strong in its place, so must the Christian forces 
 of a community move forward together. 
 
 The Community Council of Religious Education is 
 the organized expression of this cooperative spirit. The 
 size and composition of such a council depend upon 
 
36 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 the size of the community. If the community is a small 
 borough or city, having a dozen to fifty churches, and 
 the usual number of other religious organizations, the 
 council can easily be formed and can at once begin to 
 function. The larger the city, the more difficult to get 
 community organization of any kind to make good for 
 the whole area. For the sake of general community 
 representation and widespread interest, the council 
 should be large. Too small a group, however select 
 and efficient, fails to command the publicity and funds 
 necessary to give permanent success. In cities of 
 one hundred thousand population and less, the council 
 could be composed of the following: pastors of all the 
 churches, directors of religious education, executive offi- 
 cers of Young Men’s Christian Associations and Young 
 Women’s Christian Associations, the church-school 
 superintendents and all general and departmental offi- 
 cers of the church schools, executive officers of all 
 local church organizations of young people, men or 
 women, which put on programs of religious education, 
 executives of community wide young people’s en- 
 deavor, league, or union groups, executives of boy. 
 scouts, camp fire girls, and kindred organizations, wel- 
 fare groups, salvation army, and volunteers, parent- 
 teacher associations, the board of education, and all 
 others who, in the spirit and name of Christ, seek the 
 social and religious welfare of the community. Then 
 this official body should itself elect from three to thirty 
 members-at-large, general educators, editors, and other 
 public-spirited men and women. 
 
 In cities above one hundred thousand population, 
 denominations instead of individual churches could be 
 represented with at least two from each denomination: 
 
THE HOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 37 
 
 one a pastor, and one lay worker, and then additional 
 proportionate representation according to numerical 
 strength; the several organizations above mentioned 
 could each select its representatives, and the council, 
 thus formed, could then elect the members-at-large. 
 
 The community councils of religious education, of 
 whatever size, operating in cities of varying sizes, will 
 each create its own constitution, with the necessary 
 officers and committees. Each council will function 
 through a community board of religious education 
 which serves as the council’s executive committee, 
 carrying the chief responsibility for the community 
 program. 
 
 The Community Board of Religious Education is the 
 council’s working body to organize and administer the 
 community program of religious education through 
 paid or volunteer leaders. This board should be 
 elected by the council and may consist of from six to 
 thirty members, to serve regularly for a period of three 
 years, one-third being chosen annually. Herewith is 
 a concrete illustration of such a board operating in a 
 “little city”? of about ten thousand. With certain 
 modifications, due to size or complexion of the local 
 community, this can be used as a fairly successful 
 working model, and, for that reason, it is inserted here. 
 It should be understood that such a community board 
 will not at any time interfere with the program of re- 
 ligious education of any of the local churches, denomi- 
 nations, or other organizations, but will in each case 
 render every possible assistance and strive to interest 
 all in cooperative community-wide programs of re- 
 ligious education. 
 
38 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 CONSTITUTION 
 of the 
 Smithfield Board of Religious Education 
 
 ARTICLE I—NAME 
 
 Section 1. This body shall be known as the Smith- 
 field board of religious education, the functioning ex- 
 ecutive of the Smithfield community council of re- 
 ligious education. 
 
 ARTICLE II—PURPOSE 
 
 Section 1. The purpose of this board shall be to 
 create and sustain a community conscience in religious 
 education through the organization, development and 
 promotion of institutes, training schools, vacation 
 church schools, week-day church schools, religious sur- 
 veys and census, library, lectures, music, rt, 
 pageantry, etc., cooperating with institutions and 
 agencies already in the field. 
 
 ARTICLE ITI—MEMBERSHIP 
 
 Section 1. This board shall consist of twenty-one 
 members, namely three members-at-large, elected by 
 the board itself, and eighteen other members, chosen 
 as herein provided: three each from the Methodist 
 Episcopal, Presbyterian and Baptist churches (the 
 pastor being one of the three); two from the Metho- 
 dist Protestant (the pastor being one of the two); one 
 from the Protestant Episcopal church, and one each 
 from the two Societies of Friends; one elected by the 
 public school board of education from its own number; 
 and one elected by the public school parent-teacher as- 
 sociation from its own number. The remaining two 
 
THE HOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 39 
 
 members of the board shall be the supervisor of public 
 schools, and the county Young Men’s Christian Asso- 
 ciation secretary. 
 
 Section 2. The board shall have authority to fill 
 all vacancies. 
 
 Section 3. At the time of organization, the twenty- 
 one members shall be divided into three groups of 
 seven each; group one to serve one year; group two, 
 two years; group three, three years. 
 
 ARTICLE IV——OFFICERS 
 
 Section 1. The officers of this board shall consist 
 of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer; all 
 of whom shall be elected by ballot at the annual meet- 
 ing in February, and should hold office for one year, 
 or until their successors are duly elected. Their duties 
 shall be such as are usual for these officers. 
 
 ARTICLE V—QUORUM 
 
 Section 1. Nine members present at any meeting 
 shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of busi- 
 ness. 
 
 ARTICLE VI—BY-LAWS 
 
 Section 1. This board shall enact such by-laws as 
 it may deem expedient, provided such by-laws are not 
 contrary to this constitution. 
 
 ARTICLE VII—AMENDMENTS 
 
 Section 1. This constitution may be altered or 
 amended by a two-thirds vote of the members of the 
 board present at any regular meeting, provided the 
 proposed change shall have been made in writing at a 
 previous meeting. 
 
40 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 BY-LAWS 
 
 ARTICLE I—MEETINGS 
 
 Section 1. Regular meetings of the board shall be 
 held the second Monday of September, November, 
 February, April and June at eight o’clock at the office 
 of the Smithfield High School. 
 
 Section 2. Special meetings may be convened at 
 any time on call of the secretary at the written request 
 of the president or any five members of the board, the 
 object of this meeting being stated in the call. 
 
 ARTICLE II—PERMANENT COMMITTEES 
 
 Section 1. There shall be ten permanent commit- 
 tees, as follows: 
 Executive 
 Institute 
 Training School 
 Vacation Church School 
 Week-day Church School 
 Religious Survey and Census 
 Library 
 Lectures 
 9. Music, Art, and Pageantry 
 10. Finance 
 
 Section 2. These permanent committees shall be 
 appointed by the president and shall be ratified by the 
 board. 
 
 Section 3. The executive committee shall consist of 
 the officers of the board and the pastors who are mem- 
 bers of the board. 
 
 Section 4. Permanent committees shall make writ- 
 ten reports at each regular meeting, and at such special 
 meetings as any committee deems it necessary. 
 
 ° 
 
 ee es 
 
THE HOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 41 
 
 Section 5, The president shall be ex officio a mem- 
 ber of the permanent committees. 
 
 Section 6. The treasurer shall be ex officio a mem- 
 ber of the finance committee. 
 
 Section 7. Two weeks before the annual meeting in 
 February, the president shall appoint an auditing com- 
 mittee of three (not members of the board) and re- 
 quest it to audit the accounts of the treasurer. 
 
 ARTICLE III—DUTIES OF PERMANENT COMMITTEES 
 
 Section 1. The board’s executive committee shall 
 serve as the executive body of the board in the interim 
 of regular meetings. 
 
 Section 2. The committee on institutes shall make 
 provision for the annual five-day institute in religious 
 education. 
 
 Section 3. The training school committee shall plan 
 for a community school of religious education, based 
 on the standards of the International Council of Re- 
 ligious Education. 
 
 Section 4. The committee on vacation church 
 schools shall plan and operate one or more vacation 
 church schools for the borough (city) of Smithfield. 
 
 Section 5. The committee on week-day church 
 schools shall be responsible for the establishment and 
 supervision of week-day church schools in Smithfield. 
 
 Section 6. The religious survey and census com- 
 mittee shall set up and supervise a religious census for 
 the borough (city) of Smithfield each September, or at 
 such times as may be desirable. 
 
 Section 7. The library committee shall make lists of 
 the best books in religious education and shall also 
 secure as many of these books as possible for a com- 
 
42 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 munity library in religious education (housed in a spe- 
 cial alcove at the public library.) 
 
 Section 8. The committee on lectures shall make 
 provision from time to time for public lectures in re- 
 ligious education. 
 
 Section 9. The committee on music, art, and 
 pageantry shall provide for religious education music, 
 art, and pageantry through community-wide programs, 
 exhibits, and festivals. 
 
 Section 10. The finance committee shall provide 
 the necessary finances for an adequate program of re- 
 ligious education for the borough (city) of Smithfield. 
 
 Section 11. All plans of permanent committees in- 
 volving the expenditure of money must have the ap- 
 proval of the board. | 
 
 ARTICLE IV—DEBTS 
 Section 1. No debt shall be contracted by the board 
 unless the money to meet the same is in the hands of 
 the treasurer, or is fully assured by pledges believed to 
 be reliable. 
 ARTICLE V—AMENDMENTS 
 
 Section 1. These by-laws may be amended by a 
 two-thirds vote of the members of the board present at 
 any regular meeting, provided the proposed change 
 shall have been made in writing at a previous meeting. 
 
 THE NEED OF CORRELATION 
 
 One of the chief duties of a church board of religious 
 education is to quietly, tactfully bring about a correla- 
 tion of agencies, so that they will work together in a 
 unified program of religious education for the whole 
 church. Thus and only thus can the several age groups 
 be most efficiently served. Not the organization, but 
 
THE HOME, CHURCH AND COMMUNITY 43 
 
 the child, the youth, is the factor of greatest impor- 
 tance. Of course, if there could be more correlation of 
 “fields and functions” among the “ headquarters 
 officiary ” of national organizations which operate units 
 in local churches, the churches themselves could soon 
 make the devoutly-to-be-wished adjustments. 
 
 Likewise in the community, the pressing need is for 
 correlation and closer cooperation. Just plain common 
 sense says this day must come in the interest of a wiser, 
 more economical organization and administration of 
 religious education in the community. Moreand more, 
 men of means are giving generously for this work. 
 These same benefactors ought unitedly to refuse to 
 finance community budgets for religious education un- 
 less wasteful, strifeful competition and overlappings be 
 stopped. Organizational obsessions must give way to 
 the saner, more Christian way of service. 
 
Il 
 
 THE CHURCH SCHOOL, BETTER AND 
 BIGGER 
 
 HE best church schools are organized on a 
 sound educational basis. The inferior church 
 school, regardless of the size, is one which 
 
 gives no heed to the principles of general and genetic 
 psychology and a vital pedagogy. The foundations of 
 all good organization and administration, for that mat- 
 ter, all teaching and learning processes and all courses 
 of study, are in the great laws of human growth and 
 development. A pupil-centered organization is quite as 
 important as a pupil-centered curriculum. General 
 organization and administration must take this into 
 account as truly as all divisional, departmental, and 
 class organization. Trained church-school leaders in 
 small or medium-sized schools can make possible an 
 efficient organization. We are thinking just now of a 
 large church school that has had as many as four thou- 
 sand pupils; it is not an organization at all; it is a mob 
 assembly or assembly of mobs. It is one of the most 
 inefficient church schools in America. The superin- 
 tendent is not a superintendent; he is a slogan around 
 which the school for years has rallied. He has had his 
 way. ‘There is man power enough in the school to or- 
 ganize and operate a great commercial enterprise. Some 
 day it may assert itself, bring order out of chaos, and 
 have a great school in every sense. The “ Big Ben” 
 in the clock tower of the British House of Parliament 
 in London may keep no better time than a tiny Swiss 
 44 
 
THE CHURCH SCHOOL A5 
 
 watch on a lady’s wrist. It is the organization of each 
 that counts, the proper construction and adjustment of 
 all parts, and every part in its place, making good at 
 the rate of sixty seconds per minute. Big Bens or 
 Little Bens can do no more. 
 
 The chart below gives graphically the scheme for 
 church-school organization based on the life periods of 
 pupils. The church-school leader should master this 
 diagram as he has his alphabet. It is his church-school 
 chart and compass. 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH SCHOOL 
 
 
 
 Life Periods of Growth 
 and Development 
 
 Ages C.S. Dept. |C.S.Divisions P iC veneoty 
 
 Babyhood B.-1, 2, 3 |Cradle Roll Pre-kinder- 
 
 
 
 
 
 Early |4,5 Beginners Children’s 
 
 
 
 Childhood Middle|6, 7, 8 Primary 
 
 
 
 Later /|9, 10,11 |Junior 
 
 V—— os FOO | oOo eee ee ST 
 
 Early |12, 13, 14|Intermediate 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Youthhood ian tole 11 igh ; 
 idale|15, i 12 
 PRA sles ania) 15,)16,; enior Young People 12 Schoo 
 pee > - 
 Later |18, 19, 20|/Young People 5 College 
 2152223 B. 
 a 
 \eplanedcnndemincainipe|||. tantitemetomcescprtnartinie | | aaeishiewinpampninianenen tse tesinnaaiaette, 3 
 IaH i 1 
 Early |24-48 Pes Adutt | 3 Professiona 
 Mens De ts : 
 : omen’s Dept. 
 Adulthood Middle|49-60 Parents’ Depts 
 ————| Home Dept. 
 Extension Dept. 
 Later |61-D. 
 
 
 
 
 
46 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 There is no need of taking a paragraph of words to ex- 
 plain this chart. As the clever realtor put on his sign, 
 advertising a new addition to the city—‘“ A look means 
 a lot.” Two looks will mean a block of sense, and a 
 long look will visualize the whole school to the obser- 
 vant leader. And, too, he sees the relationship of 
 church-school age groups to the same age groups in the 
 public school, i. e., a six-year-old normally is in the 
 first grade in public school and first year primary in 
 church school. 
 
 WHEN IS A CHURCH SCHOOL GRADED? 
 
 A church school is graded when it has seven things, 
 viz.:—(1) grades, (2) graded organization, (3) graded 
 lessons, (4) graded teachers, (5) graded equipment, 
 (6) grading superintendent, and (7) graduation. 
 
 Grades. When completely or closely graded, the 
 pupils are graded by years, e. g., all six-year-olds are 
 in grade one, all seven-year-olds in grade two, and so 
 on. Fewer mistakes are made where the public school 
 grade is accepted as the church-school basis, especially 
 for children under twelve; for those over twelve, better 
 not be arbitrary, for the saving of a boy or girl is worth 
 more than a technical point in grading. A school may 
 be departmentally graded when age groups, as primary, 
 junior, etc., form the grading units. Of course, in one 
 sense, any school that divisionally separates pupils is 
 that far graded, loosely so. Even a very small school 
 that has only three classes, one made up of all children 
 twelve and under, one of young people about thirteen 
 to twenty-four, and another of those above twenty-four 
 years would be graded. Actually, there is no such thing 
 as an ungraded church school, except where the whole 
 school meets as one class. Strictly speaking, however, 
 
THE CHURCH SCHOOL AT 
 
 in a graded school, pupils are graded by years or by 
 departments. 
 
 Graded Organization, The mere separation of pupils 
 into classes by ages does not mean that the school is 
 graded. These classes must be grouped into depart- 
 ments, and the departments into divisions for effective 
 organization and administration, through specially 
 trained officers and specially prepared programs of in- 
 struction and expression. 
 
 Graded Lessons, By graded lessons we mean lesson 
 materials and methods prepared for pupils and teachers 
 of a particular grade or department, and following a 
 well-ordered sequence. 
 
 Graded Teachers. Teachers are graded to fit certain 
 classes and groups, and become known as specialists for 
 primary, or first year junior, or some other unit. With 
 such specialization it is quite possible, granting average 
 ability, for a school to grow a capable corps of instruc- 
 tors, for in the use year after year of the same mate- 
 rials, they, like public school teachers, become expert. 
 
 Graded Equipment, i. e., equipment such as chairs, 
 tables, blackboards, charts, pictures, music, etc., suited 
 to the several ages and departments. 
 
 Graded Superintendent, or director of grading. This 
 officer is of no small importance. He or she thoroughly 
 masters the organization chart, is in constant touch with 
 all teachers, and departmental principals, and can 
 quickly classify new pupils. He is an indispensable 
 part of the graded church school. 
 
 Graduation, i. e., regular promotion day with grant- 
 ing of certificates or diplomas, or other suitable forms 
 of recognition that pupils have met certain grade or de- 
 partmental requirements, and are ready to go up higher. 
 The best time is the end of September, perhaps on the 
 
48 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 same Sunday as Rally Day, inasmuch as the graded 
 lesson year always begins on the first Sunday in Octo- 
 ber. 
 
 When is the church school fully graded? When it 
 has met these tests. Any school, any size, anywhere 
 can be a graded school. We know of a church school 
 that started with twenty-eight pupils; within a month, 
 and with less than forty pupils, it was a graded school, 
 and has been through the years. 
 
 OFFICERS FOR A LARGE SCHOOL 
 
 We consider the officers of a large school first, so that 
 a wider division of labor may be planned. Then, for 
 the medium size and smaller schools, many of the duties 
 can be grouped and assigned to a limited number of offi- 
 cers. Large, medium, small, are relative terms. The 
 numerical labels for each would vary. As these words 
 are written, the writer looks out of his window on snow- 
 capped mountains, some of the highest in the Rockies. 
 For several summers he vacationed in the Poconos of 
 eastern Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvanians call the 
 Poconos mountains, and they are, although only a few 
 hundred feet high. The word “ mountain” to a resi- 
 dent of Colorado means a peak from ten to fifteen 
 thousand feet in altitude. —To many church-school lead- 
 ers in rural and village communities, a large school is 
 one of two hundred pupils, while ‘“ large ” to some con- 
 notes a school with an attendance of from one to two 
 thousands, or more. For our purposes, suppose we arbi- 
 trarily set limits as follows:—small, anywhere under 
 two hundred; medium, from two hundred to five hun- 
 dred; large, all above five hundred. Asa matter of fact, 
 we are told that more than half of the church schools 
 in America have an enrollment of less than one hun- 
 
THE CHURCH SCHOOL 49) 
 
 dred, that probably two-thirds are under two hun- 
 dred. 
 
 In this chapter, we merely list these officers. Their 
 duties are treated at length in succeeding pages. As to re- 
 sponsibility, they may be classified as follows: (1) chief 
 administration, (2) divisional and departmental admin- 
 istration, (3) secretarial administration, (4)instruction- 
 al administration, and (5) expressional administration. 
 
 The chief administrative officers are: (1) pastor, (2) 
 director of religious education, and (3) general super- 
 intendent. 5 
 
 Divisional administration: (1) supervisor of the 
 adult division, (2) supervisor of the young people’s 
 division, and (3) supervisor of the children’s division. 
 These three divisional supervisors should be, first, sec- 
 ond, and third assistants to the general superintendent, 
 and in the order named. 
 
 Departmental administration: (1) principal of the 
 adult department (same as first one under divisional 
 administration), (2) principal of the young people’s 
 department, (3) principal of the senior department, 
 (4) principal of the intermediate department, (5) prin- 
 cipal of the junior department, (6) principal of the pri- 
 mary department, (7) principal of the beginners’ de- 
 partment, (8) principal of the cradle roll department, 
 (9) principal of home or extension department; all of 
 these to have such assistants as may seem necessary in 
 a large school. 
 
 Secretarial administration: (1) director of records 
 (sometimes called ‘“‘secretary’’), (2) director of 
 finances (sometimes called “‘ treasurer’), (3) director 
 of reading, (sometimes called “librarian ”’), (4) direc- 
 tor of publicity, (5) director of physical welfare. In 
 large schools, a number of assistants will be needed. 
 
50 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Instructional administration: (1) director of class 
 instruction, (2) director of teacher supervision, (3) 
 director of leadership training, (4) director of grading 
 or classification. When there is a paid or competent 
 voluntary church director of religious education, the 
 whole of the instructional administration should be in 
 his hands, with such assistants as he may choose. 
 
 Expressional administration: (1) director of wor- 
 ship, (2) director of music, (3) director of evangelism, 
 (4) director of missions, (5) director of community 
 service, (6) director of special day programs, (7) 
 director of recreation, (8) director of home coopera- 
 tion. These directors will need assistants in extra large 
 schools. 
 
 OFFICERS FOR THE MEDIUM SIZE SCHOOL 
 
 Officers of the medium size school of from two hun- 
 dred to five hundred enrolled should be: (1) pastor, 
 who will serve as director of evangelism and missions, 
 and be consulting executive of immediate help to the 
 superintendent; (2) the general superintendent, who 
 will be the executive leader of the school, and also serve 
 as director of publicity and physical welfare; (3-) asso-~ 
 ciate superintendent, chosen for his educational, rather 
 than executive, ability; he will also serve as director of 
 leadership training, class instruction, teacher supervi- 
 sion, grading and reading. (In the event that a church 
 school of this size can afford a salaried director of re- 
 ligious education, or if there is available a voluntary 
 director or counsellor of religious education, then he 
 should be elected to this place, and the title “ associate ” 
 be changed to “ assistant,”’ and one chosen for the as- 
 sistant superintendent, who, like the superintendent, 
 would major on executive matters, and serve as direc- 
 
THE CHURCH SCHOOL 51 
 
 tor of special day programs, and home cooperation); 
 (4) supervisor of the adult division (or department) 
 who would also be director of temperance and com- 
 munity service, and have, as need arises, assistants; 
 (5) supervisor of the young people’s division, who 
 would also have responsibility as director of recreation, 
 pageantry, art, and dramatics, with departmental prin- 
 cipals and assistants, where needed; (6) supervisor of 
 the children’s division, who would be general director 
 of cradle roll, beginners, primary and junior activities, 
 with such departmental principals as the work might 
 demand; (7) director of records, who would look after 
 attendance, lesson, and literature supplies; (8) director 
 of finance; (9) director of music and worship, with as- 
 sistants for orchestral or quartette service. 
 
 OFFICERS FOR THE SMALL SCHOOL 
 
 For schools of an enrollment of two hundred or less, 
 the following officers are suggested: (1) pastor, (2) 
 superintendent, (3) three assistants who would carry 
 major responsibility respectively for adult, young peo- 
 ple’s and children’s work of the school, (4) directors 
 of records, and finance, (secretary, treasurer), (5) a 
 chorister, and (6) an organist. In most schools, ap- 
 -proaching the two hundred mark, some departmental 
 administration will be needed. When such is the case, 
 one of the outstanding teachers within the department 
 can be appointed a departmental principal. Where 
 these small schools are thoroughly graded and wide 
 awake, the several duties officially carried in larger 
 schools by regularly elected administrators can be dis- 
 tributed by the above officers to assistants that can be 
 appointed for the purpose. The curse of many small 
 schools is too much machinery. Quite often, leaders in 
 
52 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 these schools go to conventions, attend institutes, or 
 read books on administration,—and then at once begin 
 to overload the school-ship with too much official cargo. 
 Many things can be done by temporary committees of 
 two or three members. ‘Too many official dignitaries 
 get in each other’s way and often disturb teachers and 
 create confusion. 
 
 WHAT IS A STANDARD CHURCH SCHOOL 
 
 The Education Committee of the International Coun- 
 cil of Religious Education is at work on a graded sys- 
 tem of standards for the many types of schools. Plainly 
 enough, the old so-called “ ten point ” standard, while 
 a goad to some schools, gives no incentive to others, 
 and for several reasons is not now generally operative. 
 It may serve yet as a mild stimulant ‘to backward, 
 poorly organized schools, but is not a sufficient meas- 
 urement of the modern, up-to-date school which has 
 already attained. Under this test, a school is standard 
 that can meet these ten items: (1) a cradle roll and 
 home department, (2) an organized class in both young 
 people’s and adult divisions, (3) a teacher training 
 class, (4) departmental organization and graded in- 
 struction, (5) missionary instruction and offering, (6) 
 temperance instruction, (7) definite decision for Christ 
 urged, (8) workers’ conference regularly held, (9) full 
 denominational requirements, and (10) full associa- 
 tion (council) requirements,—(a) report, (b) dele- 
 gates, and (c) offering. This standard has been called 
 the international standard and as such had for its aim: 
 (1) to win every available member of the community 
 to the church school, and (2) to win the members of the 
 church school to Christ and the church; to instruct and 
 train them for intelligent and effective Christian living, 
 
THE CHURCH SCHOOL 52 
 
 and to enlist them in definite Christian service. These 
 are certainly worthy, and essential aims, and should 
 stir many schools to bigger and better days. This 
 standard also raised the question of the school’s effi- 
 ciency being judged by the character of its output. 
 These test questions were asked: (1) is the interest of 
 the pupils in the school increasing, and does this mani- 
 fest itself in an increasing average attendance; (2) is 
 their knowledge of the Bible growing; (3) is their de- 
 votional life steadily developing, and are they uniting 
 with the church; (4) do they show increasing interest 
 and efficiency in Christian service; and (5) is the school 
 increasing the number of trained workers? These are 
 important yardsticks to lay across any church school, 
 anywhere. The use of the so-called International 
 standards has not been without good results in many 
 schools. 
 
 Some religious educators have been thinking of an- 
 other type of standard emphasizing four general items: 
 (1) learning to live the Christian life, (2) administra- 
 tive management of pupils, (3) officer-and-teacher 
 leadership, and (4) organization and administration. 
 
 Under the first item, questions are raised as to: (1) 
 worship and fellowship, (a) provision for worship, (b) 
 spirit of reverence, (c) gradation and training, (d) 
 pupil participation, (e) social fellowship, (f) definite 
 provision for social and recreational life; (2) personal 
 commitment, (a) acceptance of Christ, (b) identifica- 
 tion with the church; (3) service, (a) fact and ade- 
 quacy of gifts, and personal service, (b) pupil determi- 
 nation, (c) variety and worth of service rendered, (d) 
 continuity; (4) study, (a) place given to pupils’ own 
 problems, (b) sincerity of purpose, (c) cultivation of 
 open-mindedness. Under the second item, queries are 
 
2 
 
 54 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 made concerning: (1) discovery, enrollment, and elimi- 
 nation or loss of pupils, (a) plan of recruiting, (b) 
 knowledge of constituency, (c) records and reports; 
 (2) gradation and promotion; (3) regularity and punc- 
 tuality of attendance; (4) adequacy of time; (5) pupil 
 participation; (6) provision for non-attendance groups. 
 Under the third item, the concern is for: (1) spiritual 
 experience and purpose; (2) natural ability and at- 
 tractiveness; (3) definite training for specific tasks, and 
 (4) provision for growth. Under the fourth item, ten 
 features are emphasized: (1) department and class 
 grouping; (2) program of study (curriculum), grada- 
 tion, flexibility and adequacy; (3) supervision; (4) 
 participation by all workers; (5) method of appoint- 
 ment; (6) building and equipment, (a) space, (b) 
 adaptation, (c) equipment, (d) upkeep; (7) support, 
 financial and moral; (8) relationship and correlation, 
 (a) units of educational program, and (b) relation of 
 church and school; (9) participation of pupils in life 
 and program of local church; and (10) cooperation 
 with other agencies. This is pointing in the right 
 direction. As a standard, it would be exceedingly diffi- 
 cult to score on all points “ with fairness to all and 
 favors to none.” It is offered here as a good index of 
 the far-reaching work which is being expected of 
 church schools which function today in the light of the 
 newer psychology and the newer social emphasis. 
 
 A CHURCH SCHOOL CONSTITUTION 
 
 Every church school, regardless of size, should have 
 a constitution and set of by-laws; for the little school, 
 very simple, but for the large school, it is necessary to 
 have a real definition of functions. Some schools sim- 
 plify the matter by the adoption of a book on organiza- 
 
THE CHURCH SCHOOL 55 
 
 tion and administration, such as this one on church- 
 school leadership, as a working manual. Such manual, 
 then, with the shorter constitution, can be placed in the 
 hands of all new officers. This guarantees guidance of 
 the quiet, effective type. As the school grows, and as 
 new light breaks in upon the problems of religious edu- 
 cation, the manual itself, as well as the constitution, will 
 need revisions. Local conditions will necessitate the 
 working out de novo of the several items in the constitu- 
 tion. No book, however thoroughgoing in its treat- 
 ment, and no constitution which is made wholesale 
 fashion, can, in every respect, serve the home-grown 
 needs of a local field. The skeleton of such a constitu- 
 tion is here given to assist boards of religious educa- 
 tion or special committees in drafting a fuller detailed 
 one. 
 Article I. Name. 
 Article II. Purpose. 
 Article III. Organizational Relationships. 
 | Church school and other educational 
 : agencies of the church, in close coop- 
 eration or correlation with definition of 
 field and functions. 
 Article IV. Executive Leadership. 
 Chief administrative officers and their 
 duties. 
 Section 1. Pastor. Section 2. Director of religious 
 education. Section 3. Superintendent. 
 Article V. Divisional and Departmental Leader- 
 ship. 
 Officers, assistants, and their duties. 
 Section 1. Supervisor of the Adult Division, and 
 departmental principals with assistants. Section 2. 
 Supervisor of the Young People’s Division, and depart- 
 
56 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 ° 
 
 mental principals with assistants. Section 3. Super- 
 visor of the Children’s Division, and departmental 
 principals with assistants. 
 Article VI. Secretarial Leadership. 
 Officers, assistants, and their duties. 
 Section 1. Director of Records. Section 2. Direc- 
 tor of Finances. 
 Section 3. Director of Reading. Section 4. Direc- 
 tor of publicity. 
 Section 5. Director of Physical Welfare. 
 Article VII. Instructional Leadership. 
 Officers, assistants, and their duties. 
 Section 1. Director of Grading and Pupil Classifi- 
 cation. Section 2. Director of Class-instruction and 
 Teacher-supervision, (teachers of all classes). Section 
 3. Director of Teacher-Leadership training. 
 
 Nore: As a substitute for above four sections where there is 
 a paid or competent voluntary church director of religious edu- 
 cation there should be one section defining his duties with respect 
 to the four directors here mentioned, who would serve as his 
 assistants. 
 
 Article VIII. Expressional Leadership. 
 Officers, assistants, and their duties. 
 
 Section 1. Director of Worship. Section 2. Direc- 
 tor of Music. Section 3. Director of Evangelism. 
 Section 4. Director of Missions. Section 5. Director of 
 Community Service. Section 6. Director of Special 
 Day Programs. Section 7. Director of Recreation. 
 Section 8. Director of Home Cooperation. 
 
 Article IX. Committees. 
 
 Note: No standing committee should be provided for. All 
 directors serve as chairmen and, with assistants, form all the 
 regular committees necessary. Temporary, short term, go-getter 
 committees can be appointed by the superintendent when occa- 
 sion demands. 
 
THE CHURCH SCHOOL 57 
 
 Article X. Finances. 
 
 Notre: The church-school budget should be a part of the regu- 
 lar church budget. Giving in church school should be through 
 duplex envelopes, and the offerings made as a part of the wor- 
 ship service in general or by departments. 
 
 Article XI. Councils. 
 
 Section 1. General school council (Workers’ Con- 
 ference). Section 2. Divisional and Departmental 
 Councils. 
 
 Article XII. Meetings. 
 
 General church-school sessions, and others. 
 
 Article XIII. By-Laws. 
 
 (Provision for.) 
 Article XIV. Amendments. 
 (Provision for.) 
 
IV 
 
 THE SUNDAY SESSION EXPANDED AND 
 ENRICHED 
 
 HE coming of the week-day and vacation 
 church schools has reacted upon many Sunday 
 church schools in the improvement of their 
 programs. In communities where week-day schools are 
 more difficult to establish, some churches have reasoned 
 rightly that their children, young people, and adults 
 should have the largest possible provision for religious 
 education on Sundays. In many other communities 
 where week-day schools are operated, more and better 
 Sunday instruction not only is possible, but highly de- 
 sirable. Instead of a combined, contracted session of 
 church-and-school which seemed to be the vogue a few 
 years ago in some sections, many churches, catching 
 the bigger vision of religious education, now are insist- 
 ing on a Sunday session expanded and enriched. 
 As far as we know, the outstanding example of such 
 ‘ an enterprise is that at the Lake Avenue Baptist 
 Church, Rochester, N. Y. More than five successful 
 years prove the value of this type of religious educa- 
 tion. Through the kindness of the pastor, Dr. A. W. 
 Beaven, we have had access to the school in making a 
 thorough study of the plan and present it here in mere 
 outline, in the hope that instead of dozens of churches 
 now using this plan, there may be hundreds. With 
 
 slight modification to meet peculiar local circumstances, 
 58 
 
THE SUNDAY SESSION 59 
 
 it can be successfully operated in rural and village 
 churches. The idea is spreading. 
 
 THE PLAN DESCRIBED 
 
 Parents and children are led to realize that the 
 Bible school session starts at 10:30 o’clock, the hour 
 of beginning the church service, and that the Bible 
 school, at least, so far as the worship period is con- 
 cerned, is an integral part of the church. 
 
 The three periods of the Bible school are as follows: 
 
 The first period, 10:30 a. M. to 11:15 a. M., Worship. 
 The definite objectives of this hour are to instruct the 
 child in the method and to impress him with the value 
 of public worship. The period lasts for forty-five 
 minutes. The children come with their parents and sit 
 with them in the auditorium until the 11:15 period, 
 when the children fourteen years of age and under go 
 to their departments, (beginners, primary, junior, and 
 junior high). 
 
 The service is somewhat readjusted to suit their 
 needs. The Scriptures which they have learned in the 
 study hours are often used as responsive readings. The 
 hymns which they have memorized are often used as 
 their recessional hymn. The pastor’s prayer does not 
 forget the children. In every way their presence is 
 recognized. The pastor’s talk to the children about 
 seven minutes in length, varies to cover various fields. 
 A series of two or three talks have been given on the 
 method of worship, how those present can cooperate; 
 use of the hymn book; the attitude of prayer. This 
 instruction is as valuable to adults as to children. 
 
 This period is used at other times to appeal to the 
 parents, through the children, for cooperation in help- 
 ing the children with their religious instruction. For 
 
60 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 instance, a certain section of Scripture is designated on 
 the calendar with the statement that next Sunday the 
 pastor will tell some story taken from that part of 
 Scripture, without mentioning the Bible names, asking 
 the children to get their parents to help them get 
 acquainted with the stories prior to the next Sunday 
 and be able to fill in the name of the people involved. 
 
 The instruction given at this time is definitely cor- 
 related with the instruction the children are to receive 
 in their study hours. 
 
 The children’s recessional is the most interesting part 
 of the service to the children, as well as to the adults. 
 The singing of the recessional hymn with the chorus 
 coming from the choir loft is very impressive. When 
 they reach the front of the church, the leader begins 
 the processional at the rear in the center aisle, coming 
 down to the front and following the chorus out one of 
 the side aisles. The children in the side aisles have 
 previously gone to the back of the church and fallen in 
 line, coming down the center aisle. Thus, all the chil- 
 dren pass down in front of the pulpit. They often carry 
 the leaflet with the hymn on it, singing as they go. The 
 impression upon the adults is one of the most valuable 
 features of the morning worship. The processional is 
 dignified and genuinely worshipful. 
 
 The result of this worship period is to place at the 
 disposal of all the children the best equipment of room 
 —music—leadership and all other elements of environ- 
 ment which the church has at its disposal for creating 
 the worship mood, instead of reserving these things for 
 the adults and letting the children get their worship 
 impressions, as is so often the case, with secondary 
 equipment and leadership. 
 
THE SUNDAY SESSION 61 
 
 The second period, 11:15 A, M. to 12 M., first study 
 hour. ‘The various groups, each including several 
 classes, now meet in their respective departmental 
 rooms, and for forty-five minutes receive instruction 
 together. 
 
 The third period, 12:10 P. m. to 1:00 P. M., second 
 study hour. After a brief period of relaxation, each 
 group divides into several classes, which retire to small 
 rooms and, with their respective teachers, take up the 
 study of the lesson. ‘The teachers meet each Wednes- 
 _ day night by departments to study the lesson for the 
 \ following Sunday. 
 
 THE PLAN FURTHER EXPLAINED 
 
 The plan provides for three terms of thirteen weeks 
 each, and for a summer session. Careful records are 
 kept. Report cards, indicating type of work done, 
 regularity of attendance and deportment are sent to the 
 parents for their signature. In the upper grades, note- 
 book work is expected. 
 
 There is a three-year’s cycle of courses for the pri- 
 mary school (ages 6, 7, 8), the grammar school (ages 
 9, 10, 11), and the junior high school (ages 12, 13, 14). 
 This scheme of rotation has the decided advantage of 
 engaging all the pupils of any group in simultaneous 
 study while covering in the three years a very coordi- 
 nated course of study. 
 
 We may illustrate the plan by describing the work of 
 the junior high department. This corresponds to 
 grades seven and eight and nine or first year high 
 school, and covers, usually, the ages twelve to fourteen. 
 In the course of his three years’ sojourn in this depart- 
 ment, the student covers the following courses during 
 
62 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 the first study period: Hebrew History, History of the 
 Primitive Church, History of Christianity, the Bible 
 as Literature and a course in, ‘Why Do We Believe 
 in God?” During the first term of the second study 
 period he studies ‘“‘ Christian Life and Conduct,” “ Life 
 of Jesus,” “Life of Paul.’ During the second term 
 of this period, the entire group meets the pastor week 
 after week, and is given a course on the essential prin- 
 ciples leading to Christian decision and church mem- 
 bership. The third term is devoted to a discussion of 
 the practical moral problems of the children with the 
 end in view of developing strength of resistance to the 
 temptations which the survey has shown to be so preva- 
 lent during these ages. The group is divided into two 
 sections; one for boys and one for girls. An expert 
 in the subject considered teaches each section. 
 
 By this plan, the pupil of fourteen, graduating to 
 the senior high school department has come into pos- 
 session of a vast body of essential religious data and 
 has acquired a point of view which will continue his 
 interest in and connection with the Sunday school. He 
 joins the ‘‘ Older Boys’ Class” or the ‘‘ Older Girls’ 
 Class ” and engages in further study of Christianity. 
 
 THE PASTOR’S STATEMENT 
 
 These personal words from the pastor bear testi- 
 mony to the plan: ‘I suppose you know that we do 
 not look upon it as a substitute for week-day work. 
 We have had week-day work now for the last four 
 years, but are even more convinced that our experi- 
 ment of the three period session is sound pedagogic- 
 ally and spiritually and can commend it without ques- 
 tion. It has been taken up, and is being adopted by 
 
THE SUNDAY SESSION 63 
 
 churches over the country, both in city and rural sec- 
 tions. In the five years our Bible school attendance 
 has practically doubled and the quality of our instruc- 
 tion has greatly increased. We have installed a School 
 of Religion, offering a three year course, two terms 
 each year and one or two courses each term. The first 
 two terms, running through last year, we had some- 
 thing like one hundred people who took the two terms 
 work. It is from this group that we are recruiting a 
 good number of our instructors. 
 
 “The attempt to do this work on a more worthy 
 basis has put a higher standard all through the school 
 today. Our question of deportment has been very 
 nearly solved and our general management has in- 
 creased in efficiency. The usual slam on the Bible 
 school work is to compare it with the day school. We 
 had a school principal come the other day, who, after 
 visiting the school, said we could give a number of im- 
 portant pointers to some public schools. 
 
 “T utilize my five minute talk at the worship period 
 to the children to appeal directly and indirectly for 
 parent cooperation and home cooperation in our re- 
 ligious program. 
 
 _ “QOur memory requirements constitute one phase of 
 our passing standard, and I have inaugurated in our 
 grammar school and junior high departments a sort of 
 spelling down contest. I have-given out to each de- 
 partment sets of fifty questions. I gave them out when 
 the term started, the first of October. Along in the 
 Christmas holidays I am going to have a meeting of 
 the children, with their parents, at a party. One phase 
 of the party will be a sort of spelling down contest, 
 using these questions as the basis of the contest. I 
 am putting it up to the children to find the answers to 
 
64 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 the questions, through their parents. This requires a 
 good deal of active cooperation on the part of the 
 parent. 
 
 “ Another by-product that has been exceedingly 
 valuable has been the ease with which I have been able 
 to instruct the adults of my congregation on the tech- 
 nique of worship, by doing it indirectly in my instruc- 
 tion to the children. In other words, it is not so easy 
 to say to a group of adults that they should close their 
 eyes when prayer is being offered, not to read the 
 church calendar when the Scripture lesson is being 
 read, or to censure them for not singing in the social 
 worship of the church, but it can be gotten to them 
 with perfect ease in a series of instructive talks to 
 children in their presence, because the children are not 
 supposed to know these things, and take instructions 
 along that line as a matter of course. I have even been 
 able to pass some very sound advice to my trustees, 
 deacons, and ushers and other officers of the church, 
 through this indirect method.” 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF THIS THREE-PERIOD-SESSION 
 
 We can heartily commend this expanded and en- 
 riched Sunday program of religious education, and here 
 briefly state what seems to us to be the advantages: 
 
 Increases Sunday time for religious instruction, with 
 two study periods, one forty-five, and one fifty minutes, 
 in addition to the forty-five minute worship period, 
 which is both for instruction and expression. 
 
 Dignifies work of religious education as compared 
 with day or public school education. 
 
 Does not demand public school time of pupils. 
 
 Avoids clash with public school officials,—board of 
 
THE SUNDAY SESSION 65 
 
 education, superintendent and supervisors, and 
 teachers. 
 
 Prevents criticism of taxpayers who are Jews, 
 Catholics and infidels. 
 
 Takes advantage of the day already set apart for 
 public expression of religious life. 
 
 Economizes time and strength (and money) of 
 children, young people, and adults, of pupils, teachers, 
 and parents—of all concerned. In winter months, 
 saves fuel and service. 
 
 Increases enrollment, attendance, and interest. 
 
 Enhances school democracy,—no cliques between 
 Sunday and week-day pupils. 
 
 Gives pastor more vital contacts with children and 
 youth of the church. 
 
 Opens new homes to pastoral calls and influence, 
 thus cementing ties of home and church. 
 
 Puts objective, enthusiasm and victory into the pul- 
 pit ministry. 
 
 Gives best opportunity for quiet, sensible, construc- 
 tive and continuous evangelistic campaigns and pre- 
 Easter emphasis. 
 
 Affords better preparation for church membership. 
 
 Enhances church loyalty esprit de corps. 
 
 Grows an intelligent, trained church membership. 
 
 Enlists the hearty and constant cooperation of 
 parents. 
 
 Permits a family as a whole to participate with 
 pleasure and profit in the Sunday life of the church. 
 
 Leads to more and better religious education in the 
 home. 
 
 Creates a demand for trained executives, pastor, gen- 
 eral superintendent, officers, and departmental prin- 
 cipals. 
 
66 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Demands more teachers, better trained and super- 
 vised. 
 
 Permits better classification and grading of pupils. 
 
 Makes necessary a more adequate building and 
 graded educational equipment. 
 
 Demands best graded courses. 
 
 Affords time and incentive for more thorough in- 
 struction. 
 
 Makes possible a higher grade of worship under 
 trained leadership. 
 
 Demonstrates the feasibility and success of the cor- 
 relation of unified religious education programs for age 
 groups, with proper distribution of emphasis on instruc- 
 tion and expression through conduct, worship, and ser- 
 vice activities. 
 
 Puts responsibility, moral and financial, upon the 
 church as a whole, for the spiritual welfare of its child- 
 ren and youth. 
 
 During the first period, that of worship, for the adult 
 members of the church to see children, their own and 
 others, marching in front of the pulpit puts upon their 
 hearts an unforgettable obligation and opportunity. 
 
V 
 
 THE WEEK-DAY AND THE VACATION 
 CHURCH SCHOOLS 
 
 OR a long time, it has been evident that the 
 kK short session of a Sunday school, good as it 
 may be, is only nibbling at the edges of the 
 church’s great religious education duty to its children 
 and young people. The Sunday session enlarged and 
 enriched, as in the Lake Avenue plan, is a wise move 
 in the right direction. For many churches that may 
 be the first step. For others, the first step beyond the 
 ordinary Sunday session is the establishment of a vaca- 
 tion church school or a week-day church school. Brief 
 consideration is given here to these newer agencies in 
 religious education. 
 
 THE WEEK-DAY CHURCH SCHOOL 
 
 For more than fifteen years there have been isolated 
 experiments in week-day religious education. Such in- 
 struction now usually is offered in what is properly 
 called the week-day church school. In all probability, 
 this past year there were more than a thousand such 
 schools conducted in some thirty-five states. These 
 may be found in the open country, in villages, small 
 
 towns, and large cities. 
 67 
 
6S CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 The successfully operated week-day church school 
 proves beyond doubt that more systematic religious 
 education is possible. It is not necessary here to 
 urge the need of more such schools. Recalling the 
 objective in the first chapter, and knowing the changed 
 lives of boys and girls in many communities, the only 
 question is when to begin and how. 
 
 Types of Schools. There are four kinds of schools, 
 as to control: (1) individual church type where one 
 church plans and operates its own week-day school 
 as it does the Sunday church school for its own chil- 
 dren; (2) the individual church-operated-and-con- 
 trolled school, but in which the community partici- 
 pates; (3) the church-cooperating type where several 
 churches actually through their chosen representatives 
 set up and operate a school; in a way this is a com- 
 munity school, but there is another; (4) the commu- 
 nity school, conducted not by a church, or even by a 
 number of churches cooperating, but by a community 
 board, made up of interested individuals. Often in 
 large cities all four types will be running at the same 
 time. 
 
 How to Start. Having decided on a beginning, the 
 steps to be taken depend somewhat on the type of 
 school. If either type one or two is to be established, 
 the local church board of religious education will have 
 charge and do all publicity work, and plan for the or- 
 ganization and administration, the securing of parental 
 interest, the selection of curriculum, teachers, equip- 
 ment, and arrangement of all schedules. Where there 
 is no church board of religious education, but where 
 some interested individual has week-day religious edu- 
 cation on his heart, he can present the matter to the 
 church school or church and get the appointment of a_ 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS 69 
 
 committee which will function as a board. If type 
 three is chosen, the following steps may be taken: (1) 
 the calling together of pastors, church-school superin- 
 tendents, and others interested or likely to be inter- 
 ested, and a careful consideration of the value of such 
 a school; (2) the setting up of a church council of 
 religious education consisting of representatives of 
 each church concerned; (3) the election of a board of 
 religious education to serve as the council’s executive 
 committee; (4) delegating to this board the whole 
 matter of publicity, of locating school, enlisting paren- 
 tal support, electing a dean and faculty, arranging 
 courses and hours, providing equipment, and raising 
 and administering the necessary finances, and the 
 securing of public school cooperation where public 
 school time is to be used. If type four is to be pro- 
 vided the interested individuals get together and ar- 
 range to call a meeting of all public-spirited citizens 
 vitally concerned for the religious education of the 
 community’s childhood and youth, and at such time 
 effect an organization of a community council of re- 
 ligious education which, in turn, elects a board of re- 
 ligious education to actually function for the council. 
 On this board will be the ablest religious education 
 specialists and benefactors of the entire community, 
 chosen irrespective of their church affiliations. To this 
 board will be committed such duties as are named 
 above. Even in villages capable workers in small 
 church schools, with a big vision for better things for 
 the children, can carry on week-day classes, limited in 
 scope, and it may be equipment, but nevertheless 
 freighted with great possibilities. 
 
 In connection with the starting of week-day church 
 schools where children are to be taught during present 
 
70 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 public school hours, at the very beginning, before any 
 public meetings of any kind are held, those vitally in- 
 terested should secure the good will of the board of 
 education through the general superintendent of 
 schools and all together work the thing through. Pub- 
 lic school officers and teachers know full well the need 
 of specific moral and religious teaching to supplement 
 their own important service to the child. They know, 
 too, that they cannot teach religion as such in the 
 schoolroom. They also know that their own educa- 
 tional task, especially in discipline, will be easier if 
 the accepted ethical virtues be surrounded and moti- 
 vated by high religious ideals. 
 
 Clear Objectives Needed. If those concerned with 
 putting on week-day church schools would clearly set 
 before parents especially, and all others, just what 
 can be done through the schools, there will be fuller 
 cooperation. In one city the circular that went to 
 parents and public school folks states the objectives as 
 follows: (1) that the primary aim and purpose of 
 the week-day school of religion is the development of 
 character; (2) that Christian ideals will be so pre- 
 sented that conduct will come to be religiously moti- 
 vated; (3) that strict discipline will be maintained, 
 and promptness and regularity of attendance shall be 
 considered as essential as they are in the public school. 
 
 Educational Standards. It is imperative that in all 
 week-day church schools high educational standards 
 should be maintained—curriculum, teachers, equip- 
 ment, organization, and administration. In a few com- 
 munities known to the writer, a spasm of interest 
 aroused certain authorities to “put on” week-day 
 schools without counting the educational cost. Both 
 parents and public school friends, at first so enthusi- 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS 71 
 
 astic, are now disappointed, and in some cases hostile. 
 Both had a right to demand of the promoters a sane 
 educational procedure The courses used and the 
 teachers using them must be standard educationally. 
 In fairness to parents who permit their children to be 
 dismissed from public schools, church-school boards 
 and committees must plan for more than mere occupa- 
 tional or recreational stunts, and these often by un- 
 trained helpers. It is likewise unfair to the children 
 to be assembled in an ungraded “class” and 
 “preached to” by some good-intentioned but ineffi- 
 cient man or woman. ‘The magic of numbers or of 
 popular sentiment does not eliminate the use of real 
 educational technique. [If religious education is any- 
 thing worth while at all, it is sheer nonsense to pietis- 
 tically peddle platitudes and call it education. Every 
 educational virtue known to the three “ R’s ” should 
 be sublimated in the service of the fourth “R.” Be- 
 cause of this emphasis, let no one accuse the writer of 
 minimizing the spiritual, for he does not. The teach- 
 ers employed, the whole atmosphere of the school 
 should radiate the Christian spirit, for after all the 
 fellowship there means more than text-books and tech- 
 nique. Teachers and pupils should, in reality, live 
 together the Christian way. 
 
 Where Get Teachers? ‘Teachers now at work in 
 week-day church schools may be classified as: (1) 
 salaried teachers giving full time; (2) part time sala- 
 _ ried; and (3) part time volunteer. In class one are 
 those trained in professional schools of religious edu- 
 cation; their number is increasing. Of those who are 
 paid for part time, public school teachers and ex- 
 public school teachers furnish acceptable service. 
 Many communities are blessed with such help. Pas- 
 
"2 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 tors’ assistants, church directors of religious education, 
 workers in Young Men’s Christian Associations and 
 Young Women’s Christian Associations, social settle- 
 ments, graduate students in departments of education 
 in universities, students in professional schools of re- 
 ligious education, and regular Sunday teachers are par- 
 ticipating in week-day religious instruction for a nomi- 
 nal remuneration. There is also a large group of those 
 who give time and energy to this cause. Many pas- 
 tors of educational outlook teach or supervise. The 
 matter of chief concern is not who they are, but that 
 they be thoroughly trained for this great work. No 
 one thing will make failure inevitable more than an 
 inefficient faculty. 
 
 Curriculum Important. Educationally trained and 
 spiritually minded leaders are necessary, but con- 
 siderable significance attaches to a well chosen cur- 
 riculum; and by this is meant far more than a series 
 of text-books. The whole program of instruction and 
 expression through worship, recreation, and service 
 must be high grade. The Bible should be central. A 
 word of warning is needed to those who are recently 
 carried off their feet by the emphasis on projects. In 
 swinging away from the old, more mechanical uses of 
 Bible verses, there is danger of going so far that the 
 Biblical material will either be ignored entirely, or 
 used simply as an accommodation. Not unlike some 
 ministers who in their sermons use the Bible as a sta- 
 tion from which they depart rather than a country 
 through which they travel. The teaching material 
 should be rich in vital functioning Christian truth in 
 and out of the Bible. The Bible should be used as a 
 living message and not a mere mine from which to dig _ 
 memory verses. Fortunately, worship, service, and 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS ‘3 
 
 recreational features of the curriculum are now avail- 
 able whose chief end is Christian character and Chris- 
 tian conduct. The best curriculum makes the school 
 not a school of educational routine but a free and full 
 sharing of life and the valuable experiences of the race. 
 Does the Bible live in teachers and pupils as the Word 
 of God to be translated into the dialects of individual 
 and social righteousness, right relations with God and 
 man? ‘That is the test of an effective curriculum. 
 
 Concerning Teaching Methods. Methods as well as 
 materials must be given careful consideration. Ac- 
 cepted methods used in the best Sunday church schools 
 and public schools should be insisted upon. There will 
 be more freedom to experiment, nevertheless “ ven- 
 tures ” should be carefully thought through. After 
 all, a method is more than an intellectual device to get 
 “knowledge across.” Week-day schools are especially 
 adapted to working out certain types of projects 
 where teacher and pupils share for a given time a real, 
 purposive character-making enterprise. Books on 
 projects are commended to workers in week-day 
 schools. A well balanced school program will make 
 possible with different age groups during a school year, 
 a number of important projects which, if conscien- 
 tiously put through, will be of far-reaching character 
 value to the pupils. Certain teachers also will find new 
 zest in teaching and will enter into the joy of the 
 learning fellowship. 
 
 A Question of Relations. Where an_ individual 
 church plans its own week-day school, there is no rea- 
 son why it may not be correlated with all the educa- 
 tional work of the church as an integral part of the 
 church’s school. ‘That is the chief reason why all the 
 
74 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 educational work of the church should be under one 
 board of control, thus making possible a unified, com- 
 prehensive program, serving the largest number at 
 smallest cost, avoiding duplication and friction. The 
 vacation church school, for this same reason, should 
 not set up an independent, unrelated educational 
 scheme. Where the school is a denominational, coop- 
 erative, or strictly community plan, it is all the more 
 necessary that relations be worked out satisfactorily 
 to both the public schools and the church-school pro- | 
 grams of the community. 
 
 Present Status. A few statements summarily given 
 may be of interest. Most of the teachers are volun- 
 teers or are on part time salaries. Well-paid supervis- 
 ors are in demand. There is a diversity of courses 
 offered with some little headway toward a generally 
 accepted curriculum. <A nation wide committee of 
 thoroughly competent religious educators is at work 
 on this exceedingly important matter. Most week-day 
 schools are now connected with local churches. A few 
 meet in special community buildings. Some conduct 
 their programs in public school buildings, but a vast 
 majority feel it is unwise. Public school released-time 
 is granted in most places where week-day church 
 schools are operated. The school year about parallels 
 the public school year. One hour a week is the usual 
 amount of time used. Some week-day church schools 
 get public school credit for pupils; many are getting 
 wiser and not even asking for it. The school grades 
 served oftenest are the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, 
 with exceptionally fine work here and there for pupils 
 of the seventh and eighth grades. Both attendance 
 and discipline are better in the week-day church 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS 5 
 
 schools than in the corresponding Sunday sessions of 
 the church school. There are communities where the 
 total enrollment in week-day schools exceeds the Sun- 
 day enrollment. Where the matter is wisely planned, 
 especially in the smaller cities, Catholics and Jews 
 enter heartily into the scheme, generously taking care 
 of their own children. Week-day church schools are 
 rapidly increasing in number and efficiency. A pro- 
 motional and operating literature is available. 
 
 Guaranteeing Success. If week-day church schools 
 are to be permanently efficient as agencies in the re- 
 ligious education of American childhood and youth, it 
 is well to keep in mind the following facts: (1) the 
 separation of church and state as a fundamental con- 
 cept must be kept as a sacred heritage; (2) widest 
 publicity must be given to the idea in order to get 
 general good will and moral support; (3) a persistent 
 education of the people to the value of week-day 
 church schools must be planned for; (4) teachers 
 must be trained and in every way compare favorably 
 with the public school teachers of the same grades; 
 (5) an efficient corps of supervisors must be put in 
 charge; (6) it is far better to take ample time to begin 
 on a small scale, well organized, than to flare up big 
 and soon flicker out; (7) the cooperation and friendli- 
 ness of public school officials are absolutely necessary; 
 (8) the unity of the educative process must at every 
 step be manifest in the school’s dealings with the child; 
 (9) there must be a democracy in the demand for and 
 in the control of week-day schools: (10) week-day 
 _ church schools must be financed on a plane commen- 
 surate with the high significance of reHgious education 
 in the creating of a Christian citizenship. | 
 
76 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 THE VACATION CHURCH SCHOOL 
 
 
 
 Starting in lower New York City as a missionary 
 enterprise to neglected children, the vacation school 
 idea has grown rapidly throughout North America and 
 more recently to the ends of the earth. This summer 
 salvaging of child life in congested sections of large 
 cities at once appealed to the common sense, sympa- 
 thy, and “ financial feeling ” of Christian people. Not 
 only did it render valuable help to the neglected chil- 
 dren, but it gave scores of college and seminary young 
 people their first real joy in service for others. Many 
 a successful minister of the gospel and many a mis- 
 sionary at home and abroad is grateful for these won- 
 derful summers,—for the experience which gave them 
 the outward humanitarian urge that will not even now 
 be satisfied with mere performance of routine profes- 
 sional duties. ‘The writer was chosen as the first na- 
 tional superintendent of this work for his own denomi- 
 nation. He is this minute thinking of a high grade 
 college boy whom he engaged to supervise daily vaca- 
 tion Bible schools in a far western city, who today is 
 making good as the pastor of a large church in an east- 
 ern city. 
 
 As the movement grew and spread, churches in rural 
 communities, villages, and small cities began to see the 
 summer harvests in the field of child life which should 
 be gathered for Christ and His church. Great denomi- 
 national boards saw in the idea at first mainly the mis- 
 sionary opportunity to serve the children of new 
 Americans. Later on, the vacation school came to be 
 recognized as a religious education agency of marvel- 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS 77 
 
 ous potentialities. Leaders have come to feel that 
 what was good for the so-called bad child was not bad 
 for the so-called good child. They now see that the 
 public school vacation season is a fruitful time to 
 bring idle children, idle college and seminary students, 
 and idle church buildings into a free, joyous charac- 
 ter-growing combination of immeasurable conse- 
 quences. Churches realizing that the meagre time 
 given in the Sunday or church school is only the a, b, c, 
 of what ought to be done in the religious education of 
 children have been organizing vacation church 
 schools as a definite part of their educational pro- 
 grams. ‘There are now literally thousands of vacation 
 church schools. In practically every urban com- 
 munity may be found at least one school; in some, 
 dozens are in full swing every summer. Thousands of 
 rural neighborhoods also are reaping the beneficent 
 results of this fascinating work. Foreign missionaries 
 use this instrument effectively in reaching children 
 among all the nations. The International Daily Vacation 
 Bible School Association has efficiently promoted 
 these schools. Now as an operating department of the 
 International Council of Religious Education, it con- 
 tinues its ever increasingly useful service in North 
 America and, cooperating with the World’s Sunday 
 School Association, its help encircles the globe. 
 
 What is a Vacation Church School? It is a school 
 of religion conducted by a church or other religious 
 group during three to six weeks of the summer vaca- 
 tion time with sessions usually five days a week and 
 for two and one-half to three hours each morning. 
 There are courses of study, periods of worship, pro- 
 grams for recreation, and service activities. There are 
 teachers who instruct through stories, handwork, and 
 
78 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 interesting projects; hymns and Bible verses are mem- 
 orized. Missionary, patriotic, and Biblical incidents 
 are dramatized. Habit talks are given. It is indeed 
 a school with school equipment, discipline, with at- 
 tendance records kept, opening and closing services 
 observed. In the beginning, all of these schools were 
 called daily vacation Bible schools. The Bible was 
 the chief text-book then and should be now. In recent 
 times as individual churches have incorporated the 
 idea in their educational plans, the schools have come 
 to be called, and rightly so, vacation church schools. 
 The church of today which unifies its whole educational 
 work under one organization called the church school 
 can easily claim larger funds for its great work when 
 people get the idea of a Sunday church school, a week- 
 day church school, and a vacation church school, or 
 when they see the bigness of the idea of a church 
 school with its Sunday, week-day, and vacation ses- 
 sions. 
 
 Types of Vacation Schools. There are four kinds 
 and they are classified as far as control is concerned 
 the same as week-day church schools, viz.: (1) indi- 
 vidual church for its own children; (2) individual 
 church for whole community; (3) several churches 
 cooperating; (4) purely community school conducted 
 by interested individuals. 
 
 How to Start. The reader is referred to the cor- 
 responding section on a previous page concerning the 
 starting of week-day schools. The way to start is to 
 start. Many a vacation school owes its beginning to 
 one consecrated, well-informed Christian woman who 
 nucleated friends, funds, faculty, and children. There 
 is scarcely a small frontier church school anywhere 
 that could not operate a vacation church school for at 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS 79 
 
 least two weeks, provided there is one prophet in the 
 midst willing to go ahead. The American Sunday 
 School Union, the International Daily Vacation Bible 
 School Association, the International Council of Re- 
 ligious Education, the vacation school departments of 
 denominational boards—all have directors or commit- 
 tees glad to send literature. In the case of a school in 
 a mission field, established to meet a real need, where 
 childhood is neglected, there are certain funds avail- 
 able. It may be truthfully said that the deaf ear will 
 not be turned to anybody who can present a genuine 
 case of dire need. 
 
 Organization and Administration. ‘This will depend 
 on the type of school. The general control may be a 
 simple matter of a special committee, or it may be a 
 definite provision in a well-constructed religious edu- 
 cation policy of a church which has a board of re- 
 ligious education functioning in all such matters. 
 There will be needed in the smallest ungraded school, 
 where help is scarce, at least five workers: (1) a 
 superintendent; (2) teacher of Bible; (3) a teacher 
 of music; (4) a director of recreation; and (5) a 
 keeper of records. Large schools should be graded. In 
 such schools the official force should consist of: (1) a 
 superintendent who serves as a general executive; (2) 
 an associate superintendent who serves as dean of the 
 faculty; (3) principal of the kindergarten department; 
 (4) principal of the primary department; (5) principal 
 of the junior department; (6) principal of the junior 
 high school department, if such is needed; (7) direc- 
 tor of worship and music; (8) director of handwork; 
 (9) director of records and publicity; (10) director 
 of finance, supplies and equipment; (11) director of 
 recreation; (12) director of community service and 
 
SO CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 missions. In a large school, these officers will need 
 assistants, such as pianists, secretaries, and others. 
 
 Teachers. In addition to the principals of the de- 
 partments above mentioned, a corps of teachers, suited 
 to the grades within the departments, will be needed. 
 Teacher-sources are: (1) college and seminary men 
 and women available for the summer period; (2) pub- 
 lic school teachers in actual service; (3) ex-public 
 school teachers; (4) the best of the teachers from the 
 Sunday church school; (5) other capable people who 
 are willing to serve in this special type of school. 
 Teachers’ salaries vary. In many schools the general 
 superintendent is a paid worker and all others are vol- 
 unteer. College students usually get some remunera- 
 tion. Sometimes where teachers serve gratuitously, 
 the directors or supervisors are paid, such as directors 
 of music, handwork, recreation. Older, mature high 
 school girls often make excellent helpers. There is an 
 advantage even in a small remuneration, on a sort of 
 “ fifty-fifty ’’ basis, because of the discipline possible. 
 Administration is made easier. On the other hand, a 
 high grade, well paid superintendent often has such a 
 personality and such unusual ability as to make posi- 
 tions in the vacation school eagerly sought after on the 
 part of young prospective professional teachers in pub- 
 lic schools or week-day schools of religion. Training, 
 All teachers should be trained for this special work, an 
 institute being held for at least five sessions with defi- 
 nite detailed instruction being given. Literature and 
 courses are now within easy reach. Often cooperative 
 training schools are possible. When these are con- 
 ducted on a large scale, educational specialists can be 
 enlisted as instructors. 
 
 Curriculum. This likewise varies from the sittstadl 
 
 _—— 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS 81 
 
 programs of Bible stories, hymn teaching, handwork, 
 missionary or patriotic stories, habit talks, free play, 
 and other exercises in the small one room, ungraded 
 school, to the full graded courses of the departmental 
 school with well trained teachers and supervisors. 
 Many courses have been published and samples of 
 literature can be secured from inter-denominational 
 societies and denominational boards. Offices of 
 county, city, and state councils of religious education 
 will give information. Text-books can now be secured 
 some of the best being available in paper bindings. 
 Every feature of the well organized curriculum has its 
 own literature. Splendid helps on story telling, wor- 
 ship, dramatization, recreation, handwork, and other 
 projects can be secured. There are independent, un- 
 related courses, and there are courses correlated with 
 the closely graded or departmentally graded series of 
 lessons for the Sunday church school. This warning 
 is needed. All local committees responsible for provid- 
 ing a curriculum should get expert help from all 
 sources far in advance and then fit courses and pro- 
 grams to local needs. 
 
 The Daily Program. Depends on the school itself. 
 Each school should adopt its own. Helps in planning 
 same can be secured. The following, without com- 
 ment in detail, is offered as feasible in the average 
 school: | 
 
 Officers and Teachers Morning Conference for 
 discussion of plans and for prayer, twenty to 
 thirty minutes. (All together in small school; 
 by departments in large graded school.) 
 
 Worship Period about fifteen minutes. 
 
 (General in small, ungraded school; by depart- 
 ments in large school. Where worship is by 
 
82 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 departments, a ten-minute assembly period of 
 all departments is desirable for school an- 
 nouncements. Offerings where such are planned 
 for.) 
 
 Memory Drills Period about ten minutes. 
 (General or departmental.) 
 
 Music Period, about fifteen minutes. 
 
 (General or departmental.) 
 
 Relaxation Period, about seven to ten minutes. 
 (Free play or rest.) 
 
 Bible Instruction Period, from twenty-five to 
 
 thirty-five minutes. 
 Teaching of Bible through stories, talks, dra- 
 matics, pantomime. Even in small schools, be- 
 ginners should be separated from others. Best 
 instruction is possible only where departments 
 and classes have separate rooms and special 
 direction. 
 
 Expression Period, from forty to fifty minutes. 
 This time should be used for pupil participation 
 in directed dramatics, recreation, handwork, 
 and service projects. 
 
 Closing Assembly Period, about fifteen minutes. 
 Desirable in all schools for all pupils, except 
 kindergarten, which should be dismissed earlier 
 where there are parents or older children to ac- 
 company them home. Inspirational, habit, or 
 other snappy talks or stories. Patriotic ser- 
 vice, flag salute, etc. 
 
 Advantages. Some advantages of a vacation 
 church school are: (1) conservation of child life; (2) 
 more time for Bible study, as many hours as in a 
 Sunday church school for a whole year; (3) use of 
 church buildings otherwise not used; (4) the chan- 
 
WEEK-DAY AND VACATION SCHOOLS 83 
 
 nelling of the service abilities and longings of mature 
 young people at a time when they welcome leadership 
 experience of this sort; (5) a freer educational ap- 
 proach through recreation; (6) possibilities of a daily 
 program in religious education, constructive, accumu- 
 lative; (7) closer, more continuous fellowships of 
 teachers and pupils; (8) vital interest of more parents 
 secured; (9) wider community publicity and, there- 
 fore, a more intelligent interest in all religious educa- 
 tion awakened; (10) an experiment station for de- 
 veloping better teaching methods to be used in Sunday 
 and week-day church schools; (11) through picnics, 
 outings, entertainments, the social life enriched makes 
 possible more hearty pupil participation in regular 
 class work; (12) easier to get finances for vacation 
 church schools than for any other educational agency 
 of the church. 
 
Ass 
 aan 
 
 
 
If 
 EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP 
 
Ti 
 View 
 ‘ 
 
 
 
VI 
 THE PASTOR’S LEADERSHIP 
 
 HE three administrative officers of the church 
 
 school are: the pastor, the director of religious 
 education, and the superintendent. This tri- 
 umvirate working together intelligently, sympathetic- 
 ally, cooperatively can make any church school go and 
 grow. Their respective responsibilities depend some- 
 what upon the size of the church school and its strength. 
 Either a constitution for the church school, or some 
 other “‘ working paper” should clearly set forth their 
 division of labor so that there may be no overlapping, 
 competition, or negligence in the discharge of duties. 
 If there is no constitution, the best way for such mat- 
 ters to be decided is for the three to get their heads 
 together and agree on the whole work of the whole 
 church school, specifically outlining every detail of its 
 task, then, under the direction of the board of religious 
 education, if such there be, all administrative details 
 should be definitely assigned so that no phase of the 
 work will be omitted. Manifestly, each will have 
 duties in his list that he cannot and should not person- 
 ally perform, but which the school will hold him to 
 account for. This will be the test of his organizing and 
 administrative ability. It is no small project in itself 
 to thoroughly survey and tabulate the whole task of the 
 whole school, and this may require weeks or even 
 months, but it is the one essential thing for efficient 
 
 executive leadership. 
 87 
 
88 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Generally considered, the pastor functions chiefly as 
 the spiritual head, the inspirer and encourager of all; 
 the director of religious education as the educational 
 leader; and the superintendent as the platform and 
 executive administrator. 
 
 THE PASTOR’S OPPORTUNITY AND OBLIGATION 
 
 As a professional group, it is doubtful if any set of 
 human servants, on the whole, will measure up better 
 than the pastors of our churches. There are excep- 
 tions, but generally speaking, their ranks are filled with 
 noble souls, men of high educational, sacrificial, and 
 Spiritual ideals. Mechanics insist on an eight-hour day; 
 farmers may work from sun to sun; but a pastor’s 
 work is never done. Of course, there are loafers in 
 all walks of life, prigs and parasites in all professions. 
 There are some preachers who depend on good looks, 
 polite manners, and a glib tongue, but most of them 
 are industrious, unselfish, and dependable friends of 
 humanity. ‘That preachers’ sons do not turn out well 
 is a slanderous heresy. The prominence of the father 
 singles them out, and the gossipy, busy-body does the 
 rest. Even the slanderers forget the long hours which 
 every minister gives to the childhood and youth of the 
 community to help them and their own children, make 
 good. Ministers’ sons do succeed as even a casual 
 glance through Who’s Who in America will prove. No 
 men of any business career, on such limited means, 
 rear finer families and do more for them educationally, 
 socially, and religiously. 
 
 The modern pastor has a three-fold ministry: (1) 
 the ministry of preaching, (2) the ministry of teach- 
 ing, and (3) the ministry of shepherding. He is 
 
THE PASTOR 89 
 
 prophet, pedagogue, and priest. He dare not neglect 
 his preaching ministry; if he does, the moving van will 
 be at his door. He must not slight his teaching minis- 
 try; if he does ere long he will preach to empty pews. 
 He is heaven-and-earth bound to a faithful pastoral 
 ministry; if he fails, he disappoints his Lord who went 
 about doing good. 
 
 In recent years the pastor has been driven to see 
 the importance of the teaching ministry of the church, 
 and his place of leadership in it. A religiously edu- 
 cated and trained layity demands a ministry of edu- 
 cational vision and efficiency. The best theological 
 seminaries are now giving as much attention to the 
 present ‘‘church sons” as they do to the ancient 
 “church fathers.” They should give more, and soon 
 will, or there will be no more “church fathers.” 
 Seminary graduates of ten and twenty years ago are 
 rightly insisting on revolutionizing the old set, philo- 
 sophically constructed curriculum, or replacing it en- 
 tirely by seminary courses constructed for the needs 
 of life. Of all our educational institutions, seminaries, 
 as a Class, have been slowest to conform to the newer 
 educational standards. Because of this, a lot of short- 
 cut, superficial, shoddy diploma-mills have arisen. 
 However, the better day is on and some of the strong- 
 est men in the whole field of religious education are 
 being invited to seminary departments of religious edu- 
 cation. In all probability, a “finer lot of fellows” 
 never entered our seminaries than those of today, and 
 with the saner, vital type of training, these men will 
 make their church-school leadership mean something 
 to their churches and communities. 
 
 Knowing from experience the exacting and varied 
 claim on the pastor’s time and strength, and from a 
 
90 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 wide observation of what many pastors are doing, the 
 following suggested privileges are sympathetically of- 
 fered in the earnest hope that pastors more and more 
 will enter with joy into their leadership opportunities. 
 
 The pastor should believe in his church school, as 
 one of his most valuable church assets. It is the edu- 
 cational foundation on which he builds his pulpit su- 
 perstructure. It is his evangelistic klondike. It is his 
 leadership-timber-making forest preserve. He should 
 be listed at the head of the church-school officers as 
 “‘ Pastor of the school.” It is his great privilege to 
 give spiritual vision to the work and the workers, to 
 keep the whole organization spiritually motivated. To 
 no one else comes this high honor. 
 
 The pastor should have an airplane view of the 
 whole field of religious education, and the place which 
 the church school occupies as the church’s chief educa- 
 tional instrument. From his “plane,” or peak which 
 he may climb, he should see all organizations in the 
 church in their proper perspective and proportions. 
 He and he alone is charged with the responsibility of 
 helping the whole church to see its whole educational 
 duty to its whole constituency, young and old. If he 
 is fortunate enough to have associated with him a com- 
 petent salaried or volunteer director of religious edu- 
 cation, many duties otherwise his own should be left 
 to the director. Recently on the front page of a 
 church calendar was this expression: 
 
 Our Ministers 
 John Frank Jones, D.D., Minister of the Word 
 Frank Jones Johnson, Ph.D., Minister of Education 
 
 
 
THE PASTOR 91 
 
 Every pastor owes it to himself and to the church 
 he serves to resolutely set himself to the task of secur- 
 ing an International Standard Leadership diploma. 
 This statement applies to recent seminary graduates 
 as well as others, for this should be the pastor’s ambi- 
 tion for every church-school leader he has. He should 
 be a regular reader of at least one good journal of re- 
 ligious education, such as the “ International Journal 
 of Religious Education,’ the official publication of the 
 International Council of Religious Education, in addi- 
 tion to his denominational journals. He should go to 
 church-school conventions and institutes, and, in coun- 
 sel with the superintendent, get representatives from 
 the church school’s several departments to go. These 
 two leaders will plan for a convention echo meeting 
 when delegates report. Every church school should 
 have pouring into it these fresh streams of informa- 
 tion. He will buy and read new and worth while books 
 on religious education in general, and in particular, the 
 Sunday, week-day, and vacation church schools. If 
 no one else does it, he will form and install a church 
 school workers’ library of up-to-date books, and then 
 adroitly, persistently see that they are used. These 
 can be paid for out of the regular religious education 
 budget, or a special fund raised. Such a library hid- 
 away, dust-covered, unused is a wicked waste of good 
 money. 
 
 The pastor should know his own church school as 
 intimately as its size and his time will permit. He 
 should know all officers and teachers, and in a small 
 school all pupils by their first names, and thus greet 
 them. A good shepherd knows his sheep by name. 
 Such a fine human-fellowship spirit is appreciated. It 
 takes time and some skill, but is a pastoral investment 
 
92 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 that pays highest dividends in leadership prestige, and 
 life long friendships. He should know what lesson 
 courses are used, for it is of vital concern to him on any 
 given Sunday to know whether his.people in the church 
 school get one message and in the.pew get another. 
 He, too, should be interested not alone in the content 
 of materials used, but in the methods of instruction, 
 and in the teacher’s life as well as her lesson. He 
 should know whether or not the illustrated papers and 
 magazines distributed to pupils and teachers are the 
 best. Quietly, patiently, skillfully, he will study the 
 whole organization, its equipment and its management. 
 It is his business to be the best informed church-school 
 man in the church. 
 
 The pastor should give publicity to his church 
 school. He can do this by public mention from the 
 pulpit, by occasionally calling attention to some new 
 book of interest to parents and teachers, and by pulpit 
 invitation for all members of the congregation to share 
 in the church-school life and advantages. His church 
 calendar will always have important space allotment 
 to the church school. On this weekly folder, along 
 with his name should be the name of the church-school 
 superintendent; this is courteous and dignified adver- 
 tisement of his estimate of his church school and its 
 executive leader. He will see that the outside bulletin 
 carries the name and any important announcement re- 
 garding the church school. Newspapers will be given 
 church-school “ stories ” of publicity value. In a ser- 
 mon at least once a year, he will preach on religious 
 education in the home, the church, and the com- 
 munity, magnifying the work of the church school. 
 On the four big church-school special days of the year, 
 
THE PASTOR 93 
 
 Rally day, Christmas, Easter, and Children’s day, he 
 will jointly preside over the combined church-school 
 church morning service, and there in a few minutes 
 present a church-school message. Again in his pas- 
 toral calls, he is a real drummer-on-duty, for the 
 school. Personal commendation and invitation, after 
 all, are the best publicity. He should seek to enlist 
 every church member as a church-school pupil, teacher, 
 or officer. He is a most valuable helper of the Home 
 Department principal. 
 
 If at all possible, the pastor should be present 
 throughout the entire session of the church school. 
 This is comparatively easy when the school meets after 
 the morning worship service. If he has this in mind 
 through the week and gets ready for it, even where the 
 session comes before the morning church service, he 
 can be present with great profit to himself and the 
 school. Should the pastor ever teach a class? No and 
 yes. No, as a regular duty, for the whole school needs 
 him. Yes, temporarily in an emergency to save some 
 particular group, especially boys or young men, which 
 otherwise might be lost to the school and possibly to 
 Christ and the church. Should he hold a church-school 
 office? Almost without exception, the wise answer is 
 no. He belongs to the whole school, not any one class 
 or job within the school. He should be present to 
 meet and greet the workers and especially to welcome 
 strangers. He should make it a rule never to interrupt 
 classes during the teaching periods. It is grossly un- 
 fair to the pupils and to the teacher who has consci- 
 entiously prepared herself to make the most of the 
 precious thirty minutes which are hers with her class. 
 _ Friendly interest can be shown at other times. Rather 
 let him, during the teaching period, move about quietly, 
 
94 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 keeping eyes and ears open and mouth closed, except 
 it may be in conference with superintendent or other 
 administrative officers. Whenever, for any reason, he 
 or the superintendent feels that a brief three to five 
 minutes platform message is desirable, he should gladly 
 participate. Again, in a large, well organized school, 
 where departmental worship is possible, his presence 
 in different departments on different Sundays with a 
 greeting or word of prayer is valuable service, and a 
 tie-binder. Week by week of this apparently unofficial 
 interest will win for him the loyalties of officers, teach- 
 ers and pupils. His cheerful presence and common 
 sense movements will naturally give him a recognized 
 church-school leadership which constitutional legisla- 
 tion and much talking could not secure. Patiently, 
 tactfully, he will be able to take down many a sign 
 which reads, ‘“ Misfits a Specialty.” He will thus lead 
 most when he seems least to lead. He should always 
 encourage, never scold or criticize the school or its 
 workers. He will padlock his ears to ‘‘ tales ” about 
 workers and work, but be open to counsel with super- 
 intendent or other officers, with teachers and pupils at 
 all times. The pastor who goes to church school will 
 find his church school going to church. 
 
 Should the pastor himself professionally train his 
 church-school workers? That depends upon (1) 
 whether he is himself a trained man in religious educa- 
 tion, and (2) whether or not there is some one else 
 who can do it better. Training must not go by de- 
 fault; either he must do it the best he can, or get some 
 one, for every church should have at least two leader- 
 ship training classes, one for present workers and one 
 for prospective teachers and officers. We have known 
 of a wide awake pastor in a small church who organ- 
 
THE PASTOR 95 
 
 ized his workers and began on the units of the stand- 
 ard course and took each textbook with the class, he 
 himself studying and at the same time serving as a sort 
 of guide or chairman of the group. Where there’s a 
 will there’s a way, and the wise pastor finds it. He 
 will attend the sessions of the school and departmental 
 councils with particular interest in the prayer life and 
 spiritual growth of his workers. One of the most fruit- 
 ful things that one pastor did to improve the teaching 
 in his own church school was to circulate a book at a 
 time on some virile subject of immediate interest to 
 his teachers. He recalls the use made of Patterson 
 DuBois’ little book, Point of Contact in Teaching. 
 The pastor bought a copy, read it; then on the first 
 inside cover pasted a ruled sheet at the head of which 
 he put these words, ‘‘ As one who is interested in teach- 
 ing religious truth to children and youth, I have read 
 this book with very great pleasure and profit. When 
 you have read it, put your name below on this page, 
 and return the book to me.’ ‘The pastor signed his 
 name to head the list. The pastor would give the book 
 on Sunday to a teacher, asking her to read it, sign her 
 name, and return it on Wednesday evening. Perhaps 
 she had not been at prayer meeting for months. Rather 
 than disappoint her thoughtful, courteous pastor, she 
 would read the book and then go to prayer meeting. 
 Then the pastor at once gave it to another, asking its 
 return on the following Sunday. And so it went on its 
 mission, until twenty-five had read it. A far better 
 plan than to buy twenty-five books and give them to 
 twenty-five teachers, perhaps to be put away and never 
 read. 
 
 The pastor’s relationships with his superintendent 
 are of great importance. They should be men of God, 
 
96 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 brotherly considerate of each other, intimate in their 
 counsels about the welfare of the school, and each re- 
 joicing in joys and successes of the other. If at all 
 possible, they should fix a definite time once each week 
 for conference over school problems. At such time, 
 they should frankly face situations and prayerfully, 
 kindly reach decisions. The pastor often can suggest 
 a book or a recent journal article of value to the super- 
 intendent. ‘The two often attend institutes or conven- 
 tions together, and have many an hour of mutual help 
 and blessing. 
 
 There are many school privileges that will be noted 
 in a pastor’s commonplace book. Some of the happiest 
 moments in his pastorate will be the discovery of latent 
 abilities in men and women and especially the finding 
 of young people of promise. In these days of older 
 boy and older girl camp conferences and special 
 schools for leadership training, he often does not wait 
 long to see the bud unfold and fruit. The camp con- 
 ferences of the International Council of Religious Edu- 
 cation alone have helped several thousand young 
 people come into the joy of a life work devoted to the 
 church. Back of practically every one of these was the 
 keen-visioned, prophetic eye and heart of a pastor. 
 
 Almost without exception, the pastor is the one to 
 prepare teachers and pupils and schools for the periods 
 of decision and personal public confession of Christ as 
 Saviour and Lord. He will for weeks get the teachers 
 ready that they may be joyous, resultful winners of 
 souls in the class and outside of it. He and he only 
 should conduct the general school service on decision 
 day. He and he only should meet those who make 
 confessions of faith and in small age groups further 
 make plain the privileges and duties of church mem- 
 
THE PASTOR 97 
 
 bership, and prepare them for intelligent and useful 
 church relationship. He should remember the church 
 school in his prayer life, private, pulpit, and at prayer 
 meeting. Doubtless, he will make a prayer list of those 
 who have special need. He should mass all the com- 
 mon sense strategy, and religion he has at the gateway 
 of the junior high school age, that he and his church- 
 school lieutenants may capture every boy and girl for 
 Christ and the church. Recent reliable statistics 
 covering careful investigations in five of the large de- 
 nominations and almost seven thousand cases show 
 that the age at which most conversions and accessions 
 to the church occur is at thirteen. The old figure of 
 Starbuck, Coe, and others put the height of the con- 
 version curve at about sixteen. It can be asserted 
 without serious contradiction that better teaching in 
 the church school has brought this about. Nota little 
 credit is due to pastoral leadership in a sane evangelis- 
 tic emphasis. 
 
 The pastor should take a sincere and lively interest 
 in the good times of his church-school children and 
 young people, and see that church-centered programs 
 and adequate equipment tie them to the church with 
 affectionate loyalties. Their sociables, picnics, parties, 
 athletic contests, field meets, and tournaments are his 
 open gateways to their lasting friendships. Even if he 
 has little time in his busy life to participate fully, he 
 can at least drop in and smile his appreciation. Their 
 sense of fairness is keen and their gratitude genuine 
 and heartening. 
 
 He should sit up nights with the information cards 
 of the director of records and use his pupil acquaint- 
 - ance in the homes of non-church members, especially 
 of cradle roll parents, to make vital contacts for the 
 
98 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Christian life and eventually church school and church 
 membership. 
 
 The pastor of course has more vital interest than 
 anyone else in the annual religious survey and census 
 of the church parish. In communities where there is 
 no community council or board of religious education, 
 the several pastors should themselves organize and 
 supervise a community-wide census, calling in and 
 training young people to put on the canvass. ‘This 
 religious census should be taken on one afternoon 
 about the middle of September. Adequate preparation 
 should be made, wide publicity given, and hearty co- 
 operation sought. The facts gathered and wisely used 
 will make rally day in all the church schools mean 
 much. 
 
 The pastor should tactfully cultivate the loyalty of 
 the young people and adult classes to the regular wor- 
 ship services of the church. He can be a wise coun- 
 sellor in the matter of worship in the church school, 
 general and departmental. He should read some of 
 the newer books on worship and profit by magazine 
 articles and become a real leader in this form of ex- 
 pression. If the school has a director of worship, the 
 pastor should work through him. Otherwise, his own. 
 direct help will be needed, expected, and appreciated. 
 
 If church school meets after morning service, he 
 must keep faith with the church-school superintendent 
 and at least do his part to close the services promptly, 
 just as he expects the church school which comes be- 
 fore worship to close on time. No pastor, unless the 
 situation is unusual, should be drawn into what is 
 called a combination church-church-school service. 
 The great cause of religious education is too important 
 to cut down the Sunday time given to it. Far better. 
 
THE PASTOR 99 
 
 for him to get such a vision of the opportunity that 
 ushers in his pastoral leadership that he will put on an 
 expanded and enriched session, such as is described in 
 chapter four of this book. 
 
 The pastor should make much of the annual instal- 
 lation and dedication of his church-school officers and 
 teachers. He is the one to preside. He should prepare 
 and lead in the installation service and offer the dedi- 
 catory prayer. If no other time is set for this, it 
 should be on the combined rally-and-promotion day 
 coming, usually, on the last Sunday in September. 
 After the slump of the summer for most schools, this 
 is an especially appropriate time for rally, promotion, 
 and dedication. 
 
 Pastoral leadership in the church school, as in the 
 church or community, will be as effective as the pastor 
 himself, by divine help, can make it. 
 
VII 
 THE DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
 
 HE great emphasis In recent years on religious 
 education in the home, the church, and the 
 community has created a new profession. 
 Already this new vocation has a number of specialties 
 within its general field. It is opening up new opportu- 
 nities for many pastors, workers in Young Men’s 
 Christian Associations, Young Women’s Christian As- 
 sociations and welfare groups who have educational 
 vision and prefer to major on educational tasks rather 
 than to continue in general religious or social work. 
 With their wide experience they bring to their new 
 positions a good working capital. Naturally, some of 
 them are short on technical training; the wiser ones 
 make almost any sacrifice to get it. Not all who bear 
 the title of director of religious education could be pro- 
 fessionally rated. Naturally, any new vocation at- 
 tracts some who have only a segment or superficial 
 conception of the requirements. 
 
 For years in our colleges Christian leaders have 
 stressed Christian vocations and strongly appealed to 
 young people to give their lives to definite Christian 
 service. For years also in various types of young peo- 
 ple’s work in church, young people’s societies, young 
 men’s and young women’s church-school classes, high 
 Y’s, in older boys and older girls camp conferences, 
 and elsewhere, many leaders have likewise challenged 
 
 young people to turn away from the god-of-getting | 
 100 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 101 
 
 and worship the God-of-giving. Life service leagues 
 have multiplied in number and enrollment. The 
 “cream ” of the church’s young people is being gath- 
 ered. Literally thousands of the choicest young men 
 and young women have heard the call—but until 
 within a few years the gospel ministry and missionary 
 work, foreign, home and city, were about the only 
 great religious professions that had doors enough open 
 to “take in” the volunteers. Now, fortunately, re- 
 ligious education as a life-calling is growing so rapidly 
 and with such a variety of interests that it can chan- 
 nel the expression of many abilities of many young 
 people. Only a few years ago that fine college boy 
 inclined to the ministry found his altruistic ardor 
 dampened by the inescapable fact that “he just could 
 not talk in public”; so, shrinking back, he entered 
 medicine or engineering, or some other high calling, 
 but has always had an unsatisfied heart-hunger. To- 
 day he can invest his life in some executive phase of 
 religious education where his trained organizational 
 talents and love of folks can consume him without feel- 
 ing that platform strength must be his chief avenue to 
 real service. The gospel ministry, in our humble judg- 
 ment, still heads the list of all religious professions, 
 and should. If the preachers and prophets perish 
 from the earth, related vocations lose their best inspir- 
 ers and leaders. With many seminaries now thor- 
 oughly training their students in the technique of re- 
 ligious education, the present and coming generations 
 of pastors will know religious education and how to be 
 their own directors, if in the division of labor in their 
 churches provision cannot be made for the employment 
 of a co-minister, or full time director of religious educa- 
 tion. 
 
102 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Not only seminaries, but departments in Christian 
 colleges are training religious education workers. Pro- 
 fessional schools wholly devoted to religious education 
 are now making possible a thorough training for re- 
 ligious education as a profession, as law, medicine, or 
 engineering schools, prepare for theirs. High grade 
 young men and young women are turning in increasing 
 numbers to religious education and are willing to de- 
 vote years to arduous study in order to make good. 
 There are many kinds of general directors of religious 
 education: (1) church, (2) city, county, or community, 
 (3) state or provincial, (4) national and (5) interna- 
 tional. » Within these areas are denominational and 
 interdenominational general directors of religious edu- 
 cation. Then there are in many of these units special- 
 ists such as directors of children’s, young people’s, or 
 adult work, or directors of leadership training, of 
 music, worship, recreation, pageantry, community ser- 
 vice, and other expressional activities. Surely there is 
 a wide field of service which appeals to many types of 
 abilities. 
 
 The whole profession is yet in its experimental 
 stages. However, its progress has been marvelous, in 
 spite of much blundering on the part of both employ- 
 ers and employees. There remains yet very much to 
 be done in educational standardization. Sporadic short 
 cut methods that have no educational standing are 
 deceiving some young people and older ones also. It 
 took a long time to standardize courses in law, medi- 
 cine, theology, and other outstanding professions. 
 Churches also need to more fully understand what it 
 is all about. ‘‘ We certainly need somebody to help 
 with our children, to give her whole time to them.” 
 And so the church proceeds to call an expert with - 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 103 
 
 children and then make her the church director of 
 religious education. Of course she fails to grasp the 
 breadth of the thing. ‘‘ Our young people are going to 
 the dogs; we must get a paid worker.” They do, and 
 the pastor thinks it a great step forward to label him 
 “church director of religious education,” and give over 
 to him the educational destiny of the church. He suc- 
 ceeds with the young people as could have been ex- 
 pected, but flounders and “ flunks out” completely in 
 the bigger, broader work. He who sees only the seg- 
 ment serves not the whole. 
 
 Pastors of strong churches, themselves years out of 
 the seminary, and with no technical religious education 
 training, but who have seen the vision and value of 
 religious education, need cautionary counsel lest errors 
 be made that will bring disappointment to them per- 
 sonally and defeat to the very thing they feel their 
 churches most need. A woman who is a winsome 
 worker with children may not succeed at all as a 
 general church director of religious education. A man 
 who can stand teen age boys on their ears and spin 
 them around in camps, clubs and on hikes may fail 
 utterly as a church director of religious education 
 responsible for comprehensive programs of religious 
 education for all age groups. Nor could some men, 
 masters of adult agencies and activities, make good in 
 the all round requirements of a church director of re- 
 ligious education. These illustrations are not 
 imaginary ones. We are thinking also of a splendid 
 woman of culture, gracious personality, leader of the 
 church choir and children’s choruses, who was called 
 by another church as its director of religious educa- 
 tion. It was positively pitiful to see her attempts at 
 educational direction. She worked wonders in the 
 
104 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 music of the church school in general, and especially 
 in the departments, but she knew no more about re- 
 ligious education as such than a South Sea Islander. 
 After months of heartaches, she had the good sense 
 to resign and accept a position as a church director 
 of music in a neighboring city where she has been 
 unusually successful and happy. 
 
 Even as the abilities and limited conceptions of the 
 work have varied, so have salaries paid, from a few 
 hundred dollars to four and five thousand dollars a 
 year. In the larger, more exacting churches, directors 
 of religious education are men with as high rating 
 professionally as the pastor himself, and their execu- 
 tive leadership in education gets proportionate finan- 
 cial recognition, and so should it be. 
 
 The character of this book limits us to the con- 
 sideration of the director of religious education as a 
 church officer and educational leader of the church 
 school. Since the position is so new and so few people 
 understand the director’s field, perhaps both the nega- 
 tive and the positive approach will clear up miscon- 
 ceptions and fairly present the director’s work. We 
 will notice first 
 
 A DOZEN DON’TS FOR THE CHURCH DIRECTOR OF 
 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
 
 One. He should not be the superintendent of the 
 church school, nor assume the superintendent’s pre- 
 rogatives. He serves all the educational organizations 
 of the church and should not officially head up any one 
 of them. A few churches may find it expedient for a 
 year or so to use a church director of religious educa- 
 tion for a church-school superintendent, in order to 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 105 
 
 dislodge some good but inefficient “‘ brother ”’ who re- 
 fuses to let go. Sometimes such a superintendent can 
 be reasoned with, and will give way to an outsider and 
 a salaried man. Except in such rare cases, the church 
 director of religious education should not be the gen- 
 eral administrator of the school, even temporarily. A 
 church that is strong enough to employ a full time 
 director of religious education has men in it that have 
 platform and other executive ability that needs de- 
 veloping. The church director of religious education 
 also should be exceedingly careful, especially during 
 the first few months, to stay in his own corral. It will 
 be an unusual church-school superintendent who will 
 not have misgivings as to the authority vested in this 
 new church officer. Mutual understandings instituted 
 by the pastor can tie up superintendent and director 
 in very happy and profitable team work. Listening- 
 in should be the director’s favorite and fruitful pas- 
 time for many a Sunday. 
 
 Two. He should not be known as assistant pastor, 
 nor be labeled the pastor’s assistant,—mere errand boy, 
 ringer of door bells, and parish shopper. This mistake 
 can be avoided by two precautions: (1) the church 
 director of religious education may be nominated by 
 the pastor, but should be chosen by the church board 
 of religious education, and elected by the church, and 
 on the same basis of service recognition as the church 
 or any of its committees or boards recommend or call 
 a pastor, and (2) by the tacit understanding in ad- 
 vance between both pastor and director that he is not 
 to be called or listed as assistant pastor or pastor’s as- 
 sistant. Preliminary agreements on this matter, in 
 kindness and frankness, will prevent breaks in cordial 
 relationships, and will free the hands of both pastor 
 
106 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 and director, and in the long run magnify the work of 
 religious education. 
 
 Three. He should not expect to supply the pulpit in 
 the pastor’s absence. He may do so occasionally, and 
 with profit to his own educational task, but he should 
 not expect to do so. If, by chance, he has exceptional 
 speaking ability, there will always be some parishion- 
 ers who have no more sense than to make comparisons 
 and unfavorable comments, to the detriment of the 
 pastor. Pastor and director may be in the bonds of 
 brothers-in-love, and never for one minute misjudge or 
 distrust each other, but foolish folks are found even in 
 the best of church families. The director that is wise 
 will not want to preach. He is the church’s head of 
 its teaching-ministry and should there make good, and 
 at the same time prayerfully, sincerely help his pastor 
 likewise to excei in his preaching-ministry. ‘They can, 
 therefore, be more firmly fixed in their love and confi- 
 dences. 
 
 Four. He should noé teach a regular church-school 
 class, unless it be a training class of prospective teach- 
 ers, nor be the president or executive head of any 
 organization within the church. He must not be tied 
 to a single class or officially responsible for the admin- 
 istration of any single group. Like the pastor, he 
 belongs to all. He should not even be the superin- 
 tendent of the week-day church school nor the vacation 
 school. He is the church director of religious educa- 
 tion and gives educational supervision to all branches 
 of the church’s school. | 
 
 Five. He should noé criticize the pastor, superin- 
 tendent, officers, teachers, nor his own predecessor. Big 
 men never stoop to such small talk. He has two eyes — 
 and two ears, and only one mouth that he may see and 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 107 
 
 hear much and say little, and let that little be com- 
 mendation not condemnation. If, as a leader, he is a 
 good Christian and a “ wise old owl,” he will not set 
 himself up as a self-appointed bureau of censorship. 
 Construction, not destruction, is his way to efficiency 
 and fast friendships. 
 
 Six. He must not be partial to any organization, 
 group, plan, nor person. He must not be carried off 
 his feet by individuals or groups over-zealous to win 
 his favor. Common sense surrounded by prayer will 
 be his safe detector. Like the pastor, he cannot afford 
 to be a partisan. He must not have pets in theory or 
 practice. His broad vision and brotherly supervision 
 must determine his movements. If he works with a 
 bias, his suggestions will create sects and isms that will 
 defeat the very comprehensive, unified educational 
 policy which the church called him to think out and 
 work out. 
 
 Seven. He should not be dictatorial nor bossy, nor 
 try to rebuild Jerusalem or Rome in a day. He is 
 employed as a director, not a dictator. He must not 
 be a driver, but a developer, a coaxer, tactfully draw- 
 ing out the best in people and things. The minute he 
 takes up the whip that minute he lays down his leader- 
 ship. He should have no fellowship with the spirit of 
 Tammany or Simon Legree; for if he does, defeat will 
 meet him at his doorway and hand him his resignation. 
 Cooperation and comradeship in service will win where 
 compulsion fails. 
 
 Eight. We must not be impatient with the slow of 
 head, heart, or hand, nor with the stupid or stubborn. 
 _ Some mighty good people were built to run-on-low, and 
 to do that running on self-made, rut-worn roads. 
 Speaking of running reminds us of a New York-or-Chi- 
 
108 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 cago made joke on Philadelphia, which, because of our 
 nearly nine years of happy residence there, we may be 
 permitted to tell. The small boy in the geography 
 class was asked, ‘‘ What river runs through Philadel- 
 phia?”’? His reply was, ‘‘ Please, ma’am, nothing runs 
 through Philadelphia! ” Perhaps the new director is 
 fresh from his professional school in the highways of 
 which no intellectual traffic signs prescribed the speed 
 limits. For years he has had the student habit; many 
 of his new associates have not. His ideas and ideals 
 have been running-on-high. He suddenly finds him- 
 self in the midst of folks who seldom get-into-second. 
 What is he to do about it? Either he himself will shift 
 gears, or one day he will find himself far down the 
 road, a lonely leader, leading nobody. He will dis- 
 cover that some of the people with whom he must work 
 will “say it with flowers’; while some will “say it 
 with brakes,” or “ bricks.”” He must be all things to 
 all men in the hope of leading some to the higher 
 levels. He can dodge the bricks, the brakes he will 
 tolerate for the sake of safe traffic, and the flowers he 
 will humbly appreciate and not be made silly-in-the- 
 head by their fragrance. 
 
 Nine. He should not attempt to fit the local 
 school’s detail needs by wholesale, ready-made theo- 
 retical “ class room ” plans. Even grant that such plans 
 are practically workable, the shoe must fit the foot, as 
 a famous shoe dealer advertises, ‘‘ It’s a feat to fit the 
 feet.”” After all, there is some truth in the old “ saw,” 
 —“* We have peculiar conditions in our church.” The 
 wise director knows full well that a certain new plan 
 may have been a howling success in his previous field, 
 that will not so much as whisper in his new one. — 
 Lumber is lumber, and folks are folks, but the skilful 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 109 
 
 cabinet maker, while following a design, knows that 
 he must take into consideration every hour, the grain 
 and the season of every board, if he expects durable 
 and beautiful prcducts. Place and personal peculiari- 
 ties may actually turn out to be bankable assets. Cer- 
 tainly it is true that the director must take these into 
 account, or they will bankrupt him. If he has a 
 psychology that works, he sure has the chance to 
 work it. 
 
 Ten. He should not ignore the years of foundation 
 laying by earnest workers, who probably did the best 
 they could. There will be most excellent people in his 
 church whose personal interest in the old, because it 
 is old, is akin to idolatry. Then, others will snatch at 
 the new with the fanaticism of a faddist. Between 
 these extremes, somewhere, lies the ground which the 
 sensibly progressive workers will cultivate under the 
 director’s leadership. These will agree with Pope,— 
 
 In words [plans] as fashions, the same rule will hold, 
 Alike fantastic if too new or old. 
 
 Be not the first by whom the new are tried; 
 
 Nor yet the last to lay the old aside. 
 
 Every day is debtor to yesterday, as every tomorrow 
 will be debtor to today. We not only “ Rise on step- 
 ping stones of our dead selves to higher things,” but 
 we stand on the shoulders of our efficient predecessors. 
 Ox carts at least beat down and widened the trails that 
 horse vehicles and autos might easier follow. We soar 
 through the air in a plane whose engine came from the 
 ground through the vears of experimentation in auto 
 
 _ service. 
 
 Eleven, The director of religious education should 
 not resent the pastor’s horizontal counsel, nor his per- 
 
 3° 
 
110 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 pendicular decision, if pastoral leadership thinks best. 
 The horizontal approach is apt to be brotherly, coope- 
 rative, and the perpendicular must be. During the ex- 
 perimental stages of the new profession of direction of 
 religious education, as already emphasized, pastor and 
 director must see eye-to-eye, work hand-in-hand, and 
 heart-to-heart; if they don’t, stone walls face their 
 progress. Give-and-take, in self-effacing spirit, is the 
 game they must play and enjoy. The pastor’s priority 
 in position or periods of service gives him no right 
 whatever to descend on the director, or his plans, with 
 saw or hammer. Both these good men must possess 
 themselves in patience. The director is more often the 
 younger man and needs to be cautioned. If the over- 
 worked pastor some day should get a case-of-nerves 
 and arbitrarily, momentarily “ jump” on the director, 
 the director must suffer in silence and thereby bring 
 down confusion and later the confession that wins the 
 far reaching, final victory. 
 
 Twelve. ‘The director of religious education, how- 
 ever, must mot continue in office, if, after prayer, self- 
 crucifixion, and conference with the church board of 
 religious education, he finally comes sincerely to be- 
 lieve that pastor-director personalities and policies are 
 incompatable and wholly beyond reasonable recon- 
 ciliation. Patience is a good old biblical word and 
 means endurance. Christian endurance may prevent 
 a rupture and save what might be an ugly situation. 
 Of course, there are cases where patience ceases to be. 
 a virtue. Then, probably, the resignation should be a 
 double header, giving the church a chance to clean the 
 slate and start all over. | 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 111 
 
 A DOZEN DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS 
 EDUCATION 
 
 The rehearsal of so many “ don’ts ” seems to hedge 
 in the director of religious education to a very limited 
 field in which he can function. Not so, as we shall see. 
 In the midst of the “don’ts” we could see many 
 “do’s.” His “ do-ties” are far more important than 
 his “ do-nots.”? The very reason why so many high 
 grade men and women are entering this new profession 
 is because the chances for real service and at the same 
 time opportunities for personal growth and advance- 
 ment are many. A twelve-fold description of what he 
 is will outline his duties. 
 
 First. He isachurch officer, even as the pastor. It 
 is hardly conceivable that a situation could exist where 
 the pastor would not personally participate in the 
 selection of a director. He, however, would have no 
 organizational authority. A director of religious edu- 
 cation should be officially nominated or chosen by the 
 church board of religious education and elected by the 
 church as a full church officer, serving as the church’s 
 minister of education, being the functioning executive 
 of its board of religious education. In the event that 
 the church has no board of religious education at the 
 time a director is chosen, the church should elect a tem- 
 porary committee on selection, with the distinct under- 
 standing that as soon as it nominates a director and 
 the church elects him, the committee automatically 
 discontinues. Then, after ample time for prayer and 
 deliberation, the church should elect its board of re- 
 ligious education. See suggestions in chapter two. 
 
 To this board the director will look for counsel and 
 direction. He will, of course, be expected to initiate 
 policies, programs, and what not, and to bring these 
 
112 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 to the church board of religious education for thorough 
 discussion and adoption. It will be his business then 
 to execute the decisions and will of the board. Let 
 us repeat, as the pastor heads up the preaching-minis- 
 try and pastoral-ministry, so the director heads up the 
 teaching-ministry. They are co-ministers. As has al- 
 ready been stated, the definition of functions and fields 
 is of paramount importance preliminary to the actual 
 beginning of service. The pastor, in a friendly way, 
 may refer to “‘ my director of religious education,” but, 
 in fact, he is the church’s director, and should be 
 spoken of as such. This gives him church standing 
 and influence highly desirable in the creating by him 
 of an educational consciousness in the church as a 
 whole. This clear understanding will work wisely in 
 two directions:—it will help both pastor and church 
 school superintendent to feel that in no sense what- 
 ever is either one an official boss of the new church 
 officer. Nor should the director feel that he is lord 
 over either of them. All three will surely and gra- 
 ciously grant that the ranking officer of the church is 
 the pastor, this being their attitude at all times. 
 Second. ‘The director of religious education will be 
 the pastor’s chief educational counsellor, collaborator, 
 and cooperator. In the division of church labor, it is 
 the director’s inescapable duty to know more about 
 religious education than anybody in the church. Such 
 knowledge he will hold in humility and will be 
 constantly increasing it. When the pastor wants ex- 
 pert educational advice, he has a right to expect it from 
 the church director of religious education. When any- 
 body in the church has “a vision in the night,” and 
 wants educational help, the pastor should feel full as- 
 surance that such an one can be satisfied at the direc- 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 113 
 
 tor’s bureau of information. The young director will 
 be startled at the things he is expected to know. 
 Frankly, he should say no, if he must, to the inquiry of 
 pastor or other questioner; but just as frankly he 
 should quickly say,—‘*‘ I'll look that matter up for you 
 at once and let you know as soon as possible.” After 
 all, the dominance of ideas wins the coveted place of 
 recognition for the director or any other leader. 
 
 Third. The director is the superintendent’s silent 
 partner, well-wisher, and encourager. They should be 
 brothers in thought, word, and deed. If only all Chris- 
 tians would be Christian through and through, relation- 
 ships would need few definitions, probably none. We 
 all recall the prayer of the little girl—‘‘ Dear Lord, 
 help bad people to be good, and good people to be nice.” 
 Some of the best people in the world get kinks or twists 
 in their thinking, feeling, willing, and doing. Nosuper- 
 intendent, at the coming of a church director of re- 
 ligious education, should lean back on his oars and 
 think, ‘ Well, the church will now hold the director 
 responsible for the success or failure of the school.” 
 Rather, let him rejoice in the fact that at his elbow, 
 privately and publicly, if necessary, he has an educa- 
 tional expert who will help him to make the church 
 school go as never before. 
 
 Fourth. The director of religious education is the 
 church’s educational analyzer, organizer, and stabilizer. 
 As such, he will assist in setting up educational stand- 
 ards, suggestions, budgets, and recommending policies. 
 His first concern, however, is not to lay before the 
 church board of religious education a beautifully con- 
 ceived policy of religious education for that particular 
 church, all worked out in detail, with all Roman and 
 Arabic numerals convincingly placed. No, not at all! 
 
114 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Let him first become a searcher and a re-searcher, 
 going on a still hunt until he is ready to launch a pains- 
 taking survey of the educational aims, programs, and 
 products of every group in the church. Before organi- 
 zation comes investigation. Not until he has accurately 
 analyzed can he adequately organize. It may be that 
 some winsome, aggressive soul has overloaded the 
 church ship on one side. It will be the director’s deli- 
 cate and perhaps dangerous duty to quietly stabilize 
 the old ship, not by antagonizing leaders and organiza- 
 tions already at work, but by adroitly shifting portions 
 of the cargo. As the church’s educational analyzer, or- 
 ganizer, and stabilizer of the church school, with week- 
 day, and vacation sessions, and ali other educationally 
 centered and circumferenced groups, he will in time 
 come to the place where he can say to the pastor and 
 the board, the day of integration has set in. Instead 
 of fractions setting themselves up as digits and pre- 
 suming to control the educational destinies of the whole 
 House of Israel, under his leadership they will be per- 
 fectly happy as related and correlated segments of the 
 church’s whole educational circle. When that glad day 
 comes, and in time it can come in any real church, then 
 the board of religious education can confer on the de- 
 serving director the high honor of C. C., which by inter- 
 pretation means Captain Correlate. 
 
 Fifth. The director of religious education naturally 
 becomes dean of the church school’s faculty or faculties 
 of all its educational groups. He is the recognized ad- 
 viser of best methods and programs, the director of 
 class instruction. His judgment will throw light upon 
 their problems of teaching, organization, and adminis- 
 tration. He will be the supervisor of teaching in all 
 departments, a service greatly needed. He will be wel- 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 115 
 
 comed by all workers into groups of young and old, 
 because he carries sense in his head, love in his heart, 
 and unselfish help in his hand. 
 
 Sixth. The director of religious education is the cur- 
 riculum constructor and supervisor, directing all in- 
 struction: and expression through worship and service 
 activities in the Sunday church school, week-day, and 
 other schools. He will classify pupils and place them 
 where they ought to be. To him more than any other 
 individual, the church looks for the recommendation of 
 best teaching materials and methods. To him belongs 
 the supreme privilege of unifying courses and pro- 
 grams of both instruction and expression for the sev- 
 eral age groups. ‘This task will test his ability as no 
 other. Instead of a hodge-podge of materials not psy- 
 chologically geared into the nature of the group served, 
 he will select and set in sane sequence courses that will 
 guarantee vital functioning Christian truth for the ages 
 being taught. The director that can excel at this will 
 render invaluable service to all religious educators. 
 
 Seventh. The director of religious education must 
 be an organizational sympathizer, interpreter, and in 
 time harmonizer, not alone in the local church, but in 
 the community. He should take the time to know the 
 genius of every national society that seeks followers 
 through local church or community branches, chapters, 
 or units of whatever name. The more he studies the 
 overhead organizations, the more he will long for the 
 day of co-ordination at the top. He is sure to come 
 into fuller appreciation of the enthusiasms, self sacrifice, 
 and hard work back of these national movements, and 
 as he himself tries to correlate their programs, the 
 more he will regret the fact that good people with the 
 best of motives do get in each other’s way. But, in 
 
116 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 the meantime, he will not despair, but earnestly seek 
 to be a fair interpreter of the cause yonder that seeks 
 supporters here. 
 
 Eighth. The director of religious education is largely 
 the educational leadership selecter and trainer. He 
 will arrange for at least two classes for the training of 
 church-school officers and teachers,—(1) for the pres- 
 ent active official and teaching force, at some period 
 through the week, and (2) a class of the picked young 
 people who, as prospective officers and teachers, will, 
 under his direction, meet at the time of the church- 
 school session. Perhaps more than any other, he should 
 ferret out choice older boys and older girls and get 
 them to enroll in leadership training, institutes, schools, 
 assemblies, and camp conferences. The director should 
 become a “sustaining”? member of the International 
 Council of Religious Education and thereby secure ~ 
 regularly all of the new educational bulletins issued by 
 the Council’s Education Committee. Bulletin number 
 three on leadership training should be at his elbow. 
 All the training courses which a director sets up for his 
 people should be geared into the International courses 
 for the different scholastic levels. As a church direc- 
 tor of religious education, he will be active in the sup- 
 port and management of standard community training 
 schools. Thus the church, under his knowing-lead, will 
 be growing a strong corps of workers. 
 
 Ninth. The director of religious education who is 
 strong in his personal influences and trustworthy, will 
 become the confidential conferé of most of the officers 
 and teachers, and be in a position to strengthen the 
 work and the workers as no one else. After all, the 
 ties of friendships, cemented by confidence and affec- 
 tion, are more powerful than either the pen or the 
 
DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 117 
 
 sword, for pens may corrode, and swords rust away, 
 but true friendship abide forever. 
 
 Tenth. The director of religious education will be 
 the Andrew-discoverer of lads-with-loaves-and-fishes, 
 and Greeks-not-a-few that want to see Jesus. As his 
 whole profession becomes more settled and churches 
 come more and more to appreciate the position of the 
 director, he will stay longer and have to his credit as a 
 teaching-minister, a record approaching the noble men 
 of God who, through their preaching and pastoral min- 
 istries, have made incalculable contributions to human 
 welfare. His many social contacts week by week give 
 him unusual evangelistic opportunities, especially with 
 junior and senior high school groups. In all his educa- 
 tional emphasis, he must not lose his evangelistic fer- 
 vor. Not only in helping them to come to personal 
 decisions for Christ as Saviour and Friend, but he can 
 point the way, without bias, to life investments which 
 will yield greatest dividends in joy, success, and worth- 
 while service. 
 
 Eleventh, The director of religious education can 
 become the maker of men and women who dream edu- 
 cational dreams that come true. He himself a truth- 
 seeker and lover of best thought in people, books, 
 magazines, and elsewhere, will pilot many to the treas- 
 ure-islands of life where they may find the great riches 
 which culture souls and bless humanity. He can be a 
 vision-giver to his associates, a creator of a yearning 
 to be learning the things that make for a professional 
 spirit, and at the same time yield a satisfaction which 
 finds its highest reward in humble service faithfully 
 performed in the Master’s name. 
 
 Twelfth. The director of religious education in brief, 
 is the church’s educational go-getter. The man who 
 
118 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 brings things to pass without any personal pyrotech- 
 nics. ‘The one who, charged with securing the educa- 
 tional “ blue vase,”’ knows no insurmountable obstacles. 
 He welcomes defeat because it makes him more de- 
 termined to be wiser the next time. In the strength of 
 the Christ whom he serves, he has resolutely set him- 
 self to meet, greet, and beat difficulties, and turn them 
 into triumphs for the great cause of religious educa- 
 tion. Faithful to the trust the church has assigned 
 him, he makes up his mind to know and help folks, 
 magnify and glorify his profession, and love and serve 
 Christ supremely. 
 
VIII 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT, AN EXECUTIVE 
 
 HE superintendent is the platform executive 
 and general administrator of the school. This 
 nS _, gives him a place of commanding importance. 
 In a way, he is the church’s custodian of the one organi- 
 zation which educationally serves the whole sweep of 
 life from the cradle to the grave. He may be thought of 
 as an army general, a business manager, or an industrial 
 executive. 
 
 A man charged with such responsibilities should be a 
 genuine Christian whose faith never furloughs, and 
 whose religion never goes on vacation. His Mondays 
 should be as clean as his Sundays, and his personal life 
 never belie his platform lesson. His home life and busi- 
 ness life should be above reproach. As he walks the 
 highways and byways of his neighborhood, his conduct 
 should be such that no one can point the finger and 
 truthfully say, “‘ There goes Dr. Jekyll-and-Mr. Hyde.” 
 He should possess a good voice, a good appearance, and 
 a good disposition. A good voice—neither too loud nor 
 too low. ‘‘ You should visit our school some Sunday. 
 It’s a tower of Babel turned loose, and yet above all the 
 noise you can hear the superintendent’s voice. No radio 
 loud speaker has anything on him! ” The acceptable 
 platform presider, by his moral earnestness, quiet, sin- 
 cere manner, and well modulated voice, does much to 
 create attention, respect and morale. Good appearance, 
 —the superintendent’s personal appearance should not 
 
 119 
 
120 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 be extreme; he, of course, will be clean-faced, clean- 
 collared, clean-clothed, with necktie in place, hair ad- 
 justed, shoes polished,—in brief, neither fussy nor 
 mussy looking, but so sensibly groomed that no one, 
 young or old, will ever have occasion to think or remark 
 about his appearance. Why dwell on this seemingly 
 insignificant matter? Simply because it is not insignifi- 
 cant, for he is the ‘‘ most seen ”’ man at church school, 
 and neither slovenliness nor ‘“ beau-brummellness ” 
 should mark him for comment. In a sense, he is not 
 only a sign-post to be seen, but a guide-post to be 
 followed. 
 
 Many a good, capable superintendent has discounted 
 his position and halved his influence, especially with 
 young people, by being careless or odd in his clothes. 
 Good disposition,—he should keep his temper always, 
 for nobody else wants it. A nervous, irritable, cranky 
 superintendent puts all things awry. Like begets like. 
 The church school is no place for hot words, holy — 
 tones, or cross word puzzles or persons. ‘The superin- 
 tendent needs to keep his barrel full of cheerfulness, 
 patience, and tact. He should love the Bible, the 
 church, and his Lord supremely. His interest in child- 
 ren should be more than sentimental fascination; he 
 should have an abiding love for all. He should special- 
 ize in “ just folks.” Then, he, too, personally should 
 grow. When he ceases to be learner, he ceases to be 
 leader. Study is the price of his perennial progress. 
 He cannot remain static. Ejither he goes forward, or 
 finds himself in reverse gears. He should read a book 
 a month on church-school work. He must keep up,— 
 knowledge uw, vision up, and efficiency wp. His asso- 
 ciates will attain and maintain just about the level of 
 their leader, certainly no higher. It may surprise some 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT 121 
 
 superintendent whose eyes fall on this page, but every 
 superintendent should resolutely set himself to the 
 securing of an International Standard Leadership 
 diploma, specializing in administration. The ladder, 
 after all, is not a long one, and he mounts it rung by 
 rung. There’s a thrill at the top. He should subscribe 
 for and read church-school magazines, denominational 
 and interdenominational, issued for the information and 
 inspiration of church-school administrators like himself. 
 Practically every business or profession in these days 
 has its trade journal. At the superintendent’s elbow 
 every month should be the International Journal of 
 Religious Education; not alone for himself, if he is a 
 real general he will see to it that his divisional, depart- 
 mental, and other lieutenants regularly read such litera- 
 ture. He will attend conventions, institutes, adminis- 
 trative conferences, pray, read, and think himself full. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS SCORE OF “ NOTS ” 
 
 The superintendent’s score-board may be full of 
 “nots ” every one of which he should carefully observe, 
 and, if any belong to him, cheerfully remove them. 
 
 One, The superintendent should not be late at a 
 single session of his school; better be there a full half 
 hour ahead of the opening time. Nor should he be 
 absent, except in cases of serious illness or when a busi- 
 ness engagement has been made for him over which he 
 has no control, and one so important that he must keep 
 it. We are thinking of two faithful superintendents, 
 one a corporation lawyer who for thirteen years every 
 Saturday, or Saturday night, made a railway journey of 
 nearly two hundred and fifty miles to be at his Sunday 
 school; and of another, himself a railway president, 
 who for a longer period of time traveled nearly five hun- 
 
122 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 dred miles each week end to be with his school. God 
 has highly honored the fidelity of these, His servants. 
 
 Two. The superintendent will zot open each session 
 with ‘‘ Three hymns and a prayer,” or himself conduct 
 or permit a leader to conduct ‘‘opening exercises.” 
 Such exercises do not strengthen anybody. Instead, 
 let him say, when perfect quiet reigns, “ we will open 
 our worship service this morning,” or ‘‘ we will begin 
 our worship by singing hymn—,” or still better, with 
 an order of worship well known to all, let the superin- 
 tendent stand in his place, as the organ or piano quietly 
 plays the signal to come to order, and then, as the music 
 stops, the ‘call to worship ” will be recited in unison, 
 after which, the other parts of the worship harmoni- 
 ously blended, will follow. 
 
 Three. A superintendent should not pound a bell or 
 pound the air to get and keep order. A good book on 
 church-school administration will put the old bell out 
 of business, and show him a wiser use of the air. 
 
 Four. The superintendent should zotf become 
 monotonous in his platform work; he should shun ruts 
 as he would dirt-debt-and-devil. In many schools, the 
 ruts have become canyons or chasms of despair. A 
 man named Jones (apologies to the noble Jones) was 
 superintendent of a church school. A stranger heard 
 him called M. I. G. Jones and was curious to know his 
 full name. After the very first session the stranger 
 attended, he was not shocked at all when informed 
 that M. 1. G. meant move-in-groove. 
 
 Five, The superintendent should not review or at- 
 tempt to review the church-school lesson. Of course, 
 in the well organized, graded school, there is no one 
 lesson to be reviewed; but in a school where uniform 
 lessons are the only ones used, it is a slam on the teach- 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT 123 
 
 ing ability of his teachers for the superintendent 
 (manifestly not a teacher) to go-over-the-ground again. 
 Both teachers and pupils do not need it, nor want it. 
 If he must talk, let him choose a thought and quickly 
 say it. 
 
 Six. The superintendent must zot allow the opening 
 worship to run over into the teaching period, nor per- 
 mit pastor or “ distinguished visitor’ to speak “ be- 
 yond reason.” Nor will he fail to close promptly, if 
 the church school is before the morning worship, even 
 as he expects, when the church school meets after the 
 church services, for the pastor to “let folks out” on 
 time. 
 
 Seven. The superintendent should zof interrupt 
 teachers while they are teaching their lessons, by an 
 errand of his own, or by introducing visitors, nor will 
 he permit Tom-Dick-and-Harry to disturb classes by 
 distributing papers or supplies, or by taking the offer- 
 ing, or by making announcements. Where classes have 
 separate class rooms, a “ servidor ” cabinet in the wall, 
 having outside and inside doors should be provided 
 large enough to contain papers, books, offering envel- 
 opes, if such are used. The teacher’s precious thirty 
 minutes must be sacredly guarded by the superin- 
 tendent and his helpers. 
 
 Eighth, The superintendent should zoé talk the 
 church school to death, or lecture it black-in-the-face 
 on self-assigned topics. ‘‘ Died cf asphyxiation ” is not 
 an appropriate church-school epitaph. Neither should 
 he scold the school, nor criticize a teacher or officer, nor 
 publicly discipline a pupil. If he is just-plum-mad at 
 everybody, let him beat a retreat through the back 
 door to his own back yard, where he can kick out his 
 
124 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 ugliness on some insensate post or stone wall. A fit 
 of this sort means he is a misfit as superintendent. 
 
 Nine. ‘The superintendent should not resort to tricks 
 or cheapness of any kind to increase attendance, inter- 
 est or finances. Better use saner, well-tried plans that 
 merit educational approval. Sometimes the more 
 haste the less speed. Highgrade, common sense 
 methods win the day and results that are praiseworthy 
 and permanent. 
 
 Ten. ‘The superintendent should nof, on his own 
 initiative and responsibility, select or dismiss regular 
 teachers. No school should confer upon him such 
 authority. Wise superintendents do not take such 
 risks. There’s a better way. ‘There will be times, in 
 an emergency, when substitutes will be and should be 
 chosen by him. However, permanent teachers should 
 be selected by a committee of three,—pastor, superin- 
 tendent, and departmental principal. 
 
 Eleven, The superintendent should mot make any 
 announcement from the platform that can be put on a 
 bulletin board or otherwise posted. 
 
 Twelve. ‘The thoughtful superintendent will noé let 
 a stupid or stubborn sexton deaden the school by over- 
 heated or under-heated, dimly lighted or poorly venti- 
 lated, stuffy rooms. ‘There are some remarkably sen- 
 sible janitors, but many of them know nothing about 
 the science of heating. Many act as if they believed 
 that “ church-air””? was consecrated and should not be 
 contaminated by “outside influences.” Instead of 
 throwing wide open the windows to God’s pure air, or 
 pumping it in artificially, they hermetically seal the 
 dead air and proceed to resuscitate it by a furious fur- 
 nace. No wonder even wide awake preachers and 
 teachers find it difficult to keep some auditors from 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT 125 
 
 going to sleep. These sleepy saints are being poisoned, 
 slowly but surely. 
 
 Thirteen. 'The superintendent should zoé call on a 
 stranger to address the school unless some reliable per- 
 son can vouch for his character and message. Quite 
 often ‘‘ droppers in” drop a monkey wrench into the 
 machinery. We well remember how a kind-hearted 
 superintendent fell for the honeyed words of a man 
 who proved to be an arch deceiver and scoundrel. He 
 claimed to be a converted Russian Jew. For looks he 
 was clever; as a conversationalist he was charming. 
 His story had the pathos and thrill of the martyrs. He 
 literally stood the members of a men’s class on their 
 heads, punctured their tear sacs, emptied their pockets, 
 and left town with a little less than a bushel of good 
 American shekels. In a neighboring city he was sus- 
 pected, grilled, and made to confess that he was born 
 in an eastern state, had never seen Russia, was not a 
 Christian, and for months had been living on this easy 
 money scooped in by a fictitious story. Worthy people 
 will come endorsed and will be helped. 
 
 _ Fourteen. ‘The superintendent will xot permit his 
 
 school to be stampeded for any so-called cause. His 
 twin graces are courtesy and caution. Needy objects 
 not included in the regular church and school budget 
 can be investigated and, if worthy, a brief appeal may 
 be permitted and the giving left to individual interest. 
 
 Fifteen, The superintendent who is a real executive 
 will mot permit the school to be over-organized. A 
 small school over-organized is like a small house over- 
 stocked with furniture and bric-a-brac. There are 
 many activities that have only tangent or temporary 
 interest and do not need an organization, a department, 
 or an officer for their proper functioning. It is a mis- 
 
126 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 take to create an organization around every activity. 
 That is the raison detre for our organizational folly. 
 
 Sixteen, The superintendent should not be eccentric 
 in dress, manner, or speech, or in his thinking, planning, 
 or leadership movements. 
 
 Seventeen. The good superintendent will not be pre- 
 judicial and partial in his treatment of his associates in 
 the school. 
 
 Eighteen. The superintendent should not be jealous 
 of pastor, director of religious education, or any other 
 worker who has a bigger Sunday-school vision than 
 himself. 
 
 Nineteen. ‘The superintendent will mof miss the 
 workers’ conference, nor the meeting of the school 
 council. His frequent running-in-a-minute to the de- 
 partmental councils will be welcomed. 
 
 Twenty. ‘The superintendent should not expect a 
 life-tenure of office, mistaking friendship, confidence, 
 and good will for a license to run the school his own 
 way forever and a day. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS CHURCH 
 
 The church-school superintendent is a church officer 
 and in most churches the highest ranking officer next 
 to the pastor. If, in a large church, where there is 
 also a director of religious education, the pastor, direc- 
 tor, and himself are the three chosen ones to render 
 high and holy service. These three often will be in 
 conference, with mutual understanding of each other’s 
 duties. The superintendent will seek the pastor’s coun- 
 sel constantly, welcome his presence in the school, not 
 only as the pastor of the church, but in very truth the 
 pastor of the school, and give him the privilege of the 
 school platform any time he has a message. The pas- 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT 127 
 
 tor in return will seek the advice of the superintendent, 
 and will never misuse his school connection. The 
 superintendent, likewise, will give every possible assist- 
 ance to the director of religious education in the educa- 
 tional direction and conduct of the school, so that it 
 may become a school indeed, with best educational 
 standards. The superintendent will profit much by the 
 educational vision and supervision of the director of 
 religious education. Their relationships should always 
 be cordial and constructive. In a large school where 
 the church has a board of religious education and direc- 
 tor of religious education, responsible for the selection 
 of teachers, the pastor, the superintendent, and depart- 
 mental principal concerned should serve as counsellors 
 and perhaps initiate the nomination. In no church 
 school should trained departmental principals’ teacher- 
 suggestions be. ignored. Such a principal is more 
 anxious for an efficient teaching staff than any one else. 
 In a small school where the church has no board of 
 religious education, the teacher-selection committee 
 should be the pastor, the superintendent, and the prin- 
 cipal of the department where the teacher is to serve. 
 Perhaps it is opportune here to say that each teacher 
 when invited should be told frankly, graciously that 
 the position is temporary until satisfactory service is 
 assured. 
 
 The church board of religious education, or other 
 proper body, should nominate, and the church elect the 
 superintendent annually. It is a mistake ever to elect 
 a superintendent for a longer period than twelve 
 months. The faithful, competent one will be and 
 should be re-elected. Church-school work is at the 
 very heart of the church’s character building enter- 
 prise. A short term gives a quick return of the chance 
 
128 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 to permit a bungler to retire. A once-in, long-termer 
 can gather about himself, after the manner of a ward- 
 politician, a crew of friendly but unreliable mates, that 
 may wreck the church-school ship or lazily lower the 
 flag of efficiency and “let her drift.” ‘‘ He’s a good 
 man and ought to quit, but we can’t bear the thought 
 of hurting his feelings.” Did you ever hear it? Of 
 how much more value are the scores or hundreds of 
 boys and girls whose religious education is at stake than 
 the feelings of any one individual. The church board 
 of religious education is the one group to quietly, 
 kindly, lovingly, affect a change. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS SCHOOL 
 
 The church school should become the superin- 
 tendent’s “ruling passion”’; after his home, it should 
 be the one institution nearest his heart. He should get 
 a church-school vision as the church’s chief educational 
 agency—a vision that will lift him high enough to see 
 over the ruts into which the school may have been mov- 
 ing. He should know the church school as an organi- 
 zation, even as an expert machinist knows an auto with 
 the construction, adjustment, and function of all parts. 
 If he is foresighted, he will buy, read, and heed such 
 a manual as this on church-school leadership, for he 
 must not fail as an organizer and administrator. There- 
 unto was he called, particularly to be a platform execu- 
 tive, accurate, courteous, and expeditious. His 
 “ schedulitis ” must be beyond the reach of surgeon’s 
 knife. He will be quiet and reverent about it, but he 
 will keep things moving. As a far-sighted engineer, he 
 will prepare his Sunday session programs several weeks 
 in advance, noting every detail. He will be especially 
 solicitous that the opening worship period be real wor- 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT 129 
 
 ship; that there be spiritual harmony in scriptures used, 
 hymns sung, stories told, prayers offered. If the school 
 has a director of worship, the superintendent will co- 
 operate with him and the pastor in the construction of 
 worship programs, or he himself should conduct the 
 worship. He will not tolerate for one moment jazz in 
 orchestra or in songs. Jazz heads nobody toward a 
 prayer meeting or prepares nobody’s head for profitable 
 Bible study. Quite often, church-school publications 
 carry acceptable samples of worship services. The 
 superintendent that must work this out for himself will 
 consult books on worship and books of worship and 
 seek to put the best spiritual values into every Sun- 
 day’s program. At every session he should exalt the 
 Word of God and the Son of God. A sample program 
 outline is here offered as merely suggestive to superin- 
 tendents: 
 
 1. Prelude by orchestra or piano (stopping on exact 
 minute of opening time)—such stopping, a signal for 
 silence. 
 
 2. Call to worship, silent prayer, and a sentence invo- 
 cation by superintendent or chanted by choir. 
 
 3. Scripture reading or reciting (never the lesson of 
 the day, but some Psalm or other devotional portion). 
 
 4. Hymn (of praise). 
 
 5. School prayer (if possible by a different person 
 each Sunday), followed by the Lord’s Prayer in unison, 
 and the Gloria. 
 
 6. Hymn (of consecration). 
 
 7. Worship story or brief inspirational talk (not over 
 three minutes), followed by silent prayer. 
 
 8. Announcements (fewest possible, and only ones 
 not posted). 
 
 9. Teaching period (uninterrupted by anybody). 
 
 10. Warning bell for closing of teaching period (rung 
 five minutes before the end of the lesson). 
 
130 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 11. Interlude by orchestra or piano while school re- 
 assembles. 
 
 12. Hymn (of service). 
 
 13. Benedictory sentence and prayer (all standing). 
 
 14. Postlude by orchestra or piano, quietly, reverently 
 played, while all are seated in silent prayer and remain 
 seated until music ceases. 
 
 The superintendent will be anxious for the church 
 school to own and use an up-to-date workers’ library, 
 he himself giving especial attention to the securing of 
 books that will give definite help to his secretarial and 
 expressional administrators. 
 
 Whatever committees are needed from time to time 
 to carry out specific phases of the church-school life 
 and work, not provided for in the officiary, should be 
 appointed. by the superintendent. 
 
 The superintendent will keep at his home and office 
 a full duplicate set of information cards prepared by 
 the director of records. 
 
 Three or four times a year he will invite to his home, 
 if at all possible, his full official and teaching staff, not 
 to “ talk shop,”’ but to have an informal evening of fine 
 fellowship which will mean greater joy and efficiency in 
 the common tasks. 
 
 Where there is no church director of religious edu- 
 cation or educational superintendent, he, with the pas- 
 tor, should assist the teachers in selecting courses of 
 study for their classes. 
 
 No matter how big the school, if there is an assembly 
 room large enough, the superintendent should arrange 
 to have the whole school together at least four times 
 each year: (1) rally and promotion day, (2) Christ- 
 mas, (3) Easter, and (4) children’s day. It is also in 
 many cases highly desirable on these great “ feast 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT 131 
 
 days ” of the church-school year, to have a combined 
 church-school-church service, permitting the beginners 
 and primary departments to be dismissed at the “ half- 
 way house.” As a combined church-school-church ser- 
 vice, the pastor and superintendent will jointly preside. 
 The pastor, instead of preaching a sermon as such, will 
 use these happy occasions for a brief, special religious 
 education message reaching parents and non-church- 
 school attending adults, as well as the regular church- 
 school constituency. These are the mountain peaks of 
 the year when both superintendent and pastor should 
 magnify the teaching ministry of the church, and the 
 duty of the whole church to religiously educate its 
 whole parish, young and old. If the church employs a 
 director of religious education, then on these “ oppor- 
 tunity ” days perhaps the superintendent should pre- 
 side throughout the entire combined service and both 
 the pastor and director of religious education should 
 each speak ten or fifteen minutes on subjects which they 
 mutually agree upon as important for the day observed. 
 
 If ever there comes a time when his best friends feel 
 that he has become arbitrary, dictatorial, and therefore 
 selfish in his conduct of the school, or if he has struck a 
 dead level and progress ceases, then for the good of the 
 school, he should gracefully step down and out. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS OFFICERS 
 
 The good superintendent will be interested person- 
 ally and professionally in his officers. As a rule, he 
 should be given the power to nominate those immedi- 
 ately associated with him in the general executive 
 leadership of the school; these in turn should be ap- 
 proved by the church board of religious education, or 
 other proper board, and elected by the school. As far 
 
182 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 as church-school efficiency is concerned, it is as neces- 
 sary and reasonable for the church-school superin- 
 tendent to select his cabinet as it is for the president of 
 the United States to name his. If, at the time of elec- 
 tion, any one of the superintendent’s nominees should 
 be opposed, the privilege of naming a substitute should 
 be granted him. Immediately after election, he will call 
 his cabinet for the detailing of specific duties, for which 
 he will hold them responsible. It is at such times that 
 he shows himself the real executive. It is well for him 
 to discuss fully with them their respective obligations, 
 perhaps having ready and distributing books and maga- 
 zine articles bearing directly on each officer’s work. 
 The diplomatic superintendent will find that it pays 
 well to sincerely commend his associates, giving them 
 public recognition; he will thus command their respect, 
 win their confidence, and gain their loyal support. In 
 his superintendent’s notebook (small pocket, looseleaf 
 one), he will keep a memoranda of the strength and 
 weakness of each officer, and tactfully, privately offer 
 suggestions. ‘‘ Spring fever’ may set in in November; 
 often a book will put iron in the blood, giving ambition 
 and skill to an indifferent, though capable, helper. He 
 will encourage attendance at institutes and conventions 
 for the same reason. Frequent cabinet meetings will 
 make possible plan-discussions and program making 
 that will guarantee team work and success. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS TEACHERS 
 
 In the event of a church director of religious educa- 
 tion or educational superintendent having chief respon-_ 
 sibility for the teachers and their teaching, the super- 
 intendent would, nevertheless, manifest constant and 
 kindly interest. In the absence of these officers, he 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT | 133 
 
 must carry on his heart all the work of every teacher. 
 His vital concern will show itself in some of the follow- 
 ing ways: (1) monthly conferences with all teachers 
 for prayer and spiritual growth, (2) personal confer- 
 ences with them concerning their class and pupil prob- 
 lems, (3) provision for convenient and comfortable 
 teaching conditions, room and equipment, and teach- 
 ing material, (4) urge them to secure standard leader- 
 ship training diplomas as soon as possible, (5) encour- 
 age them in reading books and journals, and in attend- 
 ing schools of methods and conventions, (6) be on look- 
 out for promising young people from sixteen years of 
 age up who would make prospective officers and teach- 
 ers, (7) arrange for regular meetings of departmental 
 groups with expert help for the teachers, (8) occa- 
 sional letters of cheer and best wishes, (9) calling on 
 those who are sick, (10) sending birthday and other 
 congratulatory messages, (11) give special attention 
 to new teachers with a public welcome to the teaching 
 staff of the school, (12) prepare list of available sub- 
 stitute teachers, getting their choices and consent, on 
 reasonable notice, to fill in the gaps, (13) participate 
 in the installation of teachers, (14) remember all his 
 teachers in private prayer, calling them by name. 
 
 A superintendent that will, in these ways, encompass 
 his teachers will have a loyal staff rendering commend- 
 able and immeasurable service. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS PUPILS 
 The superintendent should constantly be concerned 
 for the growth, happiness, and loyalty of his pupils. To 
 this end the following suggestions are offered: (1) 
 Publicly recognize new pupils in their departments, or 
 before the whole school, by bestowing upon them a 
 
134 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 school button, pin, or certificate of membership; (2) 
 each pupil; (3) if printed cards are sent to absentee 
 through the director of records, keep a card-calendar 
 index of all birthdays and send a birthday greeting to 
 pupils, these cards should carry his signature (an elec- 
 tro signature can be used); (4) speak a word, as occa- 
 sion may offer, to juniors and junior high school pupils 
 about accepting Christ as a personal Saviour; (5) send 
 congratulatory letters when a pupil publicly confesses 
 Christ as Saviour and Lord and unites with the church; 
 (6) if in a small school, the superintendent should come 
 into that intimate fellowship which will enable him to 
 know his pupils by their first names and thus greet 
 them wherever and whenever they meet; (7) as a busi- 
 ness man and Sunday school leader, young people will 
 doubtless seek his advice as to a life work; he will 
 gladly, prayerfully help; (8) occasionally, before the 
 whole school, hold up a good, wholesome book and 
 commend it as a book which pupils of certain ages 
 should read; (9) help classes select names, slogans, 
 colors, pins, songs, etc.; (10) use junior, intermediate, 
 and senior pupils on committees, sometimes assigning 
 a task to a whole group or class; (11) often a boy’s 
 messenger service, or a girl’s flower service is a bond 
 that holds and yields large returns; (12) institute an 
 honor system with percentage grading on six points: 
 (a) church-school attendance, (b) on time, (c) Bible 
 brought, (d) lesson studied, (e) offering given, (f) 
 church attendance; (13) be glad to enter into the socia- 
 bility interests of the children and young people that 
 center in the church building, and occasionally partici- 
 pate in their good times, or, at any rate, when possible, 
 be present a few minutes to show his good will, for if 
 he gives attention to their week-day play life, that has 
 
THE SUPERINTENDENT | 135 
 
 their major interest, they will reciprocate and give at- 
 tention on Sundays to the things that claim his time; 
 (14) after all, their spiritual welfare will be nearest the 
 heart of every sincere, devoted superintendent. 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT AND HIS COMMUNITY 
 
 The superintendent will be a good citizen and give 
 time, money, and strength to every community move- 
 ment which has as its purpose the moral and social wel- 
 fare of children and youth. He will know where the dan- 
 gerous places are. He will unite with all high-minded 
 men and women in making a decent city or district in 
 which to live and rear families. He will give any re- 
 spectable press reporter the glad hand who comes for 
 a church school “ story” that has general news value 
 for the public. He will set forward the work of the 
 public schools, grateful for what they do. The super- 
 intendent will cultivate the acquaintance, rejoice in the 
 success, and appreciate the good will of all his fellow 
 superintendents of all denominations, and will enthusi- 
 astically share in the work of interdenominational com- 
 munity councils of religious education. In brief, as far 
 as in him lies, he will be a citizen of no mean city, con- 
 secrating himself to the great cause of the religious edu- 
 cation of childhood and youth. 
 

 
IV 
 SUPERVISORY LEADERSHIP 
 

 
IX 
 KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 
 
 periods of growth and development of childhood, 
 
 and practical leadership methods, with the hope 
 that two things may be accomplished: (1) that the 
 information sketchily given may be of immediate help 
 to beginners in church-school leadership, and (2) that 
 this glimpse may create a yearning to know more, to 
 live long in the world-of-children, to walk and talk with 
 them in every highway and by-way of their lives. To 
 achieve this second thing, supervisors and teachers 
 should avail themselves of the standard courses of lead- 
 ership training. 
 
 There is probably no age group so important as 
 that bounded by birth, and puberty, the physical re- 
 birth. In every church school, large or small, there 
 should be a trained supervisor of children’s work. To 
 that supervisor the school and the parents hand over 
 a sacred trust to be faithfully kept. The supervisor, 
 even in the small school, serving without remuneration, 
 but not without reward, should conscientiously equip 
 herself, and also do all in her power to train or secure 
 training for all the teachers of the children’s division. 
 In the large church school, an efficient supervisor 
 should be employed on salary. 
 
 The usually accepted divisions of childhood, physic- 
 ally and mentally speaking, are: babyhood, from birth 
 on through years one, two, and three; early childhood, 
 
 139 
 
 I: this chapter, we present an airplane view of the 
 
140 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 years four and five; middle childhood, years six, seven, 
 and eight or nine; later childhood, years nine, ten, and 
 eleven (or twelve or later). Calendars cannot deter- 
 mine absolute limits; especially is this true of the later 
 years. The coming of puberty is the end of childhood, 
 no matter what the calendar says. However, these age 
 limits, set within the whole range of childhood, are 
 fairly accurate for the periods of growth and develop- 
 ment of normal children. 
 
 For purposes of church-school supervision, these 
 more or less natural periods constitute the well-known 
 age groups called: cradle roll, beginners, primary, and 
 juniors. 
 
 Skilful supervision and teaching are wholly depend- 
 ent on an accurate knowledge of the marked traits of 
 these areas of life. This may be intuitive, but none the 
 less real and important. In recent years, a number of 
 books, or chapters in books, and magazine articles have 
 appeared to guide church-school workers into a fuller 
 understanding of the nature and needs of child life. 
 For that reason, our treatment will be paragraphically 
 put, with no attempt at more than a simple sketch. As 
 we approach this outline study there comes to mind 
 these lines of Marion Craig: 
 
 GOD OF THE HEART AND HAND 
 
 “God of the heart and hand, 
 Teach me to understand; 
 I have forgotten in the long, long years, 
 All of my little childish hopes and fears. 
 It was so very, very long ago 
 Since I was in the world the little children know; 
 I have forgotten what I used to play 
 And dream and do, in that forgotten yesterday ; 
 And the wide wonder of my childish eyes, 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 141 
 
 Since I have grown so old and worldly wise. 
 
 Yet now these come to me with faces raised to mine 
 These little ones, dear Father, they are thine! 
 Teach me to lead them to thy own true light, 
 
 Help me to guide their little feet aright. 
 
 “ God of the heart and hand, 
 Teach me to understand; 
 I know so little of the thought that lies 
 Back of the shining of those childish eyes; 
 I guess so little of the wonder there 
 Under the curling of the sunny hair; 
 It was so very, very long ago 
 Since I, too, knew the things that children know; 
 Yet, hast thou given them to me to lead. 
 Out of thy wisdom, grant me all I need; 
 Patience of purpose, faith and tenderness, 
 Trusting thy perfect love to lead and bless. 
 Help me to remember. O, for this I pray, 
 Make me again the child of yesterday; 
 Teach me to understand.” 
 
 - While in this chapter, we offer marked characteris- 
 tics of normal children in their different age areas of 
 life, it is well to keep in mind that children at the same 
 calendar age vary much because of heredity and en- 
 vironment, by all that native ability and training can 
 do for them. There are at least seven kinds of ages, 
 viz.: (1) the calendar-age (chronological), (2) body- 
 age (physiological), (3) mind-age (psychological), (4) 
 school-age (pedagogical), (5) social-age (sociologi- 
 cal), (6) moral-age (ethical), and (7) religious-age 
 (theological). For example, a little girl coming to her 
 eighth birthday anniversary may be physically about 
 six, mentally, nine, in school with seven-year-olds, be- 
 cause late in starting, socially at least ten, morally and 
 religiously, perhaps ten or eleven. Or a boy may be 
 
142 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 nine by the calendar, twelve in body, eight in mind, 
 third grade in school, and only a seven or less in moral 
 and religious measurements. 
 
 The church-school leader of children then will un- 
 derstand that the nature of cradle roll, beginners, pri- 
 mary, and junior children briefly described in this 
 chapter is to help her to know what she may generally 
 expect to find in the child life of these four age groups. 
 
 BABYHOOD, OR THE CRADLE ROLL CHILD 
 
 We think of the years from birth to the fourth anni- 
 versary of birth as babyhood, the pre-kindergarten 
 period, classified in church-school nomenclature as the 
 cradle roll. They are years of most rapid proportion- 
 ate physical growth, and other changes, which gives the 
 period an indescribable fascination to all real lovers of 
 child life. 
 
 The baby comes into his new world with certain phy- 
 sical and mental equipment: reflexes which are simple 
 reactions to environment, breathing, winking, twisting, 
 and the like; zustincts, chains of reflexes, more complex 
 reactions, ‘“‘ inborn tendencies toward specified modes 
 of behavior,” such as feeding, and later, fear, and many 
 others; 7mpulses, such as reaching, prattling, crawling, 
 and walking (if unused, they disappear; if used, they 
 ripen into habits and become a part of the instinctive 
 inheritance of the race); consciousness or awareness, 
 the creative element in the growth and development of 
 the child as his hungry senses “literally eat up” his 
 environmental stimuli. 
 
 The leader of these tiny tots is a nurturer in the high- 
 est, holiest sense, and therefore, must be carefully, 
 prayerfully selected. To rare intelligence must be 
 added the spiritual characteristics of a sensitive, sym- 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 143 
 
 pathetic soul, for this leader is the discoverer of desir- 
 able reflexes, impulses, instincts, and the developer of 
 these into the worth-while habits that hold the life 
 steady and true through all the years. 
 
 THE CRADLE ROLL DEPARTMENT 
 
 Origin. ‘The cradle roll idea began in the Central 
 Baptist Church of Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1884, and 
 has spread until there are thousands of cradle rolls all 
 over the world. In the United States alone, there are 
 probably one and one-half million enrolled in more than 
 fifty thousand cradle roll departments. 
 
 A Bit of Prophecy. Present indications in the litera- 
 ture of child life and in the practice of kindergarten 
 colleges, lead us to believe that in the next decade far 
 more attention will be given to this pre-school age child 
 than is now given to the beginners. For this reason, we 
 give in this chapter more space to the consideration of 
 the cradle roll department. 
 
 Rooms for Bible Roll Classes,—the prettiest of all 
 church-school rooms, homelike, sunlit, well heated, and 
 ventilated, tinted walls, attractive curtains and shades. 
 
 Equipment. Warm rug, tiny chairs, blackboards set 
 low, flowering plants, perhaps birds in cages by win- 
 dows, blocks and objects of interest. 
 
 Program. Simple, varied, short, exercises (finger, 
 motion, marching); the songs, prayers, and stories, all 
 should be short, and with much repetition. 
 
 Courses. The best present object lessons which are 
 very simple and arranged in ten group subjects: the 
 food we eat, the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, 
 our families, our helpers, other helpers, our pets, the 
 world of outdoors, ourselves, little duties. There are 
 four to seven lessons in each group, total fifty-two, or 
 
144 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 enough for one whole year. Special lessons for Christ- 
 mas and other seasons. These should start the first 
 Sunday in October. Teachers’ equipment consists of 
 her text-book, a nest of colored picture blocks, a box of 
 objects, and a set of picture folders for the child to take 
 home. | 
 
 Ways of Securing Members for the Cradle Roll De- 
 partment. ‘The following ways have been tried: (1) 
 pastor’s visitation records, (2) through personal visits 
 of cradle roll principal, (3) ‘home department princi- 
 pal’s visits, (4) secured at time of church-school cen- 
 sus, house-to-house visitation, (5) pastor’s pulpit invi- 
 tation to parents, (6) through notices in church calen- 
 dar or weekly bulletin, (7) church-school superinten- 
 dent’s interest and appeals, (8) definite listing of names 
 of babies whose brothers and sisters are in different 
 departments of church school, (9) watching birth 
 notices in daily papers, (10) watching moving vans 
 which carry baby carriages, (11) friendly conversa- 
 tions by cradle roll principal with mothers seen on street 
 pushing baby carriages, (12) through calls made by 
 visitors as helpers to cradle roll principal, (13) through 
 posters which carry pictures and invitations, (14) 
 through letters and postcards sent by church-school offi- 
 cers, (15) through parent-teacher associations, moth- 
 ers’ club, and classes, (16) through special effort on 
 children’s day, (17) through definite enlistment on the 
 annual cradle roll day. 
 
 Advantages of a Cradle Roll Department: (1) Heads 
 the child churchward and Christward; (2) commends 
 itself to Christ, who said, “Let the little children 
 come;” (3) creates a bond of interest between parents 
 and the church and church school; (4) often enlists 
 mothers in a mothers’ club or parent-teacher associa- 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 145 
 
 tion; (5) sometimes makes possible a mothers’ class 
 at the church school; (6) often the means of winning 
 non-church-going parents to Christ and the church; (7) 
 puts responsibility upon parents for the Christian nur- 
 ture of their children; (8) gives the church and church 
 school a sort of first mortgage on the child; (9) one of 
 the best ways of recruiting the church school; (10) 
 gives a wide open home-door to the pastor or church 
 visitor; (11) a large, successful department attracts 
 special and favorable attention to the church or church 
 school with which connected; (12) awakens in the 
 church itself the sense of obligation and the privilege 
 of ministering to children; (13) often puts the church 
 next to some of its finest, quiet, constructive charity 
 work; and (14) offers service to the cradle roll princi- 
 pal and many young people as visitors and helpers. 
 
 The Principal’s Privileges and Duties: (1) Enrolls 
 the babies, using index cards for purpose (date, name, 
 birthday, father’s name, mother’s name, names of 
 brothers or sisters in church school, address); (2) ar- 
 ranges public recognition service for the new depart- 
 ment before the whole church school; (3) invites 
 mothers to be present and provides helpers for them; 
 (4) gives certificates of membership; (5) places names 
 on the church school’s large cradle roll; (6) selects 
 competent assistants (room helpers, bright girls in mid- 
 dle teens, often best—home visitors, visitors should be 
 more mature so they can better understand and help 
 mothers,—messengers, often from the juniors to carry 
 letters, notices, membership cards, literature, etc.); (7) 
 trains and directs these assistants through reading and 
 study courses; (8) enlists the interest of adult classes 
 or church groups, men or women, (a) where charity is 
 needed, (b) where automobiles are needed; (9) keeps 
 
146 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 in touch with pastor or church visitor in cases needing 
 pastoral ministry; (10) sends birthday cards, flowers, 
 and letters of cheer and condolence; (11) visits the 
 babies’ homes, especially in time of sickness and sor- 
 row; (12) keeps the cradle roll department constantly 
 before the church school and church; (13) conducts 
 cradle roll parties; (14) in some cases makes provision 
 for cradle roll nursery at church; (15) prepares the 
 cradle roll department for participation in special 
 church-school events (rally day in autumn, promotion 
 day in autumn, Christmas, Easter, children’s week in 
 April, children’s day in June, cradle roll day); (16) 
 promotes mothers’ club or class, suggesting books and 
 courses, prayers, stories, and songs; (17) circulates 
 literature for mothers; (18) supervises Sunday instruc- 
 tion for older cradle roll members, selecting courses 
 and securing teachers; (19) prepares annual report for 
 the church-school superintendent. 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE BEGINNER’S CHILD 
 
 The little child four and five has the following traits: 
 (1) a fidgety moving about; (2) a flitting imagination; 
 (3) a play spirit; (4) an insatiable curiosity; (5) a 
 frankness in speech,and manner; (6) a limited vocab- 
 ulary; (7) a small range of interests; (8) a circum- 
 scribed experience; (9) a pliability in muscle and in 
 mind; (10) a lack of concentration; (11) a sensitive- 
 ness; and (12) a credulity that must not be shattered 
 but nurtured into a lifelong faith. 
 
 THE BEGINNERS’ DEPARTMENT 
 Children’s supervisors have set up certain standards 
 based on the nature of early childhood,—upon what 
 seems to be possible for a child of four and five. The 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 147 
 
 so-called international standards may be stated here in 
 substance. Although they need revision, they point the 
 way. 
 
 Conduct Expected: Love, trust, and reverence for 
 God, association of the heavenly Father with daily life, 
 right behavior, love for God through prayer, praise, and 
 effort to please Him, love for others through acts of 
 helpfulness. 
 
 Child Should Have: A knowledge of the power of 
 God to give love, protection, and care, a consciousness 
 of God as his heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as his 
 friend, ideals of right conduct, opportunities for wor- 
 ship, opportunities for helpautness. 
 
 Provision Should Be Made for: (1) Retinoids in- 
 struction and religious experience suited to the child of 
 beginners’ age, secured through the use of beginners’ 
 graded lessons, the story method and informal conver- 
 sations with pictures and objects, contact with nature; 
 (2) an environment which fosters religious feeling, 
 secured by providing a separate room (curtained or 
 screened place where room is not available), making 
 the room or corner attractive, homelike, and childlike, 
 lighted and well ventilated, appropriate in color and 
 decoration, furnishing chairs suitable for little children 
 (preferably arranged in a circle), adequate materials 
 for teacher and children, having separate program for 
 the entire session where room is available; (3) oppor- 
 tunities for self-expression, secured through worship 
 in song, prayer, offerings, and Bible verses, conversa- 
 tion, retelling of stories and handwork, self-control, and 
 deeds of kindness; (4) teachers qualified by nature, 
 training, and religious experience, that is, teachers who 
 possess a sympathetic understanding of child life, have 
 a personality attractive and helpful to children, seek 
 
148 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 frequent contact with little children in their home, 
 school, and play life, graduates or students in a train- 
 ing course, and who lead a sincere Christian life; 
 (5) children of similar interests and limitations 
 grouped into a beginners’ class or department, compris- 
 ing children four and five years of age, having a teacher 
 or principal and assistants, and the promoting of chil- 
 dren about six years of age to the primary department 
 on annual promotion day. 
 
 Lessons: 'The two-year course prepared by Frances 
 W. Danielson has set a high standard. ‘There are 
 other good courses. 
 
 Expression for Beginners: (1) Handwork, such as 
 picture pasting, coloring, tracing, paper cutting, tearing 
 and foldings, sand table, and simple clay modeling; 
 (2) songs, and (3) prayers that are short, simple, ex- 
 pressive of child nature; (4) service for others, 
 flowers for sick classmates, shut-in child, or aged. 
 
 Organization and Administration: There are 
 needed: principal, teachers, pianist, keeper of records, 
 ' caretakers, and other assistants. ‘The principal should 
 be a lover of children, patient, kind, cheerful, with a 
 quiet, pleasing vioce. Her duties are: (1) to train 
 and supervise teachers; (2) classify pupils; (3) select 
 courses and materials of instruction; (4) arrange all 
 programs for Sunday and special days; (5) conduct 
 the circle talk and general features of program; 
 (6) welcome members from cradle roll class; (7) get 
 pupils ready for promotion to primary department; 
 (8) keep the beginners’ department before the church 
 school; (9) cooperate with homes, for lesson help, in 
 times of sickness, birthday greetings, cases of special 
 need. | 
 
 Room: Should be (1) large and separate, if pos- 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 149 
 
 sible with sound and sight-proof walls; (2) on main 
 floor; (3) southeast corner with many windows; 
 (4) well heated in winter and cooled in summer; 
 (5) good ventilation summer and winter; (6) quiet, 
 cheerful color scheme, with walls and ceilings some 
 warm tint, with window shades and decorations in 
 harmony. 
 
 Equipment: (1) Rug (quiet colors); (2) small, 
 white tables, about twenty inches high, if at all; 
 (3) small, white chairs, about twelve inches high; 
 (4) sand table about twenty inches high; (5) piano, 
 (6) wall pictures hung low on level with eyes of chil- 
 dren and so they can touch them (copies of best,— 
 seasonal, home, animal pets, nature scenes, children 
 playing); (7) low-set blackboards; (8) birds and 
 flowers; (9) cabinets for lesson courses, teaching ob- 
 jects, kindergarten materials, models, scissors, paper, 
 paste, etc.; (10) desk for principal and teachers. 
 
 Program: (1) Purpose of program may be, accord- 
 ing to Frances W. Danielson, five fold: (a) to create a 
 sense of good fellowship and intimacy (greetings); 
 (b) to afford opportunity for worship (prayer and 
 songs); (c) to call forth the children’s ideas; (d) to 
 present new thoughts (story periods); (e) to give 
 scope for expression on their part (offering, play, hand- 
 work); (2) kind of program, simple, varied, flexible, 
 short portions; (3) length of program, a beginners’ 
 specialist makes this time schedule: Quiet music and 
 greetings, seven minutes; opening prayer and offering, 
 eight minutes; circle talk, twenty-two minutes; rest 
 period, three minutes; story period, twelve minutes; 
 dismissal, eight minutes, making a total of sixty 
 minutes. 
 
150 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE PRIMARY CHILD 
 
 The normal pupil in middle childhood, ages six, 
 seven and eight, has the following characteristics: 
 (1) a very active body, always wanting to do some- 
 thing; (2) mind and heart hunger for knowledge and 
 power; (3) intense loyalty to parents, teacher, friend; 
 (4) imitation, a deliberate choosing to be and to do as 
 others; (5) an inquisitiveness with initiative and per- 
 sistence in it; and (6) a more controlled and directed 
 imagination. This child ordinarily has started to 
 school and, therefore, has an ever-widening social 
 horizon, with a large vocabulary, closer observation, 
 ever-widening experience, and more complex interests. 
 
 We commend a book by Mary T. Whitley, A Study 
 of the Little Child, for workers with beginners, and in 
 this connection, also her book, A Study of the Primary 
 Child, whose chapter titles are: What They Are as 
 They Come to Us—What They Bring to Us—Ways 
 They Feel and What They Want to Do—Response to 
 New Atmosphere and Relationships—Physical Powers 
 —Need of Mental Satisfaction—Imagination—Atti- 
 tude Toward People—Modification of Character—Re- 
 ligious Growth. 
 
 THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT 
 
 Primary supervisors hold in substance to the fol- 
 lowing so-called International primary standards. 
 
 The conduct of the primary child may manifest: 
 Love, trust, reverence, and obedience to God the Father 
 and Jesus Christ the Saviour; recognitions of the 
 heavenly Father in daily life; love of God through 
 worship; love and reverence for God’s Book, God’s 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 151 
 
 day, and God’s house; increasing power to act in re- 
 sponse to ever-enlarging ideas of what is right and 
 desirable; increasing spirit of obedience and helpful- 
 ness; and increasing power to give love and forget self 
 in social relations. 
 
 The primary child should have: A knowledge of God 
 in His love, care, might, and power to give help and 
 guidance; a consciousness of God as the heavenly 
 Father and Jesus Christ the helper and Saviour; ex- 
 perience and training in worship; happy associations 
 with God’s Book, God’s day, God’s house; instruction 
 concerning what is right and wrong, proper examples 
 and opportunities for choosing the right; opportunities 
 for helpfulness; and opportunities for play and service 
 in cooperation with others. 
 
 Provision should be made for: (1) Religious in- 
 struction and religious experience suited to the children 
 of primary age, secured through the use of primary 
 graded lessons (graded primary supplemental lessons 
 with the uniform lessons when used), the story method, 
 with pictures, blackboard, and illustrative material, 
 graded missionary and other instruction; (2) worship 
 which expresses the child’s religious feeling, secured 
 through,—appropriate service of worship, reverent 
 atmosphere and proper environment, the teacher’s 
 spirit and manner, and contact with nature; (3) an en- 
 vironment which inspires order and reverence, and is 
 conducive to worship and work, secured by,—a sep- 
 arate room (curtained or screened place, where a room 
 is not available), light and well ventilated, attractive 
 decorations and arrangement, comfortable chairs and 
 class tables, adequate material for teachers and chil- 
 dren, and a separate program for entire session, where 
 a room is available; (4) opportunities for self- 
 
152 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 expression alone and with others, secured through,— 
 worship in song, prayer, and scriptures, conversation, 
 retelling of stories, recalling memory verses and hand- 
 work, giving, which includes missionary offerings, and 
 unselfishness, self-control, and acts of service; (5) 
 teachers qualified by nature, training and religious 
 experience; that is, teachers who possess a sympathetic 
 understanding of child life, have a personality at- 
 tractive and helpful to children, seek frequent contact 
 with little children in their home, school, and play 
 life, and who are graduates or students in a training 
 course, a school of principles and methods, or a com- 
 munity training school, lead a sincere Christian life; 
 (6) children, six, seven, and eight years of age, grouped 
 into a class or department, according to age, interest, 
 and ability; in a small school, a primary class separate 
 from other classes; in a larger school, a primary de- 
 partment, with a principal, officers, class teachers, and 
 classes comprising not more than eight children, class 
 groups of six-year-olds in grade one, seven in grade 
 two, and eight in grade three, and with promotion of 
 children from grade to grade within the department 
 and graduation from the third grade into the junior 
 department, with recognition on the annual promotion 
 day. 
 
 Materials and Methods of Instruction: The best- 
 trained teachers demand some graded series, either 
 the departmental or the closely graded. Other teachers 
 use the uniform lessons. The methods include recita- 
 tion of the simple sort, story-telling in abundance, 
 handwork, easy projects, dramatics, music, and 
 pictures. 
 
 Rooms: Large, cheerful, well lighted and heated, not 
 in basement, one large room for assembly, with three 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 153 
 
 or more small class rooms with solid walls, if possible, 
 also cloak room and nearby toilets. 
 
 Equipment: (1) Tables, chairs, and piano; (2) les- 
 son texts for teachers and pupils; (3) handwork 
 supplies—pencils, crayons, drawing paper, scissors, 
 paste, molding boards, sand trays, etc.; (4) black- 
 boards, class and lap; (5) pictures, wall and lesson 
 course pictures; (6) note books; (7) record books; 
 (8) boxes and cabinets for keeping lesson supplies and 
 handwork materials. 
 
 Organization and Administration: A principal and 
 assistants, teachers, pianist, record keepers, room 
 helpers are needed. Monthly, and if possible, weekly 
 conferences should be held, setting up such organiza- 
 tion as will make possible the realization of the stand- 
 ards above mentioned. 
 
 Programs: The children’s work supervisor, the 
 primary principal, and helpers should plan such pro- 
 grams of instruction and expression through worship, 
 play, and service activities as will guarantee to the 
 children their mental and spiritual birthright. Books 
 of primary programs are available. The teachers’ 
 manuals in the graded lesson series give full directions 
 for the conduct of the department. Valuable sugges- 
 tions often are made in teachers’ helps in the uniform 
 series. Journals abound in practical plans. ‘There is 
 _ need of variety and progress from Sunday to Sunday, 
 in all programs used. 
 
 A SNAPSHOT OF JUNIORS 
 
 It is hard to get a time-exposure of juniors. A 
 moving picture is easier. These boys and girls of 
 nine, ten, and eleven years of age, normally, show the 
 following traits: (1) bounding health, inexhaustible 
 
154 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 vitality; (2) steam engine, or some other kind of 
 energy; (3) love of reading; (4) good memory; (5) 
 love of questioning; (6) fact-hunger; (7) collecting 
 instinct; (8) friendliness; (9) habits easily formed; 
 and (10) susceptibility to evangelistic appeals. The 
 junior period is the “wonderful” time of childhood. 
 These pre-adolescents are a challenge to the best 
 supervisor and teacher. Discipline is not easy. The 
 results, however, of capable service in their behalf 
 are most gratifying. 
 
 THE JUNIOR DEPARTMENT 
 
 Junior specialists have set up International stand- 
 ards which, in substance, are given here as a guide to 
 junior principals and teachers. 
 
 A junior’s conduct may manifest: Love and loyalty to 
 God the Creator and Father, and to Jesus Christ as 
 daily Companion, Guide and King; acceptance and 
 public confession of Jesus Christ as his Saviour; rev- 
 erence, love, praise, and thanksgiving through worship; 
 right choices and decisions in increasing numbers; acts 
 in accord with ideals of moral heroism; habits of 
 church attendance, daily Bible study, daily prayer, 
 and systematic, intelligent giving; growth of a life of 
 service to others; an unselfish and cooperative spirit 
 in social relations. 
 
 The junior pupil should have: Knowledge of God in 
 His creative and sustaining power, and of Jesus Christ 
 in His power and majesty; personal knowledge of 
 Jesus Christ as his Saviour; experience and training 
 in worship; such acquaintance with the lives of heroes 
 of the faith as will make him feel the attractiveness 
 and value of right behavior; knowledge of Bible con- 
 tent and related facts of geography and history; an 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 155 
 
 understanding of what is meant by a Christian life for 
 a junior child; opportunities for service; ample oppor- 
 tunity for social contact under guidance. 
 
 Provision should be made for: (1) Religious in- 
 struction and religious experience suited to this stage 
 of moral and spiritual development, secured through,— 
 the use of junior graded lessons, graded junior sup- 
 plemental lessons, with the uniform lessons when used 
 (some denominations recognize only graded lessons), 
 special studies in the life of Christ, a combination of 
 the story, recitation, and question methods in teaching, 
 with use of Bible by pupils, and suitable handwork, 
 the use of pictures, blackboards, maps and other avail- 
 able illustrative material, the memorization of scripture 
 and church hymns related to the lesson text, frequent 
 competitive map memory and Bible drills between 
 classes, graded correlated missionary instruction, 
 graded correlated temperance instruction; (2) wor- 
 ship which expresses feelings and aspirations possible 
 to a junior child, secured through,—appropriate service 
 of worship, reverent atmosphere and proper environ- 
 ment, the principal’s spirit and manner, and the 
 teacher’s reverent participation in the service; (3) an 
 environment which inspires natural, reverent worship, 
 and is conducive to orderly study and work secured 
 through,—a_ separate room (curtained or screened 
 place where room is not available), light and well 
 ventilated, separated classes during lesson period 
 (partitions, curtains, or screens), attractive decorations 
 and arrangement, comfortable chairs and class tables, 
 adequate materials for teachers and pupils, a separate 
 program for entire session where a room is available; 
 (4) stimulation through incentives and recognition, in 
 order that right actions may become habitual, secured 
 
156 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 by,—credits given for regularity, punctuality, sys- 
 tematic giving, daily Bible readings and study, memory 
 work, neatness and completeness in handwork, church 
 attendance; department honor roll, department motto, 
 such as “‘Be ye doers of the word,” teacher’s example 
 and helpfulness, exhibit of pupil’s work; (5) oppor- 
 tunities for self-expression in conduct, individual and 
 social, secured through,—worship in hymn, prayer and 
 scripture, participation in class or department drills, 
 doing required handwork, giving to the local church, 
 missions and benevolences, departmental and _ indi- 
 vidual acts of service, signing the temperance and anti- 
 cigarette pledge, frequent social gatherings, entering 
 into church membership; (6) teachers qualified by 
 nature, religious experience and training; that is, 
 teachers who possess a sympathetic understanding of 
 the experiences, needs and possibilities of junior boys 
 and girls, who meet the needs of these pupils for Chris- 
 tian adult companionship in everyday life, who live, 
 worship, and work in harmony with all that is desired 
 for the pupils, who are graduates or students in a 
 training course, a community training school, or a- 
 school of principles and methods, and are continuing 
 their specialized training in a graded union, or by the 
 reading of one specialization book a year; (7) pupils 
 of nine, ten, eleven years of age grouped into classes or 
 a department, according to age, sex, interest and abil- 
 ity; in a small school, a class of boys and a class of 
 girls, separated from other classes, in a large school, 
 a junior department, with a principal, officers, class 
 teachers, and classes comprising not more than eight 
 boys or girls; class groups, nine-year-olds in grade 
 four, ten-year-olds in grade five, and eleven-year-olds 
 in grade six, promotion of pupils from grade to grade 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 157 
 
 within the department, graduation from the sixth grade 
 into the intermediate department, with recognition on 
 the annual promotion day. 
 
 Matertals, Methods, Organization and Programs: 
 There are many valuable handbooks on junior plans, 
 giving source materials for instruction and expression 
 with vital methods, and types of efficient organization, 
 all aiming at the realization of the above standards. 
 Teachers’ journals also give help. In large, efficient 
 schools, juniors have a department assembly room with 
 several adjoining class rooms having solid, sound-proof 
 partitions. 
 
 The best church schools use graded lessons, either 
 the closely graded courses or the departmentally graded 
 series. For the most part, schools use the Interna- 
 tional system, although some use the graded courses 
 issued by general publishers. Other church schools 
 use the improved uniform series, either the Interna- 
 tional system issued by denominational houses, or by 
 non-denominational publishers. 
 
 The supervisor understands the best teaching meth- 
 ods for juniors are stories, hand work, and project- 
 problems. A number of books are available on the 
 principles and methods of teaching, with special refer- 
 ence to the junior group. Practically all of the teach- 
 ers’ books in the graded series have large sections on 
 “Suggestions to Teachers.” 
 
 On organization and programs, a number of good 
 books are available. We commend to supervisors of 
 junior work the following books: Junior Method in the 
 Church School, by Marie Cole Powell. The chapter 
 titles are: The Junior World—The Junior Child— 
 Finding Standards in the Junior’s Experience—The 
 
158 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Curriculum for the Junior Child—Available Materials 
 and How to Enrich Them—The Art of Teaching 
 Juniors—Types of Teaching—The Classroom Period— 
 The Use of the Story in the Junior Department—Tell- 
 ing Stories to Juniors—Educating Juniors Through 
 Worship—The Elements of a Service of Worship— 
 Planning the Worship Program—Education Through 
 Activity—Education Through Manual Work—Educa- 
 tion Through Dramatization—Training in Service— 
 The Junior Department at Work—The Junior and the 
 Church—The Junior Teacher. 
 
 Church Work with Juniors, by Meme Brockway. 
 The chapter titles are: The Church and its Juniors— 
 Junior Boys and Girls—Organization—Equipment— 
 Programs—Memory Work and Drills—Story-Telling 
 and Dramatization—Expression Through Handwork 
 and Service—Incentives and Promotion—Winning 
 Juniors for Christ. 
 
 Junior Department Organization and Administra- 
 tion, by Ida M. Koontz, who treats of the following 
 subjects: Department Organization—Organization of 
 Junior Life—Teachers—Rooms and Equipment— 
 Building the Program—Worship—Other Program Fea- 
 tures—Incentives, Credits and Recognition—Observ- 
 ance of Special Days—Extension Organization and 
 Through-the-Week Activities. 
 
 These books also will be helpful: A Curriculum of 
 Worship for the Junior Church School, by Edna M. 
 Crandall, Training Juniors in Worship, by Mary Alice 
 Jones, The Junior Worker and Work, by Josephine L. 
 Baldwin, The Juniors: How to Teach and Train Them, 
 by Maud Junkin Baldwin, All About the Junior, by 
 Elizabeth Williams Sudlow, Our Junior Department, 
 by Jeanette A. McNaughton. 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING CHILDREN 159 
 
 THE FAITHFUL WORKER WITH CHILDREN 
 
 The supervisor, the principal, the teacher, the parent 
 —each leader of children who: is sincerely true to her 
 trust—is amply rewarded. Lucy Rider Meyer voices 
 the divine and human partnership in these words: 
 
 “ But, Lord, this ceaseless travail of my soul! 
 This stress! This often fruitless toil 
 These souls to win! 
 They are not mine. 
 He looked at them—the look of One divine !— 
 Then turned and looked at me: But they are Mine, 
 
 “© God! I said. I understand at last, 
 Forgive! and henceforth I will bondslave be 
 To Thy least, frailest little ones; 
 
 I would not more be free. 
 He smiled and said, It is to Me.” 
 
Xx 
 KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 supervisor of work with young people. If 
 
 there is any young people’s group at all, there 
 should be a recognized head who plans, directs, and 
 conserves. In many large churches, this officer is a 
 highly trained and well paid one. Scores of exception- 
 ally fine young people have either qualified for effi- 
 cient service and are now professionally employed, or 
 are in preparation for this field of life work, which in 
 far-reaching importance is second to none. Religious 
 education departments in colleges and universities also 
 in seminaries and in special schools of religious educa- 
 tion offer attractive courses of recognized educational 
 values for those taking up this vocation as a profession. 
 Training courses for volunteer supervisors are available 
 in institutes, conferences, and summer schools, also 
 through correspondence study and reading courses. In 
 these days, ignorance and inefficiency are inexcusable. 
 
 FE x= church, however small, should have a 
 
 THE SUPERVISOR’S STUDY 
 
 The pages of this chapter are offered for immediate 
 help to those in actual service, paid or volunteer. The 
 paragraphs are only hints in the direction of more in- 
 tensive reading and study. The limitations of a chap- 
 ter’s presentation prevent detailed suggestions. Each 
 paragraph, in a way, is a window through which the 
 
 supervisor may look to the farther reaches of the sub- 
 160 
 
KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 161 
 
 ject. It is hoped that the look may lead to the search 
 which will richly reward the searcher. 
 
 To know the psychology of the age groups served 
 is of first and chief value to the supervisor for himself 
 (herself) and those he serves who may participate as 
 teachers and officers, divisional, departmental, and in 
 class, club, society, or other group. Every leader of 
 young people, whatever form his leadership may take, 
 must know the nature of the human-life-stuff which he 
 hopes to use and conserve. He builds without founda- 
 tion who ignores the marked characteristics of adoles- 
 cents. His superstructure of organization, instruction, 
 and expression may be mere theoretical castles-in-the- 
 air in which no flesh-and-blood human can or should 
 dwell. The form of service must rest down upon a sane 
 psychology or, to change from an architectural figure 
 to mechanics, the service must gear into the nature 
 and needs of the individual and the group. Defective 
 gearing-in means lost motion, hit-and-miss headway, 
 and results that are disappointing. The whole truth 
 quickly put clothes itself neither in architectural nor 
 mechanical terms, but in genetic. All programs must 
 grow out of the nature and needs of adolescents. A 
 sketchy introductory study in terms easily understood 
 will be helpful to the leaders of young people. 
 
 THE PERIOD OF ADOLESCENCE 
 
 By young people, we mean those who are in the 
 period of adolescence. Adolescence is the span of life 
 between puberty and maturity, averaging about twelve 
 years. Puberty marks the physical beginnings of sex 
 life, with its divinely given procreative power. It is 
 the only empirical test of the dawning of adolescence. 
 For girls, normally, it comes between twelve and 
 
162 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 fourteen, and for boys, normally, between thirteen and 
 fifteen, averaging about one year earlier for girls. 
 Time of puberty varies in different races, climates, 
 heredities, and conditions of living. In North America 
 it is exceptional to begin before eleven or later than 
 fifteen or sixteen. Adolescence is not a fenced-off 
 segment of life, but a natural part of the unfolding 
 process and must be related in our thinking with child- 
 hood on the one side and adulthood on the other. 
 In his Psychology of Adolescence, Tracy reminds us as 
 follows: 
 
 ‘“‘Adolescence is not a life by itself, but a stage in the 
 total life. The attempt to study it by itself alone would 
 inevitably end in misunderstanding. Striking and char- 
 acteristic as its peculiar features are, they have their prepar- 
 atory conditions in the preceding periods, and many of their 
 effects persist unto the end of life. There is no character- 
 istic of adolescence whose germ may not be found in child- 
 hood, and whose consequences may not be traced in ma- 
 turity and old age. No adequate understanding of this 
 period is possible unless one looks also beyond the period in 
 both directions. They little know of adolescence who only 
 adolescence know. Back of adolescence are boyhood and 
 childhood, and back of childhood are the forces of heredity, 
 and all about the individual are the diverse operations of 
 the environment; while, on the other hand, youth develops 
 into maturity and maturity is succeeded by senescence, 
 decay, and death. Nay, further, according to the prevail- 
 ing view of our race, the individual was made to continue 
 into a life beyond that which now is; and in the considera- 
 tion of what he is, as well as of that which he should become 
 through education, all these things should be taken into 
 account.” 
 
 KNOWING EARLY AND MIDDLE ADOLESCENTS. 
 
 The whole of adolescence divides into three periods, 
 early, middle, and later. The calendar again cannot 
 
KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 163 
 
 arbitrarily fix boundaries by years. More recently, 
 religious educators, for organizational purposes and 
 church-school grading, have been using age groupings 
 as follows: early adolescence, 12, 13, 14 (intermedi- 
 ate); middle, 15, 16, 17 (senior); and later, 18 on to 
 23, inclusive (young people). This classification may 
 not be the best, but it is probably as good as the 
 church-school leader can devise with the understanding 
 that physiology is the determinant, especially for the 
 first two groups. Early and middle adolescence corre- 
 spond to the junior and senior high school periods, 
 while later adolescence is the age of college or entrance 
 on business. 
 
 As in the previous chapter, so in this, the church- 
 school leader will find an airplane view this time of 
 the kingdom of youth, with a few of the outstanding 
 characteristics of adolescence described and in every- 
 day language such as he that “flyeth” may understand. 
 The following paragraphs are only hints in the direc- 
 tion of fuller technical studies that the leader should 
 pursue. 
 
 Since the time of appearance of traits differs more 
 widely in the early and middle periods, due to the 
 uncertainty of puberty, it seems best to treat these 
 together. 
 
 Early adolescence is the awakening time physically, 
 mentally, and morally. It is the time when nature 
 says to boys and girls, “Ye must be born again” phys- 
 ically. The infolded vitality of later childhood now 
 unfolds in the dawning days of youthhood. There is 
 also a mental, an educational awakening, though more 
 gradual, for the mind reaches begin to extend. High 
 school horizons begin to appear. The junior high 
 school of today gives a broader outlook than the old 
 
164 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 four-year high school of two decades ago, and the 
 senior high school, with its enriched curriculum, gives 
 better instruction in the physical and social sciences 
 than most colleges of a generation ago. The church 
 school cannot afford to be mentally dead when into its 
 classrooms come boys and girls mentally awake to the 
 wonders of nature and human nature. 
 
 With the adolescent’s increased physical and mental 
 powers come intensified moral problems. Almost daily 
 he comes to the fork in the road and faces an ethical 
 situation that demands immediate and individual de- 
 cision. It is here in these yeasty years of early 
 adolescence that the boy needs the confidential com- 
 radeship of a wise, sympathetic father, or a man 
 teacher in the church school, and for identically the 
 same reasons, the girl needs an informed and chummy 
 mother, or a splendid, understanding Christian woman 
 as a church-school leader and friend. These years are 
 also the awakening time emotionally, for often phys- 
 ical desires, appetites, and passions stir themselves into 
 a fury. Experiences are such as childhood did not 
 have. It is a time of stress and storm on the lake of 
 life, because it is all new and because judgment and 
 self-control are not yet at the pilot wheel. It is not at 
 all a surprise to know that most recent thorough studies 
 place the greatest spiritual awakening in this early 
 adolescent group. Social and vocational awakening 
 come in the middle period and mature in later 
 adolescence. 
 
 Specific traits of early and middle adolescence, sim- 
 ply put, are as follows: 
 
 Rapid Physical Growth and Development. These 
 years mark the most rapid proportionate bodily growth 
 of any period except the first three years of life. 
 
KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 165 
 
 Muscles, bones, tissues are in a great marathon. In 
 the first few months bones seem to win, later, muscles 
 speed up, otherwise the early adolescent would be 
 doomed to the awkward squad forever. Tyler, in his 
 Growth and Education, and Tracy, in his Psychology 
 of Adolescence, and Miller, in his Education for the 
 Needs of Life, give us interesting figures with refer- 
 ence to comparative growths. Kirkpatrick, in his 
 Individual in the Making, gives this table, showing 
 proportionate size of head, body, arm, and leg of an 
 adult and a child. It is opportune here that we may 
 realize that adolescence is the time when these propor- 
 tions are changed, and rapidly so. 
 
 COMPARATIVE SIzzes 
 
 
 
 Comparing boys and girls as to weight, Tracy says: 
 The rate of increase in weight in boys culminates at 
 about sixteen, that of girls two or three years earlier. 
 Girls, on an average, are heavier than boys for about 
 two years, i.e., from thirteen’ to fifteen, but boys are 
 heavier at all other times. By the end of the period of 
 the teens, both boys and girls have nearly reached nor- 
 mal adult weight. As to heights, he gives these figures: 
 for boys at twelve, height fifty-five inches; at thirteen, 
 about fifty-seven; at fourteen, about sixty; at fifteen, 
 
166 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHiP 
 
 about sixty-two or sixty-three; at sixteen, about sixty- 
 five; after sixteen, slower growth in height until maxi- 
 mum between twenty-one and twenty-three. As to the 
 heights of girls: at twelve, slightly taller than boys; 
 at thirteen, they lead by nearly an inch; at fourteen, 
 their lead is reduced, and at fifteen it disappears. At 
 sixteen, the average boy is more than two inches taller 
 than the average girl. The church-school leader vitally 
 concerned should read what Professor Tracy says con- 
 cerning the growth during adolescence of brain, 
 circulatory, respiratory, nervous, muscular, and skele- 
 tonic systems. 
 Tyler’s figures are: 
 
 “At twelve years of age, the normal boy weighs about 
 seventy-seven pounds; at fifteen, one hundred and seven. 
 
 ; The girl’s acceleration in weight comes one year 
 earlier than in the boy. At twelve, a girl has two-thirds 
 of her weight at twenty years. At fifteen, nine-tenths. 
 A boy’s height at twelve is normally fifty-five inches; at 
 fifteen, it is sixty-three inches. A boy gains eleven per 
 cent in height from twelve to fourteen. At twelve he has 
 four-fifths of his adult height; at fifteen, nine-tenths. At 
 twelve the girl is one inch taller than the boy, but during 
 the following four years, the boy will overtake her in 
 height.” 
 
 Miller’s studies lead him to these facts: 
 
 “Physical growth is very rapid at the beginning of 
 adolescence. Particularly is this true of height. Extreme 
 cases have been known of increase in height of twelve or 
 thirteen inches in a single year. But this is very unusual. 
 Growth in weight lags behind increase in height; it is 
 slower and continues for several years after growth in 
 height has slowed down or ceased. . . . Girls attain 
 their height earlier than boys of the same age in height 
 and weight. Later the boys shoot up and become ulti- 
 mately taller and heavier on the average than girls.” 
 
KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 167 
 
 During all of this rapid growth, parents and leaders 
 who are wise will be patient and will be especially 
 careful to prevent overplay and overwork. 
 
 Primitive Pugilistic Instincts. One of the race in- 
 heritances is the fighting instinct. When the time of 
 rapid physical growth comes for boys, at least, there 
 is a tendency to want to settle disputes in the primeval- 
 forest fashion. The gradual introduction of controls in 
 the experiences of childhood, saturated with Christian 
 idealism, will prepare the way for the righteous subju- 
 gation of this savage trait and its direction into chan- 
 nels of victory over physical and other temptations. 
 The instinct itself is God-given and should not be 
 destroyed. The church-school leader’s chief task is to 
 direct it to worthy ends. 
 
 Omnivorous Appetites. Growth means grub. The 
 engine of physical power demands fuel and plenty of 
 it. Healthy boys and girls both can be defined at this 
 age as “‘an appetite with the skin pulled over it.” The 
 writer, in his book, Brothering the Boy, tells the 
 following story: The father of a thirteen-year-old boy 
 who has an eighteen-year-old sister, watched him stow 
 away a good-sized breakfast, and then said, “C : 
 last night at the Y. M. C. A., Mr. Raffety said boys 
 like you were in the grub-age.” C , aS quick as a 
 flash, replied, “Papa, I’d rather be in the grub-age 
 than where sis is; she is in the garb-age.” Long ago, 
 the writer’s experience as a probation officer in the 
 juvenile court, led him to believe that there is a very 
 vital connection between an impoverished body and the 
 tendency to crime. Wholesome food bears a direct 
 relation to wholesome character. Eccentric appetites, 
 especially of girls at this age, for eccentric foods often 
 impair their health just at a time when they need 
 
 
 
 
 
168 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 superstrength. Quite often the health of boys is not 
 as good as in later childhood, for the same reason. 
 
 Snobbishness. More immaturities of an immature 
 period of life. Early adolescence is a time when race 
 prejudices, class or clique hatreds, social-set distinc- 
 tions, run riot. Every church-school leader of this age 
 knows what these primitive tribal traits mean in the 
 harmony or discord of class or club organization. Girls 
 turn up their noses; boys turn up their fists. This 
 means snub time for some member of some class or 
 group. Investigations show that this very thing hangs 
 high the exit sign over many church schools. 
 
 Heredity’s Ups and Downs. Puberty time is hered- 
 ity time. When the physical life of boys and girls is 
 going through the stress and storm of early adolescence, 
 and the whole body is shaken up, getting ready for the 
 readjustments of the later teens, it is then that hered- 
 ity’s prenatal mortgage is pretty apt to be foreclosed. 
 Traits that are good and traits that are bad begin to 
 appear. The church-school leader of Jack or Janet 
 does well to exercise himself in patience before passing 
 quick judgment on their conduct. Perhaps the father 
 and mother can throw some light on the unexpected 
 turn taken in their behavior. A long look through the 
 ancestral ark may also reveal a few interesting facts. 
 Did not Oliver Wendell Holmes say: “If you want to 
 know a boy, begin by studying his grandfather”? The 
 church-school leader can well afford often to pull a 
 rocking-chair up alongside of that of grandpa and 
 grandma and silently learn of them such valuable 
 information as will make his leadership more efficient. 
 Heredity that blesses and heredity that blights play 
 important parts in the drama of adolescent life. Cer- 
 tainly, every child has a right to be well born, to enter 
 
KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 169 
 
 life without heredity’s awful handicaps upon him. 
 Scientific men are quite agreed that the evil effects of 
 alcoholism and the diseases of sex-sins are transmit- 
 table and are, therefore, damning hundreds of the race. 
 “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s 
 teeth are set on edge,’’—a piece of age-old wisdom. 
 
 Fun-Mania. Youth time is fun-mad time. F-U-N 
 is the cable code that reaches youth any time, any- 
 where, in any land. It is the Esperanto language of 
 adolescents. Fun may be the dessert, the relish, in 
 adult life, but for youth it is the dinner, dessert, and 
 all, with many a lunch between meals. Fun they will 
 have, and should have, somewhere. The serious and 
 sensible question for all church-school leaders to face 
 is this: Will they satisfy this natural love for fun in 
 commercialized, paganized places of amusement, or 
 will the churches of Christ capitalize on this trait of 
 youth and provide a variety of good times, and co- 
 operate with high-minded Christian men willing to do 
 so, under the wholesome influences that hold young life 
 to the things that make for Christian ideals, character, 
 and conduct. It is a solemn thought that the church 
 schools of America have within their forces the power 
 sufficiently strong to control the fun supply of most 
 communities. 
 
 _ Elemental Justice. There is a sense of honor in the 
 early adolescent years which leaders must recognize 
 and use. It is the sure foundation on which character’s 
 - superstructure must be built. In games, class sessions, 
 and various activities we often hear such expressions as 
 “fair play,” “square deal,” “above board,” “honor 
 bright,” “cross your heart,” all significant of an inborn 
 love of right dealing, that must be respected. The 
 adolescent’s associates and leaders in basketball, Bible 
 
170 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 lesson, or business meeting, does not matter which, 
 are all subject any time to the white light of their 
 supreme court of justice. 
 
 Eccentric Interests. We may call them hobbies, 
 freakish follies, pastimes, or by-paths to the land of 
 keen delight,— whatever the label, boys and girls in the 
 early teens “‘just love” to do some things out of regular 
 routine of home, church, or school duties——and who 
 does not? Kodaking, electricity, radio, taxidermy, 
 water color, “playing” in wood, leather, paper, gesso 
 or what not,—it gives release from “scheduled slavery” 
 which is welcomed. Like the by-products of great 
 industries, quite often these by-paths in youth lead to 
 fields of life investments, yielding rare treasure. The 
 boy’s hobby-horse may turn out to be the winged steed 
 of the man’s best successes for himself and others. 
 
 Habit-fixing. As later childhood was a period of 
 habit formation, so early and middle adolescence is the 
 habit-fixing time. The church-school leader, with the 
 wider experience and the long look ahead, will skill- 
 fully help his boys and girls to throw off the habits 
 that hinder and harm, and fix the habits that will be 
 life’s surest anchors in the trying years of manhood 
 making. 
 
 Devotion to Leaders. Loyalties in later childhood 
 are a fact, but are fleeting, whereas now they become 
 more personal and permanent. The junior period is 
 not hero-worship time. Boys and girls then respect, 
 admire and even love heroes and heroines, but not until 
 the early teens do they single out, put on a pedestal, 
 and worship. On the street, in a book, magazine, or 
 movie, somewhere, in fact or fiction, the hero or heroine 
 looms up,—then idolatry begins. . 
 
 Love of the Open. The adolescent, whol physically 
 
- KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 171 
 
 “born again,” is born a scout, a lover of the open. 
 Whether male or female, the trail lures on and out to 
 a freedom from the restraint of houses, streets, laws 
 and elders. This migratory instinct is a natural crav- 
 ing for God’s great out-of-doors. It is a primitive 
 trait projected down through all the ages. It isa 
 yearning to break with that “cabined, confined, con- 
 quered” compulsion that cramps and shrivels the soul. 
 It is a desire to feel the thrill of a little authority, self- 
 made. Camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, horse- 
 back riding, “Fording”—anything is a “joy forever,” 
 that gives the new adolescent-developing-personality a 
 chance to express itself. Here is the leader’s great 
 open sesame. Supplying this heart-hunger of youth, or 
 sharing in it, is the leader’s supreme privilege and 
 oy. 
 
 Chumminess. Early and middle adolescence is 
 chum time. Said a mother, “those two girls are just 
 like Siamese twins.” And one of the hard-to-explain 
 things is that this consciousness of kind, as the sociol- 
 ogists call it, leaps the barriers of race, raiment and 
 religion. A Hebrew boy and an Irish boy have been 
 known to link soul to soul in a chummery that nothing 
 could break. 
 
 - Gregariousness. The time of cliques among girls 
 and gangs among boys is in early adolescence. This, 
 again, is a tribal trait which every leader must take 
 into account in all his organizational plans for these 
 groups. He digs his own grave if he attempts to set up 
 a rival government. Instead of condemning this social- 
 ized expression of self-reign, the leader, moving along 
 horizontal lines, will capture this organizing spirit and 
 channel it into classes that will be an honor to the 
 school. 
 
172 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Pep-speech Time. Every parent and church-school 
 leader knows that high school boys and girls delight to 
 shock the devotees-of-the-dictionary. Whatever grades. 
 they may make in the languages, they always register 
 A+ in “slanguage,” and, indirectly, they contribute to 
 the word-making enterprise, for many words now mov- 
 ing in the polite society of the literati were once con- 
 sidered low-browed slang. What should church-school 
 leaders do about it? Condemn it? Better not. Simply 
 let it alone. 
 
 Acute Self-consciousness. Very largely the result of 
 rapid growth and consequent physical awkwardness, 
 or it may be charged up to an enlarged ego, or it may 
 be the legitimate struggle of the adolescent to release 
 himself from the chrysalis cocoon of childhood. Any- 
 way, the leader must be patient and considerate, which 
 he will be if he should become reminiscent. Super- 
 selfness is absolutely necessary that personality may 
 come into its own in the march toward maturity. 
 
 Silliness in Mannerisms and Jests. Simply the super- 
 ficial effervescence of immaturity. The wise leader 
 laughs at it and lets it alone. There are “giggly wig- 
 glvs” all over the world doing a “self-serve”? business. 
 “O you silly thing, you are just like I used to be.” 
 The mother was right, for daughter looked at “dad” 
 and got a knowing wink. Care free, fun-loving, lovable 
 lads and lassies,—they pass this way only once. 
 
 Headiness. Appendicitis may yield to a surgeon’s 
 knife, but “stubbornitis” does not “go” that way. The 
 over-developed will in adolescent boy or girl creates 
 a problem of no small proportions. The casualty list 
 right here is sometimes alarming. Stubborn boys run 
 away and hearts and homes are broken. Headstrong 
 girls often under the spell of chums do “crazy-fool” 
 
KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 173 
 
 things counter to the wishes of parents. Sometimes 
 parents and leaders insist on the perpendicular ap- 
 proach, seeing one side only, and thus are to blame. 
 And sometimes again, in spite of parental and leader- 
 ship reasonableness, adolescents become wilful and, | 
 by their disobedience, bring sorrow to their best 
 ’ friends. 
 
 “Pendulumbago” is another malady of early and mid- 
 dle adolescence, swinging from one extreme to another. 
 It is a time of groans and grins, with many superlatives 
 in language and life. The leader’s own well-balanced 
 character and behavior will do much to restore equilib- 
 rium and sanity in those he leads. 
 
 Time of De- or Re-generation. The early adolescent 
 years for some mark the time of crime, as juvenile 
 court records show; for others the time of conversion 
 and church loyalties, as all such statistics reveal. The 
 sad or the glad swing of the life is due to many things, 
 of course, but after all, it is largely a case of leader- 
 ship, vicious on the one hand, and Christian on the 
 other. Early adolescence is an emotional crisis time,— 
 as life swings to one extreme, it brings sorrow and 
 misery or, swinging in the other direction, there is joy 
 and peace. Marion Lawrance, prince of church-school 
 leaders, told the following story: ‘John Prucha and 
 Leon Czolgosz were schoolmates in day school. They 
 had the same kind of chance, one apparently no more 
 promising than the other. The first one went to Sun- 
 day school and learned from the Bible the right prin- 
 ciples of right living and right citizenship. He is now 
 Bohemian pastor of a Congregational church in Ohio. 
 The second lad, with every opportunity the first one 
 had, refused to go to Sunday school and grew up on the 
 street. The fatal bullet that took from our country its 
 
174 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 beloved president, William McKinley, was fired by 
 this second lad in the music hall at Buffalo.” 
 
 KNOWING LATER ADOLESCENTS 
 
 The period from eighteen to twenty-three or -four 
 is exceedingly important, but the most critical time is 
 in early and middle adolescence, hence more space has 
 been given to these years, for the church-school leader 
 finds there his gravest problems. ‘Traits of later ad- 
 olescence are: 
 
 Self-assertiveness is a marked characteristic of this 
 period. Much book learning doth make them Bae- 
 deker guides to their globe-trotting friends. They run 
 information bureaus and no patron need turn away 
 with an empty head. City directories, railroad guides, 
 phone books, cable codes, Britannica Encyclopedias, 
 and even congressional libraries take refuge in their 
 capacious heads. Their business sign reads: “Answers 
 to Your Questions Fitted While You Wait.”’ For some 
 of us older, forgetful folks, these young friends come 
 in handy as time-savers. The church-school leader 
 finds them a noble lot, responsive, and most helpful in 
 putting across plans that have a challenge in them. 
 
 Girl-and-Boy Obsession. Strong attraction socially. 
 Loyalties of other days for parents, teachers, clique 
 or gang, now give way to God’s own beautiful mating 
 instinct, fidelity to one friend. The church-school 
 leader often can be a “‘wise old owl” as a looker-on, 
 and can tactfully drop a suggestion now and then that 
 will purify and ennoble courtships and prepare es way 
 for happy Christian marriages. 
 
 Show-and-Go Time. The mania for amusement has 
 followed close on the heels of the fun-mad time. Now 
 it is sociables, parties, outings, excursions, evening 
 
KNOWING YOUNG PEOPLE 175 
 
 entertainments, anywhere, any time, just to be to- 
 gether, for beaux time means show-and-go time. Older 
 girls and young women plan many happy hours to- 
 gether. Older boys love hunting, fishing, and camping 
 trips of the more adventurous sort, if possible, in com- 
 pany with a few pals whose “best girls” are also good 
 friends. 
 
 Period of Adjustments. Later adolescence is a time 
 when muscular, skeletonic, and other anatomical sys- 
 tems are making adjustments, culminating in physical 
 maturity. Mental and moral adjustments are also 
 being made. Adjustment time is danger time. The 
 leader that is needed is the one who seems never to be 
 in the way and yet is always within elbow reach to 
 render tactfully, unobtrusively sincere and valuable 
 assistance. 
 
 Doubters, Wise and Otherwise. The awakened in- 
 dividuality, self-reliant and self-assertive, becomes 
 both the strength and the weakness of these later 
 adolescents. Quite often they carry secretively the 
 questionings concerning spiritual things, and if they 
 pull themselves into doubting castles and bolt the 
 doors, they get no help. It is unfortunate that some 
 of the childhood teachings once straight now take on 
 ugly-looking, twisted shapes. Thrice blessed is the 
 doubter who has a leader-teacher who can intelligently, 
 sympathetically, straighten out these interrogation 
 points into plain declaration points of living faith in 
 the great eternal verities. The leader’s patience, 
 reasonableness, and sincerity will usually win. A ques- 
 tioning, however trivial it may seem, must not be 
 ignored. It may be the thread that holds the rope that 
 in turn holds the cable that steadies the very anchor 
 of this adolescent’s soul. 
 
176 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Go-Getiers. Physical prowess, intellectual keenness, 
 moral and spiritual abilities of the later teens and early 
 twenties make many of these young people great 
 achievers. In college classrooms, on gridirons and 
 fields of sport, in debates, orations, and other forms of 
 literary excellence, there are scores of go-getters. 
 Some who cannot pursue courses in higher institutions 
 of learning turn into business with ambitions that 
 drive them on to success. For the most part, it is a 
 time when vocational decisions are fixed for life’s full 
 investments. Altruistic motives are more apt to dom- 
 inate service now than heretofore. It is the church- 
 school leader’s big opportunity. 
 
XI 
 LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE 
 
 N this chapter the supervisor studies briefly the 
 aims of the three adolescent age groups, sugges- 
 tions for constructing an adequate policy for 
 
 young people’s work in the church school, an outline 
 of organizational types for a young people’s council, 
 the technique of class organization, the acute problem 
 of the exit sign, the young people’s teacher which boys 
 like best, the young people’s teacher which girls like 
 best, and the religious life and needs of early, middle, 
 and later adolescents. 
 
 AIMS OF ADOLESCENT AGE-GROUPS 
 
 Knowing the nature of young people, the leader may 
 reasonably expect the realization of certain definite 
 results in their lives at the more or less distinct periods 
 of their growth and development. The writer served 
 for years on an international committee on young 
 _ people’s work which formulated the following group 
 aims: 
 
 _ For Early Adolescents (ages 12, 13, 14). (1) The 
 _ acceptance of Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour; (2) 
 _ a knowledge of Christian ideals; (3) a personal ac- 
 -ceptance and open acknowledgment of these ideals; 
 (4) a public acceptance of the privileges and oppor- 
 tunities of church membership; (5) the development 
 
 of the social consciousness, and the expression of the 
 177 
 
178 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 physical, social, mental, and religious life in service 
 to others. 
 
 For Middle Adolescents (ages 15, 16,17). (1) The 
 acceptance of Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour; (2) 
 the testing of his earlier Christian ideals in the light 
 of his enlarging experience and the consequent adjust- 
 ment of his life choices and conduct; (3) the expres- 
 sion of the rapidly developing social consciousness 
 through the home, church, and community; (4) the 
 development of initiative, responsibility, and _ self- 
 expression in Christian service. 
 
 For Later Adolescents (ages 18-23). (1) The ac- 
 ceptance of Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord; 
 (2) the maintenance of tested Christian ideals and the 
 relation of these to the practical work of life; (3) the 
 preparation for and a willingness to assume the duties 
 and responsibilities of home-making and citizenship; 
 (4) the preparation for and acceptance of a definite 
 place in the organization and work of the church for 
 the community and the world; (5) the preparation for 
 and acceptance of a definite place in the work of life, 
 business, professional, industrial, that in and through 
 daily work the will of God may be done and His 
 kingdom in the world promoted. 
 
 ADEQUATE POLICY 
 
 A few keywords like cablegram codes may quickly 
 suggest the items in an adequate policy of supervision 
 of young people’s work.* Jnvestigation,—a thorough 
 survey of field and forces: (1) boys, girls, and young 
 people themselves, who they are, where they are, and 
 what they need in the church, the church school, and 
 
 *For fuller suggestions, see the author’s book, Brothering the 
 Boy, pages 174-185. 
 
LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE Lo 
 
 other groups, and in the community; (2) helpers,— 
 ability, availability, and training needed; (3) com- 
 munity conditions; (4) organizations already at work, 
 —their programs, policies, and results achieved, mak- 
 ing an analysis and tabulation for further use; 
 (5) the necessary and desirable forms of meeting the 
 needs of young people; and (6) the accessibility of 
 equipment, and budgets to finance a satisfactory 
 policy. Utilization of such helpers and organizations 
 as are available until fuller study leads to better things. 
 Organization,—comprehensive, cooperative, and, if 
 possible, correlated, with provision for at least three 
 types: (1) divisional, or general for the whole age 
 range, twelve or thirteen to twenty-three or twenty- 
 four; (2) departmental; z.e., for each age group; and 
 (3) class, club, or society. Instruction in classes or 
 other groups through a constructive forward-looking 
 series of correlated courses suited to the life-and- 
 conduct situations of the ages served. Worship, 
 through instruction and participation that it may be 
 intelligent and effective. Recreation, for the conserva- 
 tion of play energy and its transformation into 
 character-making values. Service, in the fullest, most 
 fruitful sense, Christ motivated, and meeting human 
 _ needs near and far. 
 
 A SUGGESTIVE TYPE OF ORGANIZATION 
 
 With certain adaptations to meet local conditions, a 
 number of types might be utilized. One of the types 
 which has been in successful operation for years is in 
 the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church of Huntington, West 
 Virginia. Efficient supervision has made this church 
 program for young people a yielder of worthwhile 
 results. We offer it here as a suggestive type. 
 
180 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 1. Young People’s Divisional Organization 
 
 a. Division Head—superintendent (supervisor). 
 
 b. Division Officers—president, secretary, treas- 
 urer, pianist, song leader. 
 
 c. Division Committees—Cooperative, Service, and 
 Program. 
 
 d. Division Departments—girls’ department, ages 
 12 to 18; boys’ department, ages 12 to 18; 
 young people’s department, ages 19 to 24. 
 
 e. Division Council—division superintendent, de- 
 partment superintendents and presidents. 
 
 2. Departmental Organization (same for all three de- 
 
 partments). 
 
 a. Department Head—superintendent (principal). 
 
 b. Department Officers—president, secretary, 
 treasurer, librarian, pianist, song leader. 
 
 c. Department Committees—Cooperative, House, 
 and Service. 
 
 d. Department Council—department superinten- 
 dent, officers, teachers, and class presidents. 
 
 
 
 3. Class Organization 
 a. Class Head—teacher 
 b. Class Officers—president, secretary, treasurer 
 c. Class Committees—Missionary and Member- 
 ship. 
 
 4. Program 
 a. Division 
 (1) Sunday evening sessions for devotional 
 and leadership training. 
 (2) Occasional week-day social session 
 (3) Appropriate service activities 
 b. Departments 
 (1) Sunday morning sessions for worship and 
 inspiration. 
 (2) Monthly week-day sessions for social and 
 recreational program. 
 (3) Appropriate service activities 
 
LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE 181 
 
 c. Classes 
 (1) Sunday morning sessions for instruction 
 (2) Weekly sessions for business and four- 
 fold activities. 
 (3) Appropriate service activities 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE’S COUNCIL 
 
 As indicated above, or in some other form, there 
 should be a young people’s council through which a 
 young people’s supervisor can give general direction 
 to all church-school work with young people. The 
 council should consist of the young people’s supervisor, 
 the principal and officers of each department, the 
 teachers of all classes in entire division and the 
 presidents of all organized classes. This makes a 
 representative group. There should be free discus- 
 sion. Through the council the divisional plans should 
 be set up and a correlation of programs should be made 
 possible. It should choose its representatives to serve 
 in the general church-school council. 
 
 The principal work with young people is done in 
 and through the organized classes. 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE’S CLASSES 
 
 Size of Classes: Intermediates, twelve to fifteen 
 members; senior, fifteen to twenty-five members; 
 young people, any size. Almost without exception, 
 there should be separate classes for boys and girls, 
 also for young men and young women. More in- 
 teresting programs can be worked out and better results 
 secured. 
 
 Class Organization. Why should young people’s 
 classes be organized? (1) To conserve the organizing 
 spirit and capture it for church school and Christian 
 purposes; (2) to afford opportunity for self-govern- 
 
182 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 ment through self-reliance and self-expression; (3) to 
 develop individual initiative and personal responsi- 
 bility; (4) to satisfy the social or gang instinct; (5) 
 to enhance class spirit and loyalty and general church- 
 school esprit de corps; and (6) to provide adequate 
 programs of week-day activities. 
 
 What Officers Are Needed? ‘Teacher, president, first 
 vice-president as chairman of membership committee; 
 second vice-president as chairman of service commit- 
 tee; third vice-president as chairman of recreation 
 committee; director of records, and a director of 
 finances. 
 
 Term of Office usually should be six months. 
 
 Class Equipment. The following are desirable: arm- 
 chairs, blackboards, piano, maps and charts, pictures 
 and flags, song books, Bibles, study courses, cabinets 
 for Bibles, song books, lesson books, and a reference 
 library. 
 
 Class Activities should be provided which are: (1) 
 class centered; (2) church centered; (3) community 
 centered; and (4) world wide centered. These should 
 be comprehensive and conserve all physical, intellec- 
 tual, social, and religious interests. 
 
 Class Organization Tested. ‘The following are sen- 
 sible tests: (1) is the class over-organized? (2) are 
 the members congenial, 7.e., is there good class morale? 
 (3) does the teacher fit the class? (4) are the courses 
 of study suited to the class? (5) is there too wide a 
 range of ages in the class? (6) does the class have a 
 real objective? Is it existing for self or others? (7) 
 are the room (or place of meeting) and equipment 
 satisfactory? (8) is the class instruction enriching the 
 personal lives of the members? (9) is the work of the 
 class giving its members a larger vision of service? 
 
LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE > 183 
 
 (10) does the class attendance approach enrollment as 
 near as it should? (11) does every member of the 
 class have some definite responsibility? (12) is the 
 attitude of the class as a whole what it ought to be 
 toward the school as a whole? 
 
 EXIT SIGN—UP OR DOWN 
 
 It is the business of the supervisor of young people’s 
 work to know why boys and girls in the early teens 
 leave the church school, and what to do about it. 
 I have received from boys and girls hundreds of 
 answers to the question why early adolescents leave 
 the church school. These have been analyzed and the 
 answers fall into six groups, 7.e., six reasons why the 
 exit sign is up in certain church schools: (1) some 
 homes are to blame, with parents irreligious, indiffer- 
 ent, irreverent, or actively hostile; (2) some teachers 
 are responsible, who fail to understand boys and girls, 
 who are irregular in attendance, with lessons poorly 
 prepared, no interest between Sundays, or whose lives 
 on Mondays belie their lessons on Sundays; (3) some 
 schools are so conducted that exit signs are more 
 numerous than welcome doors; (4) other boys or girls 
 outside may be the magnets that pull away and keep 
 away those who should remain in the church school; 
 (5) some answers indicate that the boy himself or 
 girl herself is the one who nailed up the sign, that even 
 with a good home, a live school, an attractive, efficient 
 teacher, and fine friends, they stubbornly break away; 
 (6) some communities are guilty, the whole social 
 trend being to head boys and girls away from the 
 church and its school. 
 
 If the exit sign is up, take it down. Reclaim the lost 
 pupils; hold the ones who remain; secure the best 
 
184 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 teachers, best lessons, best organization and super- 
 vision possible,—for a boy or girl lost to the church 
 school is often lost to Christ as a Saviour and Friend, 
 lost to the church, to the denomination, to Christian 
 citizenship, and to the great enterprises of the 
 Kingdom. 
 
 The teacher is the one important key to the solving 
 of this acute problem. It is interesting to note what 
 boys and girls themselves expect in a teacher. 
 
 THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S TEACHER BOYS LIKE BEST 
 
 In the writer’s class in “Young People’s Methods,” 
 at the recent International Older Boys’ Camp Confer- 
 ence at Lake Geneva, he got many answers, a few of 
 which are given here: 
 
 “* Hello, boys, how are you this bright morning?’ 
 That’s what I like to hear from my Sunday-school 
 teacher ; bright as the morning he mentions and as full of 
 pep as can be, but he knows the lesson, and I also know 
 that when he is there I, too, will know it. In his eyes I 
 see the light of the trail blazer, a fourfold leader and liver. 
 That’s my pick. . . . The boys in the average Sun- 
 day school like a cheerful, patient teacher who has pre- 
 pared his lesson and knows what he is teaching; a teacher 
 who can hold the interest of a class in any religious way; 
 a teacher who is a boy himself in his spirit, and is not 
 ‘hard boiled.’ . . . Full of life; consistent; keeps his 
 word; strict; good sport; knows how to take a joke; 
 ‘Johnny, wiggle this way,’ and not ‘Johnny, don’t wiggle’; 
 interested in each of his pupils and their interests ; Chris- 
 tian fellow with a ‘ round’ face; useful in all emergencies 
 and situations ; fellow who is a star among fellows of his 
 own age; good athlete. . . . A fellow who is a little 
 older than myself who comes into the room with a smile 
 and a quick step; starts his task with a lot of kick and 
 makes it snappy all the way through; one that knows you 
 when you are out of class and tries to become a real pal 
 
LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE 185 
 
 to his fellows. . . . Personality—beaming, striking 
 (not hurting); socially active—snappy; physically— 
 strong, with reserve force; spiritually inclined and help- 
 ful; intellectually—sure and definite; imaginative, or 
 good planner. . . . A real man; a Christian; a good 
 mixer ; practices what he tells us; a playmate ; talks heart 
 to heart with a fellow; on time; prepared lesson; good 
 program; not stuck-up; one of us all; good personality; 
 good character; good, healthy body; has a good story to 
 tell. . . . A teacher that gets his ideas across; that 
 can lead in social activities ; a teacher that is at home any- 
 where and one who leads the fourfold life (Luke 2: 52) 
 in public and in private; must be friendly. 
 
 “A man who is a boy who has never grown up in his 
 relations with boys; strong in character; true to his faith 
 and creed; an athlete who knows about sports; joyous 
 when it’s time; serious when it’s time; courageous and 
 brave; a true sport ; who loves boys and understands their 
 minds and feelings. . . . Frank, jolly, stern as the 
 case may be, amiable, good sport, a stick-to-it guy; a 
 helper in religious problems; one who gives you the stuff 
 straight from the shoulder ; one who stands upon the rock 
 of his convictions, unmoved by all criticism; one who sees 
 as boys see; a sympathizer with them; a helper in times 
 of trouble; an example at which a boy may shoot his 
 whole life. . . . Humorous; peppy; educated; a good 
 sport; an athlete, religious; know how to teach; cou- 
 rageous; have patience; knows boys.... A live wire; 
 fun and reverent on occasion; bluntly candid; physically 
 well; brains ; fair; sincere; not double-lifed ; sympathetic ; 
 talkative—also on occasion; no false dignity; no false 
 modesty. . . . The boys like teachers who have a 
 vital relationship with God; one who has enough insight 
 into human nature to be able to understand their problems 
 and one who will help solve them. Boys like teachers 
 who live during the week what they preach on Sunday. 
 
 Athletic ; quick thinking ; able to keep good order ; 
 well prepared lesson; smiling face—not overdone; given 
 to telling good, snappy stories to clinch points home; rich 
 material background of liberal arts ; young, except in very 
 special cases; earnest; pleasant figure, personality, voice; 
 
186 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 religious. . . . One who is patient; determined; 
 peppy; physical courage; friendly; tolerant; courteous ; 
 kind: democratic; calm; clean; punctual; responsive; 
 capable of winning boys to religion; ability to lead; a 
 sportsman; open-minded; cheerful; judicious; decisive; 
 honest; refined; smiling face; prayer life which is warm. 
 : Young; peppy; excellent personality ; good phy- 
 sique ; who gets the boys to talk; person who sticks to it; 
 person there every Sunday ; a companion and big brother ; 
 not a smoker or user of drugs or liquor; good scholar; 
 good athlete; member of the Sunday school and the 
 church. . . . A peppy one; one who doesn’t give ad- 
 vice; a good sport; a friendly one; one who knows what 
 he is talking about; one who loves athletics as well as 
 Bible; one who comes to class prepared; one who can 
 start the ball rolling in any direction; one who above all 
 is sincere.” 
 
 THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S TEACHER GIRLS LIKE BEST 
 
 In his “Young People’s Methods” class at the Inter- 
 national Girls’ Camp Conference, at Lake Geneva, the 
 writer got dozens of answers, the following being 
 typical: 
 
 ‘Young in spirit, though not necessarily young in years; 
 friendly to all; attractive in character; a thorough knowl- 
 edge of the Bible and modern-day questions; sympathetic 
 at all times; understanding; an influential character; a lot 
 of ‘pep’; personal interest in all. . . . Kind; instructive; 
 have a knowledge of girls she teaches; have a knowledge of 
 subject; strong character; lovable; Christian-woman; use 
 good English; do not preach a sermon; be a pal to the 
 girls; an all-round woman, or a four-fold woman; loyal to 
 her job; gentle voice and good manners. ...A jolly, 
 young teacher who is full of pep and life and who really 
 has the spirit of Christ in her; one who will enter into 
 the lives of her girls and who can also go into sports 
 with the girls; one frank and true and ever ready to help the 
 girls. . . . The first requirement, she must be human, not 
 
LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE 187 
 
 painfully pious nor a ‘goody-good’; she must be a peppy, 
 good sport, live a clean, Christian life; she ought to be a 
 person to whom you can speak frankly on any subject, and 
 not betray confidences. . . . Girls like a teacher who is old 
 enough to understand them, and yet young in spirit, ready 
 to sympathize and enter into class activities with real, sin- 
 cere enthusiasm. A teacher must know her material thor- 
 oughly, know the Biblical and geographical background, but 
 most of all, be able to draw out some important truths from 
 the lesson which will help a girl in her everyday life. The 
 teacher who does this by illustration, stories, examples from 
 her own experience scores high. A teacher, of course, must 
 be a devout, enthusiastic Christian, whose Christ is Lord 
 and Master of her life, and seeks to win others to Him. 
 . . . Four-fold; peppy; reverent to God; sincere at all 
 times; honest with God; earnest in purpose; one who sees 
 the beautiful; one who understands her pupils and puts her- 
 self on even standards; eager for knowledge... . 
 
 “... Kind; a good, clean sport; thoughtful; reverent 
 where necessary; young in spirit if not in age; a good com- 
 rade and pal; a leader and helper; a real teacher; inter- 
 ested in girls and young people; not ill-tempered... . 
 Sincere; sympathetic; truthful; kindly; capable of seeing 
 two sides to a question; have a good general knowledge of 
 the Bible; willing to discuss things freely and not preach 
 a sermonette; interested; understanding her pupils; a leader 
 outside of class as in class; neat and trim in personal ap- 
 pearance; faithful in attendance. . . . She must be tactful 
 and patient; she must know folks and also know her job so 
 as to be able to suit her teaching to the needs and interests 
 of the class members individually; young people like a 
 spiritually-minded teacher in preference to a worldly-minded 
 one; pupils are very analytical and discriminate keenly be- 
 tween right and wrong; she must therefore be their ideal. 
 . . . Consecrated to Master’s work; capable of teaching; 
 sympathetic and understanding heart; have an attractive 
 and radiant personality; mother-like, with whom we can dis- 
 cuss our problems; fun loving; a real four-folder.... 
 Friendly to all; know girls personally; knows lesson ma- 
 terial and gives it in interesting manner so that the class 
 members can easily see the facts in lesson that will help them 
 
188 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 live better Christian lives; varies methods; helps girls with 
 their problems; teaches girls to cooperate in lessons; holds 
 attention of all; is enthusiastic; is four-fold.” 
 
 THE RELIGION OF EARLY AND MIDDLE ADOLESCENTS 
 
 It is highly desirable that every supervisor of 
 church-school work with young people should know 
 the religious characteristics and needs of adolescents. 
 The salient points are here given without elaboration. 
 
 What Their Religion Is Not. The religion of inter- 
 mediates and seniors (early and middle adolescents), 
 ages twelve to seventeen, is not: A “grandmother,” a 
 sissy, a holy roller, a pigeonhole, a monastic, scholastic, 
 nor a bombastic type of religion; their religion is not 
 imitative, meditative, talkative, nor speculative. 
 
 What Their Religion Is. What, then, is the religion 
 of early and middle adolescents? It is physical (not 
 metaphysical), primitive (crude in some ways), posi- 
 tive (not negative), personalized (hero worship), par- 
 tisan (group, gang, clique, tribal), paradoxical (full of 
 seeming contradictions), practical (a religion of 
 action), present day (earthlies, not heavenlies), pro- 
 pulsive (not compulsive, a force within, not a fence 
 without), and it is progressive. 
 
 What Early and Middle Adolescents Need Re- 
 ligiously. The religious needs are: (1) Christ as a 
 personal Friend whom they can know, trust, love, and 
 introduce; (2) an older brother or sister or teacher 
 as a chum; (3) Bible truth made attractive and vital; 
 (4) prayer life that is real, natural; (5) church fel- 
 lowship that is genuine, aggressive; (6) Sunday wor- 
 ship with scripture that is instructive, sermon that is 
 interesting, and songs that are inspiring; (7) religious 
 instruction, graded to their needs, rich in best biog- 
 
LEADING YOUNG PEOPLE 189 
 
 raphies, 7¢., great doers, missionaries, reformers, 
 patriots; (8) expression through directed and chal- 
 lenging social service, for they need to think, feel, will, 
 and do for others; (9) wholesome environment at 
 home, at school, on the street and in the community, 
 in which to grow a normal life; (10) good associates 
 in work or play; and (11) the opportunity to live a 
 free, natural Christian life as boys and girls. 
 
 THE RELIGION OF LATER ADOLESCENTS 
 
 The religion of young people eighteen to twenty- 
 three years of age, differs from that of younger boys 
 and girls. The religion of later adolescents is: (1) 
 vital in substance from center to circumference; (2) 
 altruistic in spirit; (3) positive in statement; and 
 (4) social in expression. It is (5) a Christ religion, 
 not a creed, ritual, church, or a book religion, but the 
 religion of a person, the Supreme Person,—Christ as a 
 Saviour, Christ as the manliest of men, Christ as loyal 
 Friend and helper, with sympathy and forgiveness, 
 Christ as the great achiever, Christ as Master, and 
 Christ the supreme satisfaction of one’s highest ideals. 
 
 The Spiritual Needs of Later Adolescents are: (1) 
 intelligent, well-grounded faith in the Bible as the 
 word of God; (2) intelligent, well-grounded faith in 
 Christ as the Son of God; (3) experimental knowledge 
 of Christ as a personal Saviour and Friend; (4) a real 
 sense of the need of prayer and worship in one’s every- 
 day life; (5) a church which does business for the 
 King; (6) religious instruction that is reasonable, 
 virile, functional, and constructive; (7) a teacher who 
 is intelligent, patient, sympathetic, tactful in dealing 
 with young people’s doubts; (8) a religious guide who 
 is positive, but not dogmatic; (9) for a church-school 
 
190 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 teacher a successful business or professional man or 
 woman whose life is above reproach; (10) fellowship 
 of genuine Christian comrades; (11) a church job 
 which has a challenge in it; (12) to realize that physical 
 prowess, business success, cultured personalities should 
 be consecrated to Christ and His service; (13) a king- 
 dom program which acknowledges Christ as the world- 
 conqueror; (14) a daily demonstration on the part of 
 their elders and superiors of the practicality of the 
 Christian religion; (15) training for educational, 
 social, and spiritual leadership of boys and girls; (16) 
 a vocation chosen which will honor Christ and in which 
 there is possibility of constant growth and ever- 
 widening influence and usefulness; and (17) a con- 
 ception of Christ as one who can use the best abilities 
 of the ablest men and women and who can satisfy 
 the highest and holiest of human ambitions. 
 
XIT 
 KNOWING AND LEADING ADULTS 
 
 HE supervisory leadership of adults requires, 
 first of all, an understanding of the traits of 
 
 maturity and then a keen sense of administra- 
 tive fitness. 
 
 ADULT TRAITS 
 
 Adulthood may be divided into early, middle, and 
 later periods, as was childhood and youthhood. How- 
 ever, there is no particular advantage in so doing. It 
 is usually safer to let adults classify themselves. 
 Almost any nomenclature would be faulty. Terms 
 have relative meaning. The church-school leader of 
 adults realizes the differences in those whom he seeks 
 to lead, and plans his program accordingly. He sees 
 the variety of ages and interests, distinctions in wealth, 
 degrees of education and training, personality assets 
 or liabilities, varied social positions, business and pro- 
 fessional abilities. The physical differences are not so 
 marked as the social and intellectual. The psychology 
 of adult life differs much from that of childhood and 
 adolescence. When full maturity has been reached, 
 there is a ripening of physical and mental powers for 
 the real achievements of life. Habits, for the most 
 part, are fixed. Ruts become canyons. Changes be- 
 come fewer and harder to make. There is also a more 
 or less fixity of opinions, preferences, prejudices, modes 
 of behavior, and principles for securing success. Citi- 
 
 191 
 
192 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 zenship now functions. There is home-making and 
 home responsibility, and concern for neighbors, busi- 
 ness friends, and community welfare. Resourcefulness, 
 industry, stability, and critical judgment mark the 
 mature man and woman. There is a growing interest 
 in race and class problems and in political and re- 
 ligious measures. The fountains of charity flow freely 
 or dry up entirely. Eccentricities loom on the horizon, 
 often becoming pronounced. Extremes appear and be- 
 come accelerated in both men and women. The beauti- 
 ful in nature, music, art, literature, and in human lives 
 is more and more appreciated or ignored. ‘Tolerance 
 sits enthroned on some lives and others sway the 
 scepter of intolerance and bigotry. Unselfishness now 
 deliberately seeks avenues of expression in giving more 
 generously and perhaps more wisely of money, time 
 and counsel. An unselfish interest in young people, 
 their education and advancement, is a personal joy to 
 many as they move on through the years. The gener- 
 ous soul delights in the progress of younger members 
 of his own business or profession; the narrow-minded 
 self-lover sneers at novices in his own line of work and 
 thereby shrivels his own soul. 
 
 Likewise, selfishness, if dominant in the life, takes 
 ungracious, ugly forms even in Christians, so-called. 
 It manifests itself in some in stubbornness, impatience, 
 covetousness, pride, jealousy, retaliation, anger, and 
 petty rivalry. Persons in middle age need to guard 
 the fountains of life to prevent contamination by 
 egotistical ‘“‘bitters” of one kind or another. One of 
 God’s noblemen, himself beyond fourscore and ten, 
 said to his successor, a man of less than half his years, 
 “My young brother, your success is the crowning joy 
 of my life.” On the other hand, the treatment which 
 

 
 KNOWING AND LEADING ADULTS 193 
 
 the middle-aged accord the aged is indicative of their 
 strength or weakness of character. The expressions 
 “old fogey,” ‘‘fossil,’ “has been,”—-mark the user at 
 once as a Selfish, inconsiderate ingrate, wholly un- 
 mindful of the heritage into which he has entered. 
 The sunset-slope church-school class has a vital con- 
 tribution to make, even to the young men’s class which 
 flies the flag, The Go-Getters. Young men for war; 
 old men for counsel. The years go on mellowing and 
 sweetening some lives, while others become harsh, 
 cynical, and distrustful of their fellow-men. Fortu- 
 nately for this old world, the Christian graces of many 
 ripen into a benevolence and beneficence that bless 
 mankind and glorify God, 
 
 CHURCH-SCHOOL WORK WITH ADULTS 
 
 Scope. Adult church-school work includes (1) adult 
 Bible classes——men, women, both men and women; 
 (2) the overhead organization of these into an adult 
 department or division; (3) the parent-training classes, 
 or department, usually made up of young married 
 folks; (4) the church-school parent-teachers’ associa- 
 tion, also closely related to the children’s and young 
 people’s divisions; (5) the leadership training depart- 
 ment, if such there be; (6) the home department for 
 those who are prevented from attendance in the church 
 school, such as mothers with very young children, the 
 aged, sick, and invalid, or non-residents who desire thus 
 to keep in touch with their home schools; (7) the ex- 
 tension department, which should never be confused 
 with the home department; in this group are those 
 whose business or profession keeps them constantly 
 away from the privileges of participation in church- 
 school classes at the Sunday hour, such as certain 
 
194 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 professional men and women, employees on street car 
 lines, railroads, in fire departments, telephone opera- 
 tors, traveling salesmen, and others; manifestly this 
 last group requires different literature and supervisory 
 leadership. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the whole adult educational 
 work of the church should either be under one general 
 scheme of supervision, or be so closely correlated that 
 the highest good may be realized with the fewest con- 
 flicts in programs and policies. Much remains to be 
 done in local communities to unify and harmonize the 
 stupendous constructive, creative adult life. Like a 
 great Niagara it awaits some engineering genius to 
 channel it and capture it for the driving of the gigantic 
 turbine wheels of Kingdom-enterprises. 
 
 Purposes. ‘The following are the outstanding aims 
 for each member in church-school work with adults: 
 (1) (if not already) the full surrender to Jesus Christ 
 as a personal Saviour and Friend; (2) a consistent, 
 persistent effort to come under the Lordship of Christ 
 so that His will may be dominant in one’s whole life; 
 (3) an enriched and joyous fellowship in study and 
 service; (4) a deepening of the private devotional life 
 through prayer, Bible reading, Christian meditation; 
 (5) a broadening sweep of Biblical and other Christian 
 knowledge; (6) a bigger vision of Kingdom service be- 
 ginning in one’s home, business, and neighborhood, and 
 reaching to the world’s remotest needs; (7) a willing- 
 ness to train for and to assume responsibility as an 
 adult for the welfare of children and young people, 
 especially for the discovery of prospective leaders 
 among young people. 
 
 Supervisional Principles. The division and its sev- 
 eral departments need such supervision and organi- 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING ADULT'S = 195 
 
 zation as will guarantee efficiency. Too much 
 organization or supervision clogs the wheels and de- 
 feats the above aims. The division as a whole needs 
 a competent supervisor of such pleasing personality 
 and administrative ability that the varied departments 
 will find in him (her) a real leader. Each department 
 should have a principal and whatever assistants are 
 needed. The activities of each department should be 
 in charge not of standing committees, but of directors 
 who, if necessary, can gather about them from time to 
 time groups of helpers to get things done. Most stand- 
 ing committees stand. A director moves, and moves 
 toward well-thought-out goals. Within departments 
 will be classes with the usual officers and teachers. 
 There again directors should displace ornamental com- 
 mittees. Large adult classes take the slow out of their 
 slogans by using directors instead of cumbersome 
 committees which have to meet and dilly-dally week 
 after week with non-essential details, instead of going 
 straight after the things decisively wanted by the class. 
 These directors should be specialists who master their 
 specialties and humbly lay their findings upon the 
 - service table of their associates. 
 
 Study Programs. Adult classes will outline for them- 
 selves, in addition to the International Improved Uni- 
 form, Lessons, a number of optional courses prepared 
 for adult classes by the International Lesson Commit- 
 tee. There is also an ample supply of independent 
 courses prepared in book and pamphlet form. There 
 is no room here even to list these. Religious publish- 
 ing houses of all sorts will gladly supply prospectuses. 
 For every group mentioned in the above statement of 
 scope, there are curriculum supplies. Suffice it to say 
 that for adult classes meeting on Sunday, the Bible 
 
196 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 itself should be the chief textbook, first, last, and all 
 the time. Members of adult classes, men or women, 
 in these days, live the strenuous life day after day. 
 They come to Sunday, exhausted physically, mentally 
 and need spiritual food as well as rest for bodies and 
 minds. In adult classes the Bible should be kept 
 central, not as a fetish, or because it is the Bible, but 
 because men need its message perennially, eternally 
 powerful to fortify their souls for the struggles of the 
 man-sized jobs which they face daily. Adult groups 
 at other times may most profitably study social, indus- 
 trial, civic problems. Parents will benefit by courses 
 on religious education in the home. Leadership train- 
 ing texts will give vision and purpose to selected adult 
 groups. Courses in missions, church history, doc- 
 trines, evangelism, stewardship, prayer, worship, com- 
 munity welfare, and many other such subjects will, 
 from time to time, claim attention. Short, attractive . 
 studies should be provided for the home and extension 
 departments. 
 
 Service Projects. Virile projects should be under- 
 taken by adults in their various organizations. Gen- 
 erally, they will be of five kinds: (1) class-centered; 
 (2) divisionally, or departmentally-centered; (3) 
 church-centered; (4) community-centered, and (5) 
 world-centered. These purposive enterprises should be 
 so planned that the largest number may participate. 
 A series of these projects should be scheduled to run 
 over a period of years. They should be carefully 
 planned with as much expert help as can be secured, 
 so that the greatest good to the greatest number may 
 be achieved. 
 
 We mention projects rather than activities because 
 many an adult group has been lost in the woods of 
 
KNOWING AND LEADING ADULTS 197 
 
 unrelated, purposeless, petty church or community 
 chores. Projects there are that challenge the brainiest 
 and best adults in any church school in the land. How 
 would these four samples, which can only be men- 
 tioned, not set-up, serve as a starter: (1) the survey 
 of a whole church parish conducted by an adult group 
 to ascertain the status of religious education in all the 
 homes and then the systematic introduction of an ade- 
 quate program of home-training in the Christian 
 religion, or (2) a thoroughgoing investigation of the 
 whole amusement question in the community as to how 
 boys and girls and young people spend their leisure 
 time (out of school or out of work hours) with a care- 
 ful check on all commercial recreation and, if neces- 
 sary, a follow-up of law enforcement, and, best of all, 
 the putting on of a sane, winsome, wholesome, con- 
 structive program of recreational good times, church- 
 centered, if there is no other institution meeting the 
 needs, or (3) the discovery through leadership training 
 institutes or schools, of prospective leaders in religious 
 education, and then the singling out of a few of these 
 _ bright, older boys and girls and definitely making 
 possible their college and professional training in re- 
 ligious education, or (4) the careful study of some 
 given mission field, home or foreign, and then the 
 assumption of its entire financial support, keeping in 
 constant touch with it to supply all the needs of an 
 advancing program. ‘These will suffice to show how 
 adults can approach what God expects in the full 
 stature of a virile Christian. Surely the time has come 
 for church-school adults to put away their game of 
 “tiddley-winks” and square up against muscular man- 
 sized, Kingdom-wide projects. 
 
 All of which means a supervisory leadership for 
 
198 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 adults of a high order, who sees near and far, and who 
 is not satisfied until worth-while goals are reached. 
 
 In his The Vision Splendid, (Doran) John Oxenham 
 gives us this challenging word: 
 
 The future lies 
 
 With those whose eyes 
 Are wide to the necessities, 
 And wider still 
 
 With fervent will, 
 
 To all the possibilities. 
 
 Times big with fate 
 
 Our wills await 
 
 If we be ripe to occupy; 
 
 If we be bold 
 
 To seize and hold 
 
 This new-born soul of liberty. 
 
 And every man 
 
 Not only can, 
 
 But must the great occasion seize. 
 Never again 
 
 Will he attain 
 
 Such wondrous opportunities. 
 
 Be strong! Be true! 
 
 Claim your soul’s due! 
 
 Let no man rob you of the prize! 
 
 The goal is near 
 
 The way is clear, 
 
 Who falters now shames God and dies. 
 
XIII 
 
 THE SUPERVISOR OF TEACHERS 
 AND TEACHING 
 
 N YHAT church school is there, small or large, 
 that would not benefit by a supervisor of 
 teachers and teaching? Most schools would 
 welcome such an officer, provided he (she) was capable 
 and agreeable. Where the church has an able director 
 of religious education, paid or voluntary, naturally he 
 is the one to supervise teachers and teaching. See 
 chapter seven. The church school should not expect 
 its general superintendent to do this, certainly not the 
 pastor; these have important executive functions re- 
 quiring all the available time at their command, and 
 neither one may have the technical training necessary. 
 The nature of the supervisor’s work demands a sep- 
 arate officer. Church schools might well select a “good 
 prospect” and get back of his (her) professional train- 
 ing for this exceedingly important work. 
 
 In most schools the supervisor of teachers and teach- 
 ing will work through the supervisor of children’s work, 
 the supervisor of young people’s work, and the super- 
 visor of work with adults. These serve as his assist- 
 ants, carrying responsibility for the age groups they 
 serve. See chapters nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. Ifa 
 real educational supervisor is available and he can be 
 chosen for this significant post, and then be given a 
 free hand to walk-and-talk with the teachers week by 
 
 weeks, in a year’s time the efficiency of the church 
 199 
 
200 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 school’s teaching force can be lifted to a high educa- 
 tional level. We have recently heard much about 
 teacher-training. The courses for such training, good 
 as they have been, must be supplemented, as far as 
 possible, by actual supervision of the teacher while at 
 his job on Sunday. Of course, this very thing has been 
 done for years in public schools. If supervision is 
 needed in general education, surely it is a necessity in 
 religious education. The time will soon come when, 
 as church-school folks, we will be amazed at our stupid- 
 ity and tardiness in this matter. Such an officer will 
 find valuable help in books prepared for supervisors in 
 public schools. He will find immediate profit, we trust, 
 in this and other chapters of this book. 
 
 THE SUPERVISOR’S QUALIFICATIONS 
 
 The chief qualifications are: (1) marked ability as 
 a teacher; (2) plus that professional training and prac- 
 tice which give confidence of the quiet, humble sort; 
 (3) tact and judgment in handling delicate situations 
 when misfits must be removed, or teachers shifted to 
 other grades; (4) knowledge of best materials of in- 
 struction; (5) a thorough acquaintance with the prin- 
 ciples of teaching suited to different age groups; (7) a 
 good understanding of the objectives of religious educa- 
 tion sought for in work with children and young people 
 at the several ages and stages of their growth and 
 development; (8) ability for detailed observance with 
 keen insight into the motives, methods, and movements 
 of teachers in their classrooms; (9) the ability to gra- 
 ciously, effectively, suggest the better ways; (10) a 
 radiant optimism that is contagious, dissipating criti- 
 cisms and patiently pushing on past difficulties to the - 
 realization of a faithful stewardship. 
 
THE SUPERVISOR OF TEACHERS 201 
 
 Such an office should not be established, nor any one 
 elected to fill it, until the work is thoroughly explained 
 to the teaching force of the school. Their consent 
 should be obtained on the ground of the desirability 
 of efficient teaching in the character-making enterprise 
 of the school. Public school experience should be cited 
 to show the value of wise supervision, it always being 
 understood that while public school teachers are paid 
 and church-school teachers serve voluntarily, that the 
 attainment of real worthy aims in religious education 
 is the highest form of Christian service. Much de- 
 pends for the success of supervision upon the gracious 
 personalities of the supervisor and the supervised. 
 Both are church trustees of a sacred trust, the spiritual 
 welfare of childhood and youth. 
 
 It is almost presumptuous to attempt to crowd into 
 the page limitations of one chapter even the outlines of 
 a supervisor’s duties. The supervisor should, if pos- 
 sible, be trained in character analysis, at least be able 
 to discern essential qualifications in a good teacher, and 
 also be able to apply vocational and sense tests. He 
 should also know the principles, methods, and materials 
 
 necessary in successful teaching. 
 
 TESTING TEACHERS 
 
 Personality Tests. What are the personal qualifica- 
 tions a supervisor should look for in the teacher? The 
 following are suggested, with a brief statement about 
 each: (1) purity. A life free from habits considered 
 questionable is what the pupils have a right to expect 
 of a teacher; a pupil’s hero or helper ought to be a 
 
202 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 real Sir Galahad, one who is earnestly striving to be 
 pure in thought, word and deed; (2) patience is a qual- 
 ity absolutely necessary; the teacher who loses his 
 patience loses his pupil. The pupil who needs most 
 help is the very pupil who makes heaviest drafts on 
 patience; (3) pliability is a mark of a true teacher, not 
 a vacillating, namby-pamby, weather-vane type of 
 manhood, or womanhood, but the kind that is willing, 
 occasionally, to yield a non-essential point, and make 
 no open account of a trivial mistake. A teacher is 
 no less brave for being considerate of the rights of 
 others; (4) play-spirit is that peculiar something that 
 makes some people acceptable to children and young 
 people. It is the “child-corpuscle” still in the blood of 
 manhood and womanhood. It is the thing that makes 
 the busy man of affairs the master, and not the slave, 
 of a strenuous business, and the busy mother able to 
 throw off her household cares and enter into the fine 
 fellowship of young life; (5) comradeship seems 
 synonymous with the idea of real helpfulness. It is 
 that indefinable congeniality, ‘““chumminess,”’ which at- 
 tracts pupils to one another and to a teacher. It isa 
 warm, welcome, winsome atmosphere with which one 
 surrounds himself. (6) Courtesy is always a mark of 
 a true gentleman or gentlewoman. A church-school 
 teacher cannot afford to be discourteous in dealing with 
 his pupils. A royal grace,—its spelling suggests its 
 source, its strength, and its dignity. (7) Tact. A 
 blunderbuss who assumes the réle of a church-school 
 teacher will be laughed at and laughed out, or “play” 
 to an empty house. There must be tact to hold and 
 help the members of the class. Tact means touch, fine 
 sense of fitness, appreciation of situations, seizure of 
 the psychological moment. It is a quality of soul. 
 
THE SUPERVISOR OF TEACHERS 203 
 
 (8) Teachableness. A bigot cannot teach children nor 
 young people. A church-school teacher is both teacher 
 and pupil, general and private, giver and getter; his 
 eye-gate, ear-gate, and heart-gate must be kept open. 
 While “‘it is more blessed to give than to receive,” the 
 real teacher in his teaching is taught, in his leading is 
 led, and in his giving receives. 
 
 (9) Trustworthiness is that sum of virtues which 
 total high enough to gain the confidence of others. 
 The teacher who, by his character and conduct, gains 
 the confidence of his pupils, has the battle of manhood- 
 making half won. (10) Humor. The child wears his 
 funny-bone on the outside. One who would help him 
 must have a sense of humor and occasionally a little 
 of the real thing. A child soon tires of the silly senti- 
 mentalist, the frivolous jester, and the frisky clown, 
 but good, sensible humor is a dish which he relishes any 
 time. (11) Honor is the par-value of the church- 
 school teacher. It is his stock in trade. With it he 
 stands, without it he fails in the church and com- 
 munity. It brings wholesomeness, dignity, and in- 
 fluence to his labors of love in the church school. 
 (12) Hospitality. If teachers are men or women with 
 homes, they should keep a light in the window and let 
 the latch-string hang on the outside. They should 
 often be hosts to their pupils and allow them to sit at 
 the fireside and dream themselves into the ambition to 
 achieve the best. (13) Hopefulness. It is useless for 
 a pessimist to hang out a “Class Wanted” sign. No 
 one can teach a boy and nurse a boil at the same time, 
 or lead a class of girls and be a gloom-begetter. It 
 takes a buoyant spirit to keep the teacher on the job. 
 (14) Sympathy. This quality seems indigenous to 
 real helpfulness. A teacher is sympathetic or he is not 
 
204 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 a teacher. Sympathy enables teachers to get close 
 enough to their young friends really to know and help 
 them. (15) Simplicity is a mark of a great and useful 
 church-school teacher,—simplicity in thoughts, words, 
 and habits. The fashionable foibles of some men may 
 be responsible for the foolishness of some boys. Ex- 
 treme fashion display of some women teachers upsets 
 girls’ wholesome ideas of dress and behavior. (16) 
 Sincerity. Children love sincerity, they hate sham; 
 they love real worth, they hate pretensions; they love 
 true nobility, they hate assumed aristocracy; they re- 
 spect religious character, but repudiate religious cant. 
 “Piosity” is one kind of pie that children do not like. 
 (17) Sacrifice. The influence of a real sacrificial life 
 always counts. It pays the teacher to be unselfish. 
 (18) Ability to Appreciate. Church-school teachers in 
 dealing with their pupils, especially the young, should 
 appreciate the great privilege of influencing lives in the 
 habit-forming years. Are the members of this class 
 worth while? This determines the whole question, with 
 all that it should mean in study, service, and sacrifice. 
 The wise teacher values his pupils. The tremendous 
 possibilities wrapped up in one child challenges the best 
 there is in the best teachers. 
 
 (19) Willingness to Cooperate. Full understanding 
 and sincere appreciation are almost sure to lead to 
 hearty and helpful cooperation,—that is, to personal 
 friendship, partnership. (20) Willingness to Trust. 
 If the full truth could be known, church-school teachers 
 of high-grade character exercise an unusual spell over 
 some of their pupils. Some boys and girls at home and 
 in public school are nagged, distrusted. They long for 
 somebody who really understands and who believes in 
 them. (21) Love. Knowledge, appreciation, coopera- 
 
THE SUPERVISOR OF TEACHERS = 205 
 
 tion, confidence are the four fingers of the teacher’s 
 hand, and love is the thumb which touches them all. 
 Together they lead or lift a pupil into the life worth 
 while. Love is essential. It gives persistency to the 
 pursuit of knowledge, and purpose to the placing of 
 confidence. Love in action means pity, patience, for- 
 giveness, appreciation, compassion, comradeship. 
 Childhood and youth are like a castle. Knowledge 
 may let the teacher through the castle gate; confidence 
 may open many a door; but Jove is the key to the 
 secret chamber of the pupil’s inmost soul. The teacher 
 should know his pupil, trust his pupil, love his pupil; 
 know, trust, love, these three, but the greatest of these 
 is love. 
 
 Vocational Tests. The supervisor should keep in 
 mind certain vital questions concerning each teacher: 
 (1) Does he (she) have an aptitude for teaching? 
 (2) Does he have a student mind? (3) Does he fit 
 the age group to which he has been assigned? (4) 
 Does he have any eccentricities that diminish effi- 
 ciency? (5) Would he make a better administrative 
 officer than a teacher? (6) Has he had experience as 
 a public school teacher, and in what grade? (7) What 
 opportunities for practice teaching under observation 
 and supervision has he had? (8) What vocational 
 training has he had? (9) If none, what training 
 courses does he need, and (10) Is he willing to study 
 to be more efficient? (11) Is he a regular reader of 
 teachers’ journals? (12) Does he attend institutes 
 and conferences for professional fellowship and ad- 
 vancement ? 
 
 Sense Tests. We do not refer to the so-called “‘five 
 senses” (now several more), but to certain other senses 
 absolutely necessary in a teacher, and which a super- 
 
206 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 visor has a right to expect. (1) Does the teacher have 
 physiological sense, i.e., is he able to get on the “line of 
 life’ and think himself back through the years into 
 his own childhood and, therefore, into the physical life 
 of his pupil, to the physical limitations, immaturities 
 of a growing, changing individual, the fidgety beginner, 
 the active primary, the robust wiggling junior, the 
 rapidly-growing, awkward intermediate, the vacillat- 
 ing, giggling senior, and young people approaching 
 physical maturity? (2) Does the teacher have psycho- 
 logical sense, t.e., the ability to think himself back into 
 the mental life of his pupils with their limited, yet ever- 
 broadening horizons, ever-increasing vocabularies, and 
 keener intellectual interests in books, magazines, and 
 experiences of life? (3) Does the teacher have socio- 
 logical sense, t.e., the ability to see his pupils, however 
 young, as a part of society now to be happily related in 
 a very real sense to their associates in work and play 
 and later as full-grown citizens; and does he see and 
 seek to improve their social conditions, in brief, does 
 he know his pupils in all their social relations at home, 
 at school, or work, and in the community; and does the 
 teacher have the ability to socialize the truth taught 
 so that each pupil can live the go-and-do gospel of 
 Jesus? (4) Does the teacher have the pedagogic 
 sense, t.e., the ability and willingness to take time to 
 get interested in the wholesome things that interest 
 his pupils and then use that interest, that plane of ex- 
 perience, as a point of contact in teaching the truth? 
 (5) Does the teacher have common sense, the ballast of 
 life which enables the teacher intuitively to do just the 
 right thing at the right time? After all, this last sense 
 is the real test of the teacher’s influence. 
 
THE SUPERVISOR OF TEACHERS 207 
 
 TESTING TEACHING 
 
 The supervisor himself, or through age-area assist- 
 ants, will introduce teachers to the technic of teaching. 
 
 LAWS OF TEACHING 
 
 The supervisor should help teachers to know the 
 laws of teaching. Rightly understood and interpreted, 
 the seven laws formulated by Gregory* years ago still 
 stand. They are: (1) Know thoroughly and famil- 
 iarly the lesson you wish to teach,—teach from a full 
 mind and a clear understanding; (2) gain and keep 
 the attention and interest of the pupils upon the lesson. 
 Do not try to teach without attention; (3) use words 
 understood in the same way by the pupils and yourself 
 —language clear and vivid to both; (4) begin with 
 what is already well known to the pupil upon the sub- 
 ject and with what he has himself experienced —and 
 proceed to the new material by single, easy, and natural 
 steps, letting the known explain the unknown; (5) 
 stimulate the pupil’s own mind to action. Keep his 
 thoughts, as much as possible, ahead of your ex- 
 pression, placing him in the attitude of a discoverer, 
 an anticipator; (6) require the pupil to reproduce in 
 thought the lesson he is learning—thinking it out in its 
 various phases and applications till he can express it 
 in his own language; (7) review, review, REVIEW, re- 
 producing the old, deepening its impression with new 
 thought, linking it with added meanings, finding new 
 
 *The Seven Laws of Teaching, by Gregory (revised by Bagley 
 and Layton). 
 
208 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 applications, correcting any false views and completing 
 the truth. 
 
 THE MATERIALS OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 The vast majority of church schools in their Sunday 
 sessions (Sunday schools) use the International Uni- 
 form (improved) lessons. Of the other schools, some 
 use the International Group Graded (or departmen- 
 tally graded), and the remainder, the International 
 Closely Graded series, or independent courses, graded 
 or ungraded. 
 
 It may be desirable briefly to describe these courses, 
 for it is surprising how much confusion there is in the 
 minds of many. Uniform lessons mean one subject 
 with one scripture portion for all classes of all ages on 
 a given Sunday. IJmproved Uniform retains ‘one gen- 
 eral theme with departmental modifications to provide 
 story or other material, mainly for the younger age 
 groups. Group Uniform is a name applied to one 
 International series. ‘The name is a two-headed mis- 
 nomer. What it really means is that lessons for certain 
 departments or groups are departmentally graded (z.e., 
 a common theme for all pupils in the same department 
 on a given Sunday), and all other departments carry a 
 one uniform theme, e.g., the lessons are group graded 
 for primary pupils, juniors, intermediates, and seniors, 
 and one uniform lesson for young people and adults. 
 A set of group lessons for each department throughout 
 the church school would be the equivalent of the series 
 of departmentally graded lessons published by certain 
 denominations. By Closely Graded lessons, either’ 
 International or independent, we mean a different les- 
 son each Sunday for each grade (‘‘year’’) in the school, 
 é.g., in a primary department in the church school 
 
THE SUPERVISOR OF TEACHERS 209 
 
 using closely graded lessons, grade one (six year-old 
 children) would have one lesson; grade two (seven- 
 year-olds) another, and grade three (eight-year-olds) 
 another, on any one Sunday. This closely graded 
 series is in keeping with the long-accepted educational 
 standards of the public schools. 
 
 Each type of lessons has ardent advocates. It is 
 largely a question of educational ideals. There are 
 many small schools using closely graded series and 
 some large schools using, for the most part, the uniform 
 lessons. Most of the progressive church schools de- 
 mand either the departmentally graded or the closely 
 graded courses, at least for all departments in the 
 children’s division. 
 
 The supervisor who may assist in the selection of 
 courses should get from publishers samples of all types 
 of lesson series, and also present fairly the arguments 
 for each type. Monetary consideration should never 
 be the determining factor. Church-school pupils de- 
 serve the best. The best courses are essential to 
 efficient teaching, indeed to any real teaching. 
 
 THE METHODS OF TEACHING 
 
 The supervisor will guide teachers to books and mag- 
 azine articles where full treatment may be found on 
 the best methods of instruction. They should know 
 thoroughly what is meant by the following: (1) Ques- 
 tion-and-answer method; (2) lecture method; (3) 
 problem-discussion method; (4) research or topic 
 assignment method; (5) story telling; (6) teaching by 
 dramatics, pageantry, and pantomime; (7) teaching 
 through music; (8) the use of art in teaching; (9) 
 handwork and kindred manual methods, and (10) the 
 problem-project method. Six of these are noted here: 
 
210 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Ouestion-and-Answer Method. ‘There is definite ad- 
 vantage in this much-abused method, for good ques- 
 tions: (1) test the knowledge of both pupil and 
 teacher; (2) reveal thought processes of pupil and 
 teacher; (3) gain attention; (4) hold attention; (5) 
 assist memory; (6) fasten the truth; (7) develop in- 
 dependent thinking; and (8) evoke self-expression. 
 
 Problem-Discussion Method. ‘The problem-discus- 
 sion method is adapted best to groups of young people 
 and adults. There are many misunderstandings about 
 the method itself. Some of its friends have been its 
 enemies. When used under wise leadership, and well 
 planned, it has great teaching value. When unorgan- 
 ized and left to run itself, the ditch is its goal and 
 shameful defeat its only glory. Asa teaching method, 
 discussion is a free conversation by members of the 
 class or group, where a wise, resourceful leader punctu- 
 ates the word-exchange with well chosen questions 
 which prevent drifting, and gives direction to the def- 
 inite solution of a worth-while problem. The leader 
 with his plan put through, but himself somewhat in 
 the background, is the success determinant. 
 
 Story Telling. All the world loves a story, and all 
 ages. The Master Teacher of all teachers used this 
 powerful method of teaching, and so should all church- 
 school teachers. ‘The supervisor should give direction 
 for the study and reading of the best books and articles 
 on story telling. A good story for church-school use 
 carries the following labels: (1) smoothness; (2) 
 shortness; (3) full of action; (4) clearness; (5) suit- 
 ableness to age of pupil listening; (6) has unity; and 
 (7) carries a positive message easily understood. 
 
 Dramatization. Methods which make necessary 
 pupil participation in unusual and therefore interesting 
 
THE SUPERVISOR OF TEACHERS 211 
 
 ways are being used with splendid results by many 
 church-school teachers. Teaching through dramatics, 
 pageantry, and pantomime is found effective in all the 
 grades, being very simple for beginners and graded on 
 up to plays which require the best histrionic abilities 
 of ambitious young people and adults. A number of 
 good books are now available for use in the super- 
 vision of this very interesting method of teaching 
 Biblical materials. 
 
 Handwork. In many church schools there is a sep- 
 arate officer known as director of handwork; such an 
 one should be an assistant to the supervisor of teachers 
 and teaching. The school should place at the disposal 
 of the supervisor and a special handwork assistant the 
 best books published on this method. Some of the 
 educational values of handwork are: (1) occupa- 
 tional, mainly for beginners; (2) instructional, awak- 
 ening intellectual powers; (3) recreational, quickening 
 the learning process; (4) disciplinary, preventing idle- 
 ness; (5) utilitarian, making of useful articles; and 
 (6) altruistic, giving articles made to those in need. 
 _ The method has fine individual and social values. 
 
 Problem-Project Method. Although the problem- 
 project method of teaching looms so high on the educa- 
 tional horizon that some teachers see this and this only 
 and have run quickly into the snare of superficial 
 experimentation, nevertheless, it is a method which 
 church-school teachers cannot afford to ignore. Fortu- 
 nately for the supervisor of the church-school’s staff 
 of teachers, there are now available good books as 
 guides to the understanding and use of this method or 
 principle. What is mean by the term “project”? One 
 of the satisfactory definitions is that of John Alford 
 Stevenson, given in his valuable book, The Project 
 
212 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Method of Teaching (page 43), which every supervisor 
 should urge church-school teachers to read. His def- 
 inition is, ‘“‘A project is a problematic act carried to 
 completion in its natural setting.” Stevenson com- 
 ments on this definition as follows: ‘In this definition 
 it is to be noted that: (a) there is amplified an act 
 carried to completion as over against the passive ab- 
 sorption of information; (b) there is insistence upon 
 the problematic situation demanding reasoning rather 
 than merely the memorizing of information; (c) by 
 emphasizing the problematic aspect, the priority of the 
 problem, over the statement of principles is clearly 
 implied; and (4) the natural setting of problems as 
 contrasted with an artificial setting is explicitly stated.” 
 Alice M. Krockowizer, in her helpful book, Projects im 
 the Primary Grades, says, “Any purposeful activity, 
 determined upon and carried to a successful conclusion 
 becomes a project.” There are many advantages in 
 this method of teaching. It is a valuable individualizer 
 as well as socializer. 
 
V 
 SECRETARIAL LEADERSHIP 
 
2C) ALU Pa eh 
 et oY Ny Laroned 
 
 aie 
 
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 - ' ‘ 
 i 
 
 
 
XIV 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF RECORDS 
 AND FINANCES 
 
 VERY church school should be businesslike. 
 Surely the “Lord’s business” is as important as 
 so-called commercial enterprises. Even the 
 
 small tradesman and professional amateur now have 
 record and filing systems. Books, letter files, and card 
 indexes are seen in most stores and offices. From a 
 little business, with its simple, inexpensive book or 
 cabinet, to big business with complicated, automatic 
 devices costing hundreds of dollars, there are available 
 mechanical ways of “keeping a line” on things. 
 Church-school records should be preserved—per- 
 haps that is just what happens in too many schools. 
 “Preserved” suggests canning and putting away, prob- 
 ably never to be disturbed. In a small school, such an 
 officer is often called secretary, but he should not serve 
 also as treasurer. In the large school, the officer may 
 be called general secretary, for others help him. The 
 usual “attendance and collection roll by teachers and 
 classes” is of small moment. It wastes valuable time. 
 The method is obsolete. Schools with one eye open 
 see the folly of it. In a school where the monotonous 
 plan, still persisted, the secretary calling the names of 
 the classes and waiting for the replies, “Ten present,’ 
 fifteen cents,” “Fourteen present, twenty-six cents,” 
 etc., came to a class of small boys. The teacher was 
 absent and only one pupil present, a little half-wit; 
 
 however, he heard others reporting, so when his class 
 215 
 
216 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 was called, he stood up and in a small, squeaky voice 
 said, ‘One present, no cents.” Regardless of the num- 
 ber present and amount of offering, wideawake schools 
 know the system has no sense, therefore have dis- 
 carded it. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF RECORDS 
 
 The title, “Director of Records,” is suggested for 
 the general officer, charged with what ought to be and 
 can be the most serviceable office, outside the execu- 
 tive leadership. At once this suggests things of greater 
 worth than mere attendance, collection, and weather 
 reports, poorly entered and often poorly read. It will 
 be seen as we proceed in this chapter that there are 
 records of vital importance, which can be made the 
 means of educational and spiritual significance. 
 
 
 
 THE DIRECTOR HIMSELF 
 
 The director himself in the small or large school 
 should be chosen from those who are daily paid to be 
 accurate, honest, and expeditious with records, such 
 as bookkeepers, bank clerks, and those in clerical 
 positions. Even in the smallest schools, some one can 
 be found whose arithmetic and penmanship and 
 methodical habits are a commendation. An older high 
 school boy or girl, or a young school teacher or business 
 man, can be “made into” a first-class director of rec- 
 ords. Such a book as McEntire’s The Sunday School 
 Secretary, placed in the hands of this promising young 
 officer, would open his or her eyes to the bigness of 
 the opportunity. This book, probably written for the 
 
 es 
 
 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECORDS 217 
 
 big school director of records, can, however, be used 
 as a vision be-getter. For the general secretary of the 
 large school, the man who must become a real director 
 of records, this book will not only lengthen the vision 
 but strengthen purpose to make good. Mr. McEntire, 
 himself a prosperous young business man, has for years 
 put high-grade business sense into a great church 
 school which he has served through a vital system of 
 records. His records are like victrola records; they 
 talk. They talk absentee boys and girls into regular 
 attendants, and into church membership, and then into 
 joyous, useful Christians. His records carry welcome 
 messages to pastor, superintendent, and teachers, help- 
 ing them all to be more faithful stewards of the sacred 
 privilege which the church has trustfully placed in their 
 hands. The director of records must not only be 
 painstaking; he must be pains-preventing by his tact, 
 patience, and unfailing courtesy. Teachers, depart- 
 mental or class secretaries, may be careless in the 
 reports they prepare for his records. Like a good 
 ferret-after-figures when he ‘“‘smells out” errors, he will 
 diplomatically get the facts so that his own records may 
 be true. He will also be courteous to furnish respon- 
 sible inquirers with facts desired. Some people are 
 honest with folks, but not honest with figures. Some 
 have such vivid imaginations they would make clever 
 artists, dramatists, or orators, but when it comes to 
 plain, cold facts and figures, like Sambo, their feet just 
 don’t track, that’s all. They would make better direc- 
 tors of pageantry than of page-entries. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S ASSISTANTS 
 
 In a small school one good director of records, with 
 adequate equipment, will be able to render efficient 
 
218 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 service. In the large school, the director will need 
 from three to a dozen assistants. There are many 
 schools where the director of records must be a person 
 of unusual ability as a secretarial administrator. In 
 such schools, he will need some, perhaps all, of the 
 following assistants, who should be called secretaries: 
 (1) enrollment secretary, who will make accurate entry 
 of all new pupils and teachers, on special enrollment 
 cards, (2) attendance secretary, who will keep careful 
 records of attendance of the church school and its 
 auxiliary councils and groups, (3) birthday secretary, 
 responsible for the sending of birthday messages, such 
 as letters and cards, on the forms constructed or se- 
 cured by the director of records, (4) absentee secre- 
 tary, who will promptly follow up all those who miss 
 one Sunday, or more, using such post cards, or other 
 messages, as are agreed upon, (5) classification secre- 
 tary, who really serves as a clerk to the educational 
 superintendent of the school, or the director of religious 
 education, or the director of grading, or whatever the 
 officer may be called who places new pupils in their 
 proper grades and classes upon their first entry in the 
 school, (6) promotion secretary, who carefully enters 
 names and facts concerning all pupils as they are pro- 
 moted, (7) census secretary, who will tabulate, classify 
 and distribute to proper officers all the measurable 
 results of the annual church or community religious 
 survey, (8) supplies secretary, who keeps careful rec- 
 ords of all supplies, text-books, lesson quarterlies, and 
 periodicals, as well as Bible, hymn books, and other 
 supplies needed, ordered, and used throughout the 
 whole school; such officer serves as correspondence 
 secretary ordering supplies upon the usual blanks fur- 
 nished for such purposes, always under the guidance of 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECORDS 219 
 
 the director of records who knows from the director 
 of religious education or educational superintendent the 
 exact materials used, (9) Historical secretary, who, 
 under the supervision of the director gathers week by 
 week such facts as will be of historic value and worth, 
 recording permanently in a sort of church-school 
 journal or diary. Doubtless in the very large, well- 
 organized schools, some directors of records will need 
 other assistants. It will be noted there is not an unim- 
 portant duty listed above if a school really claims for 
 itself a place of service. In the medium-size school, 
 the above functions at least should be cared for, one 
 assistant combining duties, e.g., enrollment, classifica- 
 tion, and promotion records could be kept by one 
 helper of.the director. The wise director in any school 
 of considerable size will not attempt to do all these 
 things himself. His wisdom will cause him to do the 
 general planning and leave the execution of details 
 to a number of young people whom he has the priv- 
 ilege of directing and developing. The director should 
 have the authority to select all of his assistants. 
 
 DIRECTOR’S DESK OR OFFICE 
 
 In the small school, the director’s book or card 
 index box will be his office, but in the medium-size 
 school, he should have a desk that can be locked; the 
 director and assistants in a big school should, by all 
 means, have an office well equipped with desks, tables, 
 typewriter, mimeograph, adding machine, and filing 
 cabinets. A corner in a big general church office may 
 do, when crowded for space, but an adjoining church- 
 school office is better, where the superintendent, direc- 
 tor of religious education, and director of records and 
 
220 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 others may find it possible to be workmen not ashamed, 
 rightly dividing their executive and secretarial duties— 
 all in the interest of an efficient administration of the 
 school. 
 
 For most records, cards are better than books, be- 
 cause they can easily be enlarged and “dead stuff” 
 removed. The best size cards are five by eight inches 
 —smaller cards, except for the record of a few items, 
 are apt to limit acceptable entries. It pays to give 
 thorough investigation to all systems before installa- 
 tion of any. The director must do his own thinking 
 as to forms to be used. Slight initial expense should | 
 not prevent the setting up of an efficient system. Parsi- 
 mony is often poor economy in the long run. Bul-— 
 letin boards should be used for weekly statistics and 
 items of interest. Loose-leaf sheets of heavy ledger 
 paper are best for the forms on which monthly, quar- 
 terly, and annual summaries are tabulated. These 
 should be made in duplicate. | 
 
 The director of records and all who assist him should 
 be sure that all their records are accurate, simple, 
 systematic, complete, neat, and get-at-able, so that any 
 time when pastor, director of religious education, super- 
 intendent, or any other officer of the school wants 
 information, the director can give it quickly, correctly, 
 and plain as two plus two. Thus, and only thus, can 
 church-school records be put to the best use, serving 
 the great ends for which the school exists, as the chief 
 educational agency of the church. The wise director 
 of records idealizes the folks he serves and spiritualizes 
 his statistics. He sees absentees followed up, and 
 permanently tied up to the Christian life and to the 
 enterprises of the church and the kingdom. He sees 
 timid teachers encouraged and helped into teaching 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECORDS 221 
 
 careers of joy and success. The real director is a seer 
 and a saviour. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S RELATIONSHIPS 
 
 With the church as a whole. With the right kind 
 of director of records, a pastor’s access to his church- 
 school force is easy. This saves him much time and 
 makes possible contacts when they are most needed. 
 The director puts him in touch with Henry Henn’s 
 family as soon as Henry is enrolled, and on his card 
 is recorded the fact that his parents are non-church 
 members or go-ers. Whole families are saved to the 
 church, to Christ, and to Christian citizenship by 
 prompt pastoral attention. Scores of cases should be 
 cited. The director thus is the discoverer of new and 
 unchurched families and increaser of membership 
 through valuable information given. He is likewise 
 a conservator of interest in church affairs, for on all 
 special days every pupil connection is used to get a 
 wide representative audience. The pastor’s church 
 office, if not near the director’s, should have a complete 
 duplicate file of officer, teacher, and pupil enrollment 
 cards. The director will also supply the church office 
 with duplicate monthly, quarterly, and annual sum- 
 mary sheets. On all greeting cards sent to absentees, 
 and birthday, special day, and other similar cards, 
 across the top should be the name of the church, and 
 beneath it the church school. On all birthday, special 
 day, welcome, and sympathy message cards should be 
 the pastor’s signature. Where many such cards are 
 used, an electro signature can be printed at the bottom 
 near the superintendent’s and director’s names. 
 
 With the school. The director’s chief service is with 
 the school. A live wire as director of records has been 
 
222 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 known to have literally doubled the church-school 
 enrollment and also to have lifted it from a dead level 
 to a progressive grade A school. On a large, at- 
 tractive, but not too prominent bulletin board, he will 
 put before the school its weekly general attendance 
 and offering record, with certain comparisons to stimu- 
 late interest, e.g., by departments, by boys vs. girls, 
 men vs. women, with variety, and once in a while a 
 clever surprise. ‘The listing of star classes (those 
 having all members one hundred per cent on their six- 
 point record cards) arouse wholesome rivalries. A 
 bulletin board can be as dead as a tombstone, or it can 
 be as catchy as an electric sign. For small and medium- 
 size schools, fair-sized service boards can be bought, 
 reasonably, of supply houses. 
 
 The director will send out card notices of regular 
 meetings of school council, departmental councils, 
 superintendent’s cabinet, and other general school 
 groups. He will prepare monthly, quarterly, and an- 
 nual summaries. Quite often, the superintendent con- 
 siders these as good stimulators and has them read 
 to the school. At least, the annual summaries should 
 be read to the whole school in two or three minutes on 
 rally days, with great profit. The director who is 
 skillful at it could be a minute man on any of the great 
 days of the school, and thus stir up loyalties and com- 
 mon sense competitions. 
 
 With the superintendent and other officers. The di- 
 rector of records has productive contacts with all gen- 
 eral officers of the school. At stated intervals he should 
 have conference with divisional, departmental, and 
 class officials, especially with their secretaries. The 
 director furnishes the superintendent with duplicate 
 enrollment cards, and a full set of summaries. While 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECORDS 223 
 
 James, Jim and Jimmie should not be permitted to 
 go-at-will through the director’s cards, nevertheless, 
 personally conducted tours should be available to any 
 officer or teacher who has a right to the information 
 sought. Neither the secretary (director) in the small 
 school, nor the director of records in the large, has 
 any right to disturb classes while in session. The 
 superintendent should not permit it. Where classes 
 meet in separate rooms, there should be a servidor- 
 cabinet built in the wall so that one door opens toward 
 the class and another toward a hall, or other outer ap- 
 proach. In this should be placed all records promptly, 
 so that the classes will not be interrupted. It’s a sim- 
 ple, inexpensive device now being built in most new 
 church-school classrooms. Where department sec- 
 retaries gather these class records, they can turn them 
 in to the director. In small schools, where class cards 
 or class books are used, and where classes are in the 
 open, some member of the class, appointed to do so, can 
 sit on the end chair, or otherwise be accessible. 
 
 With the teachers. If the enrollment secretary does 
 not fill out an enrollment card, then the teacher does, 
 for herself and each pupil. Where the school has no 
 enrollment secretary, the director of records should 
 supply all teachers and departmental principals with 
 cards. The director sends a welcome card or letter to 
 each new teacher. This card should carry greetings 
 from pastor and superintendent. Sometimes it has also 
 a teacher-covenant or decalogue, or a few words of 
 counsel. Birthday entries should be made on the pupil 
 record cards which the teacher has. Quite often teach- 
 ers send their own greetings on cards of their own, or 
 the director’s, choosing. Upon notice by the teacher, 
 the director of records mails to pupils vacation intro- 
 
224 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 duction cards. Where they are to be away during the 
 summer months, these help them to keep up attendance. 
 If a visitor is in a class, the teacher makes note of 
 name and address. Directors send a visitor’s welcome 
 card the following week. In case of illness or mis- 
 fortune, a sympathy card is sent, either to teacher or 
 pupil. The director supplies the teacher either with a 
 class record book or an envelope or box of class 
 cards. Where the school uses a six-point card for each 
 pupil, a full set of these should be supplied. 
 
 With the pupils. The director keeps an enroll- 
 ment card of each pupil. The enrollment card usually 
 has such items as the following: name, address (home, 
 school, or business), phone, age, date of birth, place 
 of birth. Are you a Christian? Are you a church mem- 
 ber? If so, what church? Are your parents church 
 members? If so, where? Date of enrollment. As- 
 signment to department, class, grade. Teacher’s name, 
 address, phone. Promoted to Beginner’s, Primary, 
 Junior, Intermediate, Young People’s, Adult. Trans- 
 ferred to Home Department. Made an Officer, Teacher. 
 Date of leaving school. Reason for leaving. Blanks 
 on cards are left for entries of answers. After the 
 pupil is enrolled, some time during the week, the 
 director sends a welcome card. Then the pupil’s 
 “standing” card is made out so that it can be marked 
 each Sunday by the teacher. The so-called six-point 
 card is highly commended. It works. It gets results 
 of a high order, if teachers are frankly honest in re- 
 cording correct values for every item, especially item 
 five. It takes time but is worth it. The six points 
 scored are: (1) Attendance, (2) On time, (3) Bible 
 brought, (4) Offering made, (5) Lesson studied, (6) 
 Church attendance (previous Sunday if church school 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECORDS 225 
 
 is before church). The percentage basis for each 
 point varies, but the following seems a fair distribution 
 of values: Attendance, 20%; On time, 10%; Bible 
 brought, 10%; Offering made, 10%; Lesson studied, 
 30%; Church attendance, 20%. This means for a 
 star pupil a rating of 100%. It means that if he is at 
 Sunday school and has his lesson prepared, he gets 
 50%, on these two central items. Twenty per cent 
 for church attendance to some may seem high, but it 
 is an important thing for church-school pupils, espe- 
 cially juniors, intermediates, seniors, and young people 
 to come under the influence of the great inspirational 
 service of divine worship. No educational or any other 
 phase of the church life can furnish a real substitute 
 for this. The director will equip himself with score 
 cards for tabulating these pupil ratings by the month 
 and quarter. Sometimes a quarterly report is sent to 
 parents of younger pupils. When directors and teach- 
 ers once get thoroughly accustomed to this six-point 
 scheme, it can be handled quickly and satisfactorily. 
 Directors supply teachers with blank absentee cards, 
 and in schools not having an absentee secretary, the 
 teacher fills in the name of absentee, and the director 
 sends the card. If possible, the second week the 
 teacher calls or phones, and by the third week a card 
 _ from the superintendent helps. Directors or teachers 
 send birthday greeting cards to pupils, also introduc- 
 tion cards in case of (1) removal, (2) visit, or (3) 
 vacation, and in case of sickness, misfortune or death, 
 a sympathy card. 
 
 With the Home. The director, through regular en-: 
 rollment cards, gets his line on the homes and keeps 
 it. Sometimes he has a family card index. Names and 
 addresses of non-church members are sent at once to: 
 
226 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 pastor. Special card is sent to parents when pupil is 
 enrolled, expressing pleasure and giving a cheerful, 
 cordial welcome to parents to attend church school and 
 church. Special days in the church school are times 
 when letters and invitation cards are sent to parents. 
 Many a director counts the days of the year the hap- 
 piest ones on which he gets parents vitally interested in 
 the work and membership of the church. 
 
 Through all these relationships, a director makes 
 himself one of the greatly appreciated servants of the 
 church school and church. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF FINANCES 
 
 
 
 In a small school, two officers are needed, secretary 
 and treasurer. In a medium-size school, there should 
 be a director of records and another officer known as 
 director of finances. In the large school, this director 
 of finances may well need and have assistants. 
 
 He is a more responsible officer than a mere collector 
 and recorder of offerings. His Lord has a bigger posi- 
 tion for him, than Matthew-like, simply to sit at the 
 receipt of customs. Some of his privileges as an officer 
 in a larger school may be noted: 
 
 The director of finances should institute a financial 
 system for the school in keeping with the financial 
 system of the church. Duplex envelopes should be 
 used. A package of numbered and dated envelopes 
 should be given to each pupil, and entry made of the 
 pledge card when returned, showing amount on one side 
 for current expenses and on the other for missions. 
 Sometimes the same envelopes used by the church are 
 
DIRECTOR OF FINANCES 227 
 
 used in the church school. Some church schools, how- 
 ever, use smaller sizes. The main thing is not the 
 size, but the fact that church-school pupils are being 
 educated to give and give regularly for the support of 
 their own church school and church, and at the same 
 time give also for the great Kingdom enterprises at 
 home and abroad. He will cooperate with the church 
 treasurer and other officials to secure pledges for the 
 church expenses where the church budgets the church 
 school, as every church should. The director of 
 finances will discourage and, if possible, with others, 
 prevent the raising of money to run the church school 
 by fairs, suppers, or entertainments. These may have 
 their places, but not as budget-getters for the church 
 and church-school work. 
 
 He will distribute stewardship literature through an 
 assistant known as a stewardship secretary. Both will 
 cooperate with any church campaign having this kin- 
 dred task. Pastors, letters, tracts, stories will be used. 
 Tithers’ leagues can be formed. 
 
 He will receive and enter offerings on his records 
 by names and envelope numbers, recording amounts 
 given on both sides of the envelope. He then turns 
 over the money to the church treasurer, using blanks 
 for that purpose, in a permanent record book. 
 
 In payment of bills, he draws an order on the church 
 treasurer, signed by himself, and the church-school 
 superintendenf; these orders, like a check book, are 
 numbered and stubbed for his records. 
 
 He presents brief weekly, monthly, and quarterly 
 reports to the school, and an annual report to the 
 church, through the church treasurer. His weekly re- 
 port is in connection with the bulletin announcement, 
 and ordinarily should not be read. 
 
228 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 He may, if so desired, become a custodian of special 
 class or departmental or other group funds, keeping 
 separate books for each special account. In many 
 church schools, the organized class of young people and 
 adults have dues or offerings, aside from the envelopes, 
 for certain phases of their varied activities. If class 
 treasurers so request, the director can assist them. 
 
 Upon invitation of the church-school superintendent, 
 the director of finances might very profitably and 
 always briefly give a talk on stewardship, illustrated 
 with a story. At the cabinet meeting, also, he can be 
 of service. 
 
 After consultation with pastor, superintendent, and 
 director of religious education, he should prepare a 
 tentative budget of the school’s expenses, presenting 
 the same to the cabinet for discussion and approval, 
 before passing it on to the board of religious education 
 for adoption. In making out the budget, all general 
 items should be given, but minor details omitted. Peo- 
 ple want to know specifics, but not such minutia as to 
 create comment and to raise questions. This budget, 
 after the board O.K.’s it, should be posted or printed 
 in proper connection. 
 
 The director of finances has charge of all special 
 day offerings, such as may be taken by the school at 
 Christmas, Easter, Children’s Day, and Rally Day— 
 distributing literature and special envelopes, if such be 
 the custom. At the will of the school, this money 
 should go to the designated objects, and be paid out in 
 the regular way. 
 
 Many schools have a birthday fund, collected from 
 Sunday to Sunday through the year, and made available 
 from time to time for worthy objects. No hard and 
 fast financial system should so bind down upon a 
 
DIRECTOR OF FINANCES 229 
 
 church or church school as to dry up the springs of 
 spontaneous benevolence. No director of finances or 
 church committee can foresee emergency relief situa- 
 tions and other causes that should get “over and above” 
 consideration. 
 
 The director of finances will read books on steward- 
 ship, church finances, and duties of church-school 
 treasurers and often confer with his fellow directors of 
 other churches as to methods used. 
 
 Quietly, he will work and slowly he will see the 
 spirit of scriptural giving lay hold on boys and girls 
 and young people. Great joy will come to his own 
 soul in the keeping of accurate records and the realiza- 
 tion of his own faithful stewardship. 
 
XV 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF READING, AND 
 PUBLICITY 
 
 OR a long time there has been in almost every 
 K church school, small and large, an officer 
 known as the librarian, usually one responsible 
 for distribution of supplies, mainly lesson quarterlies 
 and illustrated papers. In some small schools “duties 
 in general” not performed by the superintendent, sec- 
 retary, or treasurer have been dumped into the hands 
 of the librarian. 
 
 In this chapter, we are suggesting what to many will 
 be a new officer, viz., a director of reading. ‘This 
 director is a librarian plus. And the plus is the major 
 privilege of such an officer. He (or she) will not be 
 a mere distributor of church-school supplies, a dis- 
 turber of classes, and a jack-of-all-trades official. Nor 
 will he be a clerk behind a library window, custodian 
 of song books and other books, merely mechanically 
 handing out books and making a memo of the fact. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF READING 
 
 The director of reading is one of the most important 
 officers in the church school, or church either, for that 
 matter, when the holder of the position fully appre- 
 
 ciates the bigness of the opportunity. For this new 
 230 
 
 
 
DIRECTOR OF READING 231 
 
 office, the school should not choose a teen-age boy or 
 girl, as was often done when electing a passer-of-papers. 
 There are places where these young people will fit and 
 grow on the job, becoming, it may be, the church 
 school’s dependable, useful servants, but theirs is not 
 this kind of work. The director of reading should be a 
 mature man or woman, preferably a public school 
 teacher of the “grammar” grades or junior high school. 
 Often there is a mother, once a teacher, who will see 
 the open doors of this office and will render rare service. 
 Sometimes a high school teacher of English can be 
 secured, or there may be found some person who has 
 leisure, loves literature, and has a humanness that 
 yearns to help. The essential things in such a direc- 
 tion are: (1) knowledge, mainly of the nature of chil- 
 dren from six to eleven and young people twelve to 
 eighteen, and their book “likes” or needs; (2) a 
 knowledge of the best books suited to these different 
 ages; (3) a lover of literature as a life-maker, one who 
 believes that the printed page can carry over into life’s 
 conduct situations ideals that will mold character; 
 (4) a genial common sense, industrious person, tactful 
 and resourceful in suggestions, who will magnify the 
 office as a real vocation, one who will prayerfully, 
 patiently, and persistently seek to be a faithful director 
 of reading. 
 
 In a large school, there will be assistants, for a di- 
 rector of vision will see afar and will need helpers to 
 enter into the fields already ripe unto harvest. If in 
 addition to the above qualities, a person can be secured 
 who is also trained in religious education, the combina- 
 tion would be ideal. In a very large school there 
 should be the one director and at least five assistants, 
 with division of responsibilities as follows: (1) secre- 
 
232 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 tary of children’s reading, (2) secretary of young peo- 
 ple’s reading, (3) secretary of the library on parents’ 
 problems, (4) secretary of the officer-and-teacher 
 library, (5) secretary of the missionary library. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S DUTIES 
 
 One of the first duties of this officer is to hold in 
 his hands as his very own at least these two excellent 
 books: (1) Field’s Guide Posts to Children’s Reading, 
 and (2) Olcott’s Children’s Reading. These will be 
 his chart and compass. Both books should be brought 
 up to date with the director’s supplemental lists. 
 From time to time, valuable lists of good books are 
 published in such journals as the International Jour- 
 nal of Religious Education. Church-school publica- 
 tions for teachers give help. Practically all of the 
 offices of denominational church-school boards and 
 state councils of religious education have lists which 
 they will be pleased to send to directors of reading. 
 After these are secured, the director from these should 
 make his own lists. 
 
 The director should make it his business to know 
 books, the good-old-timers, and the good-new-timers, 
 books suitable for children, young people, parents, 
 church-school workers, and others. He should prob- 
 ably take as his most serious obligation the directing 
 of children’s and young people’s reading. He will 
 steer a straight course, missing the Scylla of the goody- 
 good on one side, and the Charybdis of cheap-and- 
 vicious on the other. 
 
 The director should visit frequently and investigate 
 thoroughly the newsstands and bookstores of the town 
 or community contiguous to the church school, for 
 he is a director of reading, which means an intelligent, 
 
DIRECTOR OF READING 233 
 
 lively interest in periodicals of all description, as well 
 as books. Fortunately, respectable book sellers guard 
 their shelves, but there are many stationers and book 
 dealers who have no knowledge of or concern for the 
 contents of magazines and books they sell. Their only 
 interest is in the coins which pass over their counters. 
 Then, there are some dealers, both in small towns and 
 in large cities, who deliberately pollute young life by 
 dispensing magazines and books that cannot pass the 
 post office bayonet of Uncle Sam, but which trash 
 they get in sealed express packages. Some of these 
 scoundrels have confessed that they keep these dirty 
 sheets back out of sight, but in easy reach of the 
 customer who feasts his soul on carrion. The tragedy 
 of it all is that your boys and girls, and mine, may be 
 innocently victimized by these peddlers of poison. 
 One such pernicious book, or magazine, carries enough 
 germs to contaminate a whole neighborhood. Much 
 of this vile product is made in the United States of 
 America; more of it is smuggled in from Paris’ pits of 
 perdition, or other places. Only a short time ago, 
 United States dry fleets off New York seized a sus- 
 _ pected outlaw boat and found not only bootleg liquor, 
 but literally tons of nasty books, postcards, and 
 magazines, being brought into the country to wreck and 
 ruin the minds and bodies of our American boys and 
 girls. Doubtless, low-browed makers of such litera- 
 ture in America send their vicious output to lands 
 across the seas, all for the filthy lucre which often 
 makes leprous the hand that clutches it. Then, again, 
 there are publications that may not exude the fumes 
 of hell, but, nevertheless, are vicious in their influence 
 on young life. Here and there, on this page or that, in 
 a phrase or two, is a philosophy of life which cuts 
 
234 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 under the very foundations of the Christian religion, 
 destroying years of good home and church-school 
 training. Then, there are namby-pamby books with 
 no fiendish or fish-gate flavor, but simply frothy noth- 
 ingness,—cheap time-killers, and destroyers of appe- 
 tites for the wholesome and worthwhile books. At one 
 time the librarian of the great Chicago library had the 
 complete works of a certain American author destroyed. 
 I asked him why, and he replied, ‘The books of Blank 
 are so cheap that boys reading them lost interest in 
 the helpful character-making books.” ‘The director of 
 reading has a many-sided, fascinating job of far-reach- 
 ing influence. 
 
 The director should make, from time to time, brief 
 lists of books graded to suit the different ages of boys 
 and girls, and post these typed lists on a general school 
 bulletin board, or, if the school has departmental 
 rooms, there the lists should be put where they can 
 be read by those for whom they are prepared. After 
 years of interest in children’s reading, I am fully 
 persuaded that many read harmful books, not of de- 
 liberate, personal choice, but because no one suggested 
 the better books. The director of reading is a sug~ 
 gester warmly welcomed by teachers and parents. 
 Everything considered, could the church school have 
 a more valuable officer? 
 
 The director will cultivate the friendship of the pub- 
 lic librarian, and especially the one in charge of chil- 
 dren’s books: He will also seek counsel of the. public 
 school librarian and teacher. Many suggestions will 
 be received. On the other hand, the public librarian 
 will be pleased to profit by examining lists offered by 
 the church or church-school director of reading. Often 
 librarians seek the cooperation of children’s specialists 
 
DIRECTOR OF READING 235 
 
 in making a selection of books to be purchased by the 
 library board. Wherever there is a good public library, 
 with a high grade collection of books for children and 
 young people, the church school or church should not 
 spend one cent for a library of such books for itself. 
 There was a time when it was desirable, as com- 
 munity service, for a church school to establish and 
 maintain a large library of children’s books. Except 
 in rare cases now, this is not necessary. Better co- 
 operate with other churches and church schools in 
 making possible the very best in a public library. 
 Where no public library exists, one can be founded by 
 the cooperative effort of the church-school directors 
 of reading from the several churches. Modest collec- 
 tions thus secured and conveniently located have been 
 forerunners of community libraries now numbering 
 thousands of books. 
 
 The director will find that the libraries which the 
 local church or church school should purchase are: 
 (1) a church-school workers’ library, as it is popularly 
 called; (2) a library of books most helpful to parents; 
 and (3) a library of missionary books. It could hardly 
 _ be expected that a public library board would buy 
 any considerable number of what might be called 
 technical religious education books. We know of a 
 board of religious education in a small city that had 
 alcoves set aside in the public library for a very val- 
 uable collection of books in religious education, pur- 
 chased by church friends, thus making accessible to 
 all church-school workers in all denominations and also 
 to parents and people generally the newest and best 
 books in religious education. ‘There are few places 
 where this could not be done. Donors of good books 
 can be found anywhere. Where there are no com- 
 
236 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 munity-wide boards of religious education to assist in 
 this matter, or for any reason a cooperative library 
 seems out of the question, then these three and other 
 special types of libraries should be established. A good 
 workers’ library in a church school is essential to suc- 
 cess. The director will stimulate interest at cabinet 
 and council meetings and circulate the books. Mis- 
 sionary books and parent-problem books likewise 
 should be available for use and should be kept moving 
 by a good check-up system. 
 
 In order to get these books to work, the director 
 should hold conference with departmental principals of 
 the church school, both to get and to offer suggestions. 
 Some church schools offer inexpensive awards, such as 
 certificates of reading, to those who need incentives 
 and who will make use of the books in the church’s 
 shelves. Quite often reading contests are put on be- 
 tween men of the school and women in the reading of 
 the most missionary books in a three month period, the 
 books being selected by the director of reading. Chil- 
 dren’s missionary reading contests are also productive 
 of vital interest. 
 
 In a school where there is a pleasant, efficient di- 
 rector, parents will ask and receive help in the pur- 
 chase of good books for gifts to their children at 
 Christmas, on birthdays, and at other times. 
 
 Where capable service is in evidence, the pastor 
 might very well, from his pulpit, call attention to the 
 director’s work and occasionally give him a minute 
 before-the-whole-congregation to mention a virile book. 
 The superintendent of the church school will often 
 call on the director for such public service, likewise the 
 departmental principal, or president of a young people’s 
 or adult organized class. At the workers’ conference, 
 
DIRECTOR OF READING 237 
 
 and at parent-teacher meetings, the director might very 
 well be given half an hour three or four times a year 
 to introduce new and helpful books. At least once 
 a year the whole session of the church-school council 
 should be turned over to the director of reading. A 
 book sociable is profitable provided the only books 
 brought as admission tickets be those from a list cir- 
 culated in advance by the director of reading, if the 
 books are to be used for the school’s libraries as in- 
 dicated above. Sometimes the director of reading and 
 director of recreation can plan a delightfully helpful 
 book sociable, where books brought are to go to some 
 rescue mission or other worthy charity. Even then, 
 desirable books should be publicly listed, and from 
 most homes there would come old books of real value. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY 
 
 If the church as a whole does not have a publicity 
 man, the church school, upon nomination of the super- 
 intendent, should elect a director of publicity. He (or 
 she) should be chosen after careful check up on per- 
 sonal fitness. A mistake in this matter creates a very 
 serious situation, and may work positive harm to the 
 school. He must be (1) first of all, one who believes 
 in the church school; (2) one whose belief is based 
 on a concrete, if possible, experiential knowledge of 
 the place, purpose, and program of the church school, 
 plus wide reading of best books on religious education 
 through the church school; (3) one who has two eyes 
 to see and two ears to hear, but whose seeing and hear- 
 ing get outlet through his pen only after due delibera- 
 
238 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 tion; (4) one across whose forehead is writ large the 
 word “discretion,” who has a never-failing supply of 
 just horse sense; (5) one who puts first things first, 
 whose perspective is good, and whose fairness can 
 never be challenged; and (6) one who loves truth, 
 hates error, or hearsay, and who never trifles with 
 words. 
 
 THE PUBLICITY DIRECTOR’S DUTIES 
 
 His business is to make the church school and its 
 work known and to market the ideas that make the 
 church, the school, and its Bible prime factors in the 
 creation of a Christian citizenship. 
 
 One of his first duties will be to lay the church 
 school on the minds of the church as a whole. One of 
 the discouraging things in all church-school work is 
 that many members of the church, of which the school 
 is a part, do not know it. They never go. Perhaps 
 they are not altogether to blame. In cooperation with 
 the pastor, and superintendent, all members of the 
 church should be kept informed. If necessary, a 
 regular publicity campaign should start in and continue 
 through the weeks and years. The director will carry 
 on this publicity the names of the pastor and superin- 
 tendent and director of religious education (if the 
 church has one). Some of the ways a director may 
 use to interest the church members are: (1) Jetéers, 
 personally typed and personally addressed, duplicated 
 letters, two or three short paragraphs, well spaced, 
 breezy, and to the point; (2) church calendar, men- 
 tion every week a few brief, catchy sentences, not 
 such trite stuff as “the church school meets at 9:45 
 and all are invited”; (3) bulletin boards, inside and 
 
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY 239 
 
 outside the church building with fresh, timely notices 
 lettered plain and large enough to be read. In some 
 places daily changes are made; (4) posters, simply 
 worded and illustrated for inside and outside display, 
 this is one of the very best methods of passing a church- 
 school message through eye-gate to the mind; (5) 
 pulpit or platform, minute presentation of the church 
 school by pastor, superintendent, or the director him- 
 self, at a regular church service; (6) butions or pins, 
 small, attractive celluloid buttons put on children, 
 young people, and adults on certain occasions, carry 
 their messages to the members of the church and con- 
 gregation, and to the stayers at home; (7) monthly 
 church-school paper devoted to local church school 
 and church, printed or mimeographed; quite often the 
 director can interest teen-age boys, in cooperation with 
 their teacher, in making this a real educational project; 
 much or little can be made of it; when well done, it 
 has fine publicity values; (8) church-school year book; 
 in wide-awake, up-and-coming schools, this can be 
 made a source book on church-school facts worth 
 keeping; some neatly, artistically bound mimeographed 
 copies are quite as attractive as the expensively illus- 
 trated and printed ones; such a book in every church 
 home is bound to create interest and enlist support; 
 the director can associate with himself an editorial 
 staff of young people which will find in this project 
 expression for many kinds of abilities, literary, edi- 
 torial, mechanical, managerial. 
 
 The director will keep the community informed 
 through some of the following ways: (1) dluminated 
 sign on church front; electricity costs money, but lack 
 of publicity costs more in the long run; if business and 
 amusement places find it pays to use light, why not 
 
240 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 churches? (2) window placards small enough to get 
 a place, but large enough to get attention; (3) door 
 knob tags and hangers, also coat lapel hangers are 
 used to great advantage in quick, half-day attack on 
 the community; (4) street car ads in large cities are 
 sure to be read and furnish profitable publicity; (5) 
 guest invitation cards placed in hotel mail boxes or 
 under the room doors are the means of service notice 
 to the community’s transients that they will receive 
 a warm welcome at the fireside of the church family; 
 (6) church and church-school directories with hours 
 of services printed in plain, dignified fashion, placed 
 in acceptable frames, and hung in hotels, railroad sta- 
 tions and public buildings; in small cities, directories 
 of all churches can be given; in larger cities, repre- 
 sentative ones usually are listed; (7) banners hung 
 across the street used only occasionally when unusual 
 events call for them, always attract attention; (8) auto 
 stickers or posters, catch the eye of many and are being 
 used when outstanding events claim consideration; 
 (9) houwse-dodgers and cards, especially when cam- 
 paigns are on, such as a community go-to-church Sun- 
 day; these should never be thrown indiscriminately 
 and made to become a nuisance; they are the least 
 desirable of all ways of church advertising; (10) 
 community posters well planned and placed and 
 changed from time to time are always good attention- 
 getters; (11) bil boards, the big bill posting com- 
 panies, for the most part, are glad to cooperate in a 
 real city wide or nation wide religious publicity cam- 
 paign; they are commercial experts in this line and 
 churches unitedly can profit much by this recognized 
 agency; (12) community pageants staged out of doors, 
 or in a commodious building, are becoming valuable 
 
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY 241 
 
 publicity mediums for church school and church use; 
 (13) in better class movies, church publicity features 
 are permitted and find large audiences to see and re- 
 member; (14) lunch clubs, such as Rotary, Kiwanis, 
 and many others, give high-grade opportunities for 
 rapid fire, two-minute talks on religion and life, on the 
 value of churches and church schools to a city; (15) 
 the newspaper, one of the best, if not the very best 
 medium through human stories as news, or through 
 paid advertising space; here is the director’s great 
 chance; and because of the importance of this avenue 
 to the people, a later paragraph is given to it. 
 
 The director can lay the church school on the hearts 
 of parents by letters, notices, postcards, and in many 
 other telling ways. Parent-teacher meetings of both 
 public school and church-school organizations are open 
 to announcements, brief talks, pictures, and stereopti- 
 cons carrying vital church messages. Cradle roll and 
 home department contacts make possible easy ap- 
 proaches. 
 
 The public school, in a limited way, can be culti- 
 vated by the director as a friendly, cooperating agency 
 interested in the social and moral welfare of childhood 
 and youth. No one church could enter the public 
 school as a publicity field. Nevertheless, all religious 
 forces working together can, in fairness, claim and get 
 some consideration for the church school, the one other 
 educational agency which seeks to make better citizens 
 out of young, growing life. 
 
 The director will find open spaces in his own de- 
 nominational religious journals, where the story may be 
 told again and again of church-school progress. 
 
242 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 THE PUBLICITY DIRECTOR’S DECALOGUE 
 
 1. Thou shalt hold thy pastor and superintendent 
 as thine own best counselors, having no other “‘grave- 
 images” before thee. 
 
 2. Thou shalt cultivate the friendships of reporters 
 and city editors, courteously welcoming their sugges- 
 tions, even if thine own righteousness seemeth to exceed 
 theirs, for it is through the window space they open to 
 thee that thou canst air thy news. 
 
 3. Thou shalt not be out of date with thine items, for 
 radios will bring thee down to thy publicity grave be- 
 fore the morning dawneth. 
 
 4. Thou shalt offer sizeable facts, not tweedle-dee- 
 and-tweedle-dum that circulateth in kitchens and cor- 
 ner stores, for the sayings of great men on the Bible, 
 church school, and religious education will get wide- 
 armed welcome in thine own town paper. 
 
 5. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy 
 neighbor, be he friend or foe, for truth lovers yet dwell 
 in the land of the living. 
 
 6. Thou shalt wear the cloak of humility when thou 
 goest to the house top with news concerning thine own 
 church school, its folks and facts. 
 
 7. Thou shalt not covet high sounding words, nor 
 paragraphs that “say it with flowers,” for simplicity, 
 clarity, and brevity are the marks that delight the 
 editor’s soul. 
 
 8. Thou shalt not stoop to undignified language, nor 
 dip thy pen in the bitterness of sarcasm or slander. 
 
 9. Thou shalt not write illegibly, for typewriters 
 abound, and copy appeareth better when double- 
 spaced, on one side only. 
 
 10. Thou shalt to thine own self be true, holding 
 
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY 243 
 
 honor high, with fairness to all persons and papers, 
 and favors to none, and verily thou shalt have thy 
 reward,—a clear conscience when thou liest down at 
 night, or at the end of life’s long road. 
 
 A well-known religious news-getter gives to church- 
 school publicity men the following sound advice, grow- 
 ing out of his long time, earth-wide experience. News 
 must be real, honest, of things done, said intelligently 
 and briefly, recent, applying to as many as possible, 
 unusual, relating to community activities, and special 
 events, modest in its statement of accomplishments, 
 careful in boosting individuals, illustrated where pos- 
 sible. Long items should be broken up into sub-heads, 
 or abbreviated. Items of the broader church-school 
 field, of mission activities that can be obtained from 
 the reports of the larger organizations, will be ac- 
 ceptable. Treat all the papers alike as tonews. Type- 
 write the items wherever possible. Give to the news the 
 element of hope, progress, victory, and above all, the 
 human note. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S READING 
 
 The church-school director of publicity will often 
 confer with general advertising men, if he has oppor- 
 tunity. He will read such books as: Smith, Publicity 
 and Progress; Ellis, Advertising the Church; Reisner, 
 Church Publicity; Case, Handbook of Church Ad- 
 vertising; Stelzle, Principles of Church Advertising; 
 Burkhalter, Publicity Handbook. 
 
 The director has a great trust which, if kept faith- 
 fully, intelligently, gives him a chance substantially to 
 set forward the Kingdom of God. 
 

 
VI 
 EXPRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP 
 
AL 
 
 
 
XVI 
 THE DIRECTORS OF WORSHIP, AND OF MUSIC 
 
 HE important. phases of the church school’s 
 work are impression and expression, the. two 
 
 hemispheres of the church-school world. Class- 
 room instruction is the major means to the first, wor- 
 ship and service to the second. Ina sense, they over- 
 lap and interpenetrate, for in the real teaching process 
 both are necessary. Instruction precedes all expression 
 worth while to make worship intelligent, and all forms 
 of service resultful in best educational and spiritual 
 values. We consider here expression through worship 
 and music, and the leaders responsible for these sig- 
 nificant modes of expression. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 
 
 One of the most valuable officers of the church 
 school, or, for that matter, the entire church, is the 
 church-school director of worship. In the small school, 
 this position usually should be held by the pastor, pro- 
 vided he is willing to prepare himself for expert counsel 
 in this field. Simply because he is pastor does not mean 
 that he is the ove person for this task. He ought to be 
 the one who could most easily get ready for this sig- 
 nificant service. In the large church and _ school 
 
 there should be chosen some one other than the pastor, 
 247 
 
248 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 because of his arduous and exacting pulpit and pastoral 
 duties. Even then, the person charged with the re- 
 sponsibility of directing the worship of the school 
 should keep in constant touch with the pastor. The 
 wise pastor knows full well that any help he can be 
 to the church-school director of worship will strengthen 
 the Sunday morning service of worship, for which he 
 is so largely responsible. 
 
 The director of worship should be next to the pastor, 
 and not excelled by him, in genuine piety and exemplary 
 conduct at all times. No person, however brilliant or 
 attractive, should be elected to the high privilege who 
 does not meet the acid test of a blameless life. The 
 director must be resourceful and versatile. He should 
 possess a good voice and presence, have a quiet, yet 
 forceful, personality. He should be radiantly cheerful, 
 one who embodies the joy of his salvation in his man- 
 ner and movements. No school should choose as its 
 director of worship a religious dyspeptic, or one who 
 takes his religion so hard it hurts him. A “holy roller” 
 may be a wholly wrecker of the church school morale. 
 Buoyancy and reverence are not incompatible. In- 
 telligent poise and a balanced fervor beget real worship. 
 Like begets like. The director who sincerely worships 
 in his direction of worship is the one who creates wor- 
 shipful attitudes and desires in others. What is wor- 
 ship? Dr. Luther A. Weigle thus answers the question 
 in his little book, Training the Devotional Life: “It 
 is more than merely thinking about God, or feeling 
 reverent toward Him, or even seeking to do what we 
 believe to be His will. It is a personal approach to 
 God. It is our attempt to express ourselves to Him 
 in whatever ways we deem possible and appropriate. 
 It seeks to communicate to Him our attitudes, to estab- 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 249 
 
 lish intercourse with Him, to enter into as direct fel- 
 lowship with Him as we can.” This is the worthy goal 
 of the director of worship for himself and those he 
 serves. 
 
 Rightly conceived and conducted, the worship period 
 in a school as a whole, or in any of its departments, is 
 fully as important as the period of instruction. The 
 director of worship concludes at once that no teacher 
 can possibly give more time and ability to her lesson 
 than he should conscientiously devote to his work. 
 
 WORSHIP SERVICE COMMITTEES 
 
 There should be at least three committees on wor- 
 ship in the medium and the larger graded schools, viz., 
 —one each for the children’s, young people’s, and adult 
 divisions. This is a minimum. In many schools there 
 will be a worship committee for each department, the 
 principal of the department being the chairman, 
 through whom the director of worship will work. For 
 the young people’s division, it is advisable to have a 
 committee consisting of a pupil and a teacher from 
 each department, the supervisor of young people being 
 the chairman, and the director of worship the special 
 counselor. In some schools the large organized Y. M. 
 or Y. W. or adult classes will each have its own wor- 
 ship committee. In the small one-room school, the 
 director of worship might well create a committee con- 
 sisting of a worker with children, a worker with young 
 people, and a worker with adults so that the worship 
 programs may be helpful to the largest number. In 
 all these committees, the pastor will have interest. 
 The director of worship will, however, hold chief con- 
 cern for expert advice and supervision. 
 
250 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S DUTIES 
 
 (1) The director of worship will keep in mind always 
 that worship, like instruction, must be graded. The 
 school that has graded lessons should, for the same 
 reason, have graded worship services. For it is a 
 fact that worship is graded or it is not worship. We 
 worship only as we use unuderstandingly the elements 
 of worship. (2) The director of worship will be a 
 constant, reverent reader of the Bible, of hymn books, 
 of books of prayers and books on prayer, of books of 
 worship stories, of sanely written books on the deepen- 
 ing of the devotional life, and of books and magazine 
 articles on the technique of worship services. (3) He 
 should not get lost in the mere mechanics of program 
 making. He should not be solicitous of items as such, 
 or the program itself with its parts and participants, 
 but with the spiritual outcome or goal of it all. His 
 chief service to the school is not in preparing and run- 
 ning off “programs,” but in creating conditions con- 
 ducive to spontaneous, genuine worship. (4) He must 
 himself have and help others to have a soul yearning 
 for fellowship with God. His worship service that 
 does not bring about a God-consciousness is a failure. 
 (5) The director of worship must be reasonable and 
 tactful so that he can secure cooperation. A well- 
 worked-out order of worship will fall flat if he does not 
 earnestly, skillfully obtain the hearty good-will and 
 mutual interest of all officers, teachers, and pupils. If 
 the officers or teachers move around or talk, or other- 
 wise disturb, the whole worship service may be a noisy 
 exercise and not reach the spiritual ends desired. (6) 
 The director of worship should prepare monthly themes 
 for the whole school for a whole school year, and help 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 251 
 
 each department or class work out its worship services, 
 simple or elaborate, with these themes kept central. 
 The International Journal of Religious Education will 
 be of special help to him in this matter. He will also 
 profit by general and departmental teachers’ magazines. 
 We offer here the suggested outline used by the Inter- 
 national Journal of Religious Education for one school 
 year: October, Courage; November, Gratitude; De- 
 cember, Giving; January, Faith; February, Truth; 
 March, Sacrifice; Apri, Hope; May, Love; June, 
 Stewardship (of Life); July, Patriotism; August, For- 
 giveness; September, Loyalty. Other subjects for an- 
 other year will suggest themselves to a resourceful 
 director. (7) The director of worship in a small school 
 secures leaders months in advance and assists them in 
 preparation. In a larger school he will work through 
 assistants who do the same thing for the classes, de- 
 partments, or divisions concerned. (8) The director of 
 worship will give careful study to the question of an 
 adequate supply of hymn books for all age groups, con- 
 ferring with the principals of departments. The song 
 books have more to do with real worship than any one 
 material item. Some hymn books found in some chil- 
 dren’s departments are no more suited to their under- 
 standing than a book on calculus would be in a kinder- 
 garten. Many selections of songs for the various ages 
 of children are now available and should be used. The 
 director will thoroughly inform himself, win over the 
 “powers that be” and quietly, patiently set himself to 
 the securing for all pupils the books of songs best 
 suited to their intellectual and spiritual needs. (9) 
 He will also see that an ample supply of good Bibles 
 and Testaments are secured and properly placed for 
 use in worship services. The American Revised Ver- 
 
 “a 
 X\ 
 
252 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 sion, or some other good, modern version, is the Bible 
 which church-school workers owe to the children and 
 youth of this generation, even as the so-called Au- 
 thorized Version has been the beautiful Biblical 
 heritage of the generation now passing. (10) Since 
 the offering is a part of worship, the director should 
 make sure, in the smaller school, that there are ac- 
 ceptable plates, baskets, or boxes to use in receiving 
 the offering, and he can, through others in a large 
 school, take this precaution for the necessary re- 
 ceptacles. (11) The director himself, and through 
 helpers, should strive to create worship conditions. 
 He will keep in close, friendly counsel with the director 
 of physical welfare in the large school, or sexton in the 
 small, and make sure that every room where a worship 
 service is to be held will be made ready so that chairs 
 or pews are in order, Bibles and hymn books in place, 
 and that the room is properly heated, lighted, ven- 
 tilated, and clean. Cleanliness is next to godliness, 
 ever true! As adults, we may create sanctuaries within 
 our own hearts and in the midst of crowded streets 
 there worship, but for children and most young people 
 the place makes or breaks the spirit of worship. (12) 
 The church-school director of worship faithfully, 
 efficiently working on year after year, renders im- 
 measurable service to the church as a-whole, making 
 possible a great group of intelligent, reverent public 
 worshipers at the regular church service. Under God, 
 he creates many a personal longing after the springs of 
 devotion that satisfy the innermost thirst of the soul. 
 
 ELEMENTS IN THE SERVICE OF WORSHIP 
 
 There are a few essentials in every church-school 
 service of worship for all age groups, viz., the Bible, 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 253 
 
 prayer, hymns, and offering. In services for juniors, 
 junior and senior high school groups, young people and 
 adults, it is well to use occasionally a talk, a story, a 
 poem, special instrumental music, and pictures. Only 
 brief consideration is here given to these elements. 
 
 The Scriptures. ‘There should be very simple mem- 
 ory verses and stories in the beginners’ department, 
 with wider use in primary groups, and generous Scrip- 
 ture portions with juniors and above. The Bible may 
 be used by older pupils in some of the following ways, 
 for the sake of variety: (1) call to worship and re- 
 sponse; (2) read by leader; (3) concert (in unison) 
 reading by whole assembly; (4) alternate verse read- 
 ing (leader and group); (5) one class stand and read 
 in unison, or the members read verse by verse; (6) 
 two classes, one as leader, other in response; (7) Bible 
 scene pantomimed, if well done, by young people’s 
 group is very effective; (8) dramatization of a Bible 
 incident or story is of great value and, if thoroughly 
 rehearsed by a chosen group, could serve for whole 
 worship period. 
 
 Prayer. “The heart of worship is prayer.” Very 
 simple in children, yet real and something to be cul- 
 tivated, spontaneously, never mechanically forced. A 
 child unspoiled just naturally prays. In primary and 
 beginners’ groups, the leader should encourage vol- 
 untary child-prayers and make programs so elastic that 
 these beautiful outgoings of gratitude will be in place 
 anywhere in the worship service. The very definite, 
 concrete prayers of children sometimes are amusing, 
 but teachers should never show anything but reverent 
 consideration at all times. With older groups, prayers, 
 always short, may be used in different ways: (1) in- 
 dividual prayer by leader, teacher, pastor, superin- 
 
254 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 tendent, class member, or visitor; (2) Lord’s prayer 
 in unison, or phrase by phrase; it divides readily into 
 six or a dozen portions; (3) sentence prayers—one 
 from, each of divisional or departmental or class groups 
 or one from each member in a class; (4) silent prayers, 
 not often and better when directed by the leader au- 
 dibly or with placards, or by use of blackboard or 
 pictures; (5) benediction, Mizpah or Jude’s or some 
 other. Prayer being the very soul of worship, the 
 director should help participants to pray intelligently 
 and, above all, sincerely, as unto God and not unto 
 men. Some of the best prayers I ever heard were the 
 prayers of boys out in the open at camp or on a hike. 
 Seldom ever should young people commit to memory 
 a written prayer. A few sincere words direct from 
 the heart mean more than the formal utterances of 
 another. | 
 Hymns. In all probability, songs well chosen and 
 easily understood carry highest worship values. The 
 director of worship will keep a few things in mind: 
 (1) Choose and help others choose only such books as 
 are musically and spiritually high grade. The music 
 should be churchly without being morose or monoto- 
 nous. It should have melody, movement, tonal color, 
 richness, and be suited to the words and the worship 
 objective sought in the place where it is used. The 
 words are quite as important as tunes. Sometimes a 
 beautiful tune is wedded to mongrel words. A good 
 test for a director of worship or music to make is to 
 divorce the words from the tune for a few minutes and 
 read the words alone to get the meaning and literary 
 values. It has been well said, “What is not good 
 enough to be read or recited as poetry should never be 
 sung.” Ifa minister should preach the words of some 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 255 
 
 songs his parishioners would rightfully object. Yet the 
 same words sung go unchallenged. ‘There are jazz 
 words as well as jazz tunes. Both are to be avoided. 
 We have noticed that some people who strenuously in- 
 sist on certain pulpit brands of theology lustily sing 
 almost anything. (2) The director should select ap- 
 propriate hymns to suit the worship theme; words and 
 tunes should work together to bring about the desired 
 attitudes of loyalty, gratitude, goodwill, and service, 
 and the right emotional responses to the goodness and 
 greatness of God. To reach such ends every hymn 
 used should be on the level of understanding and ex- 
 perience of the child, youth, or adult for whom the 
 worship service is planned. (3) There should be a 
 variety in hymns and in their use. With small chil- 
 dren a few simple hymns suited to their nature and 
 needs and with bright, easy melodies should be mem- 
 orized and used again and again. As we come to 
 juniors, the great hymns of the church, one by one, 
 should be memorized. These will be worship-capital 
 for all life. With older groups, the hymns should be 
 used in various ways: whole assembly sing whole 
 hymn; whole class or department do the same; verse 
 by verse, singing by classes or individuals; use solos, 
 duets, trios, quartettes, not for exhibition, but for 
 worship purposes; orchestra or piano play quietly a 
 familiar prayer hymn, while heads are bowed. As a 
 call to worship, or in the midst of the service; a hymn 
 tune can be reverently whistled with good effect; leader 
 can use verses of hymn as outline of worship talk; al- 
 ternating verse of hymn, verse of Scripture is good; 
 sometimes verses of hymns can be illustrated by flat 
 pictures held up, or stereopticon slides used with tell- 
 ing results; victrola records (solos, duets, trios, quar- 
 
256 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 tettes) of sacred songs are available and their occa- 
 sional use advantageous; a hymn is highly prized 
 when the story of its origin and use is given before 
 singing; some hymns can be antiphonally sung; cer- 
 tain hymns lend themselves beautifully to reverent 
 pantomime; other hymns can be realistically dram- 
 atized or put on in pageant form; once in a while a 
 good reciter can read a hymn as the piano plays slowly 
 and softly. If prayer is the heart of worship, what 
 shall we say of a soul-gripping hymn? 
 
 Instrumental music is a very vital part of a worship 
 service for all ages. It.can be used to call to worship 
 and prepare the way, or carry worshipers along, or 
 to close the service. It can quiet, soothe, start on a 
 march, or stir to action. For older groups, solo instru- 
 ments should be used on occasion, but always for 
 worship purposes, never to compliment or entertain. 
 Selection should be short, reverent, in keeping 
 with the theme. The leader or director should take 
 no chances, but in advance counsel with the player 
 on the necessity of brevity and worshipful rendi- 
 tion. 
 
 The story, a message of truth, has come to have 
 great value in the worship period, even as in class in- 
 struction. Many stories are now available which are 
 suitable for worship services. These should be short, 
 appropriate to theme, told, not read, and from Sunday 
 to Sunday be varied,—Bible, missionary, patriotic, 
 Service, and stories of moral heroism. Stories as all 
 forms of truth-presentation should be suited to the 
 several age groups. 
 
 Poems which drive home the thought of the service, 
 if short and well spoken, are appropriate in almost any 
 worship service. The very short stanza with a simple 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 257 
 
 message helps children, as do the longer poems for 
 young people and adults. 
 
 Talks—a crisp, appropriate talk of two-to-five min- 
 utes is acceptable and worthwhile in worship services 
 of young people and adults. They should not be used 
 with juniors and below, except in connection with pic- 
 ture poster, object, or blackboard. The director or 
 leader must pledge the talker to keep within time 
 limits. 
 
 Pictures of the right sort, either copies of master- 
 pieces held up or used through stereopticon, or re- 
 flectoscope, can be made very useful in creating the 
 Spirit of worship. Directors can avail themselves of a 
 fine collection at small cost. 
 
 Offering—the offering should be made an act of true 
 worship. It should never be referred to as the “col- 
 lection.”” Ushers or receivers of the offering should be 
 appointed and trained, a group serving for a month, 
 or longer. Duplex envelopes should be used by all 
 members of all classes, and these should be placed on 
 the plates or baskets as they are passed. The director 
 of worship wisely planning the offering is training 
 future church givers. It is a good plan for collectors 
 to come forward and stand together while the leader 
 prays, then as offering is taken, piano plays quietly and 
 the leader recites slowly stewardship scripture verses, 
 or other verses, on giving. It is better to have the 
 prayer before the offering. The above plan can be 
 used to advantage where a school worships all together 
 in one room, or by departments. The day of class 
 envelopes gathered by a treasurer, disturbing the teach- 
 ing period, should be over. 
 
258 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S TEN TESTS OF A WORSHIP SERVICE 
 
 1. Is the service instructive, even in We beginner’s 
 department? 
 
 2. Is the service devotional through and through? 
 
 3. Are participants sincere and reverent? 
 
 4. Does the service enable many to have part espe- 
 cially in the young people’s and adult depart- 
 ments? 
 
 5. Is there variety from Sunday to Sunday? 
 
 6. Do the parts of the service blend, 2.e., is there 
 harmony in the use of the elements? 
 
 7. Is the service climactic, #.e., does it have a goal 
 and reach it? 
 
 8. Does the worship service prepare mind and heart 
 for better class work? 
 
 9. Does the worship service for young people and 
 adults enrich personal lives and create a desire 
 for private prayer, Bible reading, and closer fel- 
 lowship with Christ, honoring the Holy Spirit? 
 
 10. Does the worship service, especially of young peo- 
 ple and adults, stir to deeds of heroic, sacrificial 
 service for others? 
 
 A TYPICAL PRIMARY WORSHIP SERVICE 
 Theme: Thanks for God’s Good Gifts 
 
 Call to Worship. ‘Come, Ye Thankful People, 
 Come.” (Any standard hymn book. Play worship- 
 fully and softly, that the music of this great hymn may 
 become part of the child’s worship sense. ) 
 
 Hymn: “Morning Hymn.” (Songs for Little Peo- 
 ple, No. 2. Danielson-Conant, The Pilgrim Press, 
 Boston, Mass.) 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 259 
 
 “Father, we thank Thee for the night, 
 And for the pleasant morning light, 
 For rest and food and loving care 
 And all that makes the day so fair.” 
 
 Hymn: “This is God’s House.” (Songs for Litile 
 People, No. 8.) 
 
 “This is God’s house and He is here today, 
 He hears each song of praise and listens when we 
 pray.” 
 
 Bible Verses: Psalm 100. 
 
 Prayer Song: “Lord, Who Lovest Little Children.” 
 (Songs for Little People, No. 21.) 
 
 “Lord, Who lovest little children, 
 Hear us as we pray to Thee.” 
 
 Prayer: 
 
 “Father of all in heaven above 
 We thank Thee for Thy love. 
 Our food, our homes, and all we wear 
 Tell us of Thy loving care. Amen.” 
 
 (Following the prayer, play the music to the above 
 while the heads remain bowed. From Song Stortes for 
 the Sunday School, Clayton F. Summy Company.) 
 
 Offering Service: 
 
 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, 
 coming down from the Father.—James 1:17. 
 Freely ye received, freely give—Matthew 10:8. 
 God loveth a cheerful giver —II Corinthians 9: 7. 
 For God so loved the world that He gave His only 
 begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him 
 
 should not perish but have eternal life-—John 
 Sic: LO: 
 
 (All recite above verses together quietly and rev- 
 
260 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 erently while a representative from each class brings 
 the offering. ) 
 Offering Hymn: (Songs for Little People, No. 88). 
 “We give Thee but Thine own 
 Whate’er the gift may be; 
 All that we have is Thine alone, 
 A trust, O Lord, from Thee. Amen.” 
 Lesson Study: 
 
 (Have pianist play “Come, Ye Thankful People, 
 Come,” while children gather around the superin- 
 tendent for the missionary story.) 
 
 Missionary Story: 
 
 Primary Picture Stories About South America, 
 Story V. (Secure from any denominational 
 board.) 
 
 Song: “A Whisper Song.” 
 (Played, not sung, as heads remain bowed in prayer.) 
 Closing Prayer: 
 
 Dear Jesus, we thank Thee for Thy love. Bless Thy 
 children everywhere and may the day come when 
 they may all know and love Thee. Be with us as 
 we go toour homes. Help us this week to be kind 
 one to another. Amen. 
 
 A TYPICAL JUNIOR WORSHIP SERVICE 
 
 Theme: Gratitude for our Christian Land 
 
 Prelude: (Instrumental). 
 
 “God of Our Fathers” (Hymnal for American 
 Youth, No. 245). 
 
 Call to Worship: 
 (Psalm 108: 3, 4.) 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 261 
 
 Supt. 
 I will give thanks unto Thee, O Jehovah, among the 
 peoples 
 And I will sing praises unto Thee among the nations. 
 Dept. 
 For Thy loving-kindness is great above the heavens, 
 And Thy truth reacheth unto the skies. 
 Praise Hymn: 
 “God of Our Fathers.” 
 
 Loyalty Service: 
 
 Salute to the Flag of Our Country. 
 
 I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic 
 for which it stands, one nation indivisible with 
 
 liberty and justice for all. I salute thee. 
 Hymn: 
 “ My Country ’Tis of Thee” (last stanza). 
 
 Salute to the Christian Flag. 
 
 I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the Saviour 
 for whose kingdom it stands, one brotherhood 
 uniting all mankind in service and in love. I 
 salute thee. 
 
 Hymn: 
 “ Fling Out the Banner” (one stanza). 
 
 Story: 
 The Pilgrim Fathers. 
 
 Recitation: 
 “The Landing of the Pilgrims.” Hemans. 
 
262 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Hymn: 
 “Faith of Our Fathers.” 
 
 Fellowship Service: 
 
 Recognition of World Brothers and Sisters of non- 
 Christian lands. (Prayer.) Recognition of Birth- 
 days, New Members, Visitors, Church Attendance, 
 Honor Classes. Announcements. 
 
 Memory Work: 
 
 Devotional Service: 
 Quiet Music. 
 
 Scripture: 
 
 Supt. Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin 1s a 
 reproach to any people—Prov. 14: 34. 
 Dept. Blessed is the nation whose God is Jeho- 
 vah.—Psalm 33:12. 
 Teachers: Yea, happy is the people whose God is 
 Jehovah—Psalm 144:15. 
 
 Hymn: “Faith of Our Fathers.” 
 
 Prayer and Response: 
 
 Supt. For this beautiful world which thou hast 
 given to us, thy children, 
 
 Dept. We give thee thanks, our Father. 
 
 Supt. For the food and clothing and shelter with 
 which thou dost provide us, 
 
 Dept. We give thee thanks, our Father. 
 
 Supt. For the brave and noble heroes who fought to 
 make our world safer and happier, 
 
 Dept. We give thee thanks, our Father. 
 
 Supt. For these days of peace and prosperity, 
 
 Dept. We give thee thanks, our Father. 
 
 Supt. For Jesus Christ, our Saviour and our Friend, 
 
 Dept. We give thee thanks, our Father. 
 
 Supt. For the Christian land in which all are free 
 to worship thee, 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 263 
 
 Dept. We give thee thanks, our Father. 
 Supt. Help us to be always true to thee. Amen. 
 Call to Study: 
 
 Supt. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy 
 law ; 
 Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.— 
 Psalm 119: 34. 
 
 Lesson Study: 
 
 Hymn: “Jesus Shall Reign.” 
 Prayer: 
 
 Postiude: (Instrumental). 
 
 A TYPICAL WORSHIP SERVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 
 Theme: Gratitude for Friends 
 Prelude: (Instrumental) “Holy, Holy, Holy.” 
 
 Call to Worshtp: 
 
 Leader: Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and 
 into his courts with praise. Give thanks 
 unto him and bless his name. 
 
 Response: From the rising of the sun unto the 
 going down of the same, the Lord’s 
 name is to be praised. 
 
 Hymn: ‘For the Beauty of the Earth.” No. 38, 
 in Hymnal for American Youth. 
 
 Prayer of thanksgiving, with choral response, No. 
 35, back of Hymnal for American Youth, 
 
 Responsive Service: 
 
 Leader: Ii I can stop one heart from breaking, 
 I shall not live in vain. 
 
264 
 
 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 Response: Let me live in a house by the side of the 
 road and be a friend to man. 
 
 Leader: Entreat me not to leave thee, and to retum 
 from following after thee; for whither 
 thou goest, I will go; and where thou 
 lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be 
 my people, and thy God, my God. 
 
 Response: <A friend loveth at all times. 
 
 Leader: And Jonathan caused David to swear 
 again, for the love that he had to him; 
 for he loved him as he loved his own 
 soul. 
 
 Response: And David said, Is there yet any that is 
 left of the house of Saul that I may 
 show him kindness for Jonathan’s 
 sake? 
 
 Leader: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 
 
 Response: Ye are my friends if ye do the things 
 which I command you. 
 Leader: No longer do I call you servants; 
 but I have called you friends. 
 Response: Greater love hath no man than this, that 
 a man lay down his life for his friends. 
 
 Hymn: “Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life.” 
 
 No. 
 
 222 in Hymnal for American Youth. 
 
 Worship Through Offering: 
 
 Scripture: The Home of Friends—Luke 10: 38-42; 
 John 11: 32-36, read by a boy and a girl from the 
 Senior Department. 
 
 Prayer: Silent gratitude for friends, followed by 
 prayer by a boy and a girl in Young People’s Depart- 
 ment, and choral response, as above. 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 265 
 
 Poem: “The Friend of Man.” 
 
 The poet will sing of the house by the road, 
 Where the friend of mankind abides; 
 
 Another will sing of lifting their load, 
 While walking along by their sides. 
 
 Each poet, no doubt, sees a service complete 
 In his own chosen angle or way; 
 
 But the Master to mankind would humbly entreat 
 For the service of both, I dare say. 
 
 Yes, our Master knows both the road and the home, 
 For the weary who plead for rest; 
 
 And those who are out on life’s highway to roam, 
 He'll take as His humble guest. 
 
 So someone must render an aid to these men, 
 Through the day as they carry their load, 
 
 And give them their shelter when long nights begin, 
 In this home by the side of the road. 
 
 There are men who need just a word of good cheer, 
 And others with wounds to be healed; 
 There are some who have souls that are burdened with 
 fear, 
 Yet these to the world are concealed. 
 Let me speak a kind word to the weak ones each day, 
 Let me see that the hungry are fed; 
 For the wounded I pray for a house by the way 
 With a cot for their weary head. 
 
 There’s a service to give in life’s road-way each day, 
 With the crowds that go rushing by, 
 And I could not remain in my house by the way 
 And watch this in silence, not I. 
 But I’d go to their side, and help bear their load, 
 And then I would cheerfully say— 
 “Tm glad I can walk with the men in the road, 
 As I live in my house by the way.” 
 —Jessa Wess. 
 
 Solo: “I Would Be True.” No. 170 in Hymnal for 
 American Youth. 
 
266 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 Story: “The Road of the Loving Heart.” 
 
 THE ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART 
 
 
 
 Remembering the great love of his high- 
 ness, Tusitala, and his loving care when we 
 were in prison and sore distressed, we have 
 prepared him an enduring present, this road 
 which we have dug forever. 
 
 In a far-off island, thousands of miles from the main- 
 land, and unconnected with the world by cable, stands 
 this inscription. It was set up at the corner of a new 
 road cut through the jungle, and was signed by ten 
 chiefs. 
 
 Many years ago a Scotsman settled on this island. 
 He was sick and discouraged, and knew he had not 
 long to live. He found the natives at war with each 
 other constantly. The victorious chiefs placed the 
 vanquished natives in prisons and mistreated them in 
 every way known to them. The Scotsman worked 
 among them, and the wars finally ceased when each 
 side called him by the same name, and thus conferred 
 upon him the highest honor they could give. This 
 Scotsman visited the men in prison and cared for them, 
 and they said they never had such a friend. Finally he 
 succeeded in getting the natives out of prison, and in 
 grateful appreciation, they built this great white road 
 through the jungle to the top of a great high moun- 
 tain that their friend loved so well. 
 
 Shortly after the road was completed, the great 
 white chief died. The natives came from all parts of 
 
DIRECTOR OF WORSHIP 267 
 
 the island and sat all day and night by the body of 
 their beloved chief, Tusitala, in silent grief. Then, 
 one of the black natives rose and said, “I am only a 
 poor black man and ignorant, yet I am not afraid to 
 come and take a last look at my friend. Behold, 
 Tusitala is dead. We were in prison and he cared for 
 us. The day was no longer than his kindness.” ‘Then, 
 reverently and tenderly, they carried the body to the 
 top of the great high mountain and there laid it to 
 rest. 
 
 The civilized world mourns the loss of the great 
 author, Robert Louis Stevenson, but the Samoans 
 mourn the loss of a brother who outdid all others in 
 loving kindness. 
 
 The phrase, “The road of the loving heart,” is a 
 gospel in itself. ‘“The day is no longer than his kind- 
 ness” is a new beatitude. Fame dies, honors perish, 
 but loving kindness is immortal.—Told by Annie Fel- 
 lows Johnston in The Little Colonel’s Houseparty. 
 
 Lesson Study: 
 Benedictory Hymn: ‘What a Friend We Have in 
 Jesus” (in most hymnals). 
 
 (Above programs used by courtesy of the International Jour- 
 nal of Religious Education.) 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF MUSIC 
 
 Where one person can be designated as director of 
 worship and music, it would give new meaning to his 
 position. If his major strength is music, the pastor 
 and superintendent could help him to become skillful as 
 
268 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 a creator and conductor of real worship programs as 
 well. However, in schools of medium size, and larger, 
 there should be two officers, one who sees the wide 
 educational scope of worship and one who is im- 
 mediately associated with him and known as the di- 
 rector of music. It can be seen at once how imperative 
 it is for these two valuable church-school officers to be 
 agreed as touching all matters of devotional interest 
 to the school. They will counsel often and codperate 
 always. Music itself is so vital a part of worship that 
 it is inconceivable that one of these officers should 
 move independently of the other. If the superinten- 
 dent nominates the general officers of the school, and 
 such usually should be the case, two persons acceptable 
 to each other should be named for election by the 
 school. Especially is it desirable that the person which 
 the superintendent has decided upon as the one best 
 suited to become director of worship should be con- 
 sulted as to his choice for director of music. It will 
 be the superintendent’s privilege and clear duty to pre- 
 pare the way for a mutual understanding of the rela- 
 tionships of these two dove-tailing positions. Spiritu- 
 ally, they should be in the same key. Discord in their 
 dispositions would be worse than piano and orchestra 
 going in opposite directions. Generally speaking, musi- 
 cians are “sensitive souls” and must possess themselves 
 with a generous supply of Christian grace and patience 
 that self-control may sit enthroned. Lost control will 
 mean lost leadership. ‘\ 
 THE MINISTRY OF MUSIC 
 
 The ministry of music in the church school is very 
 real, definite, and permanent. The service of song 
 alone cannot be measured, so far-reaching is its in- 
 
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC 269 
 
 fluence. Great has been the preaching ministry of 
 Spurgeon, Brooks, Jowett, and many other noble souls, 
 but we sometimes wonder if the song-ministry of 
 Wesley, Watts, Crosby, and others has not reached 
 more people, young and old, with the Christian truth. 
 The sermon snail paces along the highways of life, 
 while song takes the tune wings of the morning and 
 aviates to the ends of the earth. I stood at the grave 
 of Isaac Watts«and thought eternity alone will tell the 
 story of his world service through song, and a like 
 thought came to me when, looking into the sightless 
 eyes and clasping the puny hand of the fragile, little 
 old song-saint, Fanny Crosby, whose more than seven 
 thousand hymns have sung themselves into the hearts 
 of humanity where’er the sun doth his successive jour- 
 neys run. Where the Christian missionary goes, there 
 go the great hymns of the church, immortal messen- 
 gers of God’s everlasting truth. 
 
 The ministry of song in the church school is a full, 
 fruitful one: (1) It carries a saving message to the 
 unsaved, opening the door of the heart to the coming 
 in of Christ as a personal Saviour and Friend; (2) it 
 carries a service message to the saved, pushing them 
 out into the fields white for the gleaning, fromi a neigh- 
 borly lending-a-hand to the far-away frontiers of the 
 - Kingdom’s missionary enterprises; (3) it gives 
 spiritual vision and virility, putting into the heart 
 courage, patience, unselfishness, faith, hope, love; 
 (4). it rallies the thinking idealism of individuals to a 
 common, conquering purpose, the crusader’s song 
 makes the crusaders strong; Armenians are a singing 
 people; their songs kept them alive under Turkish ter- 
 rors; (5) it emotionalizes individuals for social action; 
 not only rallies them about a banner, but drives them 
 
270 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 through difficulties and defeat to the day of triumph. 
 The sermon may be forgotten, but the song lives on 
 and sings its way into every language of every race 
 the world around. It is often the universal spiritual 
 panacea for earth’s aches and ills. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR HIMSELF 
 
 The director of music adds to or subtracts from the 
 school spirit so markedly that great care should be 
 given to his selection. He (she) should be a devout 
 Christian, full of life, but reverent and spiritually 
 minded. He should be a genuine lover of children and 
 young people. If possible, he should be such a sensible 
 optimist that as soon as he gets on his feet, his ready 
 wit and genial presence will start an epidemic of good 
 cheer. No school should ever let a gloom-begetter 
 stand before it. A Christian that lets his goodness 
 pain-streak his face is about as welcome as a rain cloud 
 on the day of the picnic. The director of music, if he 
 is a musician at all, possesses a sensitive ear and a 
 more sensitive soul Therefore, he must be patient; 
 if he loses his temper, he loses his influence. If he 
 ever comes to the place where his brain begins to tune 
 into the broadcasting stations of Mrs. Caudle or Old 
 Scrooge, he better resign. The director need not be an 
 expert singer himself. Very often an exceptional solo- 
 ist is a poor director. He must know music and know 
 how to get others to sing and to worship in what they 
 sing and how they sing. The director will need as- 
 sistants. In the smallest school, he will have an organ- 
 ist or pianist and assistant. In the larger schools, he 
 will need these and probably a leader of his orchestra, 
 and one who can directly assist him occasionally in the 
 platform direction of music. 
 
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC 271 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S DUTIES 
 
 Among the privileges open to the church-school 
 director of music are: (1) the leadership of a vital 
 ministry of music for the school, with all the educa- 
 tional values he can put into it and get out of it, for 
 music is one of God’s good gifts; (2) he should plan 
 in cooperation with the director of worship for the 
 music numbers in the worship programs of the school 
 as a whole and by departments; indeed, they should 
 work out the worship programs together and many 
 weeks in advance; (3) he should select and use only 
 the best hymns, never permitting jazz tunes or dog- 
 gerel words; he will not let piano or orchestra rag-time 
 the school; (4) he should insist on the school, though 
 small, owning a good piano, and, if large, a good piano 
 for the school and a good one for each department, and 
 that all be kept in good condition; (5) the director of 
 music should “‘have the say” as to the selection of a 
 pianist, for a poor player can bring his musical plans 
 to nothing, or worse; (6) he should, if at all possible, 
 organize an orchestra; even in a small school, a few 
 good instruments can be assembled and a leader se- 
 cured; an orchestra greatly helps the school spirit and, 
 if wisely led, materially aids in the worship period; 
 (7) if in a large school, a general, well-trained chorus 
 makes possible a musical service of great beauty and 
 power, or the director may prefer to have a children’s 
 choir, or a boys’ choir through which to offer special 
 music; (8) he will, after he is sure of his people, use 
 feature numbers, such as solos, duets, trios, quartets, 
 making sure to insist in advance on knowing just what 
 is to be presented; (9) because the school appreciates 
 them, he will make use of instrumental specialties, such 
 
272 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 as violin, cornet, flute, or saxaphone numbers, previ- 
 ously finding out the selections to be rendered; (10) he 
 should keep in mind the necessity of grading the music 
 used so that like the best courses of instruction, the 
 different age groups can grasp the meaning. 
 
 (11) He should never make the hymn an end in 
 itself, or, for that matter, any other musical part of the 
 program; all music should carry its educational spiritual 
 message; (12) he should take time to interpret and 
 teach new hymns; how much of our best hymnals lie 
 unused due to indifference, inability, or laziness of the 
 director; at least one new hymn should be studied and 
 learned each month; (13) he should cooperate with the 
 departmental principals in the preparation of their mu- 
 sical programs, thus rendering a welcome service, 
 provided he knows the musical needs of the different 
 age groups; (14) he will give special attention to the 
 music on the great special days of the church school, 
 such as Rally Day, Christmas, Easter, and Children’s 
 Day; at such times his expert leadership will meet 
 with the hearty approval of the whole church, and thus 
 make his work easier as the church-school director of 
 music; (15) he will find pleasure in arranging special 
 music for the good time gatherings of the school, or of 
 the school’s groups, and by this means win friendships 
 and pupil loyalties necessary for the improvement of 
 the whole musical program of the school; (16) he 
 should plan for an annual church-school concert, using 
 as many varieties of musical features as possible; this 
 should not be in the form of an entertainment to make 
 money, but as a real contribution to the musical edu- 
 cation of participants and friends; (17) he should be 
 a discoverer of musical talent, learning all he can from 
 public school teachers and private music instructors; a 
 
DIRECTOR OF MUSIC 273 
 
 musical director known to the writer practically every 
 Sunday slips into one of the departments of the school 
 on a quiet hunt for prospects; (18) the church-school 
 director of music should serve as chairman of any 
 committee appointed by the superintendent to select 
 school hymnals, or chorus, or quartet books; he ought 
 so thoroughly to inform himself that departmental 
 leaders will seek his advice when securing books for 
 their worship; (19) in cooperation with the superin- 
 tendent, he should prepare the school’s annual music 
 budget, for he knows the needs better than others; 
 (20) naturally, he is the church-school’s representative 
 to cooperate with musical directors in other schools 
 in the district in putting on a big musical festival in 
 the interest of a greater appreciation of sacred music. 
 
 Music is one of God’s great and good messengers of 
 His truth to men. The gift of musical ability to an 
 individual is a sacred trust. The opportunity to direct 
 others into the fullest enjoyment of music is a high and 
 holy privilege. 
 
XVII 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF EVANGELISM, COM- 
 MUNITY SERVICE, AND MISSIONS 
 
 E come now to consider expression through 
 evangelism, community service, and mis- 
 
 sions. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF EVANGELISM 
 
 Every church school, no matter how small, should 
 have a director of evangelism. In almost every case, 
 this director should be the pastor. He is the one set 
 apart by his church, or other authority, with evan- 
 gelism, rightly understood, as his major function. 
 There is a certain responsibility, God-placed, that he 
 cannot or should not delegate to others. He will need 
 and will have helpers, but he is the chief evangelist. 
 His pulpit ministry may be heavy and hard to bear, 
 and his shepherding unusually exacting and wearing, 
 but evangelism is his prime duty and holy privilege in 
 the pulpit and in the parish, but most of all through 
 the church school. If a church-school constitution 
 makes provision for an officer known as the director of 
 evangelism, and it should, the pastor should be elected 
 to that position. This may not be absolutely neces- 
 sary, but it is important and highly desirable. The 
 
 thing must not go by default and then some day some- 
 274 
 
DIRECTOR OF EVANGELISM 275 
 
 body be forced to cry out for a special evangelistic 
 campaign to make amends for expensive negligence of 
 the better way. Special evangelistic campaigns may be 
 necessary when there have been years and years of 
 neglect to reach children and youth through a quiet, 
 constructive church-school policy of educational evan- 
 gelism. 
 
 Let no one misunderstand the writer. Do not: 
 class him either with those who are opposed to evan- 
 gelistic campaigns, for he is not, or with some people 
 who may mean by educational evangelism a process 
 of educating children into the Kingdom without def- 
 inite, personal choices on their part, or without the 
 definite, regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the 
 individual heart, by reason of repentance and faith in 
 Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour. We do not hold 
 such a position. By educational evangelism we mean 
 the bringing to bear upon the life of every child the 
 early nurture and training of consecrated Christian 
 parents, then the more systematic religious education 
 in the home, also the continuation of religious educa- 
 tion in the church school and the church, and the en- 
 vironing of the life with Christ-controlled experiences, 
 so that as the child comes to the place of sufficient 
 knowledge, of his own volition, having had his will 
 trained, he may definitely, personally, intelligently 
 choose Christ as his Saviour and Lord. People speak 
 segmentally or prejudicially who confuse evangelism 
 and religious education. They are not antithetical or 
 mutually exclusive. The vast majority of religious 
 educators see the scope of educational evangelism 
 clearly and go on a further step to say that the church 
 school must help this saved child to grow in grace and 
 the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and be trained for co- 
 
276 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 operative service with and for Christ, to help Him get 
 His gracious will done in the world. We now venture 
 a diagrammatic presentation. 
 
 THE FULLER MEANING OF EVANGELISM 
 
 There has come to the mind of every thoughtful 
 Christian worker many times the expression “saved 
 but lost.” Is it not the shame of our Kingdom service 
 to win children, youth, and adults to Christ and the 
 church and then let them drift away from active partic- 
 ipation in Christian work? Saved, but lost to the 
 church and Kingdom enterprises. It is hoped that this 
 simple arrangement may help directors of evangelism 
 to project an adequate policy of evangelism for their 
 church schools: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | | VERBS | CHRIST CENTRAL | NOUNS | 
 | 1 | Believe | Saved by Christ | Salvation | 
 | 2 | Abide | Nurtured in Christ | Growth | 
 3 Come and Receive Trasned for Christ | Training | 
 | + | Go and Give | Yoked with Christ | Service | 
 
 by 
 
 N urtured CHRIST 
 
 17% 
 
 Yoked 
 with 
 
 
 
 > a OO ee < 
 
DIRECTOR OF EVANGELISM 277 
 
 All of which means far more than signing a card 
 on decision day, or coming forward in answer to an 
 evangelistic appeal. The director and his helpers know 
 full well that much must be done before the public or 
 private decision day, and that the follow-up through 
 months and years is also of great importance. That 
 the “babe in Christ” must be nurtured for proper 
 growth and development, and that training and service 
 through discipleship and apostleship all are necessary 
 in the fullest program of educational evangelism. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR HELPING PARENTS 
 
 The director of evangelism has, or should have, 
 friendly and fruitful relationships (1) with children, 
 youth, and adults that need him; (2) with their homes; 
 (3) with the church-school groups of which they are 
 a part; and (4) with the church to which he hopes to 
 vitally connect them. 
 
 Of special significance is his relationships with the 
 parents of the church-school children and young people. 
 He may manifest his interest as follows: (1) parental 
 parties give social contacts that lengthen out into 
 friendship ties-that-bind. It is a delightful custom in 
 many church schools some two or three times a year, 
 usually during Rally week in September, New Year’s 
 week, and children’s week, in April, for the parents to 
 be invited to the church-school building for good times 
 with their children and the teachers of their children. 
 A satisfactory schedule is for three departments to 
 come in the afternoon and the others in the evening; 
 cradle roll children, 3 to 4 o’clock; beginners, 4 to 5; 
 and primary, 5 to 6; juniors, 6 to 7; junior and senior 
 high school groups, 7 to 8; and young people, 8 to 9; 
 (2) parental letters often as follow-ups from acquaint- 
 
278 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 ances formed by the director at the church parental 
 parties, or he may, in cooperation with the church- 
 school director of records, use birthday and other 
 such events for a letter-message; (3) parental visita- 
 tions, having in mind definite plans for the religious 
 education of children and young people in the home; 
 (4) a parent-problem library of books, magazines and 
 pamphlet literature; fortunately there are accessible 
 now such books and leaflets as will be most helpful 
 when wisely and widely circulated; (5) parent-training 
 classes are now held in many church schools where the 
 younger parents can receive systematic and very prac- 
 tical information on child nature and child nurture, 
 and other related subjects; (6) parent-teacher associ- 
 ations so profitable in public school groups are equally 
 beneficial in church-school connection, when under 
 capable leadership. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR HELPING TEACHERS 
 
 Parents can do much, perhaps most, and yet, with 
 junior and high school groups, often the church-school 
 teacher has a commanding influence that the director 
 of evangelism should recognize and utilize. The full- 
 headed, far-seeing director will help teachers to see 
 and seize their opportunities and loyally, lovingly as- 
 sume their responsibilities: (1) because of position 
 and personality; (2) for correct understanding; and 
 (3) for the right approach. 
 
 The teacher has responsibility because of his per- 
 sonality and position: (1) as a Christian, through his 
 life and example; (2) as a teacher, being older, with 
 more knowledge and with more experience; (3) as a 
 leader, recognized and followed; (4) as a trustee ap- 
 pointed by the school with the sacred stewardship of 
 
DIRECTOR OF EVANGELISM 279 
 
 young life, for which account must be given; (5) asa 
 friend, for friendships and close fellowships always 
 bring social, moral and spiritual obligations. 
 
 The teacher should be brought to the correct under- 
 standing of youth. At this the director will patiently, 
 professionally work, keeping constantly in mind the 
 evangelistic end sought. The teacher that wills to 
 know may know the children and youth for whom he is 
 evangelistically concerned: (1) their natures, that 
 some are self-centered and snobbish, while others are 
 socially-minded and democratic, some are dreamers, 
 others doers, some paradoxical and secretive in atti- 
 tudes and behavior, others open and frank, some phari- 
 saical, self-righteous, others humble and reticent; the 
 variety and moodiness give fascination to the study; 
 (2) their needs, equally various and often hard to 
 analyze; (3) their motives, mixed and so complex that 
 an X-ray reveals little; (4) their interests, transitory, 
 trivial, yet to them vital; (5) their yearnings, sincere, 
 even desperate, some upward, some despairingly down- 
 ward; (6) their potentialities, heaven high, world wide, 
 fathomless as the sea; (7) their difficulties, physical, 
 mental, social, religious,—gloom-begetters and doom- 
 begetters, if no sympathetic, understanding hand gives 
 a timely light or lift. 
 
 The director should make plain to teachers the right 
 approach to youth. The approach should be: (1) in- 
 telligent because dealing with soul values; (2) sym- 
 pathetic because expecting soul responses; (3) tactful 
 because blunders may work havoc; (4) confident be- 
 cause of the great need and because of God’s help; 
 (5) Biblical, because of the authoritative word and 
 the assurance “the opening of thy word giveth light”; 
 (6) positive, for even a child prefers to go forward 
 
280 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 not backward; (7) constructive, moving on from 
 foundation to superstructure; (8) cooperative, not 
 coercive, life linked to life in a contagious persuasive- 
 ness that will mean human life linked to divine life in 
 eternal loyalties. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR AND CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 
 
 The director of evangelism knows that when the de- 
 cision for Christ as a personal Saviour has brought the 
 human life into closest, happiest, divine fellowship, 
 then there is needed at once the joy-giving, courage- 
 giving and strength-giving fellowships that come from 
 organizational association with others who have come 
 to the same experience. While it is possible to be a 
 Christian and not be a church member, it is not pos- 
 sible to be a fully obedient and fruitfully witnessing 
 one. How can the director enlist in church member- 
 ship? (1) by the cooperation of parents and the 
 churchward urge of the home; (2) by the social pull 
 of chums and friends already vitally connected; (3) by 
 preparation classes, setting forth privileges, duties, and 
 joys of church membership; (4) by personal invita- 
 tions, always prayerful, tactful, and kindly persistent; 
 (5) by public appeal through so-called decision, wit- 
 nessing or declaration days in the church school as a 
 whole or in departments; (6) by well-planned forward 
 step meetings of different age groups; (7) by special 
 evangelistic or spiritual life conferences or campaigns. 
 
 The director will show that youth should join the 
 church because of: 
 
 What the churchis: (1) Christ’s body through which 
 He works; (2) Christ’s cherished institution to which 
 He has committed His message; (3) Christ’s channel 
 
DIRECTOR OF EVANGELISM 281 
 
 through which flows life-giving truth; (4) Christ’s com- 
 munity of believers in whose midst He dwells; (5) 
 Christ’s power-house, generating the spiritual dynamics 
 of mankind; (6) Christ’s field and force, a field to 
 be cultivated and fruited, a force to be trained and 
 used. 
 
 What the church does for youth: (1) teaches the 
 truth that transforms lives; (2) nurtures the devo- 
 tional life, bringing comfort, courage, peace; (3) evan- 
 gelizes with the good news of the Kingdom; (4) 
 inspires to Christian living and service; (5) trains 
 for and im service that counts for time and eternity; 
 (6) directs expression through public worship; (7) 
 provides Christian fellowship, earth’s choicest and 
 best; (8) gives Kingdom vision and purpose to life. 
 
 What youth can do for the church: ‘The director 
 has an impelling challenge to put up to young people 
 in the bigness of the church as an enterprise. He can 
 help them to see that: (1) they can honor it because 
 of Christ’s leadership; (2) they can give to it time, 
 strength of youth, money, lives; (3) they can love it, 
 its history, ordinances, traditions, polity, program; 
 (4) they can pray for it, for its triumph over ma- 
 _ terialism, narrow sectarianism, and for its forward, 
 victorious march into all lands; (5) they can work for 
 it, investing their lives in its great Kingdom service at 
 home and abroad, and making known its Lord ‘to the 
 ends of the earth. 
 
 What youth can do through the church: (1) con- 
 serve Christian life, their own and others; (2) witness 
 for Christ by faithful attendance and the testimony of 
 a blameless life; (3) save the unsaved; (4) strengthen 
 the saved; (5) radiate helpfulness; and (6) Chris- 
 tianize the community. 
 
282 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY SERVICE 
 
 Two of the most important officers in a church 
 school are the one who is all eyes and ears to com- 
 munity needs and who can commandeer hearts: and 
 hands to meet these needs, and the one whose love and 
 loyalty to the Christ of the world is a heaven-born 
 compulsion to bring the world to Christ. : 
 
 In any church school, small or large, some one per- 
 son should help teachers and pupils to express their 
 Christian life in unselfish service. Community service 
 should not be left to hit and miss, spasmodic efforts. 
 Some one must carry responsibility. Community serv- 
 ice is in reality Christ’s go-and-do gospel functioning. 
 It will be recalled that when Jesus nucleated all the 
 commandments around the “thou shalt love,”’ He con- 
 cluded “and thy neighbor as thyself.’ My neighbor 
 is one who needs me, whether in far-away lands or in 
 the near-away home town. The world can never forget 
 the lesson of the good Samaritan which Jesus taught 
 to a promising pupil, at the end of which He said, 
 “Go and do thou likewise.” He who went about doing 
 good and Himself came not to be served but to serve 
 others must often be disappointed at our slowness of 
 heart and hand. He not only would have us “live in 
 the house by the side of the road,” but would have us 
 leave that house again and again and lovingly search 
 the lanes of life for the neighbors who need us. 
 
 
 
 THE DIRECTOR HIMSELF 
 
 _ For the director of community service, an intelligent, 
 thoroughgoing Christian should be chosen, who will be 
 
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY SERVICE 283 
 
 eyes for the whole church school to see community 
 needs and problems, and who will have the ability to 
 plan adequately to meet these needs. He (she) should 
 be a person of keen insight into human nature, with a 
 big heart for “just folks,” and at the same time a 
 shrewd observer of the weakness and wickedness of 
 wayward humanity. His sensitive detector must be 
 quick to discern the deserving and also rapidly register 
 justice for the rascal. He must become the school’s 
 expressional expert, so channeling altruistic impulses 
 that both giver and receiver may rejoice together. He 
 knows that on the ledger of life “the gift without the 
 giver is bare,” and that the motive in the heart meas- 
 ures the gift in the hand. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S DUTIES 
 
 The duties of such an officer cannot be constitu- 
 tionally tabulated. Only a few practical suggestions 
 are offered here, and these are mere hints in the direc- 
 tion of a manifold ministry: (1) first of all, the director 
 should acquaint himself with a few worthwhile books 
 on sociology, social psychology, social service, and 
 _ project principles in religious education; lists and 
 leaflet literature can be secured from denominational 
 boards and from many welfare organizations; he 
 should not feel that because his heart is right that his 
 head and hand will be free from mistakes; as director, 
 he must help, not hinder, for this reason he must be 
 informed, otherwise the blind will be leading the blind, 
 and both fall into the ditch of the good-intentioned but 
 discredited philanthropists; ignorant almsgiving may 
 perpetuate a gross evil, and misdirected service may 
 do more harm than good; (2) when thoroughly famil- 
 iar with the psychological and sociological principles 
 
284 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 undergirding sane community service, and the educa- 
 tional principles involved in setting up service projects, 
 he should then make a careful survey of the needs to 
 be met, and of all local charities at work in the com- 
 munity; (3) thus ready, he will work out a policy of 
 procedure and arrange programs of graded service 
 projects for every age group in the school; the simpler 
 forms of service projects can be outlined for beginners 
 and other projects graded on up through the depart- 
 ments to and including adults; (4) for adults and 
 young people the director should suggest reading or 
 study courses bearing on the principles and methods of 
 modern philanthropy and social service; leaflets are 
 available, or the director can duplicate his own out- 
 lines; (5) the director will work through department 
 principals in setting up the service projects for each 
 age group, he himself being careful to unify and grade 
 so as to guarantee progress from year to year, thus 
 preventing overlapping, and also keeping up perennial 
 interest; the director should know the natural service 
 outgoings of children and young people at each period 
 of their growth and development, so that there may be 
 no premature forcing by some sentimental, over-zealous 
 advocate of a cause; there is as much need of graded 
 service as graded lessons and worship; (6) the director 
 will give, or will make provision for others to give, 
 talks on local charities and welfare organizations, serv- 
 ice opportunities near and far; sometimes an emer- 
 gency may demand immediate relief, and, if his service 
 project program is elastic enough, some group or groups 
 can be addressed and quickly lined up. 
 
 (7) The director will, among many needy objects, 
 consider the following: (a) care of a destitute family, 
 cooperating with some reliable charity organization so 
 
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY SERVICE 285 
 
 that the case-system may be studied at the same time 
 that practical help is given, perhaps the one case may 
 involve a dozen service projects for many church- 
 school groups; (b) preparation and distribution of 
 baskets of food for Thanksgiving and Christmas ob- 
 servance; (c) provision for a Christmas tree (summer 
 or winter) for a mission Sunday school or church; (d) 
 a toy shower participated in by small children for some 
 home for neglected children, or some children’s hos- 
 pital; (e) assist D. V. B. S. groups in making useful 
 things for crippled children, or for homes for aged; 
 (e) help junior boys organize and run errands, do 
 chores for aged or ill; (f) organize groups of high 
 school girls to visit homes of invalid elderly shut-ins 
 and sing or otherwise entertain them; (g) provide 
 flowers for various uses; (h) neglected children can be 
 entertained by parties and helped through sewing, art- 
 craft, or other manual projects; (i) older young people 
 and adults can be enlisted in big brother or big sister 
 service for delinquent children; (8) the resourceful 
 director will make note of many forms of service and 
 keep his programs comprehensive and attractive. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF MISSIONS 
 
 One of the rare service privileges for any church- 
 school officer is that of director of missions. To the 
 Christian who has climbed even a foothill, the farther 
 vision is a challenge; to him who mounts to a peak, 
 the broad horizon puts an urge in the soul that cannot 
 be satisfied again with a vision limited by some little 
 home town backyard fence. The field is the world. 
 
286 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 The impossible becomes possible. The eternities thun- 
 der “Forward!” The far-flung line of Kingdom ad- 
 vance pushed to the utmost frontier of the world calls 
 for a strong-hearted, long-headed campaign. “The 
 evangelization of the world in this generation’ was one 
 of the most gripping challenges since Paul and Silas 
 heard the Macedonian call, or Carey sailed for India. 
 College students in great volunteer conventions re- 
 sponded. Men and religious movements effectively’ 
 took up the cry. How much farther would we be 
 toward the goal if at the same time there had been an 
 equally impressive campaign of missionary education 
 of children and youth. Missionary education has come, 
 and come with resultful victories, but not soon enough 
 to reénforce the cause as rapidly as desired. The past 
 decade or so has witnessed magnificent progress in mis- 
 sionary education in the church school and in parallel 
 organizations, for which noble women, not a few, are 
 to be gratefully commended. We are now growing a 
 generation of missionary-minded boys and girls, soon 
 to be the givers, pray-ers and go-ers. What a pre- 
 eminently useful and joyous service it is to be the 
 director of missions in a church school, large or small. 
 The Careys, Judsons, Brainerds, Morrisons, Living- 
 stons, Grenfels of tomorrow are now on church-school 
 cradle rolls or wiggling around in junior departments. 
 The directors of missions, under God, may be the 
 Andrew discoverers, not only to bring new wealth to 
 Christ, but “lads with loaves and fishes” to feed the 
 spiritually starving millions the world around. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR AND HIS PRIVILEGES 
 
 The director of missions must be a man or woman 
 of world vision and interest, an intense lover of mis- 
 
DIRECTOR OF MISSIONS 287 
 
 sions, a giver to missions, and a Christ-controlled 
 Christian who feels that every day is missionary day. 
 
 Missionary education is so well organized now that 
 literature issued by the Missionary Education Move- 
 ment and the several missionary boards is available on 
 request. It is not necessary to attempt an elaborate 
 listing of duties, but rather indicate briefly a few of 
 the many privileges: 
 
 1. Arrange for graded instruction in missions in all 
 departments of the church school and assist missionary 
 leaders in the church in classes by age groups, using 
 Missionary Education Movement courses, or any other 
 graded texts; 
 
 2. Have missionary posters, charts and diagrams 
 made as class projects; 
 
 3. Have missionary exhibits of curios from mis- 
 sionary land, with a missionary room or alcove, if 
 possible; 
 
 4. Provide brief missionary stories before whole 
 school as part of worship programs; 
 
 5. Arrange for letters to and from missionaries;' 
 
 6. Every Sunday every church calendar in the coun- 
 try should carry at least one sentence or paragraph on 
 missions; the director of missions can supply these;' 
 
 7. Get school to have its own missionary on city, 
 home or foreign field; 
 
 8. Get departments and classes each to support a 
 native worker on foreign fields, or finance some phase 
 of city or home missions; 
 
 9. Cooperate with director of worship in arranging 
 whole missionary worship programs by school and 
 departments: 
 
 10. Missionary postcard book and scrap book about 
 fields, also to send to children on missionary fields; 
 
288 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 11. As often as possible, secure returned mis- 
 sionaries as speakers on regular and special occa- 
 sions; 
 
 12. When possible, get young student volunteers to 
 tell why they are going; 
 
 13. Have framed and hung up pictures of great mis- 
 sionaries in all classrooms; 
 
 14. Get striking sentences and slogans on banners or 
 bulletin boards, as reminders; 
 
 15. Use stereopticon lectures, making world tours, 
 beautiful sets of slides now available of all mission 
 lands, and at a small rental charge; 
 
 16. Use reflectoscope for ‘‘book lectures,” projecting 
 the pictures in the book as story is told, or postcard 
 travel talks; 
 
 17. Get speakers, or personally meet high school 
 pupils and appeal for missions as a life investment; 
 
 18. Get teachers to stress missions at every turn in 
 lessons, week by week, in Sunday sessions, also in 
 week-day and vacation schools; 
 
 19. Assist director of finance and church committees 
 in securing weekly pledges for missions from every 
 pupil of the school, to be paid through duplex en- 
 velopes; 
 
 20. Secure church-school delegates by departments 
 to missionary conferences, summer schools of missions, 
 or missionary institutes; 
 
 21. Keep missionary (Christian) flag before school, 
 and put stars there of members of church or school 
 who go as missionaries; 
 
 22. Secure subscribers to missionary magazines, de- 
 nominational and inter-denominational; 
 
 23. Arrange for missionary debates, junior and 
 senior, high school and young people’s groups; 
 
DIRECTOR OF MISSIONS 289 
 
 24. Put on campaign of missionary reading men vs. 
 women, boys vs. girls, etc.; 
 
 25. Secure a missionary library—and get books read 
 by assignments; 
 
 26. Put on missionary pageants, tableaux, and pan- 
 tomimes; 
 
 27. Put on a graded church school of missions, run- 
 ning one night a week. 
 
 There is no reason, except space limitations, why 
 we stop at “27”; there are ‘57 varieties” of missionary 
 service which a director whose passion is missions will 
 think out and work out. Kingdom horizons alone set 
 his bounds. The devoted director is happily, humbly 
 conscious that he is a co-worker with Jesus Christ. 
 
 Samuel Wolcott calls us to the high privilege of 
 partnership in the divine enterprise: 
 
 Christ for the world we sing; 
 
 The world to Christ we bring 
 With loving zeal; 
 
 The poor and them that mourn, 
 
 The faint and over-borne, 
 
 Sin-sick and sorrow-worn, 
 Whom Christ doth heal. 
 
 Christ for the world we sing; 
 The world to Christ we bring; 
 With one accord; 
 With us the work to share, 
 - With us reproach to dare, 
 With us the cross to bear 
 For Christ our Lord. 
 
XVIII 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF RECREATION, SOCIA- 
 BILITY, AND SPECIAL DAYS 
 
 HE three church-school officers considered in 
 this chapter render effective service. They 
 make, in the performance of their duties, valu- 
 
 able indirect contributions to the spiritual welfare of 
 those with whom they play and work. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF RECREATION AND SOCIABILITY 
 
 Every church school should have a director of recre- 
 ation and sociability. In the small school the functions 
 of such an officer can be performed by one charged with 
 other responsibilities. In most medium-size schools, 
 a separate person should be chosen. In the large 
 schools, either a part-time or full-time director should 
 be elected and put on salary. If a man is chosen, he 
 should have a woman assistant to care for small chil- 
 dren, girls, and young women. In these days when so 
 many children and young people are drawn by numer- 
 ous social and recreational magnets outside the church, 
 money invested in a paid worker is money well spent 
 by any church or school. Scores of strong churches, 
 the country over, bear testimony to the importance 
 and far-reaching results of church-centered programs 
 
 of recreation planned and supervised by a trained 
 290 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECREATION 291 
 
 leadership. Play direction is not a fad or passing fancy 
 of theorists in religious education. ‘The out-of-work 
 and out-of-school hours, especially of young people, 
 in many communities, should be preempted by church 
 schools so that leisure time may be coined into charac- 
 ter values of wholesome and holy standards. The cash 
 register tills are filled by young people who patronize 
 commercial amusements, simply because there are no 
 other places in their communities to go. ‘There are 
 literally thousands of young people waiting and willing 
 to be led into games and good times that do not leave 
 bitter and regretful aftermaths. 
 
 Again, there are thousands who spend hours on silly, 
 superficial, time-consuming, strength-consuming pas- 
 times, who need to be led into the joys and benefits of 
 sensible, purposeful recreation. It is nonsense raised 
 to the mth power for church-school workers of the 
 “overpious” brand to preach by the hour on the fol- 
 lies and foibles of present-day youth and never give 
 so much as a minute to a constructive program for their 
 social enjoyment and improvement. Many churches, 
 however, are now wide-awake to the privilege of serv- 
 ing their children and young people, and older people, 
 too, in the sane satisfaction of their normal hunger 
 for play, fellowship, relaxation, and recreation. Scores 
 of splendid young men and young women are entering 
 a new profession, recreational leadership, working in 
 Y. M. C. Avs, Y. W. C. A.’s, churches, and other re- 
 ligious and welfare groups. Many volunteer church- 
 school leaders have received their training in local 
 Y. M. and Y. W. C. A.’s. Pastors of the forward- 
 looking sort discover promising young people and send 
 them to community training schools, to special summer 
 camp conferences and assemblies to get vision and 
 
292 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 equipment for efficient direction of the church school’s 
 sociability and recreation programs. In one summer 
 alone, there are more than five hundred of these sum- 
 mer training schools, enrolling many thousands of the 
 brightest and best young people for active participation 
 in the educational life of local churches and com- 
 munities. 
 
 PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS OF THE DIRECTOR 
 
 The one chosen (man or woman) for director of 
 recreation and sociability should be a genuine, red- 
 blooded Christian, with good habits and a character of 
 the one hundred per cent variety. For this position, 
 no anemic need apply. There should be bounding 
 health and a vitality that endures the stress and strain 
 of a heavy play schedule. A contagious buoyancy and 
 cheerfulness are necessary, a play spirit that permeates 
 and captivates. The director should be endowed with 
 a marked degree of sociability and athletic ability. 
 He should be one who would “rather play than eat,” 
 and yet one with common sense enough to know how 
 far to go with any program, and how to keep a good 
 balance, not permitting himself and those he leads to 
 be extremists. He should be resourceful in thought 
 and action, a constant reader and a keen observer. It 
 is quite as desirable for him to keep a clear head as a 
 supple body. Often adroit substitution is required, 
 and this may demand quick decisions. Managerial 
 ability is needed, to know how to handle young and old, 
 to understand and direct. The director should not only 
 know the physiology of play, its foundations and lim- 
 itations, but also the psychology of play, and the socio- 
 logical reaches. Fortunately, a number of good books 
 are available. These the director should master. He 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECREATION 293 
 
 should also know the psychology of age areas and gear 
 all his recreation plans into the nature of the groups he 
 serves. To know the psychology of adolescence alone 
 will save him from many a blunder. The director 
 must know how to teach. He may be expert in play- 
 ing games, and be bedecked with scores of medals, 
 but of far more importance is it that he be able to 
 teach others how to play. Especially should churches 
 employing a director carefully investigate this point. 
 Character should be the first requisite, and ability to 
 teach the second. Star athletes may dimly shine in a 
 classroom. Star-gazers should not be appointed on the 
 committee which selects a director. The committee 
 that selects and directs the director should make it 
 plain that it is not his major business to develop and 
 display “crack” gymnasts or to pin on blue ribbons at 
 a track and field meet, or himself shine as a galaxy of 
 star performers at a public entertainment. 
 
 A good test question to put to the prospective direc- 
 tor is this, “Will you make it your chief concern to 
 help all to grow strong, efficient bodies, and clean, clear 
 minds for life’s responsibilities?” Patience and fair 
 ness must bulk large in the director’s attitudes and 
 actions. There must be a willingness to see every angle 
 of a situation, to get the opinion of every one con- 
 cerned, and then, with a calm, courage, to give his own 
 judgment, deliberately, decisively, convincingly. A 
 church director of recreation and sociability must be 
 big enough never to be small in his dealings with those 
 whom he directs. No matter how provoked he may 
 become personally, or how sorely he is vexed by some 
 prig or talkative nuisance, he must never be unkind or 
 in any way show anger or the spirit of retaliation. He 
 will quietly encourage the timid and be sympathetic 
 
294 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 with all honest effort to make good in a game or at a 
 party. He will be firm, but at the same time courteous, 
 with the extreme individualist and get such an one to 
 come to the joy of unselfish team work. A director 
 fails who cannot use all forms of recreation as means 
 to educational and spiritual ends. He should not get 
 lost in the woods of an elaborate program of events, 
 and get nowhere. His whole seasonal schedule should 
 be thought through and motivated by high education 
 ideals. At all times and everywhere, he must himself 
 “play the game,” z.e., show the cooperative spirit with 
 all officials, groups, and individual participants. He 
 will also cooperate heartily with other church directors 
 in his community, and with Y. M.C. A. or Y. W. C.A,, 
 or other organizations interested in wholesome good 
 times for the people of the community. Brotherly in 
 all his attitudes and acts, he should keep the interest 
 of his church and its school foremost. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S AIMS 
 
 We may epitomize the aims of a church director 
 of recreation and sociability in ten brief statements. 
 His aims should be: (1) to set forward the health 
 interests of children, young people, and adults; (2) 
 to plan such recreations as will develop the minds as 
 well as the bodies of all participants; (3) to satisfy 
 the love of play, and the social instinct for fellowship 
 under wholesome influences; (4) to insist on the main- 
 tenance at all times of high ethical standards in all 
 games and all good time sociables; (5) to educate the 
 church as a whole on the value of play in the develop- 
 ment of an all-round program of religious education; 
 (6) to keep his head and use it to work out a well- 
 articulated program of recreational activities for the 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECREATION 295 
 
 whole church and school for the whole year; (7) to 
 work definitely, persistently, and consistently for spir- 
 itual results with all age groups served; (8) to dis- 
 cover leaders and develop them through special classes 
 and in supervised practice; (9) to keep in friendly, 
 helpful relations with pastor, parents, church-school 
 associates, and with recreational leaders in the com- 
 munity; and (10) to give himself whole-heartedly, 
 conscientiously to his task, seeking as his highest re- 
 ward the Christ-controlled life for himself and others. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S DUTIES 
 
 The several duties of a director of recreation and 
 sociability might well be rolled into one, viz.,—the 
 realization of the above-mentioned aims. However, it 
 is well to outline his duties about as follows: (1) he 
 should make and profit by a careful survey; (2) con- 
 struct and operate an adequate program; (3) create a 
 wholesome play-ethics; (4) grow a trained leadership; 
 and (5) cultivate a community spirit of cooperation. 
 
 He should make @ careful recreational survey of his 
 church and the community. This should include a 
 survey of the church’s equipment, indoor and outdoor, 
 as to available rooms, apparatus, play spaces, etc., the 
 ages to be served, and potential leaders, leisure time 
 periods, also as to funds accessible for financing a 
 program. He should know home conditions, where 
 and how children and young people spend out-of-school 
 or after-work times, and every amusement and recrea- 
 tional agency in the community, its character, purpose, 
 and influence. He should become familiar with all 
 laws affecting commercialized play-places, and have 
 many an interview with young people as to the amuse- 
 ment situation in private clubs or other voluntary non- 
 
296 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 commercial groups. For the sake of his own church 
 children and young people and their friends, the direc- 
 tor should be the best-informed person on recreational 
 matters in the whole community. What are other 
 churches doing? Are there public school societies, 
 literary and athletic groups in successful operation? 
 Is there in the community a Y. W. C. A. or a 
 Y. M. C. A., and how far are these wholesome insti- 
 tutions comprehensively serving recreational and socia- 
 bility needs? What age areas, if any, are they failing 
 to reach? ‘Thorough investigation is the director’s 
 price which he must pay for the sake of his own efficient 
 organization. Otherwise he works blindly, overlapping, 
 competing, and wasting time, strength, and money, his 
 own and others. His motto should be service where 
 Service is needed. 
 
 His investigation may even lead him to the firm con- 
 viction that he is not needed. Honesty certainly 
 should be the first plank in his policy. He should 
 never yield to the temptation of building in a fifth 
 wheel or merely going on to create a halo of glory 
 for his own head. His motives and movements should 
 be unselfish. In all probability, his painstaking survey 
 will uncover vital needs to be met and undreamed-of 
 resources which he can utilize to great advantage. 
 After sufficient time to analyze the results of his re- 
 search, he should have conference, reach decisions as 
 to procedure, and then face his next duty. 
 
 The director should construct and operate an ade- 
 quate recreation program. No writer of an article or a 
 book can wholesale or job this plan into his hands. 
 His own initiative and constructive ability must re- 
 enforce his keen sense of local necessities and intelli- 
 gently set him to work. He will move slowly and with 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECREATION 297 
 
 much conference. He will profit by books, magazine 
 articles, and by experiments elsewhere. These A. B. C. 
 days are the testing times of his leadership ability. He 
 must work out his own service and salvation with fear 
 and trembling. Practical suggestions cannot here be 
 wholesaled or retailed; the one would be so general it 
 would be worthless, the other too much of a guess and, 
 therefore, create confusion. About all we can do in 
 the limited space is to crowd into a paragraph a state- 
 ment of certain principles for recreational program 
 construction: (1) As far as possible, the local pro-+ 
 gram should be generically constructed; i.e., it should 
 grow out of indigenous conditions; (2) it should be 
 based on accepted physiological foundations; (3) it 
 should be planned in accordance with the principles 
 of the best psychology, individual or social; (4) the 
 program should recognize well-known sociological im- 
 plications and groupings; (5) it should be compre- 
 hensive in scope, not an age nor a necessary activity 
 should be omitted; z.e., the religious education policy 
 of a church and its school includes all ages from the 
 cradle to the grave, so should the program of recreation 
 and relaxation; (6) it naturally follows that all activ- 
 ities should be graded to suit the several ages served, 
 even as instruction is graded and also other forms of 
 expression, such as worship; (7) the program should 
 be varied in form and in seasonal emphasis, week by 
 week, indoor and outdoor; the director will not forget 
 to plan simple games for small children in cooperation 
 with their divisional supervisor and departmental prin- 
 cipals and class teachers; he himself will give general 
 supervision to the gymnasium and swimming pool, if 
 such are provided; he will organize teams for baseball, 
 basketball, volley ball, football, tennis, hockey, horse- 
 
298 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 shoes, quoits, skiing, roller and ice skating, overnight 
 or shorter hikes, picnics, outings, scout and campfire 
 activities, indoor and outdoor track and field meets, 
 summer camps, sociables, parties, pageants, debates, 
 stunt nights, stereopticon and movie nights, and many 
 other types of recreation; for these schedules will be 
 planned and posted. 
 
 (8) The program which the director sets up should be 
 with full knowledge on his part of the conditions in the 
 homes, the school, and the community; it should be 
 correlated with activities of home, school, and com- 
 munity, as well as being closely articulated in the 
 church so that various forms of recreation can be fos- 
 tered with a minimum of organization, for it is a great 
 organizational and administrative folly to create a club 
 or other organization around every activity; segmental 
 interests which become segmentally organized create 
 confusion in administration; they should be function- 
 ally centered in a given age group; ‘“‘segmental sinners” 
 are most numerous in the junior high school period 
 (ages twelve, thirteen, and fourteen); (9) the program 
 should be sufficiently but not over financed, otherwise 
 the work will hobble along and achieve meager results; 
 however, it is surprising what a resourceful leader can 
 accomplish on very little actual money outlay; (10) 
 the whole program should be purposive, 7.e., set up cer- 
 tain laudable, attainable objectives, educational, social, 
 and spiritual, and keep at it until success comes. With 
 these principles in mind, the director and his committee 
 should be able to construct and operate a resultful 
 recreation policy and program for the church and its 
 school. 
 
 The director of recreation and sociability will strive 
 earnestly to create high-grade play ethics. This is. 
 
 
 
DIRECTOR OF RECREATION 299 
 
 more apt to come as a result of example than of pre- 
 cept. The very atmosphere of gymnasium, field, or 
 social hall may be the best tutor. The personality of 
 the director and his helpers, their own attitudes, dis- 
 position, and behavior largely determine the moral 
 code. The director should himself ever exemplify an 
 unchallenged ethics. He should work hard for clean 
 sport, wholesome, fair competition, and for the glory 
 of the team, not the individual. He should urge every 
 participant to exercise self-control for the good of the 
 whole team or other social group. It is not always easy 
 to be a good winner, but it is far more commendable to 
 be a good loser. To win a score or a game and lose 
 self-respect is a fatal loss. In the best ethical sense, 
 every game is a winning game. Superficial young 
 people laugh at the praying football squads, but they 
 never lose a game. ‘The score board may show a 
 defeat, but their consciences glow with triumph. 
 
 The director should grow a trained leadership; he 
 needs at once a corps of assistants for the several age 
 groups and the many forms of activities which must be 
 adequately directed and supervised. His own contacts 
 will help him to discover those of outstanding recrea- 
 tional ability. These he will systematically get ready 
 for important places of leadership in his ever-expanding 
 program. He will make possible a good, though small, 
 library on recreation. There are dozens of excellent 
 books of real practical value which now can be secured 
 at very little financial investment. Many directors 
 are “finding fellows” who are turned into this work as 
 a profession. These can now secure good courses in 
 special schools and in departments of colleges and 
 universities. | 
 
 It is the duty, not merely the privilege, of the church 
 
300 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 and church-school director of recreation and sociability 
 to cultivate a@ community spirit of cooperation in all 
 his planning and operating of programs which are 
 church-centered. If recreational leaders of neighbor- 
 ing churches or Christian associations, or clubs, can do 
 so, they should informally associate frequently for 
 “shop talk,” fellowship, and inspiration. Petty jeal- 
 ousies die in such friendly get-togethers. The moral 
 effect especially upon young people is immeasurable. 
 There are many communities where pastors are broth- 
 erly. It is in such places that kingdom progress is 
 rapid and permanent. Even so, the recreational wel- 
 fare of children and young people can be conserved 
 best where the leaders happily live and labor together. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL DAYS 
 
 There are four kinds of special days as usually ob- 
 served in the church schools: (1) those that require 
 the whole school session for observance, with more or 
 less elaborate programs, and often it is quite worth 
 while for the whole church to jointly observe these; 
 e.g., Christmas, Easter, Children’s Day, and Rally-and- 
 Promotion Day; (2) those that require the whole period 
 in a department, such as decision days, forward step 
 days, cradle roll day, parents’ day, home department 
 day, etc.; (3) those that require a few minutes before 
 the teaching period, either in the whole school or a 
 department, e.g., fathers’ day, mothers’ day, Golden 
 Rule Sunday, Bible day, etc.; (4) those that are ob- 
 served on week-days, such as Thanksgiving Day, 
 Washington day, Lincoln day, Memorial, Patriotic, 
 Armistice, or other national or civic days. . 
 
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL DAYS 301 
 
 Special days have become so numerous that many 
 school executives have difficulty in keeping up to 
 standard the regular work of their schools. Almost 
 every philanthropic or humanitarian cause, it seems, 
 runs up to the door of the school with an appeal for a 
 special day. Even if only the worthy objects get their 
 requests, there are few “normal” Sundays. Many spe- 
 cial days should shrivel into special minutes in the 
 opening period of the school, and others disappear 
 entirely from the school calendar. On the other hand, 
 the proper observance of certain outstanding days gives 
 the school a pleasant and profitable outlet for very 
 desirable impulses, and if thoroughly planned and exe- 
 cuted, a great magnet for the school. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR 
 
 The man or woman chosen for director of special 
 days should be a constant and keen observer of chil- 
 dren and young people, with a view to their use on 
 programs. His most delightful discoveries will be in 
 those unguarded moments when, on playground or 
 elsewhere, free play uncovers abilities that will enrich 
 pageants, dramas, pantomimes, and other important 
 features of special day programs. He should be re- 
 sourceful and learn not only to discover but to direct. 
 He should know the psychology of leadership. He will 
 need tact, patience, and the “smile that won’t come 
 off.” A common sense or balance in judgment with 
 ability to think and act quickly will help him past many 
 difficulties. Time and time again he will find it neces- 
 sary to idealize people, to encourage the timid, and 
 calmly but courageously restrain the forward. His 
 very personality must command respect and acquies- 
 
302 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 cence in plans set forward. Reasonableness and ability 
 to get along with folks are absolutely necessary. It is 
 highly desirable for every school to have a director of 
 special days, a specialist on the events which should 
 claim attention throughout the year. If days are to be 
 observed, their observance should not be left to a hit- 
 and-miss, hurry-up get ready. The director’s motto 
 should be “begin early.” 
 
 THE DIRECTOR’S DUTIES 
 
 The director of special days will not make the 
 school’s calendar of special days; nor should the 
 school’s superintendent. No one person should be 
 given such far-reaching responsibility. The whole 
 church-school council, or cabinet, should decide on 
 what days can profitably be set aside without inter- 
 rupting a strong program of instruction and expression 
 which should be maintained at all times. Early in the 
 autumn, at a meeting of the council, or cabinet, the 
 director should present the matter and perhaps lead off 
 with a proposed schedule of days for the ensuing year. 
 After careful consideration and final adoption of the 
 calendar, then at once the director will begin to plan 
 for these days. He should thoroughly inform: himself 
 about every day, its history, importance, and literature. 
 The director is the one person charged with what may 
 become and should become valuable parts of the 
 school’s yearly program for itself and its constituency. 
 He can lift the whole matter of special days to a high 
 plane of conscientious service. To perform his duties 
 well, he will need the sympathetic cooperation of all 
 concerned. Pastor, superintendent, teachers, and 
 parents can materially help at all times. | 
 
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL DAYS 303 
 
 The director will prepare programs, or get assistants 
 to help him for the various types of observances. Often 
 he will find ready-made programs which can be used 
 with practically no local adaptations. It will be quite 
 worth while to choose such programs, even if some 
 work is necessary to modify them. Long programs 
 can be shortened and short ones lengthened and 
 strengthened. We must become the expert mechanic 
 in making adjustments. The director should keep com- 
 plete files of all programs used in a substantial case 
 at the church-school office or at his home. He should 
 also make a card index, not only of these but of all 
 available programs. This index will prove valuable 
 for himself or a successor, or a “neighbor” director. 
 
 In this connection, it would be a real piece of co- 
 operation if in a city or county group of schools there 
 could be established at some central place a depository 
 or library of books, programs, and accessories usable 
 ‘In connection with special days. The pooling of in- 
 terests would mean economy of time, money, and 
 effort, and in itself be a concrete demonstration so 
 sorely needed of the fact that brethren in Christ can 
 plan and work and live together in unselfish regard for 
 the joy and success of one another. Sometimes a whole 
 school puts on a program for a neighbor school. Some- 
 times they work together on the same observance and 
 give the joint service in both schools. The director 
 will profit much by conference with directors of other 
 schools facing special-day problems akin to his own. 
 
 In addition to the programs used in his own school, 
 he should collect and classify a “library” of all the best 
 materials, programs, books, pamphlets, etc., bearing 
 on the days. If he is wise, he will grow loose-leaf 
 books of clippings of pageants, pantomimes, dramas, 
 
304 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 and individual features gleaned from magazines and 
 not otherwise accessible. In a large school he will 
 probably find it necessary to gather a group of spe- 
 cialists around each of the great days, who will also be 
 eyes and ears and hands to make the days most helpful. 
 All programs should have real educational value, or 
 they have no place in a church-school program. How- 
 ever, the director must see to it that the programs are 
 at the same time popular enough to be attractive, for 
 one of the chief by-products of special day observances 
 is to win over to the school and the church people not 
 vitally concerned. The director will cooperate with the 
 director of records in securing the names of the non- 
 church-going parents and make careful plans, through 
 letters or other forms of invitation, to secure their 
 presence on special days. Indeed, the director of 
 vision will use special days to get wide publicity for 
 the church and its school, winning many friends. The 
 director of publicity will market his ideas. The direc- 
 tor should work happily with the directors of worship, 
 music, recreation and sociability, and home-coopera- 
 tion. These officers are, in a way, his own special days’ 
 cabinet for counsel and expert advice. Working to- 
 
 gether, they can make every special day a time of © 
 
 rejoicing in old and new fellowships, and most valu- 
 able permanent assets to the church and its school. 
 One of the personal joys accruing to the faithful, 
 successful director is the discovery of oratorical, mu- 
 sical, managerial, histrionic, or dramatic ability in some 
 boy or girl who otherwise would never have come into 
 the realization of talent born for expression and service 
 to others. One who has held this position in a certain 
 school was heard to remark, “You know, Dr. Blank 
 
 is one of our old Calvary boys. I remember well the 
 
 
 
DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL DAYS 305 
 
 time we discovered him when he was eleven years old 
 and gave him his first chance on the platform at a 
 Christmas observance. Although he is yet a young 
 man, he is a public speaker of great power.” 
 
 Some years ago Marion Lawrance, then the Gen- 
 eral Secretary of the International Sunday School As- 
 sociation, published a book entitled: Special Days in 
 the Sunday School. A few of the suggestions are not 
 now up-to-date, however, there are some attractive 
 programs and a wealth of concrete directions valuable 
 to those who are responsible for the observance of 
 special days. The chapter titles are: Special Days, 
 Easter, Departmental and Related Days, Rally Day, 
 Anniversary Days, Recruiting Days, Good Fellowship 
 Days, Recreation Days, Patriotic Days, (two chapters) 
 Folk and Fraternal Days, Educational Days, Mission- 
 ary Days, Benevolence and Reform Days, Miscella- 
 neous Days, Evangelistic Days, Christmas. 
 
XIX 
 
 THE DIRECTORS OF PHYSICAL WELFARE, 
 AND HOME COOPERATION 
 
 N this chapter we consider briefly two important 
 officers having to do with creature comforts of 
 pupils, and the good-will of home and school. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL WELFARE 
 
 
 
 Who ever heard of such an officer for a church 
 school? In many schools the superintendent discharges 
 the duties and doesn’t realize it. Yes, every church 
 school of any considerable size needs some one who 
 will give special and expert attention to the physical 
 welfare of all the pupils while they are in the church 
 building; perhaps the hand of helpfulness reaches out . 
 beyond; we shall see. 
 
 The director of physical welfare should be a mature 
 man of medical or kindred training, conversant with 
 laws of health, and hygiene, and one who knows the 
 value of sanitation. He should be a genuine Christian, 
 whose judgment is bankable, whose own buoyant life 
 radiates comfort and cheer. He should be a believer 
 in strong bodies kept efficient by the proper observance 
 of God’s laws for physical growth and development. 
 If not a physician, he should put himself next to all 
 
 the latest and best books on the subjects which equip 
 306 
 
 
 
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL WELFARE 307 
 
 him for largest usefulness. There will be three things 
 on which he should give authoritative advice: (1) 
 health and happiness; (2) temperance, and (3) purity. 
 
 SCOPE OF THE DIRECTOR’S WORK 
 
 Under health and happiness, the director concerns 
 himself with all that has to do with human creature 
 comforts and physical well-being. In the discharge of 
 his duties, he should never be dictatorial or offensive 
 in his suggestions. It is his business to see that the 
 church-school rooms are thoroughly cleaned, that no 
 dirt-germ paradise is permitted to set itself up in dark 
 corners. He will help the cleaners to be sanitary in 
 the process of making the church-school rooms fit 
 places for the church’s children, young people, and 
 adults to spend comfortable, healthful hours. Sweeping 
 and dusting will be done so as not to leave the air 
 - Jaden with death-dealing microbes. It is his privilege 
 to assist the sexton to understand that properly heating 
 a building is not simply firing a furnace. The director, 
 knowing the science of heating, will see that fresh air 
 in abundance, evenly distributed, is heated and made 
 ready for human consumption. He will be the preach- 
 er’s and teacher’s best helper in making possible wide- 
 awake, happy folks to receive sermon or church-school 
 lesson. The rooms will be kept at the right coolness 
 in summer and heat in winter. Thermometers and 
 thermostats will be installed and used. He will also 
 see that there is an adequate lighting system. A poorly 
 lighted room throws a class into confusion; dim lights 
 make the best teaching impossible. Not only should 
 there be sufficient light, but the chairs, tables, and 
 blackboards should be placed where natural or arti- 
 ficial light will make teachers and pupils comfortable 
 
308 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 for best use of books and other teaching materials. 
 
 Pupils should not face windows or strong electric or 
 gas lights. How few people realize the importance of 
 properly constructing and placing blackboards so that 
 the surface will be easy on eyes. Public school leaders 
 know the desirability of giving careful attention to 
 such matters. Building and remodeling committees 
 and those responsible for equipment should go to 
 school, the public school, and study window, black- 
 board, and light placing. The director will see that 
 these things are where they should be, also that chairs, 
 tables, maps, screens, cloak racks, cabinets, and other 
 items of equipment are correct in size for the pupils 
 of the several grades. Even in small, one-room schools, 
 where all ages sit in pews or chairs of uniform height, 
 low foot-benches can be provided. ‘The Society for 
 the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ought to swoop 
 down on many church schools and put a little humane- 
 ness into some of their planning. In the chapter on 
 “Knowing and Leading Children,” suggestions were 
 given as to the physical comfort of the pupils. The 
 director will be interested in having drinking fountains 
 or other supplies of good, pure water accessible. He 
 will see that lavatories are plentiful, conveniently 
 located, and kept sanitary at all times. 
 
 Temperance. The director of physical welfare will 
 probably need an assistant specializing on temperance. 
 
 As we fully realize, this matter is far wider in its — 
 
 reaches than one’s relationship to alcoholic beverages. — 
 The Christian is to be temperate in eating, exercise — 
 (work and play)—in all things. Some good people 
 have become weary in well doing, have felt that the © 
 Eighteenth Amendment obviates the necessity of any ' 
 more temperance instruction. Other phases of the 
 
 
 
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL WELFARE 309 
 
 liquor question need emphasis now. There must be no 
 let up. The general outlawry as to prohibition en- 
 forcement needs the counter attack of constructive 
 teaching on law-respect and law-enforcement. The 
 Eighteenth Amendment has come to stay. Long, per- 
 sistent campaigns of education brought victory, and 
 education will keep it. Every Christian must keep 
 right on in this great cause. We have grown a genera- 
 tion of temperance-instructed boys and girls, now vot- 
 ing citizens. These must be reénforced by legions of 
 those who love law and order and set themselves reso- 
 lutely to lose no ground so dearly gained. The director 
 himself, or a capable assistant, should enter with zest 
 in the privilege of his office. 
 
 Twice ten duties challenge him: (1) to get and dis- 
 tribute books, magazine articles, leaflets, tracts showing 
 evils. of liquor, and good results of prohibition 
 (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Anti-Saloon 
 Leagues, Temperance Departments of denominational 
 boards all gladly supply valuable materials); (2) se- 
 cure materials for the making of attractive posters, 
 charts with diagrams and comparative statistics on wet 
 and dry years in several states; young people can be 
 enlisted to do these as class projects; (3) show up the 
 notorious attitude of some so-called great daily news- 
 papers, ardent devotees of personal liberty and crim- 
 inal outlaws, striking at the heart of our constitution; 
 (4) assist young people in preparing biographical 
 sketches of the great temperance reformers, such as 
 Neal Dow, John B. Gough, Frances E. Willard, and 
 others, to be read, or recited; (5) assist in arranging 
 pageants and brief dramas for school presentation; 
 (6) use “Lincoln Sunday” as special day for brief pro- 
 gram with stories, recitations, and quotations from 
 
310 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 great men, bearing on prohibition and its blessings; 
 (7) give to local newspapers or religious weeklies 
 human stories of actual cases (names omitted) of 
 homes helped by prohibition; (8) have young people 
 letter slogans and catchy sentences to be placed about 
 the school rooms, or on outside bulletin boards; (9) 
 select temperance and related patriotic songs, and 
 cooperate with the director of music in urging their 
 use occasionally in the worship period of the school, 
 or its departments; (10) some of the capable young 
 people can be helped to prepare and deliver brief ad- 
 dresses on the work of the Anti-Saloon League, 
 Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, National Re- 
 form Association, and other organizations which need 
 and deserve the school’s support; perhaps the director 
 can assist credited representatives to get a hearing 
 before the church or school. 
 
 (11) Prohibition worship service two or three times 
 a year can be provided in cooperation with the director 
 of worship, certainly on Lincoln Sunday in February 
 and World’s Temperance Sunday in November; (12) 
 report to proper authorities any known flagrant viola- 
 tions of the prohibition laws; (13) to get a striking 
 sentence in the way of news item or quotation once in 
 a while in the weekly church calendar; (14) secure and 
 use stereopticon slides, also postcards in reflectoscopes, 
 showing evils of alcoholism, drugs, and cigarettes; 
 (15) if at all possible, get neighborhood movies to use 
 good, high-grade slides; director can get good slides 
 and, if he is tactful, can have them used somewhere on 
 the program, to great advantage to the prohibition 
 cause; (16) plan for wisest use of World Temperance 
 Sunday throughout whole school; often juniors will 
 help in map and chart making; (17) show folly of 
 
DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL WELFARE 311 
 
 sending liquor and missionaries on same boat to the 
 same foreign country; (18) help create a world patriot- 
 ism and interest in what this generation can do for 
 world prohibition; (19) use Sunday, July fourth, as a 
 peace patriotism day; (20) keep the church-school 
 teachers supplied with good prohibition facts and 
 illustrations for use in their regular classes. The direc- 
 tor has a high and holy privilege to help hold ground 
 already won and to push on to world conquest of liquor 
 evils and enthronement of prohibition. 
 
 Purity. The director of physical welfare, if he is a 
 Christian physician, should quietly, sensibly help to a 
 better understanding of sex and social hygiene. As a 
 Christian man, he will be in the position to wisely 
 guide boys and young men, and counsel with the 
 fathers. He should have, as an assistant, a good, dis- 
 creet, mature Christian woman, preferably a physician, 
 or nurse, or mother, to fellowship with girls, young 
 women, and mothers. If a physician is not chosen as 
 director of physical welfare, then an outstanding 
 Christian father could acquaint himself with the best 
 books and, winning the confidence of boys and young 
 men, privately give welcome help. The ones responsi- 
 ble for purity instruction may do some of the follow- 
 ing things: (1) assist fathers and mothers to get right 
 books, and to talk with their own children; (2) prevent 
 mass meetings with indiscreet and indiscriminate 
 talks; (3) arrange with teachers of junior high school 
 boys to have a good physician talk with them in small 
 groups; (4) arrange with teachers of junior high school 
 girls to have a Christian women talk with them in 
 small groups; (5) plan meetings of young men, in 
 small groups, and get a Christian physician to speak on 
 sowing “wild oats,’ Christian attitude in courtship, 
 
312 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 and related subjects; (6) plan a meeting of young 
 women, in small groups, and get a Christian woman 
 physician to speak on same subjects; (7) assist parent- 
 teacher associations (public school and church school) ; 
 (8) urge church-school teachers of boys and girls to 
 win confidence of individual boy or girl and give pri- 
 vate help, never in class or other public place; (9) dis- 
 cover places of amusement in community dangerous 
 to boys and girls and young men and young women, 
 and get pastor and superintendent to assist in getting 
 officers to close same; (10) get Y. M. C. A.’s help in 
 safeguarding employment of boys; (11) get 
 Y. W. C. A.’s help in safeguarding employment of 
 girls; (12) have talks on clean thought, clean speech, 
 and clean life presented in young people’s groups; (13) 
 investigate newsstands—indecent books and magazines 
 —get laws enacted and enforced to protect children 
 and young people; (14) get cooperation of neighbor- 
 hood movies to put on programs clean, through and 
 through. 
 
 It is so easy to blunder in these matters that only 
 the wisest, most wholesome, sanely balanced, mature 
 people should be intrusted with this vital matter. To 
 neglect it entirely is for a school to be derelict to its 
 sacred trust. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OF HOME COOPERATION 
 
 In a small school, a separate officer may not be 
 needed for this position; however, somebody should be 
 sure to make and keep vital connections between the 
 school and every home represented in its membership. 
 
DIRECTOR OF HOME COOPERATION 313 
 
 Because of its far-reaching consequences, this service 
 may be counted of major importance. Many schools 
 give too little concern to the great opportunity which 
 a child from a non-church home gives. In all prob- 
 ability, there are thousands of families now the most 
 loyal workers in churches whose interest in religion 
 and the church began when the principal of the cradle 
 roll department used the new baby as the open sesame 
 to the parents’ hearts. Then again, church members, 
 but indifferent ones, are kept alive to the Christian life 
 and Christian service by a wide-awake church-school 
 worker. ‘The gains of home cooperation are too big 
 for any school of any size to fail to function in this 
 important matter. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR AND HER DUTIES 
 
 The director of home cooperation should be a good, 
 sensible, Christian woman, if possible a mature mother, 
 pleasant in personal approaches, tactful, sympathetic, 
 and reasonable, and one whose children are old enough 
 for her to have the time. Even in a small school, the 
 director of home cooperation should not be the same 
 person as the principal of either the cradle roll or the 
 home department. She would cooperate with these 
 necessary officers, her most helpful associates, as she 
 will with anybody who can help her get and keep re- 
 sultful contacts with the homes. She will transcribe 
 from, the card index files of the director of records and 
 other information sources what she needs to “chart 
 and compass” her own community voyages. The pas- 
 tor’s own calling lists and wide range of acquaintance 
 will help her, and she, in turn, will supply him with 
 many a trail that leads to a new recruit for the church 
 and the Kingdom. ‘Then, too, she can help him to re- 
 
314 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 establish the family altar in the homes of church 
 members. 
 
 She will often confer with the superintendent as to 
 best ways and means. The principals of the depart- 
 ments, and especially the teachers, will give very 
 definite and fruitful information. She will assist 
 teachers in bringing to the attention of parents the 
 desirability of helping their children with their home 
 work on lessons and church-school projects of various 
 sorts. She, being a mother whose children are older 
 grown, will, nevertheless, know what a God-given priv- 
 ilege this home help is, and she will be reasonable 
 about the requirements. The director will keep in the 
 closest touch possible with the children and young 
 people themselves so that when she calls the school 
 friendship will open the door to a cordial home wel- 
 come. The director of special days will be her “elbow- 
 friend,” cooperating to make worth while her home 
 visits in the interest of the special event to be held at 
 the church. Her personal visit follows up and clinches 
 the letter, public poster, or card. The director of home 
 cooperation should take the initiative in planning for 
 home-coming day of the school and church, if such is 
 observed, and it should be, usually, in the autumn. 
 
 In a very real sense, the director of home coopera- 
 tion will be the general good-will-getter, helping the 
 church and school to understand the homes with their 
 problems, responsibilities, and limitations, and also 
 helping the homes to appreciate the fact that Chris- 
 tianity and the church are essential to best citizenship 
 and to happiest human relationships. ‘There is no 
 measuring rod in all the earth that can adequately 
 register the influence of that person who brings non- 
 Christian homes into eternal relationships with Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of men. 
 
VII 
 A TRAINED LEADERSHIP 
 
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CHAPTER XX 
 LEADERSHIP TRAINING 
 
 LL effective leadership is a trained leadership, 
 rN industrial, social, political, educational, or any 
 other kind. A leader may be a trained work- 
 man without an armful of diplomas. Formal instruc- 
 tion may not be necessary, in fact, often plays a meagre 
 part in bringing about the efficiency that men label 
 success. We learn to lead by leading, to teach by teach- 
 ing. Beyond certain knowledge-acquirements, largely 
 fundamental, set curricula cannot carry the prospective 
 leader. These, however, are essential and cannot 
 safely be ignored. A system of education must be guar- 
 anteed that civilization itself may endure. 
 
 Leadership training for the great tasks in general 
 education costs millions of money annually. Teachers’ 
 colleges, university departments of education, normal 
 schools, summer training institutes have multiplied and 
 spread to every section of the continent. ‘Tax-treas- 
 uries, educational endowments and foundations make 
 possible an enormous army of trained administrators, 
 supervisors, and teachers to drive back ignorance from 
 human horizons and to set men free. Investments and 
 upkeep expenditures for equipment and maintenance, 
 plus salaries, run into the billions, and not one cent 
 too much for the stupendous business of growing gen- 
 erations of intelligent, useful citizens. These, in turn, 
 must be made Christian by the churches of Christ. 
 
 If the church is to make good in religious education, 
 
 315 
 
316 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 and church-school leadership is absolutely necessary, 
 then that leadership must be a trained leadership. If 
 religious education is that which rounds out and com- 
 pletes the educational process spiritually motivating all 
 thought and action, then it is time that the church 
 of Jesus Christ leap to its high privilege and train an 
 educational leadership for its distinctive task. Utiliz- 
 ing all the well-established technique of general educa- 
 tion, religious education sets its own schoolhouse in 
 order and invites within its doors, to dominate all 
 its processes and programs, the Master-Teacher of all 
 time. 
 
 Training for leadership in religious education is im- 
 perative because of the very nature of religious edu- 
 cation, its materials, its methods, and its great objective. 
 Religious education sets out to bring all lives every- 
 where under the control of the ideals of Jesus Christ. 
 It would surround every human being with the experi- 
 ence of the race and make him master of all, as the 
 Master of all masters him. All the preaching and 
 teaching ministries of the church through all the 
 Christian centuries have more or less consciously had 
 this as their goal. Church schools, week-day and va- 
 cation schools, various religious societies and associa- 
 tions have all headed this way in so far as they have 
 brought Biblical and other Christian truth to bear 
 upon the motives and movements of men. It is natural 
 that earnest workers should desire training and that 
 far-visioned leaders should prepare courses. 
 
 The small, one volume, so-called teacher-training 
 books served as pioneers leading the way to larger, 
 more thorough courses of training. Let us not now 
 despise the day nor the prophetic mission of these 
 awakeners to the necessity of fuller preparation. 
 
LEADERSHIP TRAINING 317 
 
 Forward-looking individuals led the way. Organized 
 interdenominational and denominational groups year 
 after year have caught the bigger vision, and made 
 steady advances to the higher educational reaches in 
 courses prepared and promoted for the training of 
 church-school workers. Of the making of training 
 books, there is no end. Independent and church- 
 controlled publishing houses have produced scores of 
 texts, too numerous to be mentioned here, all of which 
 stand or fall finally upon their educational merit. 
 
 The great cooperative enterprise in continent-wide 
 leadership training is represented by the International 
 Council of Religious Education, with its thirty-five 
 constituent denominations and its fifty-six state and 
 provincial auxiliaries. This federated body, function- 
 ing through its education committee, works out prin- 
 ciples, sets up standards of educational organization 
 and administration, and outlines courses of study, in 
 all of which there is wide latitude for denominational 
 and territorial emphases or flavors in supplemental 
 materials. 
 
 The Standard Leadership Training Course. Indic- 
 ative of the long distance church-school workers have 
 come since the early days of the elementary training 
 courses, the Education Committee of the International 
 Council of Religious Education has outlined subjects 
 which constitute the so-called International Standard 
 Training Course. These are subject to change, and 
 already graded levels are worked out so that young 
 people of high school age may be enlisted in a pro- 
 gressively expanding career in leadership training. 
 The Standard Training Course, as revised, is or- 
 ganized on the basis of units of not less than ten hours’ 
 each. An hour in the Standard Training Course con- 
 
318 CHURCH-SCHOOL LEADERSHIP 
 
 sists of one recitation of fifty minutes. A minimum 
 of twelve units will merit the Standard Training Di- 
 ploma. The completion of additional units will be 
 recognized by suitable awards. The reader can se- 
 cure bulletin number three, giving list of subjects and 
 full information, by addressing the International Coun- 
 cil of Religious Education, 5 South Wabash Avenue, 
 Chicago. 
 
 Leadership Training Agencies. The Standard Train- 
 ing Course may be given in: (1) denominational or 
 interdenominational training classes; (2) in denomi- 
 national or interdenominational standard training 
 schools, and (3) denominational or interdenominational 
 older boys and older girls camp conferences. This and 
 other courses for training of church-school leaders are 
 offered in local churches, institutes, summer assem- 
 blies, in correspondence study, workers’ conferences, 
 Bible and special training schools, religious education 
 departments in colleges, universities, and seminaries, 
 and in professional schools of religious education. The 
 open doors for training are many. 
 
 This book itself will serve classes as a text in church- 
 school administration. It is humbly submitted in the 
 hope that in some small way it may inform and inspire 
 a church-school leadership that will efficiently serve 
 and always honor Jesus Christ, supreme Leader of 
 leaders. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Adolescence supervisor’s study of, 
 160, 161; Tracy’s definition 
 of, 162; early and middle, 
 162-164; specific traits of, 164- 
 174; figures of Kirkpatrick, 
 Tracy, Tyler, Miller, 165, 166; 
 traits of later, 174-176; aims 
 of groups of, 177, 178; ade- 
 quate policy for supervision of, 
 178, 179; organization of, 179; 
 council of, 179-181; classes of, 
 181-183; loss to church school 
 of, 183, 184; teachers for, 184- 
 188; religion of early and mid- 
 dle, 188, 189; religion of later, 
 189, 190. 
 
 Adults, traits of, 191-193; scope 
 of church school work with, 
 193; purposes of  church- 
 school work with, 194; prin- 
 ciples in the supervision of, 
 194, 195; study programs of, 
 195, 196; service projects of, 
 196-198. 
 
 Beginners Child, nature of, 146; 
 department for, 146; conduct 
 expected, 147; provision for, 
 147, 148; organization and ad- 
 ministration, 148; room, equip- 
 ment, and program, 148, 149. 
 
 Bible, eight uses of, in worship 
 programs, 253. 
 
 Board of religious education for 
 the church, 31; for the com- 
 munity, 37. 
 
 By-Laws for a community board 
 of religious education, 40-42. 
 
 Census, pastor’s interest in, 98. 
 
 Childhood, divisions of, 139, 140; 
 kinds of ages of, 141; baby- 
 hood, 142; early, 146; middle, 
 150; later, 153, 154; chart 
 
 319 
 
 showing periods of growth and 
 development, 45. 
 
 Children period chart, 45; know- 
 ing, 139; age groups, 139, 140; 
 kinds of ages of, 141; cradle 
 roll, 142-146; beginners, 146- 
 149; primary, 150-154; junior, 
 154-158. 
 
 Christ, central in the leader’s ob- 
 jective, 24. 
 
 Church, council of religious edu- 
 cation for the, 31; board of 
 religious education in the, 31, 
 32; duties of a church board 
 of religious education, 32; 
 religious education policy and 
 program for, 33. 
 
 Church School efficiency does not 
 depend upon size of, 44; an 
 organization chart of, 45; when 
 is it graded, 46; officers for a 
 large, 48, 49; for medium size, 
 50, 51; for small, 51; stand- 
 ards for ten point and ad- 
 vanced, 52-54; constitution for, 
 54-57; pastors presence in, 93; 
 the superintendent and_ his, 
 128-130. 
 
 Community council of religious 
 education in a, 35, 36; board 
 of religious education in a, 37; 
 constitution and by-laws of a 
 board of religious education in, 
 a, 38-42; director of service in 
 a, 282-285;  church-school 
 superintendent and his, 135. 
 
 Constitution for a church school, 
 54-57; for a community board 
 of religious education, 38-42. 
 
 Correlation need of, in church 
 and community religious edu- 
 cation, 42, 43. 
 
320 
 
 Council of religious education for 
 the church, 31, 32; for the 
 community, 35, 36. 
 
 Cradle Roll child of, 142; depart- 
 ment, 143; origin, organization, 
 room, equipment, and courses, 
 143; ways of securing members 
 for, 144; advantages of, 144- 
 146; principal’s duties, 145, 
 146. 
 
 Curriculm, in the three-period- 
 session of the church school, 
 59-62; in week-day church 
 school, 72, 73; in the vacation 
 church school, 78, 81, 82; re- 
 lation of director of religious 
 education to, 115; supervisor’s 
 knowledge of, 208, 209. 
 
 Decision Day pastor’s responsi- 
 bility for, 96. 
 
 Director of Community Service 
 in the church school, 282-285; 
 qualifications of, 282, 283; 
 duties of, 283-285. 
 
 Director of Evangelism impor- 
 tance of this officer in the 
 church school, 274-275; un- 
 derstands meaning of evangel- 
 ism, 276; helping parents, 277, 
 278; helping teachers to see 
 their opportunity, 278; to real- 
 ize their responsibility, 278; to 
 correctly understand youth, 
 279; to take right approach, 
 279; the director and church 
 membership, 280; why enlist 
 in, 280; what the church does 
 for youth, 281; what youth 
 can do for and through the 
 church, 281. 
 
 Director of Finances more than a 
 collector of offerings, 226; his 
 duties, 226-229. 
 
 Director of Home Cooperation 
 qualifications and duties of, 
 312-314. 
 
 Director of Missions officer in 
 the church school, 285; privi- 
 lege of, 286; his duties in de- 
 tail, 287-289. 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Director of Music relationships 
 of, 267; 268; his ministry of 
 music, 268-270; his personal 
 qualifications, 270; his duties, 
 271-273. 
 
 Director of Physical Welfare why 
 such an officer in the church 
 school, 306; scope of this work, 
 307-312; temperance, 308-311; 
 purity, 311, 312. 
 
 Director of Publicity qualifica- 
 tions of, 237; duties of, to the 
 church as a whole, 238, 239; 
 duties to the community, 239- 
 241; the public cultivated by, 
 241; decalogue of, 242, 243; 
 quality of his news, 243; sug- 
 gested reading for, 243. 
 
 Director of Reading a new office, 
 230; his personal qualifications, 
 230, 231; his assistants, 231, 
 232; his duties, 232-237; the 
 three libraries needed by a 
 church school, 236. 
 
 Director of Records, necessity of 
 records, 216; obsolete practice, 
 215; qualifications of, 216, 217; 
 more than a secretary, 216; 
 his assistants, 217-219; his desk 
 or office, 219-221; relationship 
 with the church, 221; with the 
 school, 221-222; with the 
 superintendent and other offi- 
 cers, 222, 223; with the teach- 
 ers, 223, 224; with the pupils, 
 224, 225; the six-point system, 
 224-225; with the home, 225, 
 226. 
 
 Director of Recreation and So- 
 ciability need for such a church- 
 school officer, 290-292; per- 
 sonal qualifications of, 292- 
 294; his aims, 294, 295; his 
 duties, 295-300. 
 
 Director of Religious Education, 
 the new profession of, 100, 
 101; kinds of, 102; caution 
 needed, 102-104; a dozen 
 don’ts for, 104-110; a dozen 
 duties of, 111-118. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Director of Special Days, kinds 
 of special days in a church 
 school, 300, 301; qualifications 
 of, 301, 302; duties of, 302- 
 304. 
 
 Director of Worship, his value in 
 in a church school, 247, 248; 
 and the worship committee, 
 249, his duties, 250-252; ele- 
 ments in a worship service, 
 252-257; typical primary wor- 
 ship service, 258-260; typical 
 junior worship service, 260- 
 263; typical worship service 
 for young people, 263-267; 
 testing a worship service, 258. 
 
 Efficiency good for some-one- 
 thing, 18, 19. 
 
 Evangelism, Church School duties 
 of a director of, 274-281; fuller 
 meaning of, 276; responsibility 
 of pastor, 274; teachers and, 
 278-280; parents and, 277, 278; 
 Christ central in, 276. 
 
 Finances, church director of, 
 qualifications and duties, 226- 
 229. 
 
 Goodness, first essential in a 
 church-school leader, 13; 
 meaning of genuine, 14-16; an 
 achievement of the will, 17. 
 
 Grading in a church school, 45- 
 47. 
 
 Gratitude, primary worship pro- 
 gram of, 258-260; junior wor- 
 ship program of, 260-263; 
 yonng people’s worship pro- 
 gram of, 263-267. 
 
 Health conditions of in a church 
 
 ' school, 307, 308. 
 
 Home religious education in the, 
 27; primal institution, 28; 
 Roosevelt and Riis quoted con- 
 cerning, 28; fundamental relig- 
 ious educator, 29; important 
 factors in religious education in 
 the, 29; cooperation of the 
 church school with, 30; direc- 
 tor of cooperation with, 312- 
 314.7 
 
 321 
 
 Hymns, use of, in worship pro- 
 grams, 254-256. 
 
 Instruction materials of, 
 209; methods of, 209-212. 
 
 Juniors, nature of, 153, 154; con- 
 duct and knowledge of, 154; 
 155; provision for, 155, 156; 
 materials, methods, organiza- 
 tion and programs for, 157, 
 158; the faithful worker with 
 (a poem), 159; worship pro- 
 gram for, 260-263. 
 
 Kindergarten of the church 
 school, 146. 
 
 Laws of teaching, 207, 208; of 
 home responsibility in relig- 
 ious education, 28. 
 
 Leader, The Church School, his 
 great objective, 13-26; his 
 training, 315-318. 
 
 Leadership organization, 27-84; 
 executive, 85-134; supervisory, 
 135-208; secretarial, 209-238; 
 expressional, 239-314; training 
 for, 315-318; selection of, by 
 director of religious education, 
 116. 
 
 Lessons, Church School uniform, 
 208; graded, 209. 
 
 Methods, Teaching question-and- 
 answer, 210; problem-discus- 
 sion, 210; story telling, 210, 
 211; dramatization, 211; hand- 
 work, 211; problem - project, 
 211, 212. 
 
 Misfits in church-school leaders, 
 20 
 
 208, 
 
 Missions, in the Church School, 
 importance of, 285, 286; di- 
 rector of, qualifications and 
 duties, 287-289. 
 
 Music, in the Church School, 
 qualifications of a director of, 
 270; ministry of, 268-270; 
 duties of a director of, 271- 
 273; instrumental in worship 
 program, 256. 
 
 Offering, use of in worship serv- 
 ice, 257. 
 
322 
 
 51, 55-57; of a community 
 board of religious education, 
 39-42; the superintendent and 
 his, 131, 132. 
 
 Others living for others, 22; 
 poem, “Get and Give,” 23. 
 
 Pastor, his place in the church 
 school, 87; his opportunity 
 and obligation, 88-90; three- 
 fold ministry of, 88; his six- 
 teen privileges in the church 
 school, 90-99; pastor and the 
 three - period - session of the 
 church school, 62-64; selecting 
 directors of religious education, 
 103; relation to the church 
 director of religious education, 
 105, 106, 109, 111, 112. 
 
 Personality tests of a teacher’s, 
 201-205. 
 
 Physical Welfare, director of, in 
 a church school, scope of his 
 work, 306-312; temperance and 
 purity programs in a church 
 school, 308-312. 
 
 Poems: “Get and Give,” 23; 
 “God of the Heart and Hand,” 
 140; “Faithful Worker,” 159; 
 “The Goal and the Way,” 198; 
 “The Friend of Man,” 265; 
 “Christ for the World We 
 Sing,” 289. 
 
 Prayer, use of in worship pro- 
 grams, 253, 254. 
 
 Primary Child, nature of, 150; 
 behavior and knowledge, 150, 
 151; provision for, 151, 152; 
 materials, methods, instruction, 
 organization, equipment and 
 programs, 152, 153; worship 
 program for, 258-260. 
 
 Program, religious education for 
 a church, 33; of a three-pe- 
 riod-session for a church 
 school, 59; 62; of a vacation 
 church school, 81, 82; primary 
 worship, 258-260; junior wor- 
 ship, 260-263; young people’s 
 worship, 263-267. 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Officers of a church school, 48-— 
 
 Publicity, church-school director 
 of, 237-243; his qualifications, 
 237; his duties, 238-241; his 
 decalogue, 242, 243; pastors, 
 for his church school, 92. 
 
 Pupils knowing and leading, 135- 
 192; the superintendent and 
 his, 133, 134; growth and de- 
 velopment periods charted, 45. 
 
 Purity program for, in a church 
 school, 311, 312. 
 
 Questions, use of in teaching, 
 210. 
 
 Reading, a church director of, 
 230-237. 
 
 Records, importance of, 215; di- 
 rector of, 215-226; kinds of 
 for church school, 217-219; 
 pupils’ six point, 224-225. 
 
 Recreation, church program of, 
 296-298; church-school direc- 
 ‘tor of, qualifications, aims. and 
 duties of, 292-300; survey of, 
 295, 296; adequate program of, 
 296-298; ethics of, 298, 299; 
 
 trained leadership for, 299, 
 300; community cooperation 
 in, 300. 
 
 Religious Education in the home, 
 27-30; in the church, 30-34; 
 in the community, 35-43; di- 
 rectors of, 98-116; councils of, 
 31-36; boards of, 31-43; as a 
 profession, 100-118. 
 
 Say testing a teacher’s, 206, 
 207. 
 
 Service for others, 22, 23; com- 
 munity director of, for a 
 church school, 282-285. 
 
 Sociability, church school direc- 
 tor of, 290-300. 
 
 Special Days, the superintendent 
 and, 130, 131; kinds of in a 
 church school, 300, 301; church 
 school director of, qualifica- 
 tions and duties, 301, 304; 
 treated in Marion Lawrance’s 
 book, 305. 
 
 Stories in worship programs, 256; 
 telling of, 210, 211. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Sunday Session of church school, 
 expanded and enriched, 58, 59; 
 Lake Avenue plan described, 
 59-64; advantages of, 64-65; 
 superintendent’s program, 129. 
 
 Superintendent, of the Church 
 School personal qualifications, 
 119, 120; appearance and prog- 
 
 ress, 120, 121; his score of 
 “nots,” 121-126; and _ his 
 church, 126-128; and_ his 
 school, 128-131; his Sunday 
 session program, 129; and his 
 officers, 131, 132; and his 
 teachers, 132, 133; and his 
 
 pupils, 133-135; and his com- 
 munity, 135; pastor’s relations 
 to, 95, 96; his relation to the 
 director of religious education, 
 104, 113. 
 
 Supervisor of teachers and teach- 
 ing, 199-212; qualifications of, 
 200, 201; of children, 135-153; 
 of young people, 154-185; of 
 adults, 186-192. 
 
 Teachers, Church -School, the 
 supervisor of, 199-212; person- 
 ality tests of, 201-205; voca- 
 tional tests of, 205, 206; sense 
 tests of, 206, 207; the super- 
 intendent and his, 132, 133; 
 committee on selection of, 124. 
 
 Teaching supervisor of, 199-212; 
 testing of, 207-212; laws of, 
 207, 208; materials of, 208, 
 209; methods of, 209-212. 
 
 Temperance, a_ church - school 
 program of, 308-311. 
 
 Training, necessity of, for church- 
 
 school leaders, 315-3185 
 courses for, 317, 318; agencies 
 of, 318. 
 
 Vacation Church School, history 
 of movement, 76; what is a, 
 77; types of, 78; how to 
 start, 78; organization and ad- 
 
 323 
 
 ministration of, 79; teachers 
 in, 80; curriculum in, 80; daily 
 program of, 81, 82; advantages 
 of, 82, 83. 
 
 Ventilation, the superintendent’s 
 responsibiliy for, 124. 
 
 Vocation, testing a teacher’s, 205. 
 
 Week-day Church School, types 
 of, 68; how to start, 68-70; 
 clear objectives needed, 70; 
 educational standards of, 70, 71; 
 where to get teachers for, 71, 
 72; curriculum of, important, 
 72; teaching methods in, 73; 
 relations of, 73; present status 
 of, 74; guaranteeing success, 
 75. 
 
 Worship, superintendent’s pro- 
 gram of, 128-130; definition 
 of, 248; place of in church 
 school, 247 family worship, 29, 
 30; duties of director of, 250- 
 252; committee on, 249; year’s 
 themes of, for a church school, 
 251; elements in, 252-257; mu- 
 sic in, 268-270; sample pri- 
 mary program of, 258-260! 
 model junior program of, 260- 
 263; typical program of, for 
 young people, 263-267; ten 
 tests of, 258. 
 
 Worthwhile, Things in leader’s 
 objective, 20, 21. 
 
 Young People knowing, 160-176; 
 leading, 177-190; supervisor of, 
 160, 161; traits of, 161-176; 
 aims of, groups of, 177, 178; 
 policy of supervision of, 178, 
 179; council organization of, 
 179-181; class organization of, 
 181-183; exit of, from church 
 school, 183, 184; worship pro- 
 gram for, 263-267; teachers of, 
 which boys like, 184-186; 
 teachers of, which girls like, 
 186-188; religion of, 188-190. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America. 
 

 
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