^e ^btngbon j^ltgtous; Ctmcation Cextss Babtb ^. Botonep, General Ctittor COMMUNITY. TRAINING SCHOOL SERIES. NORMAN E. RICHARDSON. Editor HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS WITH YOUNG PEOPLE :-0,X Or PF)!^ BY ; lyzz ^, JAMES V. THOMPSON :/CAL sttf# ^^ THE ABINGDON PRESS NEW YORK CINCINNATI Copyright, 1922, by JAMES V. THOMPSON All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America DEDICATED TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE — THOSE WHO HOLD IN THEIR KEEPING THE DESTINY OF THE CHURCH CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction 9 Preface 1 1 I. The Church and the Conservation of Youth 13 Revaluation of child life — Developing life and changing needs — A critical age — Early training — A last chance — Solving the problems of this critical age — Pupil participation — Desirable lesson courses — The unity of life — Appealing to the whole of life — Effect of war upon young people — The church and its pro- gram — Right conditions — Leisure time — Life values — Elements of the program. IL Characteristics of Young People 26 Preliminary stages — Physical life — Mental life- Intolerance — Disillusionment — Changing values — Doubts— The age of reason — Efifects of early training — Over-stimulation and its results. III. Characteristics of Young People (Continued) 39 Social life — Effect of changed conditions — Compan- ionships — Desire to attract attention — Mating in- stinct — Religious life — Personal problems — The last high tide— Variation in types of response— Variety of activities— Summary — Topics for discussion — Books for further study — Some desired responses in work with young people (18-24 years) — Some in- fluences which tend to secure these responses— Some personal problems faced by young people — Some characteristics of the age groups, 12-14, I5-I7» 18-24 —To the heavenly Father— To others. IV. Social Life 54 A universal demand — Play — ^Work and play — Inter-sex relations— Chaperons — Social groupings — Typical groups — The common interests of groups — Individual interests— The way out — Home recreation — Boarding-house recreation — Reading — Gambling — 6 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS CHAPTER PAGE Sportsmanship — Undesirable recreation — Fields of recreational activities — Athletics — Dramatics — Inter- class, inter-department, inter-church activities — Serv- ice activities — Camping — Standards of choice, V. The Young People's Department 76 Purposes of organization — Develop good Christian character — Establish a Christian master motive — Develop right motives for individual and group action — Provide for training in leadership and in coopera- tion — Provide opportunity for planning programs, choosing objectives, determining methods — Insure in- creased knowledge of and interest in the kingdom — Provide for the whole range of life interests — Prin- ciples of organization — Clear aim — Clear functions — Accountability of ofiScers — General officer with help- ers — Regular test — Cooperation — The tests of organi- zation — Product the test — Pupil participation — Supervision — Natural grouping — Democracy — Right attitudes — Present situation — Overlapping — The judg- ment of young people — A natural result — The young people's department of the church — Membership — The council — Officers and committees — Records and reports — Relations of department — Supervision — First steps in departmental organization — Secure consent — Inform leaders — Inform group — A trial period — Take time — ^The first session — A caution. VI. The Department Program 98 The program of worship — Principles — (a) Proper age range — (b) Adaptation — (c) Suitable conditions — (d) Unity — ^Elements of the program — Music — Prayer — Scripture reading — Testimony — The special feature — Preparing the program — Instruction —Training through activity in the department session — Expres- sional activities — The relations of the departmental program — (a) To the total church program — (b) To the class program — Service — Extension — The social and recreational — Evangelism — Equipment — New ideas. CONTENTS 7 CHAPTER PAGE VII. The Young People's Class 122 Class groups — Natural groups — Three major groups — Size of class — Mixed classes — Number of classes — Class organization — Permanence of organization — Form of organization — Term of office — Registration — Records and equipment — ^Taking the records — Class- room — Class relations — ^Tests of class organization — Class methods — Necessary activities — Voluntary ac- tivities. VIII. The Class Session 145 Right working conditions — Equipment — Time — A program — Suitable lesson courses — Elective courses — Lesson materials are means — Courses of most worth — Short courses desirable — Basis of choice — Annual prospectus — Arrangements for choosing courses — Principles of choice — ^Right teaching methods — The teacher chooses — Formal discipline — Doctrine of in- terest — Constructive method — Project method — Spe- cial plans — Credits — Notebooks — Teachers adequate to the task. IX. Young People in Village and Countryside 167 New vision — Old ideas — Conditions — Social and recreational — Educational — Homes — Economic, in- dustrial and political — The church — Transportation — The new day in rural work — The church as a center — Village pride — M odifications — Organization — Depart- ment — ^The class — The lesson course — Records — Spe- cial rural features — Social and recreational life — Circuit plans — Winter specials — Combination serv- ices — Recreational leadership. X. Evangelism and Life Service 193 Evangelism — Evangelism and young people — Age of power — Dealing with doubt — Companions — Pre- vious training — Significance — The teacher — Desirable responses — Variety — Expression — Method — Life serv- ice — A distinction — The stewardship of life — All are stewards — Freedom of choice — Vocational informa- tion and guidance — Developing right attitudes — The 8 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS CHAPTER PAGE college situation — The local church situation — The home situation — Presentation of life service challenge — Standards of choice — Cooperation — In local church — Card signing — Reporting decisions — Training for efiEiciency — Interchurch schools — In school and col- lege — Assistance of candidates, XI. Young People in Church, Community, and World. 223 The local church and its young people — Church at- titudes — Special assignments — The pastor and his young people — The pastor's committee — Deputations — Camps — The young people and the community — What makes a community — Community agencies — Community activities — A national birthday — Meeting places — ^Week-day schools of religion — Community training schools — World relations. XII. Leadership 246 The cost of leadership — Submission — Preparation — Leaders of young people — Characteristics — Personality — Training and equipment — The place of mature friendship and understanding — Young people as lead- ers — The discovery of leaders — Training for leadership — In the local church — Summary — Training coiurses for leaders. INTRODUCTION The author of this volume has had the unusual priv- ilege of knowing intimately groups of young people in every section of our country. In multitudes of instances he has been called in as counselor and friend to help in solving practical problems. With the memory of these conferences fresh in mind he writes with the glowing conviction that the church should make a suitable place in its program for those who constitute its greatest human asset and its only hope. Years of study and service spent in this specialized field have given Mr. Thompson clear insight into and understanding of the motives and ideals as well as the misunderstandings and discouragements of young peo- ple. He knows why, with their idealism and passion for service, they have such difficulty in becoming vitally identified with that ancient and conservative institution which holds the faith of the fathers. Faith, the sub- stance of a living church, is theirs in abundance, even though it sometimes lacks the spirit of conformity. This volume seeks to place in the hands of all work- ers with young people the ripened judgments resulting from these years of active experience. Every sugges- tion has already stood the pragmatic test. Many of these suggestions are phrased in the language used in conferences where actual problems were solved. They will appeal to those who are facing immediate respon- sibilities for this important part of the program of the local church. Such persons cannot afford to be without this, the most significant volume that has yet appeared in this field. Norman E. Richardson. Northwestern University. 9 PREFACE The story of the Fiery Cross has always thrilled young lives. The lines of the ages seem to have con- verged in the present day. The ceremony is complete. The cross is aflame. The call to the heart and life of youth is clear. It is loud. It is insistent. It is heart breaking. Men Wanted ! Women Wanted ! The world is again in crisis. Faith and hope and love and sacrifice, inspiration, insight, and courage, patience and loyalty — these will come with the gathering clans of young peo- ple about the cross. As in no other generation they come in an atmos- phere all aglow with a great sacrificial splendor. The White Comrade bears in his body the marks of sacrifice because he chose *^not to be ministered unto but to minister." But even as we write that splendor becomes tinged with self-interest. The serried rows of cross and star, those who bear in their bodies the marks of con- flict, those lonely hearts and sad cry out against the perversion of a high and holy sacrifice. It was a great call and a great response. But the world again calls. Again the cross flames high. And again young men and women lift heeding heads to spiritual leaders who are worthy. What this new generation shall do, where it shall go, how it shall strive, for what its sacrifice shall be made depend largely upon the attitudes and ideals of home and church and state. May God grant that the mantle now falling upon eager young shoulders may be worthy of the generation which is and that which is to be! II 12 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS It is in the hope that some small contribution to this end may be made that this volume appears. It makes no pretense of originality or erudition. What is here offered has had the acid test of having been done in different places and by different persons. It works. Perhaps the reader too will find the way a bit plainer because of these pages. If so, we are grateful for the privilege of having served. The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to those teachers and authors in this field whose words and counsel have gradually become a part of his own thinking. Dr. Wade Crawford Barclay, Dr. John W. Shackford, Chaplain Warren T. Powell, Professor C. J. Hewett, Dr. W. E. J. Gratz, and the editors have given much time and most valuable suggestions both as to the con- tent and to organization of materials; thereby deserving the gratitude of both the reader and The Author, Chicago, Illinois. CHAPTER I THE CHURCH AND THE CONSERVATION OF YOUTH The present world situation and our own national situation challenge us to test anew the principles and methods by which the young are being trained. This is a time of revaluation. The great world conflict has been like a flashlight suddenly thrown upon the whole fabric of modern home, church, school, and social life. We are discovering how meaningless are some of the things to which we gave large place, and how meaning- ful are some things formerly considered unimportant. Everywhere *^the old order change th, giving place to the new." Bishop WiUiam F. McDowell, in speaking for the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church,^ said: ''The Protestant Church as a whole has never been wise or adequate in its care or thought of youth. It has made adult creeds, adult orders of worship, adult church life, even adult buildings. The church has been sentimental and impractical concerning childhood, impatient and in- efficient concerning youth. Its work with young people it has left to people who make such work a specialty and has regarded such work as a thing apart from or subordinate to, or even somewhat beneath the larger life of the church, and the loss is beyond computation. The conservation of youth in all lands is the largest piece of conservation we have on our hands. The proper care * General Conference, Des Moines, Iowa, May, 1920. 13 14 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS of our baptized children means more than the perfect conservation of our largest subscriptions. The church that is wise toward youth will shine as the stars." Revaluation of child life. — In this revaluation we are becoming conscious especially of the worth of child life. This is inevitable in the light of the tests that are being applied to the grown-up children of our day. Many have been rejected as mentally, physically, or morally unfit. The program which has permitted this unfitness naturally receives the condemnation. The problem which faces workers with young people to-day is that of fashioning a new generation so that this physical loss and rejection may be reduced to the minimum; and so that the ideals, spirit, and attitudes of the coming gen- eration may be those of Jesus Christ. Need to Revalue — It is especially necessary for those who are workers with young people to realize that we are dealing not with children nor with the rollicking high-school group, but with young men and women almost fully matured and yet lacking the steadying ex- periences of mature Hfe. These are the persons who in our homes assist the mother in carrying the responsi- bilities and burdens of home life. These are the per- sons who in our offices, stores, schools, and other secular relationships share the responsibility and enjoy the con- fidence of the world of men and women. These are the persons who stand shoulder to shoulder with their fathers in carrying on the mighty projects of our day in commerce, industry, education, and science. Those who are worthy to share such responsibilities in secular affairs cannot be treated by the church as children, nor have they yet reached the time when they wish to be grouped with those of mature years. A young man in discussing the proposition made this significant remark: WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 15 "In our Sunday school we young people have been made either the ^cracker' on the end of the adult whip, or the overhead to the 'kids.' We do not like either place." Developing life and changing needs. — In the de- velopment of life from birth to old age there are certain recognizable periods or stages. This is evidently a part of God's plan in building a life. It must follow that those who wish to deal successfully with life must ad- just their plans to the scheme of things already estab- lished by the Creator. This the church is doing with constantly increasing success. The fields of childhood, youth, young manhood, and young womanhood have long been recognized in secular education as requiring different methods and materials. Thus we find the kindergarten, grade school, high school, college, uni- versity, graduate school, special schools, and others. The work in each of these is planned to meet the needs and capacities of the stage of life with which it deals. This principle is rapidly being accepted by all the work- ers with developing life. Each of the three great divi- sions of life is itself capable of further division. Thus we find early, middle, and later childhood; early, mid- dle, and later adolescence; early, middle, and later adulthood. This volume is to deal especially with the problems of young people in the later adolescent group (18 to 24 years) and with the principles and methods which should unite those who are working with young people. The church must see young people as they really are. The church must feel with and for the young people. The church must awake and do the things that will ennoble and enrich, that will enlist and train our young people of city, village, and farm for their place and part in the kingdom of God upon earth. i6 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS A CRITICAL AGE Childhood has been called the stage ''when the dis- guises are few and the self-revelations are many." This period of life ends approximately with the eleventh or twelfth year. The period immediately succeeding that of childhood is now so much in the minds of educators, both secular and religious, that the present era may well be called the "Age of Youth." In the field of religious education the beginnings were made primarily with adult life. Robert Raikes and Froebel and Pestalozzi and Rousseau may be credited with having turned attention to the needs of childhood. This was succeeded in comparatively recent years by the great Adult Bible Class Movement through which perhaps more adult humans have been voluntarily en- listed in a specific cause — Bible study — the world over than through any other movement in the history of the world. We are just now in the period when revalua- tions are showing the tremendous significance of the years from twelve to twenty-four. Of these the last six are particularly critical. Early training. — Observation shows that much of the fine training and equipment of childhood may for the time being be quite consciously ignored in the ado- lescent years, when the seat of authority changes from without to within. Many a parent views with amaze- ment and concern the easy nonchalance with which this new offspring accepts the ideals of gang or clique even though these differ radically from earlier instruction. Serious consideration has shown that the passing of the individual from one period to another is exceedingly fateful, and at no period more so than in the transitions of the adolescent periods. A last chance. — The fact that so few who reach ma- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 17 turity without having developed a thorough Christian attitude ever do acquire such is turning the attention of an increasing number of thoughtful persons to this group. Records of home and school and church, of street and courtroom and playground clearly evidence the fact that, after all, the creating and fixing of ideals, the establishment of worthy motives, the acceptance of Christian standards of action are practically impossible after the individual has reached the period of maturity. Workers with young people are becoming increasingly conscious of the fact that they are dealing with hfe that is coming to the close of the plastic period; that habits of thinking, standards of action, master motives, all life's relationships are having a last chance to become what they ought to be ere they are set practically for time and for eternity. Adult life in most instances merely strengthens the attitudes that have been de- veloped during the plastic years. SOLVING THE PROBLEMS OF THIS CRITICAL AGE One of the most encouraging signs of the present day is the fact that where workers with young people have kept pace with the enlarging vision of the work of the church and have adjusted their program to the needs of the life of to-day, the oft-quoted losses are not only ceasing to occur, but an increased loyalty and devotion to the church are noticeably present. One pastor re- ports that the effect of such adjustment in his Sunday school was an increase of thirty per cent in enrollment and of fifteen per cent in average attendance at the end of the first year. Pupil participation. — Since America's participation in the World War many churches have recorded a de- creasing enrollment and attendance in their church- i8 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS school work. In connection with a study of the situa- tion a number of interesting facts have been brought to light. One pastor in writing on the subject said: "There has been no decrease in the Sunday-school enrollment in our church owing, I think, to the fact that we have attempted to meet the needs of what we call 'the drifting period,' which is from about sixteen to past twenty. Our success is due more largely, we believe, to the fact that we organized the young people's work on a natural basis, arranging for the young people to handle their own class and department work. The young people's department is the largest in the Sunday school in both localities with which I have to do. I believe the chief reason for the decrease in Sunday-school enrollment lies in our failure to solve the problem of the 'drifting pe- riod.' Even during the war, when so many of our young men went overseas, our enrollment did not fall down largely because the organized young people's group pro- vided substitutes for those who enlisted." Desirable lesson courses. — It is interesting to note that the losses in Sunday-school membership noted above were larger in those schools in which the Uniform Lesson material was used. In very many instances where a decline in membership and attendance was not recorded the records show careful organization and supervision, together with the provision of lesson ma- terials and activities adapted to the age groups. THE UNITY OF LIFE For years we have recognized the many-sidedness of life. We have spoken of these sides as physical, intel- lectual, social, etc., consciously or unconsciously sep- arating them in our thought. Our public schools in the early days gave small heed to interests other than the WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 19 purely intellectual. The same one-sided attitude was seen in the church. To-day, church and public school alike are recognizing that God has made life a unit. While he is playing baseball, the young man's physical life may be dominant, but his intellectual, social, moral, and religious interests are also involved. The individual or the team refusing to win at the expense of honesty or good sportsmanship is thereby testifying to a certain fine type of religious experience. It has affected the en- tire system of motives and conduct. Appealing to the whole of life. — The close rela- tionship between the mental and physical is easily ap- parent. What is true of this is likewise true of all the other sides of life. Life functions as a unit. The institu- tion, therefore, that wishes to deal with any of life must deal with all of it. There is no interest in the life of any human being which lies outside the interests of the kingdom of God. ''Jesus Christ is either Lord of all or he is not Lord at all." One of the reasons why our young people have been slipping away from the church is that we have not had a program appealing to all the interests of life. We have, in fact, been sending our young people away from the church to find their satisfactions for a large portion of life's interests, expecting them to come back for their rehgion. But in large numbers they have not come back. It is perfectly apparent that those churches which have failed to offer a place and a part in their program to their young people have failed to hold the loyalty of these young people. A more detailed discus- sion of this will be found in the chapters on organiza- tion. It is sufficient for our purposes here to make the general statement. Effect of war upon young people. — It is trite to 20 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS say there is a marked change in the attitudes, ideals, and activities of our young folks since America's en- trance into the war. There has been a breaking down of the finer sensibilities. Contacts with continental morals have not always been helpful. The sudden thrust of young life into the responsibilities of maturity; the sense of power, the shock of self-realization — all these have tended to speed up and intensify some of the less de- sirable qualities of young people. The rough camp life, the enforced associations, the familiarity with danger, the dependence upon force, the release of the baser ele- ments in the relations of individuals, nations, and races, all have stimulated a disregard of the old conventionali- ties, the old programs, the old objectives. The spirit of the time shows a decided slump in the common moral sanctions. In some communities our young women report that it is very difficult for a young woman to maintain her highest ideals. The remarks of young men not infrequently give evidence of motives that are not under the control of those lofty sentiments without which stability and joy of home life are impos- sible. The predominance of youthful crimes of sheer nerve, not skill, is well known. On the other hand, the schools and colleges have never been so full. Serious-thinking youths have never been so numerous. The willingness to share the great burdens of home, church, and state has seldom been equaled. Young people have but added to the general demand their age-long insistence upon a place, a part, and recognition. The whole of life calls for these. Miss Margaret Slattery, in a recent editorial,^ writes: "If ever there was a moment in the history of the church when it should take advantage of the spirit of youth, * Pilgrim Teacher. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 21 when it should conserve, direct, and use it, that moment is now. Never has the earnest teacher had the oppor- tunity to make the appeal for the church that is his at the present moment." THE CHURCH AND ITS PROGRAM Young people will go where they find opportunity to develop initiative and where they bear recognized re- sponsibility. In a young people's conference recently a young woman said, "This is the first time in my life that I've ever known our church to arrange something that was just for young people where we can say and do just what we wish." A young man in another such meeting remarked: "You want to hold the young peo- ple to the church. Well, you've got to give us some- thing to hold on to." Right conditions. — The vital necessity of providing a responsible job under possible circumstances is ap- parent. A college president declared that his chief obstacle in directing young people to the ministry and other life fields is not the meager financial return, but the impossible conditions. Young people will not eas- ily be led to employ their energies in the upkeep of a church in an already overchurched community. Nor will they enter upon a church program whose first item is the conversion of a reactionary board of trustees. Leisure time. — With the eight-hour day, Saturday half-holiday, and daylight saving has come more leisure time. This affords opportunity for both educational and recreational activities. The church that has failed to take immediate advantage of this opening must not complain if young persons, forced to find satisfaction for their educational and recreational needs under other than church auspices, fail to return for their religion. 22 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Life values. — A young person without religion is a monstrosity. Heedless of traditions, he demands a re- ligion in terms of his own life, and activities which have inherent value and interest for himself. When a youth decides to accept Jesus Christ as the King of his life, he is still a youth and loves youthful things. His de- cision is prompt and genuine. It should be as promptly accepted at face value by his church. His immediate need is for the kind of environment and activity that will strengthen his decision and make it habitual. Elements of the program— Certain outstanding needs in connection with young people's work are apparent: {a) There is an increasing demand for democracy and cooperation in all phases of church life. (6) There must be some adjustment of program and organization by agencies doing work in local churches. The present overlapping is intolerable, if not unethical. (c) There is insistence upon simple reality and direct- ness in religious expressional life. {d) There is a call for commanding leadership in a great task. {e) Some effective plans must be devised to bring the vital young people's problems before the local pastor and adult church membership. (/) A great pronouncement by the church leaders, setting forth in clear terms the challenge to young life in a great program of reconstruction. (g) A steady program of wholesome evangelism in the Sunday school classes dealing with young people. {h) The presentation of the needs of the world, to- gether with important vocational infonnation to stim- ulate Hfe and marginal- time service. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 23 (i) An adequate program of midweek educational and recreational activities. (j) The development of a nation-wide camp program by districts for the young people, in which the interests of young people and the church may be presented. (k) A campaign for daily prayer and Bible reading for Protestant young people. (I) A wholesome campaign to lift the moral status of young men and boys and to strengthen the wholesome purposes of young women and girls. (m) A continuous go-to-school-and-college emphasis, cooperating with the Boards of Education of the various denominations. The presentation in preparatory schools and colleges of the opportunity for service in the home church. Also the larger challenges to whole life and marginal-time life service. (») A definite attempt to provide voluntary courses? either in regular hours or through the Christian Asso- ciations, which shall inspire and instruct persons in college and preparatory schools in regard to their op- portunities in their home church. {0) An effort to arouse a sense of Christian responsi- bility for the provision of teachers in public, private, and denominational schools and colleges in the interest of religious education. The refining fires of the great world catastrophe have cleansed our thinking of much dross. Institutions and individuals alike are facing tests little used heretofore. Materialism has failed, and with it have gone down many of the old standards. The young people of to-day are more mature than those of the preceding generation and are offering an unstinted loyalty and devotion to the cause which is utterly unselfish and to the institu- 24 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS tion which is clearly seeking to serve rather than to be served. They are asking for opportunity to exercise their new-found powers, and for help in developing their undeveloped resources. Young people have not and will not tolerate an atti- tude which carelessly ignores their enthusiasms and their sense of personal worth. They will be heard or felt, if not in the church of their choice, then in another, or, failing that, outside any church. During a recent mid- week prayer meeting the adults were bemoaning the fact that their young men frequented the neighborhood pool rooms and avoided the church services. A yoimg man present administered this stinging rebuke: "You refused the use of our basement for social purposes. The fellows must go somewhere." It will not suffice to say, "What was good enough for us is good enough for them." That is not true in home or business or educa- tion. It is equally false when applied to the church. The church of to-day is better than the church of yes- terday. That of to-morrow will surpass the church of to-day. Those young people yonder who are our grown- up sons and daughters are worthy of our respect. They command our appreciation. They justify our con- fidence. SUMMARY Never has such opportunity been offered to workers with young people if they will but clearly recognize: 1. That God has built life on law. 2. That they are dealing with men and women, of like powers and passions, but lacking in experience. 3. That life, while many-sided, functions as a unit. 4. That the ministry of the church must be to the whole of life, the whole time. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 25 5. That the program of the church-at-large and of the local church must provide a worthy place and a real part for the developing life which is having its last chance before it becomes fixed in its habits of thought and action. 6. That young people will find the satisfaction of their needs, if not in the church, then elsewhere — per- haps under less favorable conditions. 7. That the church which provides a place and a part for its young people will find coming from them a loyalty and devotion which will gladden the hearts of their leaders and enlarge the borders of the Kingdom. Topics for dfecussion : 1. The present attitude toward the church of the men and women who actually participated in the Great War. 2. The church's relation to young people in industry. 3. The effect upon home and church of the eight-hour day. 4. The church's place in the plans of young people. Books for further study: Moore — The Youth and the Nation. Addams — The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. Milne — The Church and the Young Man^s Game. 26 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS CHAPTER n CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG PEOPLE Before we can attempt to find a solution for the many questions presented in the preceding chapter we must have some idea of the persons who make up this young people's group. There are no two people exactly alike. Even twins can be distinguished by members of their family. Every one varies more or less from any composite picture that may be drawn. However, there are certain characteris- tics which are found so often as to make them common to the young people as a group. In this and the suc- ceeding chapter we shall attempt to see what manner of person this is who becomes at once our problem and our pride, and what are the common factors around which we may presume to build a plan with and for young people. Preliminary stages. — In the years from twelve to fourteen perhaps the chief characteristic of the growing life was the extension of all of the powers of the indi- vidual. The instincts pulled the attention and physical activities of the boy or girl in a hundred different ways. New interests, new phenomena, developing ideals take possession of the growing life. A consequent lack of steadiness was apparent. Contrasting somewhat with this earlier group, we find that those from about fifteen to seventeen tend to become less erratic in thought and action. Very fre- quently pupils in this stage "find" themselves, and at- tempt in the light of the experiences of the immediately WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 27 preceding years to discover the place where their life ideals may be wrought out. It has sometimes been called the ' 'period of choice." Persons dealing with high-school pupils will recall the absolute assurance and finaHty of the vocational and social choices of these years. To those fortunate enough to continue their school work this choice may develop the desire for a thorough preparation for life work. To those forced to go to work the choice of a vocation depends somewhat upon the opportunities for employment that are then available. To a certain extent life's ideals, standards of conduct, and sense of values have been pretty largely determined by the time the individual reaches the pe- riod of young manhood and young womanhood. For- tunate indeed is that young person who in these de- termining years has had vital contacts with men and women of high ideals and Christian standards of con- duct. There are many phases or sides of human life. For convenience we will use the common terms "physical," ''mental," "social," and "spiritual" or "religious." The first two only will be discussed in this chapter. PHYSICAL LIFE From the standpoint of the physical life the body of the young person increases comparatively little in height from eighteen to twenty-four; its development appears primarily in maturing and filling out the frame- work developed in the preceding years. It is the period for the maturing of all bodily functions. Energy, en- durance — a flood tide of all of the physical powers — are characteristics of most young people. The pages of history are written full of the records of the daring, endurance, inventiveness, self-sacrifice, and nerve of this 28 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS group. A glance at any of the daily papers will indicate the great proportion of crimes of sheer nerve and physi- cal daring committed by young people in these years. They lack the skill of maturity but exhibit the fearless- ness of unlimited physical powers. Athletics make their greatest appeal to young people. The vast majority of world records in college athletics are made by young men and young women of these years. There seems to be practically no limit to their physical energy. Again, for nicety of skill and perfection of bodily control, for poise and grace, there is no period which excels this. The awkwardness, the ebb and flow of energy, the uncertainty of previous years are gone. If one is desirous of beholding the finesse of social custom, correct apparel, and the like, an observation of this group will provide him with up-to-the-minute informa- tion. There seems to be no limit to the amount of time and energy which young people are willing to put into the processes of developing themselves or their chosen group in excellence in any desirable field of activity. MENTAL LIFE Of all the sides of life, perhaps the mental and the social are those of outstanding significance in this pe- riod of "later adolescence." The mental life of young people is approaching its * 'flood tide of power." The inquiring, the testing attitude, the search for a working faith, the unwillingness to accept just because someone has said so, the refusal to be told what to believe, the unbounded enthusiasms — these are but a few of the significant mental attitudes of young people. The contrast with the mental processes of early and middle adolescence is not as great as it appears on the surface to be. The early adolescent is more hesitant WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 29 about expressing his opinion. He fears the criticism it will arouse. The early adolescent mind is broadening its horizon at a marvelous rate, increasing life's con- tacts with rapidity. The middle adolescent mind is more subjective, attempting to relate these things to personal accomplishment; the later adolescent mind is concerned with the relation of all its experiences and information in the development of a dependable phil- osophy of living. Litolerance. — The baptism of power physically in the later adolescent years has its mental accompaniment. The paths trod by youthful minds are not always those of tradition. Just because a conclusion has always been accepted is no argument for its present acceptance. There is a professed intolerance for all that is past, and yet probably in no other period is there greater sen- sitiveness to public opinion as it is expressed in terms of custom, fashion, the accepted standards of group action, group and class judgment. Underneath it all, however, there is an intense individualism which is struggling for a dependable creed. There is quite likely to be a certain narrowness of view, due to inexperience. In fact, there is no intolerance quite so immediately hopeless as that of the later adolescent. He is so cock- sure of his conclusions that he does not quite see how any future experience can have a modifying effect. Disillusiomnent. — There are certain elements enter- ing life at this period which have to do with this entire situation. This is decidedly a period of disillusionment. Many young people are for the first time upon their own resources economically. They are on their own responsibility in planning the expenditure of the whole or a part of this fund. They choose their own compan- ionships more largely than ever before, determine how 30 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS the evening hours shall be spent, and where. In fact, they have become more largely self-determinative than ever before. In leaving behind the restraints, the pro- tection, the regulations, the sympathy, the inspiration of the home and the family, many young people who are forced to live in boarding houses or outside the home are thrown utterly upon their own initiative for economic and social employment. This, therefore, is frequently a period of intense lone- liness. There is probably no loneliness quite so great as that of being alone in the crowd. The contrast be- tween the roseate ideals of earlier years and the stern realities of life as they are now being met is a disillu- sioning shock, and necessitates a constant reorganiza- tion of one's whole philosophy of life. The tragic realization of the wide chasm between profession and conduct on the part of those who have been recognized as "pillars" in the church and state sometimes brings both social and spiritual disaster to the disillusioned young person. The changing point of view, the lack of sympathy on the part of those who are older, the un- supplied need for social intercourse of a wholesome nature frequently drive young persons to seek satisfac- tion for these needs under unwholesome influences. The whole series of reactions suggested above, and many others, account in some measure for the "wild-oats" period in many lives. Changing values. — With this broadening compre- hension of life and its realities certain new realizations come to the young man or young woman. The dreari- ness of a boarding house increases respect for and ap- preciation of the old home — perhaps with its necessary economies, its simplicities, but with its atmosphere of affectionate concern and helpful sympathy. The value WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 31 of friends and an understanding of the contribution which they make in companionship, contentment, and pleasure, to say nothing of the larger contributions, is borne in upon the young person. The one who, impa- tient of the delays and requirements, drops out of his school work ^/to make money" frequently discovers that he can go no farther because of his lack of preparation. To such an one education looms increasingly large. The presence of so many young people near twenty in the night high schools is indicative of the fact that this is the time of such realization. The young person applying for a situation is deeply impressed with the value and necessity of having a good name. In these days employers are giving careful attention to the way in which their employees spend their leisure hours, many concerns making actual pro- vision for the right use of this free time. It is a dis- concerting discovery to some young persons to learn that one's standards of living must be constantly raised if he is to maintain his position and secure coveted ad- vance. These new realizations, coming with something of a shock, have a tendency to mature and steady one. All such influences tend to shorten the period of plasticity, or the teachable period of human life, bring- ing downward into the earlier years of the period the time when maturity may be said to begin. The eco- nomic situation in which a young person's lot is cast clearly serves as a modifier of the plastic period. Fre- quently young persons in certain social circles have demands made upon them that should come only to those of mature life. This also exerts a profound in- fluence upon life. There are those who become engaged or marry in the late teens or the early twenties. This assumption of 32 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS the responsibilities of mature life develops in them atti- tudes and ideals that could not come in any other way. They become more mature than those of their own age in many of the relationships of hfe, but less mature in some of those things which would naturally develop through continuing under the ordinary influences of un- married life. Naturally, the interests of such persons center in each other and in the new home. This will modify all their conduct, plans, and aspirations. Some young people have the opportunity to continue their education through college, university, and even beyond. For such persons the period of immaturity naturally is lengthened. Certain dangers accompany both effects. The short- ening of this period necessarily limits more or less the resources of the individual involved. He is likely to find himself handicapped in middle or later adult Kfe because he could not finish his training. He whose edu- cation has been unduly prolonged may find himself in maturing years with shortened experiences in certain lines due to delay of marriage or the loss of industrial and social contacts. In dealing with these different phases of development the same methods cannot successfully be used. Doubts. — Many have called this the "doubting age." Such interpretation is clearly a misunderstanding of the significance of these years. There is an earnest attempt on the part of most young people to find a dependable working faith. What seems an ignoring of the ''faith of the fathers" is in fact a search for truth. "We all begin life upon a borrowed basis." Our moral and rehgious ideas are at first matters of hearsay. As children we believe and act as father and mother or teacher determine. But we do not remain children. At WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 33 some time or other it is one's privilege and duty to pass from dependence to independence, from borrowed be- liefs to personal convictions. Despite heredity, each new generation makes a new start, and the youth of each generation come to the years of self-determination possessed of the accumu- lated experiences of the past, each concerned with the task of finding for himself a sufficient and satisfying basis for his own convictions. It is clearly a mistake to call this ^'doubt." For many persons this period is but a confirmation of the teachings of earlier years. To many, on the other hand, it necessitates complete re- organization. The young man or young woman with no questions to be answered may be one who has done no earnest thinking for himself, or who has been afraid to face the issue. Slight dependence is to be placed upon the convictions of any young person who has carelessly accepted the conclusions of his group or the statements of others. Intellectual honesty demands that each one for himself shall think through the great questions that are a part of human life. Tennyson, in his "In Memoriam," says: "There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds." Repetition of phrases and participation in ritual are not necessarily indicative of faith. The surest way to dis- pel doubt is to provide facts. The age of reason. — This is supremely the age of reason. The worker with young people at his peril ignores this fact. This youth who seems to be "anti- everything that adults are accustomed to think of as established and good" is not that at all. The flood tide of power in his reasoning process simply demands that 34 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS he himself must be convinced before he accepts. This is true whether the individual involved is found in rural community or city, in industrial or educational groups. Perhaps this will in a measure account for the present situation in which we of the churches find ourselves in relationship to the whole spirit of the young people of to-day. The London Daily News, in speaking of The Brother- hood Movement — the postwar movement in England, says: ''Youth is impatient of the ancient theological restrictions. Perhaps they wdll never come back to the churches as now organized. They may return to the Founder of those churches. '^ "Come, let us reason together" must be the attitude of all those who wish to do effective work with young people. There is no gain to any honest searcher for the truth if his questions are ignored. The headmaster of one of our strongest American institutions says that he has been surprised at the nature of the requests made by young men under his supervision for the discussion of topics involving fundamental Christian conceptions. For instance, they requested the discussion of miracles, the apparent discrepancy between the scientific and biblical explanations of the creation, immortahty, the Holy Spirit, the abihty of the dead to communicate with the Hving; sin — what it is and when and how it came into the world; fatahsm, predestination, heaven, faith, and other topics of similar nature. The young mind that walks fearlessly up to these great problems in honest search for the truth is ex- hibiting a very much higher type of faith and preparing for a more dependable creed than is that young person or teacher who is afraid to question the conclusions of the ages. The latter is the real skeptic. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 35 EFFECTS OF EARLY TRAINING It is not unusual to find among this group numerous individuals who are in a state of sag or slump due to some overstimulation in preceding years. There is a physical lassitude due frequently to early overstrain, resulting in certain modifications of heart or other or- ganic action. This is particularly noticeable in those young persons who have starred in high-school or pre- paratory-school athletics. Many of these, under the direction of careless or indifferent coaches, have ex- hausted their physical powers and stunted further de- velopment. It is not unusual to find such persons utterly failing in their college athletic careers. There is also to be noted the overstrain due to too long hours, or too heavy work, to unsanitary conditions of work, ,and other like matters. Overstimulation and its results. — Sometimes there is a sag in the mental life. This is most fre- quently due to a failure of some sort in earlier years. A young man or a young woman without some sort of taste for reading has been forced by circumstances, or permitted, totally to neglect this feature in the earlier years when the development of such a taste was nat- ural. Many young people are discontented when alone, unable to provide for their own entertainment simply because there are great barren areas in their mental life. This is often due to the fact that no provision was made to supply interest-creating activities in the accumulative years from ten to fifteen. Many of the failures in the relationships of young people to each other and to the world in which they live are due largely to their not having discovered a real hero when they were in the hero-worshiping stage. Their ideals of conduct and standards of action were 36 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS then being formed and habits of choice were being determined without reference to the heroic. What is true regarding the physical, intellectual, and social life is equally true of the spiritual life. Young people whose emotional experiences have been over- indulged, whose spiritual life has been o vers timula ted, and who have run the full gamut of religious ecstasy are quite likely to find at this time that their spiritual life has become drab and commonplace. They resem- ble somewhat the person who begins with moderate drinking or the moderate use of drugs — it requires a constantly increasing dose to secure the desired effect. When children and young people live constantly on the mountaintop, the shadows of the valley will be all too frequent and dark in the years that follow. Overin- dulgence emotionally is as sure to produce sag or slump later on as overstrain physically. It is interesting to note that frequently young men and young women will exhibit one or more of the slumps indicated while being perfectly normal in other respects. All of these features make the work of the leader of young people particu- larly difficult and demand keenness of insight in addi- tion to sympathetic resourcefulness. The thoughtful student is impressed more and more with the necessity of providing children and youths with correct instruction and carefully trained leaders if the highest achievements of later adolescence are to be realized. SUMMARY Workers with young people are quick to see that they are dealing not with children but with men and women having all the passions and powers of maturity but few of its stabilizing experiences. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 37 •hysical powers and functions are at flood tide and notable for grace and accuracy. This is a period of disillusionment, of questioning — often mistakenly called doubt — of readjustment, of new independence in thought and action, of revolt against other than self-imposed restrictions. New values are assigned to familiar things because of new experiences and maturing ideals. Sags or barren spots in taste and experience due to certain lacks or overstimulations in earlier periods may require most careful attention during later adolescent years. Faith and doubt come into close grips in these years, or should do so. The one may be dispelled by facts sympathetically presented; the other acquired by facts and the will to believe, both presented by a personahty itself aglow with faith. Intellectual honesty is essential to intellectual power and dependable faith. Young men and young women while being faced with great physical tasks in industry, commerce, science, the unconquered areas of earth, sea, sky, should likewise be faced with the spiritual and intellectual problems of the ages and of the present — the problems of mind, of heart, of will, of all human relations. Give them all the facts and thus provide them with the means whereby they may develop a Christian philosophy of life and a work- ing faith. Whatever the physical assets or liabilities, however limited or striking the mental powers, there are few, if any, young folks in city or country who will not wel- come sympathetic respect and confidence, and who will not respond to wise and wholesome provision for their needs. 38 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Topics for discussion: 1. Effects of early home training upon ideals. 2. Good health and good morals. 3. Education and intolerance. 4. The church, college, and intellectual freedom. Books for further study: Richardson — Religious Education of Adolescents. Hall — From Youth to Manhood. Moxcey — Girlhood and Character. Betts — Mind and Its Education. Coe — Education in Religion and Morals. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 39 CHAPTER III CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG PEOPLE (continued) We have seen how the physical and mental factors influence the conduct of young people. One cannot escape the fact that all of life must come under the domination of right ideals and right motives if the full- ness and power of the gospel of Christ are to become the common heritage of the race. We shall now see how the social and spiritual Kfe of young people find expression and what may be done to bring them under the control of Christian ideals. SOCIAL LIFE Effect of changed conditions. — There is no doubt in the mind of any careful observer that since the war the temper of young people has greatly changed in re- gard to all the relationships which they maintain — to the home, to the church, to industry, to education, to each other. It is not altogether easy to account for this change in attitude. The thrust of young life into re- sponsibilities economic, industrial, sociaL of home and state, may account for some of it. The attitude of the press, the content of our more popular periodicals, the picturing of undesirable relationships between the sexes, the scoffing at the long accepted standards of virtue, modesty, home relations — all of these have played their part. Whatever the causes, the change has been wrought. Unfortunately, the church has been more largely 40 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS characterized by its prohibitions than by its provision of programs of wholesome activities for young life. The result has been a temporary loss of confidence in the church as a necessary agency for righteousness in community, national, and international life. Young people are asking pointedly: ''Is the church really neces- sary? Does it have a vital part to play in modern in- dustrial, social, and educational life?" Those of us who are older understand, of course, the significance of their questions. We appreciate the fact that the failure of a program does not necessarily condemn the institution, but calls for careful study -and adaptation. We realize that we cannot save unless we can interest, and there- fore we find churches everywhere busy with the reor- ganization and revaluation of their creeds, programs, and activities. Companionships. — The craving of young people for companionship in all lines of activity is a normal one. They do few things alone or for purely personal ap- proval. The desire for companionship is perhaps the dominant social instinct of this group. Every normal young man and young woman desires the companion- ship of the opposite sex. The craving of young people for good times together is wholesome, healthful, and essential. The nature of the relationships may be quite the opposite. ''The present social status of the young men and young women of our land is a standing chal- lenge to our civilization and to the program of the Christian Church," says Dr. E. S. Lewis. In the suc- ceeding chapter on the social life of young people, the details of this Hfe, and the necessary program to meet its needs will be discussed. It is sufficient for our pur- poses here merely to indicate the social characteristics. During these years the social group flourishes. The WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 41 make-up of the group is dependent largely upon voca- tional, educational, social, and community relations. Class distinctions are carefully and sometimes cruelly drawn. Parties are the order of the day — and most of the nights. During these years a failure to provide for the natural social and recreational needs of the indi- vidual or of the group may produce revolutions of various sorts — individual and group. This will result sometimes in humorous, sometimes in tragic situations. Jacob Riis once said to some workers with young peo- ple, "It is safer to sit on the safety valve of an active steam engine than it is to attempt to prohibit or hinder the action of the recreational laws of young life." It almost seems as if the demand for activities which in themselves are exhilarating, interest-compelling, and challenging is in some way related to the activities which find expression in the deeds of daring, the toil- some voyages of exploration and discovery, or in the remarkable criminal records that are made by young people of both sexes during these years. Desire to attract attention. — The problem of friendships is an outstanding one with young people. It is interesting to note that many young men who lack the capacity to make friends with men have the capacity for making friendships with women. The same may be said of some young women. The opposite is frequently as true. Careful observers will note cer- tain weaknesses in the men or women who cannot or do not make friends among those of their own sex. It is possible to overcome this lack by earnest effort. Leaders should encourage such attempts. Every young man and young woman has a consuming desire to be wanted for his or her own sake, by some desirable person. The sufferings of the unwanted or the unat- 42 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS tractive are very great. It is this, perhaps, that drives some young people to do outlandish things in order to attract attention. Color schemes, conduct, exploits — the whole range of unusuals may in part be explained as an attempt to secure the attention that has not come normally. The price sometimes paid by young people for attention and popularity is pitifully tragic — often disastrous. On the other hand, there are those whose finer sensibilities do not permit of such methods. These turn naturally to the development of personal ac- complishments such as music, art, and brilliant conver- sation. In either case the object is practically the same, the desire to be winsome and attractive. These features afford a sure opportunity for the skillful leader to play a large part in developing the resourcefulness and the wholesome qualities of young people. Mating instinct. — ^Among the social characteristics of this group one of the most significant is that of home- building. Despite some voluble protestations, there is scarcely any normal young man or young woman who does not dream of a home of his or her own. The "Prince Charming" does not always come. The ''Queen" is not always to be found. But if one will dig deep enough into the life of the individual in any social group, he will find the dream. The mating in- stinct is implanted in the human breast by the heav- enly Father and may not safely be ignored, scoffed at, or neglected by any institution which seeks the best things for youth and the race. Many young people pride themselves upon the range of their acquaintance- ship. We have never known anyone to pride himself upon the fact that he had no friends. The desire on the part of young people to be chosen by some one, to be appreciated, to possess and be possessed, to have WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 43 some place to go, is a normal part of the life of this age. Fortunate indeed is that group of young people whose home, church, and school provide wholesome places which are always open for social purposes. RELIGIOUS LIFE It has been said that a young person without religion is a monstrosity. There is probably no period in the whole of life when the religious fires burn with greater intensity. The outer manifestation of these powers, however, is not always in the utmost harmony with the traditions of the church. The insistence upon the right of self-determination is as evident here as in any of the other phases of the life of young people. The spirit of sympathy and unselfishness — the almost overwhelming desire to help, the self-effacing loyalty to a cause, the carefree willingness to leave all and follow are common characteristics of the religious life of these years. The desire for action, the wish to correct human ills, to alleviate suffering, to "ride abroad redressing human wrongs," all are found in one phase or another in the life of nearly every young man and young woman. One of the striking impacts upon the life of France made by the Americans in the expeditionary forces was their constant and tender care for little children and for aged folk. The heart of young people, like the heart of the Eternal, *'is most wonderfully kind." The ready sym- pathy, the self-sacrificing loyalty, the intense zeal, and the willingness to participate in any challenging cause accounts somewhat for the fact that more preachers, more missionaries, more soldiers, sailors, and the Hke enlist from this age group than from any other group in the whole range of life. In fact, this is "the volun- teering age." More Carnegie Hero Medals have been 44 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS awarded to young people than to those in any other period. There is no task too big, no sacrifice too great, no objective too impossible to overcome the assurance of victory that is inherent in young people, provided only that the goal seems a worthy one. The eagerness to serve, the willingness to work on the part of young people is remarkable. The increasing sense of personal responsibility for the reconstruction of the world affords a splendid means of approach for challenging to life service. Once the interest is aroused there is no limit to the time and energy which young people will expend in a chosen cause. Religious fervor and depth of devotion are equally intense. But here again the young man or young woman demands the right to do his own thinking and use his own will. The traditions of the fathers receive but scant respect unless confirmed by the young person himself. The break with the past is fearlessly — often a little too thoughtlessly — made, but experience will lead such persons in due time to see the strength of other days and to profit by the experiences of the past. One of the causes for this apparent indifference to the faith of the fathers is the very fact that the more intense intellectual life of young people leads them to investigate for themselves every phase of religion pre- sented to them by the lives of others, the books that they read, the sermons that they hear, and the dis- cussions in which they take part. The whole matter of personal relationships to God and his world is of prime importance to young people. Personal problems. — Who is he, and what is he? How does he deal with his children? How is the rela- tionship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to be explained? What is the province of suffering in the WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 45 world? Does good always triumph? The facts of life seem sometimes to be against the victory of good over evil. Is there no chance after death? Is the one who lives "a good moral life" without membership in a church less religious than the church member whose creed and deeds are not in harmony? May one ac- tually plan his life upon the ethical principles of the gospel and expect to win what we call a name and a place for himself? These, and a host of other questions in the field of practical Christianity are of outstanding importance in the minds of young people and call for settlement. The whole range of social relationships between the sexes, outside and inside the home, between different social and industrial groups, the political issues of the day, all reach back somehow for religious interpretations as viewed by young people. It seems often as if the actual conversion of some young people depends largely upon straightening out the mental tangles so that their in- tense heart life may have utmost freedom to pour out the full measure of devotion. Many young people who have been persuaded or stampeded into church membership in earher years now resent such action, demanding the right to think their way through on the whole matter, claiming in some instances that the decisions of earlier years are not binding upon them now because they did not un- derstand at that time all the implications of such a decision. Fortunately, workers with young people are coming more and more to see that this is not a kind of sinful revolt on the part of young people, but that it is the visible evidence of a great heart-hunger — perhaps not clearly recognized by the young people themselves. It is a great longing for an abiding sense of reality and 46 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS a dependable foundation upon which to establish all their future relations with the heavenly Father and with his world. The last high tide. — In each of the periods of adolescent development there is a high tide of spiritual opportunity, the most marked coming at about the twelfth year and again at about the fifteenth or six- teenth year. The last high tide, coming about the twentieth year, seems to indicate that God has given to workers with young people a last great opportunity to present the appeal of the Great Companion. And, too, he seems to have presented to the young person him- self, before his habits of thought and action are fixed, this possible final opportunity of accepting and dem- onstrating sonship. Variation in tjrpes of responses. — It requires the startling scene on the Damascus road to win Saul; while the quiet "Follow me" transformed the GaHlaean fishermen into loyal followers of the Master. We may expect as many different kinds of response to the chal- lenge of Christ to young people as there are persons to respond. Each hears, considers, answers in the way that his temperament makes natural. It is a serious mistake to think we may secure the same expression of acceptance from all. It is equally unfortunate if we think the same appeal will win all. What attracts one person repels another. The short, sharp struggle, with its ecstatic moment of acceptance, is no more genuine than the quiet, careful thinking which becomes a grow- ing assurance of sonship. The matter of great moment to leaders of young people is not getting a certain kind of response, but seeing that each responds. Variety of activities. — ^What is true of the nature of responses which young people make in accepting Christ WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 47 as Saviour and Lord is equally true of the types of ex- perience and character of activities which follow their acceptance. There can be no uniformity of appeal, and there is no uniform response. Thus there will be as many varieties of experience in the developing com- panionship with Christ as there are persons to have that experience. So also there will be variety in the forms of expression which those experiences naturally take. "Oh, no," said a young man recently, 'T could never teach a class of boys. But, say, I'm just itching to put in a system of records that would tell you what you want to know." His best friend was superintendent of the Intermediate Department in the Sunday school and Scout Master of the church troop. Our chief concern is not to identify experiences or activities, but to see that there is a constantly enriching devotional life and an enlarging participation in the work of the Kingdom. To the worker with early adolescents there is con- stant amazement at the sublime faith of those years. To the worker with the high-school group there comes a steadily enlarging appreciation of the passionate long- ing to find a s}Tnpathetic and understanding compan- ionship in the emotional upheaval of those fulsome years. In the years with which we are dealing there is evident a burning desire for the individual to find the great certainties in relation to God, to life, to one's work in the world, to one's relationship with others. In very many instances, however, these finer things of human nature are concealed by the petty things of everyday social and industrial conditions. To the institution that will strive to understand and that will make some attempt to provide for these reli- gious factors in the life of young people there will come 48 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS an untold wealth of loyal, loving devotion and an ever- increasing number of those who give it. SUMMARY Practically without exception young life hungers for ideal companionship, for understanding, and for good times. It is a natural desire and, if wholesomely pro- vided for, is a great asset in developing a rich, clean, uplifting social life. The necessity for friends and ac- quaintances leads many young people to attract atten- tion in unusual ways. However, both the search for companions and the desire to be wanted are but visible expressions of the age-old race-sustaining instinct of home building. What finer service could the church render than definitely to provide a time and a place where the young folks of the community could find and develop their God-given social instincts? Religion and young life are inseparable. The types of religious experience to be found among young people are as varied and numerous as there are persons to have the experience. Workers must know that there are many ways of coming, but that all must come. Keenly desiring to know the how and why of things, they are most open to sympathetic leadership and unreservedly devote their life service to the cause which has chal- lenged the fundamental longing to serve. It is "the volunteering age." All the deep and sacred meanings of life, death, the universe, God, have peculiar attrac- tion for those who are building a working philosophy. Real facts, explanation, patience, tolerance, something to do, understanding — all these must be constantly available if our young people are to grow naturally and surely in the faith, knowledge, and service of the Sa- viour of all life. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 49 The outline statement which follows indicates some of the responses to be desired in work with young people, and some of the influences helpful in securing them. This outline follows in its general form that which has been used by the Sunday School Council of Evangehcal Denominations in connection with the standardizing of work in the elementary grades. The diagram following the outline is suggestive of the relationships of young persons and indicates some- thing as to how these relationships may be made effec- tive in the fields indicated in the diagram. Topics for discussion: 1. The church's relation to social activities. 2. Desirable attitudes toward recreation. 3. Religion in everyday affairs of young people. 4. Natural expression of spiritual ideas. 5. Advantages and disadvantages of ritual. Books for further study: McConnell — The Essentials of Methodism. Slattery — The Girl and Her Religion. Moxcey — Girlhood and Character. Tittle— What Must the Church Do to Be Saved? I. Some Desired Responses in Work with Young People (18 to 24 years) 1. A personal consecration to the program of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Leader. 2. Active membership in the church, including at- tendance and participation. 3. Habits of Christian conduct in daily life. 4. Increasing enrichment of personal life through daily prayer and Bible study. 5. An enlarging place in the service activities of home, church, community, and world. 50 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS 6. A recognition of God's guidance in history, and in the life of to-day, both national and indi- vidual. 7. Choice of lifework and preparation for service in the chosen field. 8. Increasing efficiency in both work and recrea- tion. 9. Enlarging conception of the place and program of the church in the world's work. 10. Helpful relations with younger life. 11. Willingness to apply the boundless energy of this stage to the constructive tasks of home, church, community, world. 12. Eagerness to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. 13. Increasing powers of self-expression in prayer, testimony, and service activity. 14. Habits of service through giving of self, time, substance. 15. Both a vocation and an avocation. 16. A belief that the Christian principles offer a practical basis for modern life. II. Some Influences which Tend to Secure These Responses 1. An enriching personal life through knowledge of God, his world, his work, and his enlarging revelations. 2. Knowledge of God's program as related to mod- em life and growth. 3. An enlarging sense of companionship with Jesus Christ. 4. Knowledge of the church as organized and ad- ministered. 5. Knowledge of the methods and materials of reli- gious education. 6. Ideals of Christian service and conduct. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 51 7. Ideals of Christian citizenship. 8. Membership in an organized class and the church. 9. Participation in planning and executing class and departmental programs. 10. Study of church, community, national, world life. 11. Study of how to Christianize the social order. 12. Frank recognition of the doubts and questions of this age and the presentation of facts to dispel the same. 13. A clearly recognized place in the organization and program of the school, the church, the community. 14. Opportunities for specialization in study and ex- pression. 15. Opportunities for wholesome social intercourse, 16. Careful presentation of the opportunities for life investment. III. Some Personal Problems Faced by Young People (See chart) c3 OJ •-I C ^ "-* c)d^5Q a o w o ex (U p ^ S^ aw d Op 8 Z W wi O ^.2 a^ «u <1 +2 jj ti w O hS aa-^ eg t;o 11 o Is s ra CO c/3 OOAh ^ o o| ^ ^! 8 ^S ^.ti "^ a.^S a3 S ^ :5 Ul ,_, dj 8 C/2 °c; 4J W men Poi ght ight a^rt'S 4> ^J-S ^ B^^ Q£a^ o Oh O a ^c pq hSw w -d.a ^^ TO r-j 5 o a^^ PQ ^ 2 s s C/2< cu > a-g WW CO o • So o.a Si g < Qh5 S,agass-g Wi Wi O >s O ' OOfiHW<.^ M > 03 G c^ v3 a> •2c^c:g^ o, cts 52 ^ O a G ti . °^| w O Gr5 O- ^ S3 :l P^ 5^ PiW^ 52 H > H I § J3 O J4 §2 O -gS .S ,S-§5 -21 fig ^^ j§l|o| -Pillion ^^1 c 2 J3.^ I I -^s^i sis^o2il ^2 sill .1 I .>s CW «0 «i ^S-2S"9Mg --lie fc"" S 3 „ S VS goc |Jsl| 1 S3 is IP |§si?i5| Jl|il|l5 ««w. ocsS luS «-■ «-a .tJ Of} £; - -ri*^ « >, +3 !J c mU ^5 2P«».2S 5S?. ^teS UK OA:w^CL~^ 7^ H tSJ g 0) K 4:! s 1 "S ■g'g >> 1 i-i d :3 tn 2 3 9^ti i CO Ph > CO HO ^ Y— > H 0^ H > u - wji^^ ^.9 §000 ex, i ^, « S s w w ^ O <5 92 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS FIRST STEPS IN DEPARTMENTAL ORGANIZATION The type of organization for young people is clear. The question now is how to secure it. Two things are fundamental. There must be perfect frankness on the part of those adults who wish to promote the depart- ment organization; and no step should be taken hastily. Secure consent. — Usually the most difficult part of the whole program is to secure the consent of the older persons. In many places there still remains the feeling that the entire school must assemble for what have been termed "opening exercises." When the leaders get the idea that the first period of the Sunday-school session should be devoted to the task of training in worship, they quickly perceive that all age groups cannot have the same form and content in their worship. This gen- erally gains the desired approval and becomes the first step in the formation of a department organization. Inform leaders. — The approval of the Sunday School Board must be secured. While the members of the board are facing the program, let one or two of the older young men and young women, who are the natural leaders in their group, be consulted. Lay the whole plan before them. Take time for a full, frank discussion of all the oppor- tunities and obligations of a department organization. Do not force the issue. The young people must carry the work; thus it is essential that they enter upon it with intelligent enthusiasm. It is not a holiday affair, but is to become a permanent part of the program of their church and school. Let these leaders see that they are to lead. Impress the fact that the adults are eager to help them to develop their powers, not to dic- tate the program. The spirit of the apostle of youth must prevail. "Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are helpers of your joy.'* WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 93 When the few leaders have caught the vision of the department, increase the number of them two or three- fold and help the enlarged group to catch the idea. Generally, the one or two leaders already acquainted with the plan will pass on their appreciation. Inform group. — The next step is to put the depart- mental idea before the entire group. This may be done in several ways. One of the most acceptable is to have a banquet or supper or social, arranged for and put on by a group themselves. Invite the pastor, general superintendent, and teachers of the classes in this group to be guests. Let the toastmaster and speakers be from among the number who have already discussed the plans. Give each speaker a specific phase of the pro- gram to discuss, such as "What a Young People's De- partment Will Mean to Us," "Some Things Our Department Could Do for Our School and Church," "Where Our Department Could Meet," "Do We Really Need a Separate Department?" and other topics that may need presentation. The idea must be set forth; the details of organization and administration will come out in the open discussion that should follow the speak- ing. The discussion should be free to all who are pres- ent. The toastmaster or chairman may refer to the adults present anything the group itself cannot answer. Naturally, the discussion will be led by those already familiar with the details. Let the evening head up in a decision for or against the idea of a department. If favorable action is taken, appoint two committees, one on nominations and one on the form of organization. A trial period. — Sometimes it is advisable in the in- terest of peace to have a trial period of six or nine months during which time the school and the group may try out the project. 94 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Take time. — ^Take time enough to see that the idea is clear to the group. The following experience will show the necessity of a clear understanding: "On Sunday affairs in our old dining room looked mighty unsettled and there was manifest in many a face a spirit of 'Wonder what^s up?' and in many an- other of rebellion, and we leaders felt pretty shaky as to the proper way to proceed. The big difficulty was this: Those young people didn't have a clear concep- tion of what we were trying to do — of our plan. I am inclined to believe we didn't talk of it enough before we put it up to them. After Messrs. F , B , McK , W , and A fully explained, we won them over, and when they got the 'big idea' they unan- imously voted to fall in hne." When the young people once "see" the idea they eagerly enter upon its accomplishment. A general su- perintendent wrote: "'The Young People's Department' question was sat- isfactorily closed up on last Sunday, after a three- weeks' series of conferences, which ended happily in the practically unanimous approval of all concerned. The thing had been so carefully worked up beforehand that all opposition had been allayed and it went through with a whirl." And an educational director says: "The department has organized itself. This was done in a very demo- cratic way. The attendance has been good. The pres- ence of so many young people together in one body is inspiring." The first session. — The first session of the Sunday school after the banquet should provide the place and time for the group to hear the reports of the commit- tees and complete the organization. This will require WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 95 twenty or twenty-five minutes. The newly elected officers should be presented to the group, if possible, by the general superintendent or the pastor. A few (five minutes) well-chosen words of commendation and assurance of cooperation will serve to increase the growing appreciation of the fine attitude of the adults toward this developing life and will bind the two groups much closer together. A caution. — A word of caution seems necessary. No school should be led into organizing its young people's group whose teaching force is not wilHng to work. A superintendent remarked recently, "If this department should ever fail, it would be on account of teachers who would not do their part." There is no greater physical, mental, social, or religious dynamic in the church field to-day than the young people's group. One must not dare to release that power unless the leaders are willing to direct it. SUMMARY When church workers fully realize that all organiza- tion is a means to an end the form of organization will always be subject to change in order that the work of the Kingdom may be accomplished. The test of any institution is not its machinery, but its product. Machinery is constantly renewed, scrapped, or replaced. A Christian character with a Christian master mo- tive is the right of every young Ufe. The obligation to make these possible, and to train the life for intelHgent and effective service, rests upon the home and the church. It is as essential to good product that organization should be efficiently planned as that it should be prop- erly manned. A recognized goal, clearly indicated du- 96 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS ties for officers, and a regular accounting are fundamen- tal principles of organization. Fixed responsibility, regular tests, and full cooperation are the factors pro- ductive of growth and power. Human values are the final values; thus any real test of organization will discover if the members have opportunity to develop in action the desirable qualities of human life and character. Unless the persons included in the organization have or develop common interests no effective work can be expected. The grouping must be natural. In this age group, and particularly in this day, de- mocracy must prevail. A recognized place and part, and freedom to plan and execute within reasonable Hmits, cannot successfully be refused young people by any institution asking for their love and loyalty. The present multiplicity of organizations and the consequent overlapping and duplication in young peo- ple's work will be largely eliminated when "one all- inclusive organization' ' for all the young people of the local constituency is set up. One simple organization; one challenge to loyalty and support; one program with breadth of interest and variety of opportunity so that all may participate; courtesy, consideration, chivalry from the young people for the adults; confidence, co- operation, sympathetic understanding, responsibility from the adults for the young people; 'tis a consumma- tion devoutly to be wished. "Watchman, tell us of the night What its signs of promise are." The dawn awaits the action of the leaders in your church. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 97 Topics for discussion: 1. Securing efficiency in church work. 2. Relations of young people and adults. 3. The age limits of the young people's department. 4. Community needs which young people can meet. Books for further study: Cuninggim and North — The Organization and Admin- istration of the Church School. Gee — Methods of Church School Administration. Stout — Organization and Administration of Religious Education. 98 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS CHAPTER VI THE DEPARTMENT PROGRAM If the Young People's Department is to be of value to the church, to the young people, or to the Kingdom, it must provide something to do. The purpose of or- ganization is to accomplish some desired aim. There must therefore be a program — worthy, challenging, interest-compelling. As indicated in the preceding chapters, this program should be organized as an ac- credited part of the program of the local church. As far as possible and practicable, the young people themselves should have a voice in determining what re- sponsibilities are assigned to them. In formulating the details of their program and in actually working it out the young people should be free to use their own in- itiative. It is apparent to those familiar with the normal young person that, as a rule, young people do not hunt for the easy things to do. The young men who, under the leadership of General Goethals, ac- complished the engineering feat of the Panama Canal used to sing: "Don't send us back to a life that's tame again, We, who have shattered a continent's spine. Office work? Oh! we couldn't do that again. Haven't you something that's more in our line? "Got any rivers they say are not crossable? Got any mountains you can't tunnel through? We specialize in the wholly impossible — Doing what nobody ever could do." WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 99 That is the temper of young people. A mediocre job, a little proposition, or a pink-tea program will neither attract nor hold their attention — to say nothing of se- curing active participation. The objective of the departmental program has been stated before; that is, the development of right atti- tudes, right motives, right relations; the equipment of young people for their recreational and life service programs; and the challenging of them to the most profitable investment of their lives in the work of the kingdom of God. Such a program as this grows out of the nature of the group itself. The spontaneous inter- ests of young people largely determine their social grouping, their lesson courses, their service activities. In order to develop the fullest and richest life, there- fore, the department programs must provide: 1. For worship. 2. For instruction. 3. For expressional activities. In order successfully to operate any such program involving Hfe, recognition must be had of the unity of life and of the fact that the motives, the inspirations, the characteristic adjustments present on Sundays carry over into the affairs of the week. The ideal program, therefore, will be such as will make most easy the carry- ing over into the practical affairs of week days the ideals, the standards, the emotions, the impulses formed in distinctly religious environment on Sunday. At the same time such a program will make possible the ap- pHcation within the field of rehgious activities of the business and scientific principles, the wholesome social standards, and the splendid enthusiasms of week-day relationships. loo HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS THE PROGRAM OF WORSHIP ReKgious development has been defined as "the pro- gressive appropriation of the experience of God," wor- ship as ''the practice of companionship with God." Worship is a universal human practice. Various modes of worship are found in the Hves of all people every- where. The objects of worship are not all the same. They run the full gamut of the human attempt to find God. Through the ages men in times of great joy and great sorrow, and both in need and security, have turned to the Higher Power for comfort, for strength, for enlightenment. Jesus himself splendidly illustrated the necessity for human companionship with God. It is needless to take time for a discussion of the necessity for worship in the development of the human life, nor the effectiveness of worship in religious education. It is pertinent to state that no real program of religious edu- cation for any department or age-group may omit careful and adequate provision for the development of worship in the lives of the persons involved. Principles. — {a) Proper age range. The personnel of the group worshiping must be such in range of years, interests, and capacities as will make the comradeship of worship possible. If a service of worship is largely dependent upon participation it is clear that the group- ing of childhood and youth, of maturity and immatur- ity, makes real participation practically impossible. Hymns and prayers, Scripture and testimony of wor- shipful value to one age-group may, and frequently do, altogether miss another group. "I want to be a sun- beam" is most attractive and worshipful for the little child; but young men and young women of the years under discussion are beyond the ''sunbeam" stage. "I'm going home" has a joyous thrill of expectancy for WITH YOUNG PEOPLE loi men and women who have turned their faces home- ward, with practically all of life behind them; but the young men and young women who are turning their faces forward to life's great problems and opportunities are not much interested in going home. Their major interest lies in the things that are here and now. Scrip- ture materials, hymns, prayers, the challenge of world fields, and the like are different when viewed through the eyes of young manhood and young womanhood than when faced by maturity or by the longing eyes of child- hood and youth. (b) Adaptation. The program of worship for young people must be adapted to the interests, capacities, and needs of the group. Worship is a matter of personal participation. The leader may gather up and express the aspirations, hopes, adoration, gratitude, needs of those before him, but only those in the group who think along with him are conscious of the full value of such worship. Hymns may be sung, responses may be read, but only those who consciously participate in these receive the full benefit of such a ser\T[ce. However, the worshipful attitude of mind and heart, the silent com- munion, the unspoken participation must be recognized in any discussion of the program of principle of wor- ship. It is obvious that any materials used in a worship period which are outside the range of interest, beyond the field of experience, or above the plane of comprehension of the group are unsuited for worship purposes. It is equally true that any materials used in the worship period which tend to distract the attention from things spiritual, or to destroy an atmosphere of inspiration and sincerity, are a positive detriment to any worship service. (c) Suitable conditions. No effective program of wor- I02 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS ship for young people can be conducted unless the gi'oup is separated and conditions for worship are provided. This will necessitate a separate room with such equip- ment as tables, chairs, piano, blackboard, maps, pic- tures, and the like; such equipment as will conduce to the creation of an atmosphere of intelligent worship. Few churches, comparatively, have made provision for the separation of the age groups for worship and in- struction purposes. As new churches are being built, however, careful provision generally is being made for these pupils. In many churches where the architecture is unsuited to the separation of the young people from the adults, and from the other departments of the church, a form of separation may be secured that, while not ideal, is still happily conducive to the best interests of worship, instruction, and expression. One-room churches are using curtains for the separation of the various departments. Churches with two or more rooms are adjusting the departments in such way as to give the best place to Httle children; second-best place to primaries or juniors, etc. The adults assume the same relationship in the church as they do in the home — using for themselves what is left after childhood, youth, and immaturity have been served. In the one- room church, or any church in which more than one group must be united for worship purposes, the wor- ship period is shortened, and planned on the basis of the younger groups. Thus in a one-room church each department or group would be seated in its own section of the auditorium, the curtains all being open so as to leave the room as one. The general superintendent would then conduct a period of worship of appioxi- mately ten minutes. This would involve one or two hymns, these to be selected by the Primary or the WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 103 Junior Department, preferably the latter, the classes taking turns in making the choice. The brief period of singing would be succeeded by prayer; and this in turn by the announcements for the week. At the conclusion of the announcements the curtains separating the de- partments would be drawn and then each department, except for the singing, would proceed with its own special departmental program. The little beginner and primary children might safely use whisper songs, while those of older years would read their hymns. Aside from this modification the departmental program would go on as though the groups were in separate rooms, except for the limitations of space and other equipment. The young people's group under such circumstances would find ample opportunity for its own peculiar type of worship. The character of the program for their opening period will appear later in the chapter. (d) Unity. Careful attention must be paid to the preparation of the programs of the opening service lest it become a series of separate items totally unrelated. Unity and coherence should be preserved. A theme or idea should be chosen around which the entire program may be built. The theme may be seasonable, such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Washington's Birthday; or it may have to do with some great Christian fundamental, such as prayer; or it may have to do with an ideal of conduct, such as loyalty. In any event the hymns, the Scripture, the special feature, should all deal with this central theme. Furthermore, there should be some progress in the development of the theme so that the persons involved shall move steadily forward to the point at which the service is completed. Sufficient time must be provided for the accompKshment of the goal set for the worship period. On the other hand, no I04 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS theme or objective too large for accomplishment in fifteen or twenty minutes with young people should be chosen. Elements of the program. — ^Music. — The music and hymns used in the department should be such as will develop a worshipful atmosphere, will stimulate thought, and challenge spiritual life. In many instances the type of music, the character of the words, and the atmosphere created by these, are not altogether happy. The contention is even made that we must have music with "pep" in it; that young people will not sing the slow and ponderous hymns of the church. As a result there have crept into our churches a number of so-called Sunday school and worship hymnals whose chief virtue seems to be that of appealing to the heels rather than to the heart. Words worthy of a permanent place in the memory and music in keeping with those words will be found to be a very real asset in a service of worship. The great truths of the gospel message, the great facts of Christian experience, the attributes of God, the fac- tors of the Christian life — hope, faith, aspiration, grati- tude — these and many other worshipful elements are richly represented in the great hymns of Christian ex- perience. Experience has shown that young people not only enjoy, but prefer great hymns with great music; and it is evident that these are not lacking in the cheery, spiritual, rhythmic movement so necessary to effective and inspirational singing. '7^7 to the World," ''On- ward, Christian Soldiers I" ''In the Cross of Christ I Glory," "Jesus Calls Us," "Oh Master, Let Me Walk with Thee," "Fling Out the Banner" — these and a host of others are rich in worship qualities and are of proven popularity in groups of young people whose taste for "jazz" and "pep" has not been over cultivated. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 105 Prayer. — In the period of worship the prayer needs of young people should have careful attention. The dearth of persons in our churches with the capacity for public utterance in prayer is largely the result of a failure in past years to provide training in that art. Through the class and the department programs of worship opportunity is afforded for the training of young people in this fine and desirable art. It is not expected that every young person will express himself audibly in prayer. For some it would not be a wor- shipful exercise. Temperamental conditions determine this. For others the expression of their minds and hearts in audible prayer is a distinct enrichment of their personal religious experience. When grouped with per- sons of their own age, experience, and problems, very much less hesitancy is found in this public expression. The realization of this on the part of adults may be difficult. A little observation and tactful inquiry will disclose abundant evidence in support of the statement. j( Scripture reading. — The reading of portions of the Scripture, either responsively or individually, is a part of the worship service which should receive careful at- tention. Some one of the more accurate versions of the Scripture ought to be read, and the portions selected ought to be not only informational, but instructive and illuminating in regard to the many problems, religious and social, which the young people are facing. The actual content of the Bible is unknown to very many young people. The careful selection of scriptural pas- sages along the line of some chosen theme may stimu- late habits of Bible reading or study. Attention should be given to the way in which the reading is done, so that reverence, accuracy of pronunciation, and correct- ness of interpretation are secured. io6 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Testimony. — Frequent opportunity for the expres- sion of personal experience and friendly council should be offered in the worship period. Very many churches have abandoned the testimony meeting as having served its day. Perhaps this has been a wise adjustment of the program. The fact remains, however, that the ca- pacity to convey to others some of the results of per- sonal conviction and experience ought to be developed because of its helpful relationship in the experience of others, to say nothing of its stimulative reaction upon the one thus giving expression. There are many types of testimony. Those in mind are neither mechanical nor unreal. When a young man or young woman has had some helpful experience through habits of daily prayer, daily Bible study, personal conduct, and the like, the presentation of this experience to others of his own years at the department or class session may stim- ulate some one else to a similar activity. Certainly, it will strengthen the conviction and deepen the expe- rience of the one offering the testimony. One of the needs of our time is for more persons who can with directness, simplicity, and naturalness discuss matters of personal religious experience and import. It must be borne in mind, however, that for many life's deepest experiences are unexpressed, and care must be taken to avoid formalism, pious repetition of platitudes, or sanc- timonious attitudes. In the entire worship period there must be a constant note of reality. The special feature. — The opening service of the department should contain not only the element of worship made up of the Scripture, hymns, prayer, testi- mony, and the hke, but it should also recognize the opportunity to enlarge life's contacts and interests. This may be done by means of what is happily called a WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 107 "Special Feature." This may occupy, where the de- partment has a room of its own, as much as ten minutes if the entire Sunday school period is of sixty minutes. Where the period is seventy-five minutes this special feature may occupy twelve or fifteen minutes. The form and content of the special feature period should be as wide in interest as the various interests of the persons present. It should not fail to impress the world program of the kingdom of God with all its human relationships. This period affords a splendid oppor- tunity to present to the young people in more or less detail the program of the local church, challenges to life service, the needs and challenge of great missionary fields, the history and polity of their own denomination, vocational information, community and interdenomi- national projects. In fact, this period is one in which the whole outreach of Christian experience finds oppor- tunity for concrete presentation. At frequent intervals the young people may be brought to face these calls. Let a Christian physician, lawyer, business man, school- teacher, missionary, minister, nurse, farmer, engineer, mother, etc., come before the department at the Special- Feature period and show the needs of his or her profes- sion or field. Demonstrations, charts, reports, presen- tation of special appeals by the young people themselves will keep the group thoroughly awake to the conditions and needs of their time. This will help them to make the investment of their lives to the greatest possible advantage in developing the kingdom of God. A Meth- odist pastor in discussing the opportunities afforded by this period said he finds in it his most vital relationship with those young persons in his constituency upon whom the church must depend for the program and leadership in the years immediately ahead of us. io8 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Preparing the program. — The program for the opening service of the department should be arranged sufficiently in advance of its presentation so that no item will fail because of lack of careful preparation. Whether the period be in the charge of one person or a group of persons, the assignment ought to be made at least a month in advance. In some instances the gen- eral plan for the whole year is outlined in advance, cer- tain periods of the year being given over to the culti- vation of different items relating to the interests of young people. The programs for this period would naturally be connected and progressive. The Program Committee of the Department would be responsible for this matter. Sometimes classes have been asked to be responsible for the program for a month, they them- selves laying all the plans and conducting the program. In other cases the responsibility has been placed upon a committee who have called to their assistance other individuals. The final responsibility for the opening service of the department rests upon the president. The counselor of the department will make it a point to share his ideas, information, and experience with the program makers and with those responsible for the execution of the program. The list of reference books at the close of the chapter will be found to con- tain very many helpful suggestions relative to the preparation of programs and the like. The Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 58 East Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois, has prepared a pamphlet, "The Opening Service in the Young Peo- ple's Departments," which contains a most helpful and suggestive discussion of this matter. It also adds sug- gestions for the programs for the year with sample programs. This may be obtained for ten cents. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 109 The following outline shows the main features of an opening service. I. Assembly. (Where practicable, piano, orchestra, or leader may give the signal for assembly and the beginning of the session. Never use a bell.) 1. Departmental Btisiness. (Reports of committees involve little, if any, discussion, and should be carried on with dignity and dispatch.) 2. The Worship Period. (See discussion above.) Hymns, Prayer, Testimony, Scripture, Spe- cial Discussion, etc. 11. The Special Feature. (See discussion above.) The length of this period will be determined by the length of the whole Sunday School period. At least forty minutes should be preserved for the class session. III. Class Period. (40 to 50 minutes. See Chapters VII and VIII.) INSTRUCTION Instruction in the Young People's Department pro- gram is largely given through the class as a unit. The whole matter of materials and methods of class instruc- tion as related to the class will be discussed in succeed- ing chapters. The instructional elements to be found in the opening service are obvious. The Special Feature is a splendid opportunity for the presentation of facts and for the instruction of the members of the group concerning principles, programs, materials, methods, conditions, etc. The reports of the committee fre- quently are likewise instructional. In both class and department session, however, the matter of training in leadership finds a large place. Training through activity in the department ses- no HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS sion. — ^Attention has already been directed to the necessity of providing for ample participation on the part of members of the group. This in itself affords an opportunity for those persons who have leadership ca- pacities to exhibit them. The enrichment of the open- ing service program through a wider range of materials and a larger number of persons participating tends to discover latent leadership capacities and at the same time provides a stimulus for these capacities to develop in action. One of the elements in the training of lead- ers is training by doing. The opening service of the department likewise offers a place where the members of the leadership training class of the department may carry on certain leadership activities under the close supervision and instruction of their teacher. Moreover, by doing this they are promoting the atmosphere of worship and inspiration in the department. Further dis- cussion of the matter of leadership and leadership train- ing will be found in subsequent chapters. It is sufficient here to indicate the fact that instruction finds a part of its opportunity in the opening service of the department. EXPRESSIONAL ACTIVITIES All the elements which make up the program of any worthy Young People's Department are educational and purposive. No activity planned is for the sake of ac- tivity alone". The Young People's Department, while carrying on laboratory work, is not a laboratory. The things that are done are of intrinsic value, and not mere "busy- work." The expressional activities of the de- partment will therefore be as broad in range as the program of the kingdom of God itself. They will be as extensive in interest as are the interests of the lives of young people. There will be as many activities car- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE m ried on as will afford a place and a part for every mem- ber of the department. This will include such activities as: Extension, Surveys, Social and Recreation, Evangelistic, Life Service, Inter-denominational, Community or Circuit, World-wide Enterprise. In the last analysis the members of the department will determine just what expressional activities will be carried on by the department. Through their depart- mental Program Committee opportunities for personal and group service will be brought to light. For instance, a survey may be put on by the department. This will certainly furnish information usable in extending the membership of the department. That is to say, the activities of the department will of themselves become a program-making factor of the department. Thus steadily there will be an increase in range and a steady adjustment in the character of the departmental ac- tivities. The relations of the departmental program. — The departmental program should be so conducted as to conserve two fundamental relationships: (a) To the total church program. It is necessary to call attention again to the fact that the entire departmental program and all its details should be a recognized and recognizable part of the total program of the church. The whole is greater than any of its parts, and the young people of this age will be glad to assume their share of responsi- bihties of the larger task of the entire constituency as well as to make their contribution toward determining what that total task shall be. The wise church will not hesitate to make careful provision for its young people 112 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS to participate in the determination and execution of its program. {b) To the class program. The departmental officers and committees are in the nature of a clearing house for departmental activities. Thus the service committee of the department would have as its task the assembling of information relating to desirable service activities to be carried on by the department or the classes of the department. The committee itself would not carry on these activities. It would present them to the depart- ment. If not too large, an individual, otherwise a class, or a numter of classes would assume the responsibility for them. Each member of the service committee, being also a member of some class in the department, would find an opportunity to serve through such activities as the class might adopt. There are larger tasks connected with the commun- ity, with the denomination, or with the world-wide program of the Kingdom which are frequently such as make it impossible for individuals or classes to carry them on. In these cases the Young People's Council, with the help of the proper church authorities, should suggest or make the assignment of these tasks to the organization or agency within the Young People's De- partment of the church best fitted for the assumption of the responsibilities of the task. These tasks or programs naturally group themselves about certain ideas: Service. — One of the conditions brought to light by the Great War is that our methods of religious educa- tion have given religious ideas, but have not produced compelling conviction. We must somehow help to "crystallize ideals into habits." There is no surer means of growth than the solving of problems. One WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 113 of the most necessary parts of the program of the de- partment and class is that which provides an outlet for the emotions and impulses aroused in the class and opening session. Some have thought that Christianity is a selfish thing, always asking for time, funds, people. Here is a tangible refutation. The natural impulse of young people is to help to do the work of the world. The wise program will afford opportunity for them to find the things that need to be done and to work out the solution of how these things may be done by them. The Special Feature period in the opening service af- fords the opportunity for the presentation of these service problems. How shall the things to be presented be discovered? There are familiar sources of information about world needs and long lists of "things to do." These are for both individuals and groups. Little is known, as a rule, about actual conditions and needs of the home community. The schemes for surveys are legion. Many are too complex for untrained workers. But any earnest group can use the simple and familiar plan here sug- gested to discover conditions and needs in the home district, parish, or city: 1. List all the agencies in the community which deal in any way with young people, such as homes, dance halls, moving picture, Sunday school, church services, young people's societies, pool rooms, and the like. (a) Study carefully each agency to learn whether it be helpful, or harmful, or doubtful in its influence. {b) Make a list of the things necessary to be done to change the harmful or doubtful to helpful agencies, or to destroy them. 2. To provide for the unmet needs of the young people. 114 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS (a) Decide which need in i (b) shall be met first, and how. (fi) List the things the community should have to meet the normal social and recreational needs of young people and children. Such as playgrounds, swimming, skating, library, etc. (c) Present the findings to the department and se- cure approval of the plan to accomplish 2 {a) and (b). This would include the necessary steps to secure the cooperation of other groups and agencies if necessary or desired. There must be some kind of service available for every member of the department. Thus the range of activities should embrace all phases of human endeavor and all sorts of human needs. Many departments and classes have died of the dry rot of inactivity. Denomi- national Sunday school and missionary boards welcome the opportunity to provide departments, classes, or in- dividuals with suggestions and the details of specific needs. Both individuals and committees should not fail to secure these. Hutchins, Graded Social Service, offers principles and a wide range of pertinent suggestions. Service Activities for the Young People^ s Department, is- sued by the Methodist Board of Sunday Schools, con- tains numerous practical suggestions. Extension. — Every department wishes to grow in size and strength. Many ways to increase membership have been developed. Local conditions must determine which ways will be used. There are several observa- tions resulting from experiences along this line. {a) A bright, interesting opening service and good class work are the best means of holding pupils. {b) An absentee officer and program constitute avoid- able losses. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 115 (c) A constituency roll is invaluable. (d) The average membership contest does not pay. (e) Young people are attracted by responsibility. (/) A wholesome social and recreational program is a real asset in securing new members. In preparing a constituency roll there is frequently the necessity for careful study of the community. The members of a Cleveland Young People's Department put on a visitation of all the houses within ten blocks of their church. Special attention was paid to the board- ing houses. Thereafter regular calls were made upon these to invite newcomers to the church and depart- ment. The results more than justified the effort. The opportunities to extend the department influence by reorganizing or the planting of new Sunday schools in neglected parts of the city or country are very great. This is a much-needed service activity. Some of our largest schools and churches have sprung from this kind of work. Three out of five of the new Sunday schools organized by the field men of the Methodist Board of Sunday Schools become organized churches in two years from organization. There is practically no limit to the ex- tension work possible in a wide-awake department. The social and recreational. — ^The necessity and nature of the social life of young people is presented in an earlier chapter. This part of the program of a Young People's Department affords a splendid opportunity to break down some of the prejudices of those who think the church has only negations to offer. It also provides a real check to the exploitation of the play instinct. CommerciaUsm, professionaHsm, immorality, the "gam- bling mind" are well-nigh impossible in church-super- vised play. The open door, the welcome hand, cheery ii6 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS light, companionship, are of primary importance in any social and recreational program. Care should be exer- cised by the program builders to see that those young people in the community who have no homes, unattrac- tive homes, or who live in boarding houses, hotels, and the like are especially provided for. A number of churches in which the unified organization for young people (Chapter V) has been operating find that more frequent midweek socials are possible, and that the social-supper-devotional Sunday-evening plan is very effective. When compared with the need, little has been done by the church for the hosts of young people who are en- gaged in factory, shop, and other forms of industrial life. There is no adequate reason why they should be left to seek such recreation as clubs, lodges, and commercial interests supply. One of the most compelling oppor- tunities now facing the Young People's Department of our churches is found among industrial groups. This opportunity is not limited, however, to their social and recreational interests. For principles and detailed programs of social and recreational activities the reader is directed to Powell, Principles of Recreational Leadership; Ebright, Recrea- tion for Young and Old; Perry, Community Center Ac- tivities; Bancroft, Games for Playground, Home School and Gymnasium. Evangelism. — In Chapters X and XI will be found a discussion of the materials and methods relating to evangelism and life service. Also what young people may be interested in doing in community and world- wide evangelistic enterprises. Equipment. — No department can do its best work until the physical conditions have been made as favor- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 117 able as possible for good workmanship. Many teachers and officers are carrying on splendid programs in spite of serious equipment handicaps. Churches should rec- ognize that the energy, time, and skill required to over- come these physical handicaps are just so much taken away from the actual religious educational work of the department. Committees should note the fact, however, that in the field of recreational equipment more and more the programs provided do not require elaborate gymnastic apparatus and similar facilities. This is not purely a matter of economy, but involves the sound educational principle of developing the initiative and resources of the persons involved. There are some items of equip- ment which may not safely be neglected, such as a suitable room for the department session; space for social and recreational activities, indoors for inclement weather, outdoors for suitable seasons. Many churches are now using certain rooms for both recreation and in- struction as well as the more formal phases of religious education. Church yards are increasingly being ar- ranged for recreational purposes, being provided with basketball, tennis, volley ball, and other forms of out- door recreational activities. Few churches take the attitude of a Pennsylvania pastor who refused the use of the church lawn to his young people for social and recreational purposes because he "did not want all that confusion between the church and the house." Sufficient funds must be available to carry on the simple activities or the more strenuous programs which involve expenditure. These may be provided through various channels, depending upon the local situation. A time schedule should be arranged so that there will be assurance of opportunity to use the available space ii8 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS and equipment at certain stated intervals, thus giving all departments the desired opportunity. In many in- stances local churches are arranging this time schedule with Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. authorities, or at a fixed rental with the local public-school authorities, so that equipment, buildings, grounds, may be used by churches having inadequate or no equipment of their own. This, in turn, provides a happy channel through which contribution may be made to the needs of de- nominations by these community agencies. In other instances the community as such cooperates in the pro- vision of playground and other recreational facilities to be used by all the agencies of the community. The business men of a Wisconsin town got together under the stimulus and leadership of the church and built just outside of the town a concrete dam, providing bathing facilities for the summer and skating facilities for the winter. New ideas. — Both officers and members of Young People's Departments need frequent contact with oth- ers who are in the same relationships. New ideas, new plans, new objectives are in constant demand. Many provisions have been made for the exchange of expe- riences, for instruction, and for training under pleasant and inspiring circumstances. Institutes, conferences, camps, schools of methods are now found in nearly every quarter. These agencies make increasing provision for the interests and needs of young people and workers with young people. Some of them are of one and two- day duration, others lasting from two to six weeks. No Young People's Department can afford to neglect the opportunities of having as many of its members as possible come into contact with the courses of instruc- tion and the personaHties of the specialists in the field WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 119 of young people's work. In addition to the above, an increasing number of the colleges and universities are now offering thorough correspondence courses in train- ing for leadership for lay workers in the home-church program. Whether departments are closely associated, therefore, with educational institutions or not, all have an opportunity to increase their effectiveness and en- large their vision of the program of the Young People's Department. SUMMARY The purpose of organization in the Young People's Department is that the persons therein may have the opportunity to plan, prepare, and put on a program which is built upon their needs, interests, and capaci- ties. Such a program will aim : (a) To enrich their personal Hves. (b) To develop right attitudes and relations. (c) To equip, train, and guide them in and for their life service. No such goal is attainable except through worship instruction and organization of expressional activities. Department organization of, for, and by the young people provides the means for their purposeful partici- pation in local church, community, and world-wide en- terprises. Responsibihty is such a great teacher that churches which recognize the powers and capacities of young people and share with them the planning and execution of the larger church program find their young people growing into the leadership and work of King- dom affairs willingly and effectively. The opening session of the department offers to those who will plan for it a splendid chance to train young people in the art of worship, but this can come only I20 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS when the conditions and content of the period are right. Hymns, prayers, leaders, special feature, information, all must be chosen according to the needs, interests, and capacities of the persons involved. Leadership of the period, laying the plans, and preparation for the session are the responsibilities of the president and the Program Committee, but the wise adult adviser will see that every effort is made to secure separation, desirable equipment, and to develop the atmosphere essential to real worship. The program of instruction is given through the class, except such items as may be presented in the special feature and other numbers of the opening session. If the worship and instruction are effective, the indi- vidual and the groups, both class and department, will seek some channel of expression through service, social and recreational activity, extension, evangelism, life service, if the opportunity is offered. These very ac- tivities in turn become agencies in instruction and training. They also accomplish needed service. So long as contact is maintained with other young people and other leaders the information, help, and in- struction of camp, school, and institute will constantly enlarge the vision and deepen the convictions of the young people. The following specimen program is taken from the pamphlet, "The Opening Service in the Young People's Departments," above referred to. It shows the nature of the opening program in the average Young People's Department. THEME — Gratitude Processional — ^Hymn, "Come, ye Thankful People, Come." Responsive Service — Psalm of Thanksgiving, Psa. 103. 34, 95 WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 121 The Lord's Prayer or other prayer in unison. Announcements, brief as possible during worship period. Ofertory — Offering Received. (See pamphlet — Training in Giving, The Board of Sunday Schools.) Hymn oj Gratitude, Thanksgiving — "To Thee, O Lord, Our Hearts We Raise." Prayer by Leader on ''Gratitude," followed by The Lord's Prayer. Bible Reading — Expressing Gratitude, 2 Cor. 9. 5-12. Special Feature — * ' Gratitude . ' ' Illustrated by story, ''What Bradley Owed," "Story Sermons," Kerr; or similar stories or missionary material carrying out the theme of gratitude. Sentence Prayer clinching thought of gratitude and for help in lesson period. Recessional or Hymn to Classes — "I Love to Tell the Story." Topics for discussion: 1. Relating the program to the world's needs. 2. Relating the program to the local church and community programs. 3. Helping departments of younger pupils. 4. Discovering things to do. 5. Planning the year's work. Books for further study: Hutchins — Graded Social Service, Loveland — Training World Christians. Weigle and Tweedy — Training the Devotional Life. Meyer and Kennedy — The Training of the Devotional Life, 122 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS CHAPTER VII THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S CLASS Mankind is to be made the family of God. The way in which this may be done is through education. *'The plasticity of childhood is the hope of the race" (Coe). The supreme test of education is human be- havior — ^not its splendid curricula, not the fact of so many pupils to the teacher, nor so many pieces of equip- ment. Human values are the final values. The modifi- cation of conduct is the final test. Thus again (Chap. V) we find organization stretching back into motive, and so to conduct. Thus there must be clear aim, well- chosen materials, and methods and agencies and per- sons. It is for the primary purpose of providing personal contacts between teacher and pupil, though this is not the only reason that class groups are formed and some plan of organization adopted. The whole, then, must be articulated with the organization and work of the entire Sunday school and church. CLASS GROUPS In the thoroughly organized department the reasons for breaking the department up into smaller groups are (a) for purposes of efficiency in order that the indi- vidual may have larger opportunity for individual ex- pression; (b) so that the pecuKar needs and interests of the individual may be provided for; (c) and so that the group consciousness may not be violated. Natural groups. — The interested observer will note that young people in social, business, or educational WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 123 relations fall into certain natural groupings. These groupings are dependent largely upon the personal or social relations, common personal ideals, instinctive selec- tion of companions because of vocational relationships, scholastic aspirations or attainments, or some other com- mon personal experiences. The comradeship contingent upon common hopes, aspirations, experiences, will, un- less modified in some way by outside influence, tend to determine the size and number of groups of the depart- ment. Whether there be one or many classes in the department, these factors are a dependable influence in determining the personnel of any group. The group consciousness may be modified by certain economic and social conditions, even though they be in the same class at the same college. Economic conditions may keep quite separate young men or young women whose edu- cational interests are more or less identical. Social relations may separate those whose vocational interests would naturally tend to bring them together. Certain spontaneous interests and the resultant prob- lems of young people are factors also in the matter of religious educational interests and social groupings. The life contingent upon choosing a mate and estab- lishing a home, the differences in clothes, vocation, good times, and the like, all have their modifying effect upon not only the departmental group, but also upon lesson materials, service activities, social affairs, evangelism, leadership, and the like. In the light of these factors it is safe to say that the only formal separation of the group called the Young People's Department should be on the basis of lesson courses. Three major groups. — The major divisions of young people in most churches are on the basis of edu- cational advantage, industrial necessities, and home re- 124 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS lations. Within these divisions the modifications are largely those of the spontaneous factors suggested above. It is most desirable that the democratizing influence of a unified organization for the entire young people^s group of any local church should be employed. The cultural advantages of the educational group, the sac- rificial attitude of the homekeeping division, and the organizing and stabilizing qualities of the industrial group should each be brought to the service of the other. For this is exactly what takes place when the local church places about the young people those con- ditions which tend to develop the social democratic spirit. The initiative and resourcefulness of the young person who has been deprived of educational advan- tages are sometimes a source of wonder and inspiration to him whose pathway has been more easy. The rich rewards of study, the broadened sympathies, and the enlarged capacities for appreciation of the college men and women may be shared tactfully and helpfully with those whose lives have not fallen in such cultural places. How, then, shall the members of a Young People's Department be separated into class groups? What shall be their size, and what shall be the relation of the sexes in these groups? Size of class. — All grouping throughout the entire field of religious education is based on social experience. The subordinate factors of age and educational attain- ment, however, must be reckoned with. One of the major features of the Young People's Department pro- gram is instruction. In order that instruction may be carried on efficiently the materials and methods em- ployed must be suited to the persons to be instructed. The principle of elective lesson courses (p. 149) makes it possible for every individual in the department to be WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 125 receiving the kind of instruction which he believes meets his greatest need and to be along the line of his interest and capacity. A group of young people who have been having their social relationships together, their service activities together, with naturalness and profit divide into smaller groups or classes for purposes of instruction. Those minds having a common interest will naturally group about the lesson courses tending to satisfy that interest. Those having need of a certain personal relationship will tend to group about the teacher possessing the desired personality. The size of the class thus will be determined entirely by the num- ber of persons within the department having common needs and who select any given course. There is no standard of size. It is obvious, however, that very large classes tend to prevent discussion and to keep in the background those timid souls who hesitate to express a personal opinion. Mixed classes. — Obviously, some courses will ap- peal only to one sex. There are some young men and some young women who greatly prefer to be in classes that are composed of their own sex. Others prefer mixed classes. The individual preference is the final authority in the matter. The nature of the lesson courses and how these are to be presented will be dis- cussed in the following chapter. The personnel, the size, and the sex of classes in the Young People's Depart- ment, therefore, are indeterminate. Fixed standards are undesirable, the purpose of the class being what it is. Number of classes. — In most instances the supply of teachers will have a limiting effect upon the number of class groups into which any department may be di- vided. It will be shown later, however, that this diffi- culty is capable of solution even in our smallest schools 126 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS and churches. This factor ought not to be regarded as determinative. Every effort should be made to provide for the satisfaction of a recognized and expressed need on the part of any young person in the department. It is immaterial whether the need is to be satisfied through the agency of the Sunday school or that of the Young People's Society. A need which is recognized and ad- mitted by the young person as worthy of expression is worthy of careful consideration on the part of the Council. If it is at all possible to provide satisfaction for a real need in the life of any young man or young woman, such provision certainly should be made. This is of particular significance when viewed in the light of a church's need for leadership. If but one young man or young woman find himself interested in and desiring training for leadership in any field of religious educa- tional activity, the investment of time, energy, and even funds necessary to provide such training, is wholly desirable, for the training of such a person may make possible the wise leadership of a whole generation of boys or girls. The basis, then, for all separation into class units is the satisfaction of human needs. CLASS ORGANIZATION The character of the organization of these groups will be affected by the nature of the work which they are to do. The purpose of the organization is to insure right attitudes and motives, to provide for personal enrich- ment, to afford human contacts, to develop capacities for expression, to train in prayer, leadership, and all other forms of service. Permanence of organization. — The length of the lesson course, the number of persons in the group, and the conditions under which the group meets, will de- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 127 termine the exact form which the organization will take. In general, however, the organization will be loose and temporary, of the utmost simplicity, and thoroughly democratic in its nature. Many courses of lessons last for but three months. There are those which run for six months or a year. It is obvious that when the lesson course lasts for so short a time complex organization or machinery is both needless and detri- mental to the best interests of the group. Some groups will be assembled for the purpose of studying special problems connected with the local church, with the local community, or with the world. The organization of the group will be arranged with the idea of promoting the success of such a study. Leadership training classes that have certain modifications would have a certain type of organization of their own. Classes using uni- form lessons, or classes planning to work together at least for a year, taking two or more different courses during the year, will have a more formal type of or- ganization than the others. Form of organization. — It must be remembered that the organizational unit for Young People's Work is the Department. Any subdivisions are on the basis of special tasks, special instruction, special needs. The primary function of the organizational machinery of the small group is to provide atmosphere, look after records, absentees, and afford an efficient channel for the devel- opment of the major project of the group. In any case the class should have a president. Whether the group endure for three months or a longer time, it must have a presiding officer. Each class also should have a secre- tary and a treasurer, or a secretary-treasurer. Two committees will render valuable aid in operating the class — a Membership Committee, whose duties are to 128 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS recruit membership for the department and class and look up the absentees, and a service or Program Com- mittee, whose duties are largely those of providing the forms of activity the nature of the class makes advis- able. This machinery will be found useful in any of the types of class grouping indicated above. If the class should be one for leadership training, there may be need for a committee whose business it shall be to search out, in connection with the teacher, opportuni- ties for the practice of the principles and methods taught in the class. If the class is studying some special problems, there may be occasion for the appointment of a committee to conduct a survey, or to secure cer- tain exhibits, or to provide for some types of inves- tigation. Where the class has agreed to stick together for at least a year, taking in sequence certain courses agreed upon, there may be need for committees whose business it is to provide the necessary lesson materials, arrange for class social activities, and the like. This would be true also of classes using the Uniform Lessons throughout the year. The following diagram shows the form of class organization: CLASS ORGANIZATION Officers (Pupils) President Vice-President (if needed) Secretary •\ > Secretary-Treasurer Treasurer ) Teacher (Adult) WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 129 Committees I I I Membership Service Any others Duties of (a) To recruit In cooperation Other com- Commit- members for the with the service mittees will tees class, depart- committees o f have special ment and school, the department duties assigned and school to at the time of (b) To look af- participate i n the appointing ter absentees. the programs of of the commit- service provided tee. thereby in addi- tion to looking after such items as suggested on p. 66. Term of office. — The tenure of office for both offi- cers and committees in case of temporary organization would be for the duration of the course. In case the class is unchanged for a year or more the term of office should be one year. An officer should not succeed him- self in office. In a very small school where there exists but one class in the young people's group the class organization becomes the departmental organization, there being no need for dupHcation. Altogether the class organization in a Young People's Department differs materially from that of Intermediate or Senior Departments. The temporary character of the association is responsible for this. When it is re- membered that the personnel of the group may be changed in three months, it is clear why the above arrangement proves most satisfactory. Registration. — Many denominations have made pro- vision for the registration of classes attaining a certain class standard. Nearly all denominations ask for the registration of leadership training or teacher- training classes so that certain directions may be placed in the I30 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS hands of teachers of such classes. Whether the organi- zation is temporary or otherwise, the names of the teachers of classes ought to be in the hands of the cen- tral offices so that there may come to them such circularization material, leaflets, and other information as are sent out to workers in local schools. In some instances this will not demand registration of the class. If the class members are using the Uniform Lessons, or if they have agreed to stay together for a year or more, taking the desired lesson courses in some arranged order, the class ought to be registered at the head- quarters of the denomination. Some denominations are providing a departmental charter for such departments as meet a recognized standard of department organization. In this case there would naturally go to the registration office a list of the teachers and officers of classes then in existence. Quarterly, semiannually, or annually the changes oc- curring in this list because of regrouping would nat- urally be forwarded to this office on blanks provided for that purpose. The registration of leadership train- ing and other permanently organized groups is very desirable. There is a certain class spirit and feeling of unity which results from the possession of a recognition certificate or charter issued by a central office. In most instances this is a joint charter of the denomination and the International or State Sunday School Association, agreement having been effected between the denomina- tion and the State association that all class charters will be issued by the denomination and will be in the nature of a joint charter or certificate. This likewise is true of leadership and teacher-training certificates. In order to register itself a class should fill out an application blank provided for this purpose and send it to the WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 131 denominational Sunday-school headquarters. This office will see that the State association is apprised of the registration of the class. In addition to this general registration, classes doing training work for teaching or other forms of leadership (and every Sunday school should have such a group operating during the Sunday- school hour) will find it of the utmost importance and of incalculable value to get in touch with the central training office of their denomination. Every young people's department should be regis- tered as such at the denominational headquarters. Within the department those classes of more or less permanent character should have the class certificate issued jointly by the denomination and the Sunday School Association. Other temporary classes will find loose, simple organizational machinery most satisfac- tory. Records and equipment. — Whether the organization of the class be temporary or long term, careful records of enrollment, attendance, activities, and finance should be made by the secretary. This will prove of inestim- able value not only to the class itself, but to other classes which may take up the same lesson course at another time. They will also serve as a guide to future members of the department. Taking the records. — Class records of attendance and the like should be taken if possible during the open- ing session of the department. The officers performing the function of secretary and treasurer should arrange to be present promptly at the beginning of the Sunday- school hour. Members of classes upon arriving should deposit their offering in the envelope or other receptacle in the possession of the treasurer and give their personal record for the week to the secretary. This might in- 132 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS elude such matters as lesson study, church attendance, visitations to sick, shut-ins, absentees, and prospective members, and any other items which the class deter- mines to have recorded weekly. Where the class is unusually large, having a dozen or more members, the method of having each pupil mark his own card has proved satisfactory. Under this plan the secretary dis- tributes the cards on the arrival of the pupils, who mark them during the opening session, and return them, with their offering, to the secretary and treasurer when changing from departmental session to class session. In this way the class is saved from interruptions during the class period and the records are quickly and accurately made. Large envelopes containing records, class books, offer- ing envelopes, and the like may be left outside the classroom door and collected by the departmental treas- urer or disposed of in some other way that will save the class from the disturbance occasioned by the collection of envelopes, the distribution of lesson papers, and other activities of the school or department ofhcers. The equipment of the class ought to be such as will make its work as educationally effective as is possible. Many worthy Sunday-school teachers are facing an al- most unsurmountable handicap in their work of teach- ing because the class possesses little, if any, of the equipment essential to instruction. For young people of these years tablet armchairs will be found most satis- factory. The groups are generally too large to be as- sembled about a table, yet the presiding officer and teacher should have a stand or table upon which to place their materials. Classes should have blackboard facilities, maps, sufficient floor space for comfortable arrangement of chairs, separation as complete as pos- sible from other departments or classes. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 133 Classroom. — For pupils in this age range a classroom is desirable. It should be light, airy, and as attractive as possible. In the succeeding chapter the question of lesson courses and teachers will be discussed. It is suffi- cient here to indicate that teachers and courses should be united. This makes it possible for a lesson course to be given continuously in the same room by the same teacher, who would naturally and enthusiastically see to it that the room contained all the illustrative material, atmosphere-producing pictures, and equipment which it is possible for him to assemble. Thus the atmosphere of the room and the course of instruction will be in harmony. At the present writing this equipment and arrangement are possible in comparatively few of our churches. In most instances teachers and officers will be under the necessity of using portable materials and equipment for their class work. Some enterprising leaders have provided lap boards where tablet chairs are not available, making these of wood, beaver board, pasteboard, or other such materials. A little ingenuity and the cooperation of officers and class members in providing desirable items of equipment will make the work of the teacher very much more effective, attrac- tive, and pleasurable. Class relations. — The relations of the class as an or- ganized unit to the department are implied under the preceding discussion. The class is a temporary unit made up of persons who are grouped together by reason of special interests or tasks. The only purpose for separating the department into smaller groups is that these tasks may be accomplished, that these needs may be served. The class, therefore, must be conscious of the priority of departmental interests. The whole is greater than any of its parts. In like manner both 134 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS class and department should recognize the priority of school and church programs and the obligation to do their part loyally to support and earnestly to promote such programs even though some treasured class or department project must be delayed thereby. The relationship of the class to such agencies as the young people's society, young people's clubs, commun- ity or other denominational organizations, should be one of hearty sympathy, cooperation, and fraternity (see Chap. V). No class can or should live unto itself. There has been in some places a noticeable tendency on the part of organized classes of young people, and some- times of adults, to lose sight of all other than their own class interests. Some groups have even assumed to withdraw from the activities of the Sunday school and church, putting on their own separate program. Certain classes have even gone to the extreme of build- ing separate buildings and maintaining what amounts to a separate and distinct organization. Classes oper- ating such a program would do well to scrutinize closely the motives and attitudes being developed in its mem- bers. The class group and class organization, therefore, must be recognized as a means to an end, and so are subject to constant adjustment or complete abandon- ment, as larger needs may require. Tests of class organization. — ^The test of organiza- tion is the results it produces. Any nonproductive or inefficient organization, therefore, should be scrapped or revamped. Any class group that meets the following tests may be reckoned as worthy of continuance: 1. Is the grouping natural? 2. Is the group properly officered? 3. Are the equipment and location of the class satis- factory? WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 135 4. Are the time schedule and attendance satisfactory? 5. Does the group have a definite aim for its instruc- tional and service activities? 6. Is the lesson material suited to the group involved? 7. Does the class render a regular report to the de- partment and school? 8. Does the program of the class strengthen right at- titudes and motives? 9. Does the class program increase the capacities of its members in intelligent Christian service? 10. Are the personal lives of its members being en- riched and their life purposes strengthened? CLASS METHODS Two things will destroy religion — doubt unsatisfied and devotion unexpressed. There must therefore be provision for instruction (facts destroy doubt) ; and the challenge to sacrificial service. A host of witnesses bear testimony to the willingness of young people to pour out their rich resources unreservedly upon the object which can command their love and loyalty. There are many opportunities for service. The individual or the group and the job must be brought together. One of the duties of the program and service committees is to effect this union. Department service and program committees have as their function the discovery and presentation of opportunities for service. The corre- sponding committees of the class are responsible for seeing that the membership of the class accept some of the offered opportunities and satisfy some of the needs presented. In connection with similar commit- tees of the young people's societies, or from other de- nominations, or in the community, the class commit- tees will effect coordination and cooperation so that 136 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS no tasks may go undone, and so that duplication may be avoided. Necessary activities. — The desire of every live class is both to grow and to serve. There will, therefore, be the securing of new members as indicated in a previous discussion (p. 85). Each class or department should have its constituency roll. The school and the church will likewise have a similar list of "prospects.'' Doubt- less there will be turned over to the Membership Com- mittee of organized classes the names and addresses of persons apparently suited to the group. Membership committees will add to this list as far as possible, at the same time losing no opportunity to secure names of members for any other class or department. Absentees from the class session or departmental ac- tivity should be looked up at once either by phone, letter, or personal visit. The last is the most effective method. Any service which the class can render the sick, needy, or troubled members will, of course, be performed speedily, tactfully, and to the full extent of its capacity. Members away from home greatly appre- ciate a letter, a church bulletin, or some other brief item indicating thoughtful concern. Indifferent members should be subject to a definite program of cultivation to see if it is not possible to change indifference to in- terest. If not, then re-locate the individual in some other group where social conditions or the course of study being used will make a particularly strong appeal. In effecting these necessary activities some classes have adopted the circle or group method, by which the class is divided into a given number of groups com- prising normally six to ten persons. Frequently two or three less than the standard number for a group are assigned to it, one project being to increase the group WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 137 to normal size as soon as possible. Each group chooses its own captain or chairman, who is responsible to the class for the personal interests of the members of the group. This includes attendance, health, employment, social opportunities, evangelistic and church relation- ships. Where this method is employed, some time dur- ing the opening service of the class, the roll of groups is called, the captain reporting for the group. This plan contains both advantages and disadvan- tages. It makes close persona] relationships between captain, class, oflScers, and the individuals of the class more possible. The interests, capacities, and needs of the individuals receive more intimate and close atten- tion. It affords splendid opportunity for the discovery and training of leaders. It tends to create enthusiastic supporters of class, department, and school. On the other hand, there is a tendency to establish independent groups within the class. Undesirable competition and rivalries resulting in friction sometimes appear. The unity and coherence of the class group sometimes are broken up before the end of a lesson course. Strong group leaders and groups tend to dominate and finally to absorb smaller and less efficiently led groups. On the whole, the plan has produced satisfactory results. Voluntary activities. — Many activities, individual and group, will naturally grow out of the lesson course being pursued. A study of local recreational oppor- tunities by a class group tends to find expression in the provision of the needed recreational facilities and the abolition or cleaning up of already existing conditions. Leadership training classes, particularly after having finished an elementary course, are in constant need of opportunities for practice teaching, practice leading, and other forms of training activities. These are to be 138 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS found among the younger pupils in mission schools, extension departments, deputations, observations, sur- veys, and similar activities. The extent of such expres- sion will be determined by the opportunities within the geographical area, and the transportation available. Sometimes a number of churches engage or a com- munity engages in some common enterprise, an evan- gelistic, a financial, better schools, or other form of general study or improvement. Individuals and classes will desire to participate in these activities. In some instances the class itself will plan and carry out the entire project under the supervision and direction of an older or larger body. The mixed classes of young men and young women on a western New York circuit were asked to put on a religious educational survey of the circuit. Thoroughgoing information and plans for such a project were secured. The result was the enlargement of the class itself, the increase of the schools of nearly all the denominations of the district, and the determi- nation of the class to take up a leadership training course. In an increasing number of churches promising young men and young women are being added to boards of trustees, stewards' councils, educational committees, and other groups of adults. These adults carry the major responsibilities of the local church while the young peo- ple act as Junior Members of these organizations. The experience and training gained through this association increases the intelligence, interest, and enthusiasm of young people in regard to their local church, their de- nomination, and the world program of Christian reli- gion. In some schools, departments, or classes of young people of adult ages have been asked to assume respon- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 139 sihility for the younger departments. In Topeka a young men's class assumed responsibility for the Be- ginners' Department. A committee was organized and sent to visit the department to inquire into its condi- tion, needs, opportunities, and personnel. After a thorough investigation, their report was presented to the class, with the result that a more desirable location, increased equipment, and enlarged personnel were pro- vided for the little beginners, and the class itself took on new life and vigor. In few other departments is the evangelistic oppor- tunity larger than in the young people's group. The teacher and president of the class have the spiritual relationships of the members of the class as their per- sonal responsibility. Conferences on this matter should be held frequently enough to insure a steady evan- gelistic impulse in all the activities of the class. Where the group or circle method is employed teacher and president will hold necessary conferences with the group or circle leaders and render every possible assistance, to the end that every member of the class sooner or later may be brought into satisfactory personal rela- tionships with Christ and the church and be led into desirable fields of service. World enterprises are a constant challenge to indi- vidual, department, and school effort. In one Young People's Department every class is now supporting a French orphan. This is in addition to their other benevolent contributions. Another class is providing out of their pin money the tuition and making with their own hands the necessary clothing in support of a girl of their own age in a mission school. Another ap- points two members each week to provide an educa- tional and social affair in the church home for needy I40 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS children. A class of young men provided a religious service in an old ladies' Home each Sunday afternoon, to the great dehght of the ladies and real profit to the young men. The activities and needs in this field are unlimited. The personal needs of class members are an obligation to the class as such. Opportunities for social inter- course, for recreational activity are demanded by every human being. Either through the departmental pro- gram or through the activities of the class itself these needs are to be met. Class socials, picnics, hikes, and other forms of social and recreational activity are al- ways in order unless they conflict with the program of the department or school, and unless they tend to create a sense of separateness and an undesirable "class- olatry." Large classes have found that a simply equipped employment committee is very helpful. The employ- ment committee of a class of young men in Denver has become so effective that employers not only from their own church but other churches, wishing dependable men, prefer to secure them through this committee rather than through employment agencies. It is clear that such a committee ought never to understate or overstate the facts, and that its constant effort should be to lead young men and young women to an increased training for efficiency. So far as possible and prac- ticable the class may participate in making desired training possible. Not all the forms of class activity suggested can or should be used by every class. Leadership training classes will find their activities growing more naturally out of their class work. In any case activities discov- ered and suggested by the members of the class are more WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 141 desirable than those suggested in books, pamphlets, and the like, because they have grown out of the thinking and planning of the class. However, sugges- tions and information from every quarter ought to be used in developing the program of activities of the class. No class can afford to let the days go by without making some real contribution to the work of the king- dom of God. '^The Western Indians when they race their ponies tie bags of sand to them to keep the ponies from jumping too high. Fasten proper tasks upon young people and you will drive them to their knees'* (Merle Smith). SUMMARY All class organization and class activities, whether voluntary or necessary, are a means of modifying con- duct. Pupils approximately eighteen to twenty-four years of age, therefore, are grouped according to in- terest and life relations into departments and classes. I. Organization. — Pupils eighteen to twenty-four being grouped according to interest and life relations into classes and a Young People's Department. (a) The class size and membership to be detemained by the spontaneous interests and the lesson courses chosen. (b) Sexes to be grouped together or separately in classes, as they may choose. (c) In very small schools a class for young men and a class for young women, or one inclusive class, as the pupils may choose, separated from other classes. (d) In larger schools where there are two or more classes, or where the num_ber in this group ex- ceeds twenty-five, a Young People's Depart- 142 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS ment, with superintendent, officers, teachers, and department committees. (Where the de- partment contains but one class, the class officers and committees are also the depart- ment officers and committees.) (e) Class Groups — 1. To be determined by the natural group instincts and by the lesson courses chosen by the pupils. 2. The engaged members of the group to have separate class groups, where possible, for the study of the problems related to establish- ing a home. (J) At least one class should use an approved course in preparation for teaching and administra- tion in the local school. (g) Members of the group who have married, or who have passed the general age limits, should be advanced automatically to the Adult De- partment. Qi) Class Organization — Every class organized hav- ing a teacher and pupil officers. The term of all officers to correspond to the length of the lesson course used. The officers to con- duct all sessions of the class. {i) Teachers to remain with the lesson course. In case no pupils elect the course, the teacher may offer another course if desirable, or for the time enter a training class. 2. Equipment. — (a) A separate room, clean, comfortable, light, well ventilated, accessible. Curtained or screened place may be made to serve. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 143 (b) A separate program for entire department ses- sion. (c) Attractive and suitable decorations, including maps, flags, pictures, etc. (d) Individual chairs, preferable with tablet arm. (e) Stereoscopes for class or department. (/) Stereopticon for school and departmental use. (g) Adequate materials for teachers and pupils, in- cluding maps, notebooks, etc. (h) Cabinets for display of curios, protection of supplies, filing of materials, etc. (i) Reference library. 3. Activities. — Providing opportunity for department and class groups or committees to meet in both recreational and service activities. {a) Bringing religious influences to bear upon the physical, mental, and social sides of the pupil's life through games, trips, camps, clubs, etc. (b) Opportunities for pupil and leader to exercise close helpful companionship. (c) Helpful use of the leisure hours. (d) Community service activities. (e) Participation in mid-week activities of lower groups as leaders, coaches, directors, etc. (f) Home church service — junior ofiicers, evangelis- tic, social service, etc, (g) World-wide enterprises. Topics for discussion: 1. Our class first. 2. Social distinctions and class membership. 3. Making the class an asset to home, church, and the world. 144 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Books for further study: Richardson — Religious Education of Adolescents, Belts — How to Teach Religion. Moxcey — Girlhood and Character. Stout — Organization and Administration of Religious Education. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 145 CHAPTER VIII THE CLASS SESSION We have seen that the class in the young people's department is a natural group of persons having a cer- tain community of interests, needs, and capacities. They are united in the comradeship of a common task or objective or need. The purpose of the class session is: 1. To enrich personal experience. 2. To increase personal resource. 3. To develop the power of self-control. 4. To train in intelligent Christian service. If these goals are to be attained there must be: 1. Right Working Conditions for Instruction. 2. Suitable Lesson Courses. 3. Right Teaching Methods. 4. Teachers Adequate to the Task. RIGHT WORKING CONDITIONS Splendid advance has been made in recent years in providing the educational facilities needed by the lead- ers and teachers of our Sunday schools and church work. There is an increasing appreciation of the necessity for adequate floor space, separation of age groups, and other architectural factors, necessary for thorough religious educational work. There are not nearly so many classes married to rooms, to teachers, and to conditions as was formerly the case. More and more the adult life of the church is realizing the potency of childhood and the strategy of making the educational process for them as natural and as happy as possible. 146 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Equipment. — ^To all well trained workers it is appar- ent that children receive as indelible impressions from the atmosphere of a room in which their religious educa- tional work is done as they do from the materials them- selves. It is clear that the equipment necessary for reli- gious educational purposes corresponds in character to that essential for any other kind of education. This in- cludes such items as little chairs for little children, tablet arm chairs for young people and adults, blackboards, maps, libraries, filing cabinets, curios, decorations, pic- tures, stereoscopes, stereopticons, and the like. More- over, the necessity for the segregation and separation of pupils into age groups in rooms which may be provided with atmosphere-producing equipment and where inter- ruptions and disturbance are less likely, has become a standard part of the architectural provision for modern religious education. Time. — Sufficient time for good work is essential. The right hours of the day and the division of the sessions into periods of sufficient length to permit leaders and teachers to accomplish some definite step in the educa- tive process are now recognized as fundamental. For the group under our consideration a class period of forty to fifty minutes is essential. Within this period right programs, right organization, right materials will have an opportunity to exercise their stimulating and trans- forming functions. Religious education uses the same mental processes as secular education. The lad per- forms the same mental operation in learning the names of the books of the Bible or the apostles as in memoriz- ing the names of the Presidents of the United States. Young people use the same experiences as a basis for the perception of religious truths as for other truths. It is the spirit of the Kving God who takes the percep- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 147 tions thus naturally acquired and transmutes them into conduct. A program. — ^The program for the class session is naturally under the administration of the president of the class. No matter how small the class may be, cer- tain functions are a part of each Sunday session of the class. In general, the class program would be — 1. Class Business. Reports of committees. Other business. 2. Devotions. Each class session should begin with a period of devotion to produce the right atmosphere for reli- gious instruction. The responsibility for this is the president's. It may be shared from time to time with other members of the class. It affords a splen- did opportunity for training in audible prayer under most favorable circumstances. 3. The Lesson Period. This period is under the supervision of the teacher, the president turning over the class to the teacher for the time allotted to the lesson period. Teachers do well to make it a point to keep within the lesson time, both because of the example and be- cause it affords opportunity for valid objection if un- necessary matters of business are permitted to take more than the amount of time allotted to business. The distribution of time should be made by the class so that the class program becomes the result of coopera- tive action. The working conditions of the class should also afford some opportunity for the training of leaders. This frequently occurs through the assignment of spe- cific tasks in connection with the operation of the class program, either during the opening session or the lesson 148 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS period. Special assignments through the membership and service committees likewise discover and develop leadership capacities. Desirable results cannot be expected unless the work- ing conditions of the class are made right. SUITABLE LESSON COURSES The choice of lesson materials depends upon the pur- pose in view. If we are merely trying to give memory a load, the choice is both limited and easy. If we seek to provide religious ideas only, the course is clear. In- creasingly the church is seeing that present conditions are due largely to the failure in her educative program of past years. In religious education, as in secular education, the materials and methods now used are being scrutinized carefully to see if they promote re- flection rather than mere imitation, to see if they rightly influence the springs of action, to see if the great funda- mental experiences of the race are included. The purpose of education is not merely to have each generation repeat the best conduct of the pre- ceding one. That would result in a static world and progress would be utterly impossible. Each genera- tion must begin where the preceding one leaves off. There must, therefore, be found in the subject-matter of religious education the social and religious expe- riences of the race to date. Each generation, then, must be led to make its contribution to the sum total of human resources — spiritual, social, political, economic. If religion is to become a motivating power in human conduct, it must have in its curriculum of education those factors which will tend to accomplish this end. They must produce a great spiritual dynamic. A com- prehensive knowledge of facts and principles, and a WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 149 personal experience of the transforming power of spirit- ual truths must be made the common possession of the race. It is obvious that this cannot be done during the years of later adolescence. If we wait until then to begin the process, we shall have waited in vain. Literature is increasingly full of appreciation of the educational power of the home and of the significance of those early years during which the home relations are the dominant edu- cational factors. The formal and organized education of the school years is much less effective because it tends to become separated from the real problems and conditions of daily living. Social education is more real, more positive, more important and personal, thus more effective. It may not produce more desirable results. The lessons of the classroom may make but faint im- pression. The lessons of the street and playground seldom fail. In the latter the participation of the indi- vidual is complete, thoughtful, purposive. Elective courses. — For the child in the home and in the early grades older persons must organize the living conditions. As the years increase there is an increasing social experience, and thus an increasing contribution which the individual may make to the conditions under which he lives. Building upon the foundations laid by its predecessors, the new generation must participate in the planning and development of those elements which are to become the contribution of that generation to its successors. No adequate program, no lesson courses, no scheme of advance may safely ignore this important factor of pupil participation. Lesson courses, therefore, should be chosen by the young people themselves. They may to some degree actually make their own courses. All the I50 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS lesson materials now in use are the product of human experience. In order to secure the largest benefit from the experiences of the race these have been assembled, classified, and scientifically arranged. The Httle child, the boy, the youth, each in his own world pursues the same process; the little child with his playthings, the boy and his gun, the young person and his problems, are applying their store of experience to the conditions which face them. The nature of their experiences will therefore determine their decisions. Lesson materials are means. — Religious education is the right control of conduct. Religious education, then, becomes the right control of the forces determin- ing conduct; and the development of right motive is possible only when the experiences of childhood and youth are supplemented by the helpful experiences of maturity. All the materials of religious education, then, should be recognized as means serving to this right control, not as ends in themselves. These materials become the curricula of religious education. The courses must, therefore, be vitally related to life. They must be within the possible experience range of the pupil. He must approach the lesson courses with the same attitude in which he meets his life situations. This attitude is of primary importance. There is much food for thought in discovering the attitudes with which very many of the young people approach the Sunday- school or department session, and their motive as re- lated to the lesson course in the class. The tendency of some classes to substitute football, dress, party, or other subject-matter for the ''regular lesson" is capable of explanation. Courses of most worth. — Some materials are of more value than others, but no material is used for it- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 151 self alone. Courses lying outside of the field of the pupil's possible experience, those beyond his range of interest or beyond his capacity to comprehend, cannot be expected to result in right attitudes and desirable motives. When, however, the pupil selects his own les- son courses, or perhaps helps to make them, he ap- proaches the lessons with a personal and vital interest. Professor Duerr tells us^ that the older (18 years) fellows in his school suggested thought talks for each Sunday evening ''if they might do some of the talking" as well as ''determine the questions to be discussed." In an organized Young People's Department the members suggested the following courses as desirable: Social service principles and methods, special Bible study, comparative religions, teaching methods, religion in the light of present-day knowledge. Christian America in international relations, a study of India, a study of Palestine, modern problems as Jesus saw them, methods of personal evangelism, rural church work and oppor- tunities. Christian leadership in the community, the meaning of faith, fundamentals of the Christian religion, Christianity and the social crisis, prayer, the work of the Holy Spirit, miracles, the divinity of Christ.^ No fear need be felt with respect to the character of the lessons chosen when the principle of elective courses obtains in the Young People's Department and when pro- per care has been exercised in the creation of the courses. The courses should be brief, consisting of thirteen, twenty-six, or fifty-two lessons. The problems of young people are specific. The learning process is now a mat- ter of finding the answer to concrete doubts, conditions, questions. ' Religious Education, December, 1917. ' Evanston, 1919. 152 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Short courses desirable. — Young people for educa- tional, economic, or other reasons change their church homes frequently. Interest wanes in an incomplete course. Also, coming into the middle of a long course is a distinct disadvantage. Many of the serious ques- tions of young people can be treated satisfactorily in thirteen to twenty-six lessons. Short courses make pos- sible a rich curriculum, and thus a wider range of choice. Basis of choice. — Young people do not always know what knowledge is of most worth. Some basis, there- fore, of judgment should be afforded so that the courses chosen may have certain desirable qualities. Professor George H. Betts names^ three tests which should be appUed in a choice of lesson materials: 1. Does the material contsim fruitful knowledge? 2. Does it insure right attitudes? 3. Does it modify conduct? In the actual application of the principle of elective lesson courses it will be found that classes which have been in existence for some time will probably decide to stick together and accept the majority choice of lessons or arrange to take several desirable courses in sequence, generally under the supervision of the same teacher. In college towns students will tend to choose courses too advanced for or uninteresting to the town pu- pils. But whether those conditions obtain, or the groups be industrial, rural, or the like, the present tendency is to select biblical courses or courses showing the immediate application of the social message of the gospel to modem conditions and problems. Experience shows also that the free choices of young people tend to fall into four or five general fields, namely, Bible Study, Mission Study, Leadership Training Courses, * Betts — How to Teach Religion, 1919, p. 109. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 153 Personal Work, Christian Fundamentals, and General Informational Courses, such as Church History, Com- parative Religions, etc. Annual prospectus. — An increasing number of Sun- day schools publish annually a prospectus of the school showing, among other things, the lesson courses avail- able for the ensuing year. Sometimes suggestions are made as to the sequence of courses so that classes not wishing to change their personnel or teacher may have their attention directed to courses that are complemen- tary. This is a very helpful procedure. Some schools and departments are too small in size to have a wide range of courses. These might arrange a sequence of courses for a year so that different matters may be con- sidered. No school or class is so small as to prevent the young people from choosing their own lesson ma- terials. Even when the class or department may not have their own room or separate section the lessons may be determined by the wish of the class. It is possible for one class in a school to have elective lessons even when all the others prefer uniformity. The following list of available lesson courses is merely suggestive. Denominational Sunday-school houses have lists showing courses suitable for young people. They also provide leaflets showing the official leadership training courses and requirements for certificates and diplomas. A more detailed treatment of this phase will be found in the chapter on leadership. I. Biblical Courses should comprehend such courses as — Life and Times of Jesus: I. The Manhood of the Master — Fosdick. Designed to make one familiar with the man, Christ Jesus, to know the virile 154 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS quality of his character, and to appre- ciate the spirit of his personaHty. 2. The Life of Jesus — Rail. The Teaching of Jesus — Rail. Contains lessons intended for a diligent study essential to the intelligent inter- pretation of the Master's life and teach- ing. 3. Sttidies in the Parables of Jesus — Luccock. Interesting and helpful application of the parables of Jesus to present-day life. 4. How Jesus Met Life Problems — Elliot. Helpful guide to student in meeting life questions. 5. Meeting the Master — Davis. A study of the intimate relationship of Jesus with those he met, revealing his character and teaching. 6. The Cause of Jesus — Curry. A very workable and helpful study of the cause of Jesus, based on a study of Mark's Gospel. II. General Bible Studies, such as — Old Testament: 1. Great Characters of the Old Testament — Rogers. Old Testament movements in terms of its leading characters. 2. The Worker and His Bible — Eiselen-Barclay. Unexcelled introductory study of the Bible. Gives briefly purpose and actual message of each book. 3. Old Testament History — Peritz. Excellent introduction to the history of the Old Testam^ent Period. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 155 4. The Many-Sided David— Rowdird. From his call to service to the close of his career the student comes to know David as a familiar friend. His struggles, fail- ures, successes have present-day values. 5. Psalms of the Social Life—McAiee. The sorrows, hopes, fears, cares, in fact, all human moods as expressed by the psalmist, make material for this study. Better for later years of this period. 6. Student's History of tlie Hebrews— Knott. A clear, historical survey of the develop- ment of the life and religion of the Hebrews. Paul and Epistles: 7. A Life at Its Best — Edwards-Cutler. Paul presented as a man of action and a messenger of the gospel at work in the world. 8. The Pauline Epistles-— Yidcye?,. A thorough study of Paul's letters in- tended for those willing to devote serious study to this subject. 9. Introduction to the New Testament — Dods. A brief survey of the books of the New Testament giving date, outline, mes- sage; most helpful and stimulating. General : 10. A Living Book in a Living Age — Hough. The Bible made alive in our times; dis- covers sources of power in the Bible when translated into life. HI. Mission Study should outline the world program and create Christian attitudes toward world re- lationship and responsibiHties, supply compre- hensive information on world needs and other religions. iS6 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS 1. Marks of a World Christian — Fleming. An analysis of the world vision which each Christian shotild bring to bear on worid relations. 2. Faiths of Mankind — Soper. Study of the religions of the world, indi- cating their effect on life and character. 3. Program of the Christian Religion — Shack- ford. Sets forth the world task of Christianity and indicates to what extent this task is being achieved. 4. The World and the Gospel—Oldham, An adequate presentation of the challenge of the world's needs to the gospel pro- gram. 5. Comrades in Service — Burton. Eleven studies of splendid lives devoted to Christian service. 6. Training World Christians — Loveland. Devoted entirely to the problem of mis- sionary education; clear and accurate statement of facts; practical suggestions. IV. The Church and Biography — 1. A Methodist Church and Its Work — Tippy- Kern. Designed to prepare young people for effi- cient service as official members in the church. 2. Methodist Heroes of Other Days — Ay res. 3 . Great Men of the Christian Church — Walker. Especially for a young men's class. 4. Lives Worth Living — Peabody. For a young women's class. A study of the worth while lives of notable women. 5. Essentials of Methodism — McConnell. A small but helpful volume on essentials. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 157 6. John Wesley y Jr. — Brummitt. Interesting for reading or study, telling in a unique manner the story of the world- wide work of the Methodist Church. V. Church Leadership — 1. The Pupil and the Teacher — Weigle. Helpful and practical discussion of the de- velopment and training of the religious life. 2. How to Teach Religion — Betts. A stimulating book by a popular writer. 3. Life in the Making — Barclay-Brown. A practical course on the development of the religious life from childhood to adult- hood. 4. The Organization and Administration of the Sunday School — Cuninggim-North. One of the most useful books in this field. VI. Evangelism — 1. The Human Element in the Making of a Chris- tian — Conde. One of the best small books on personal evangelism. 2. Evangelism in the Sunday School — Hay. A booklet presenting the opportunity and methods by which pupils may be won to Christian faith and trained in Christian living. 3. Training the Devotional Life — Weigle-Tweedy. A study of worship as it relates to the dif- ferent age groups. Brief and practical. 4. The Sunday School an Evangelistic Opportunity — Hannan. One of the most helpful small books on this subject. 158 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS 5. Methods oj Evangelism in the Sunday School — Brown. A course of practical methods in Sunday- school evangelism by one who has already worked the plans with eminent success in his own Sunday school. VII. Social Service and Life Service — 1 . Meaning 0} Service — Fosdick. A study in the practical overflow of the Christian life in useful ministry. 2. Social Principles oj Jesus — Rauschenbusch. Presents the convictions of Jesus on the social and ethical relationship and duties of men. 3. A Challenge to Life Service — Harris-Robbins. Attempts to point out Jesus' solution of using time and life in serving the King- dom. 4. Hovu God Calls Men — Davis. Studies in vocational choices as illustrated in leading biblical characters. 5. Graded Social Service in the Sunday School — Hutchins. Contains list of service activities for all grades in the Sunday school; standard on this subject. ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHOOSING COURSES 1. Secure sample copies from the denominational bookstore. 2. Have a committee, with the teacher, examine the books and select the most suitable courses. 3. Present these to the class with recommendations. 4. Have members of class indicate their choice. 5. If more than one course is selected, secure teacher for each course and have groups take course chosen. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 159 PRINCIPLES OF CHOICE (a) The content should be both interesting and suit- able to age involved. (b) The course should meet the needs of the pupils. (c) The course should provide for development of life and leadership capacities. (d) The course should enrich personal life and chal- lenge to Christian life investment. RIGHT TEACHING METHODS Not only the materials, but the methods of teaching are to be tested by the results they produce. Not only the pupil, but the teacher, may be asked why he is using a given lesson course. Generally, the class re- flects the attitude of the teacher. The human element in the teaching process is of primary importance. Thus many technically untrained teachers seem to obtain bet- ter results than some possessed of a knowledge of the technique of teaching. It is well to know the person- ality, the experience, and the training of a prospective teacher before making the assignment to leadership in a young people's group. The teacher chooses. — The principle of choosing lesson courses is not confined to the classes. The teach- ers may also choose. The teacher with a special interest in Paul or Moses will naturally select courses dealing with his chief interest. Because of this he will make the course attractive and young people will want to come into contact with such enthusiasm and wealth of materials as that kind of motive is bound to supply. Elective courses make it possible for every person in the Young People's Department to take every course. Thus the inspiration as well as the lesson materials be- come the common possession of the entire department. i6o HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS All the teachers belong to all the pupils, and all the pupils to all the teachers. The consequent opportunity to increase the richness and improve the methods of the course is worthy of serious consideration. Both pupil and teacher thus approach the course with right atti- tudes and motives. Formal discipline. — Very many Sunday schools still have teachers who cling to the old doctrine of formal discipline in their teaching, and who insist upon pro- viding memory with a load to carry. The performance of certain formal mental discipline is supposed to have the effect of producing desirable responses in other lines of activity. This does not always produce the desired result. Facing the sign: "I Am Late" upon entering the school or class more frequently produces embarrassment and resentment than the motive to come early next time. Doctrine of interest. — Many other teachers have progressed beyond the "duty" and "ought" stage. They seek "to make the lesson interesting." A narrative form of presentation and a wealth of viv^d illustration mark this attitude. It is a vast gain over the preceding method, but sometimes "the trees are lost in the for- est," the illustration only being retained by the pupil. Constructive method. — Some other teachers, while holding the doctrine of interest, use the pupil's own experiences and thinking to construct the fabric of les- son truth. This constructive method has the \artue of large participation, and requires unusual teaching skill. It produces wholesome results. Project method. — There is a marked tendency among some other teachers increasingly to employ the project method in their teaching. This consists in dis- covering or creating some purposeful pupil activity. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE i6i The study and the solution of the problem are carried over into the actual performance of the project. Thus the learning and the doing are united in an effective process. The desire rightly to master a real situation is the motive. "The motive and occasion arise to- gether. The teacher has but to steer the process of evaluating the situation. The teacher's success will consist in gradually eliminating loss or waste from the success of the procedure."^ In this method the pupil is faced by a concrete situa- tion to which he must find the answer. The purposeful act of working out the solution of the problem becomes a training in right motives. This, says Coe, is "the very essence of method in the teaching of religion." It is not the province of this book to discuss in detail teaching methods, class management, and the like. The reader is referred to the books listed at the end of the chapter; especially to Sheridan, Learning and Teaching; Barclay, Principles of Religious Teaching; Edman, Human Traits; Betts, Classroom Management; Betts, How to Teach Religion; McKinney, The Art of Ques- tioning (pamphlet). Special plans. — Some practical suggestions grow out of Sunday-school experiences with young people's classes. There is added interest in having the members of the class (especially the teacher training or leadership train- ing class) conduct the whole or part of the lesson period. If the group or circle plan (Chapter VII) is used, one of these groups may be given the responsibility of the lesson. The assignment of special topics, the use of debates, of dramatizations, of special reports, of inves- tigations, and many other activities of a like nature are found most practicable and helpful with this group. 1 Kilpatrick— r/jc Project Method. i62 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Some teachers reserve the last five minutes of the lesson period for themselves to suggest ways of improv- ing the teaching method used, to insure correct em- phasis of lesson points, to offer suitable challenge for decision or service activities, and, in general, to protect the class from the results of immature or ill-considered statements by amateur leaders. Credits. — The use of a system of class credits for lesson study, church attendance, promptness, securing new members, visits, etc., sometimes stimulates activity along these lines. (At least forty-five minutes spent on the lesson is the minimum for which credit in lesson study should be given. The class should decide what is the minimum obligation of persons of their age for at- tendance upon the regular Sunday and midweek serv- ices of the church, etc.) Notebooks. — Composite class notebooks are a pleas- ant and profitable activity. Each pupil so minded adds a page or more, developed on his own initiative and along the line of his own personal interest, for each lesson studied. This would include analysis, specially correlated items from newspapers, magazines, and the like, maps and diagrams, illustrative sketches, lesson poems, etc. The name of the donor or author should be placed upon each item presented. When assembled in loose-leaf book form such a book makes a most val- uable and stimulating record of the activities of the class. It also tends to encourage careful midweek study of the lesson and provides a means of discovering the sort of contribution the individual may and desires to make. The most successful teachers of young people are those whose class members tend more and more to take part in the discussion during the class session. As in WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 163 that other instance, when a young man was setting out upon His life's task, so here the attitude of the leader or teacher must be, "He must increase, but I must de- TEACHERS ADEQUATE TO THE TASK The experience of generations has shown that not things, not lessons, but persons are the chief agency in education, whether religious or secular. One of the crying needs of the Sunday schools of to-day is for persons trained for the task of teaching. Approximately but one in ten now teaching in our Sun- day schools has had any sort of recognized training for this work. The problem of an adequate supply of adequately trained teachers and leaders is both difficult and imme- diately pressing. Discussion of this matter will be found in Chapter XII. It is sufficient merely to call attention to it at this point. SUMMARY When through the Young People's Department the church has provided the right conditions of instruction, suitable lesson materials, desirable teaching methods, and an adequate force of trained teachers, then only will the church have fulfilled its obligation to assist its young people: 1. To enrich their personal experience. 2. To increase their personal resources. 3. To develop the power of self -compulsion. 4. To become trained and intelligent Christian work- ers. These may be accomplished by means of: i64 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS I. Elective Lesson Courses — (a) Short Courses of thirteen, twenty-six, or fifty- two weeks dealing with the needs and interests of later adolescence — as, study of the developing life, study of the teaching process, study of leadership, mission study, general and denominational church history, special Bible study courses, training of the devotional life; study of the history, organization, and administration of the Sunday school; message and program of the Christian religion, the funda- mentals of the faith, study of the denomination and its work, etc. {h) Pupil participation in department and class sessions. {c) Acquaintance with current religious literature. (d) Participation as assistants or leaders in week- day activities of beginners, primaries, juniors, and intermediates. (Especially for those pupils over 20.) (e) Investigations of local social, industrial, recrea- tional, educational conditions. (/) Planning and executing correlated programs of service activities, including deputation work and evangelism. (g) Worship in harmony with the religious life of eighteen to twenty-four years. 1 . Conducted by pupil officers or other pupils of the department and class. 2. Definite instruction in the devotional life with opportunities for expression in tes- timony and prayer. 3. Opportunities for leadership of devotional services and activities. 4. Giving of time and substance, and life. 5. Attendance and participation in worship services of the church. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 165 Qt) Participation in the business connected with de- partment, class, school and church activities. 1. Responsibility for business of department and class. 2. Responsibility for and participation in the larger benevolent and other interests of church and school. {i) Leadership in local commimity educational, so- cial, recreational activities. II. Teachers and Leaders Qualified by nature, reli- gious experience and training to: (a) Understand and appreciate the experience, needs, and possibilities of later adolescence. (6) Understand and appreciate the necessity for training leaders through pupil participation. (c) Live both their profession and teachings. {d) Be companion and friend. {e) Adequately meet the need of these pupils for sympathy, steadying, inspiration, a constant chal- lenging of the lives to fullest devotion to Christian service. (/) Steadily urge the going out to serve of every pupil, though the class as such should cease to exist because of it. (g) Develop every potential leader. ih) Secure the definite enlistment of every pupil in some form of constructive service. {i) Possess or be in training for a diploma covering an accredited Training Course. (/) Continue specialization either through a Study Course or by reading at least one book per year on the field of later adolescence; and to seek contact with Sunday School leaders through attendance upon schools of methods, institutes, and the like. i66 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Topics for discussion: 1. The ability of young people to select suitable courses. 2. The need for Bible study. 3. Relating religious truth to modern life. 4. All the teachers for all the pupils. Books for further study: Betts — How to Teach Religion. Betts — Classroom Management. Edman — Humcn Traits. Galoway — The Use of Motives in Moral and Religious Educatiofi. Coe — Education in Religion and Morals. Barclay — Principles of Religious Teaching. Sheridan — Learning and Teaching. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 167 CHAPTER IX YOUNG PEOPLE IN VILLAGE AND COUNTRYSIDE It is safe to say there is no more important problem facing the church in village and countryside than how to win and hold the young people. In the open country and in the villages the younger age groups predominate, but the churches are made up largely of adults. Professor C. J. Hewett^ is authority for the statement that seventy per cent of the church membership in vil- lage and open country- is over thirty years of age. And forty per cent of it is over fifty years of age. This situa- tion presupposes little if any sympathy with the young person's point of view. This may account for the fact that in an Illinois village not one young man has joined the church in thirty years. The young people who are kept within the church and community until they pass this critical period do not leave. This is really the ''dead line" in rural church work ^dth them. Young people in \dllage and country- side do not differ from those of any other geographical location except in the conditions which surround them. The same aspirations, the same hopes and fears, the same loves and hates, the same struggles and successes as are present in the larger centers of activity are found here. In the rural community we find fewer possible classi- fications of young life than in the city because Ufe is less 1 Professor of Rural Sociolog>-, Northwestern University, Evanstoa, Illinois. i68 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS complex and not so closely organized. However, we must recognize that even here there are those who nat- uraUy find themselves thinking and acting more or less alike. There are the young men who are merely await- ing the time when they can get off to the city, and the young women who, while participating in the work of the home, are longing for the time when that home may be transferred to where the lights are brilliant and the opportunities for meeting friends are increased. Some long for the educational and cultural opportuni- ties supposed to be offered by the city. New vision. — On the other hand, there are young men and women who are increasingly conscious of the opportunities offered right at home to improve world conditions. An increasing number of young people are returning from our colleges enthusiastically intent upon the reconstruction of the conditions in the home com- munity. Many of our finest trained young men and young women are beginning to realize that there is no more pressing need and no greater challenge to the in- vestment of the best that education and culture can provide than is to be found in the average rural com- munity. Ministers, students, welfare agencies, business men have united in demanding of the educational insti- tutions specialized courses in training for leadership in this needy field. There is perhaps no needier field lor physicians, teachers, scientific management, industrial cooperation, social and recreational leadership than is to be found in most of our outlying communities. A rural community in Pennsylvania formerly supporting twp physicians is now under the handicap of sending six miles for the nearest one. A schoolhouse in this same section had to be closed because there was no teacher available. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 169 Training in the pulpit is sorely needed. But there should be training in the pew as well. It is a mistake to think the ministry exhausts the opportunities for trained workers in the rural field. The need is great all along the line. At present the young people in our rural churches have pitifully little training for their work and are limited largely to such things as they may them- selves devise or gather from popular discussions in magazines and periodicals. Old ideas. — Many false assumptions have grown up concerning the work of the farm, the hamlet, and the small town. The small number of people involved has, in our American rush for quantity, led us to accept the idea that the work itself in these sections was small. We have also assumed that the work in village and country- side should be merely a modified city program. The splendid body of men and women who are giving their lives to the study and development of programs for outlying sections have illustrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that, while the principles underlying the minis- try to life are the same the world over, in city, village, and hamlet, each has its own peculiar conditions, and therefore each must have its own fitting program. The educational method and process in developing right atti- tudes. Christian motives, and skill in living used with the boy reared in the open country do not differ from those used in the attainment of a similar goal for the boy reared in a large city. The materials, however, may differ because the environmental factors are dif- ferent. The discussion in this chapter, therefore, will accept the conclusions developed in the preceding chapters. It will be necessary only to recognize: I. The different conditions as compared with large centers. I70 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS 2. The new day in rural work. 3. The necessary adjustments in materials. 4. Methods the special factors in rural work. 5. The development of rural leadership. CONDITIONS Social and recreational. — The facts brought to light through the assembly in army training camps of a cross section of our American civilization were both startling and illuminating. Among others was the surprising fact that on the average the young man brought up under a rural program did not have the physique or endurance of the one who had been brought up under city conditions; another, that he did not have the same range of recrea- tional resources, while the average city- trained man had had the opportunities of organized recreation under the supervision of trained leaders in grades and high school, and his recreational opportunities were limited only by economic and time facilities. Even casual observation discovers the tragic dearth of recreational and social opportunities in the average village and open country section. In most instances the church and schoolhouse are closed. The young people are forced to go to the nearest town for their fun. The automobile ride and the character of fun provided for the young people are not always desirable. The old idea that because much time is spent by young people in outdoor work there is no need for recreation has been thoroughly supplanted with the knowledge that the instinct for social and recreational activities is as deep-seated and insistent in the lives of rural young people as in the lives of city young people. The fact of the larger percentage of moral tragedies oc- curring in outlying sections than occur in cities is evi- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 171 dence of a social instinct, naturally sweet and clean, gone wrong. In open country appointments with no provision for social and recreational life moral tragedies are not infrequent. The loneliness in village and open country, the small number of young people, and the tendency particularly of the young men to leave these sections for the ap- parently greater attractions and opportunities of the city leaves many a young person to a lonely and com- panionless existence. This is particularly true of the young women, some of whom in sheer desperation have foDowed the suggestions of those who are willing to take advantage of such conditions to satisfy their own or the selfish desires of others. Sometimes the outlet of a more or less undesirable marriage is the only relief that can be found for the dull monotony of the years. In outlying districts where church services are intermit- tent, and in some seasons of the year entirely aban- doned, there is no center of social intercourse. Books, papers, and magazines are conspicuous by their ab- sence. The round of social opportunities comprises funerals, weddings, picnics, family reunions, and church services. The children are left pretty largely to their own devices in developing their recreational opportuni- ties during the above occasions, no special provision being made for them at all, they having been taken along as a sort of necessary evil. This condition is decreasingly true as one moves away from the isolated habitations. Among the agencies that are changing this situation as rapidly as possible are the public-school teacher with social vision, the county agri- cultural and home demonstration agents, the modern Sunday school, and the trained rural minister. It is safe to say because of the splendid work done by these 172 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS leaders that a new day is beginning to dawn for child- hood, youth, and age in the villages and countrysides of America. Educational. — ^The little red schoolhouse, so prolific of information and enthusiasm for writers and poets, is fast becoming an antique in rural life. The schools operating for less than six months are rapidly decreas- ing in number, so that the children in rural sections are being given an increasingly larger opportunity for school attendance. The training of the average rural teacher, while very much in advance of what it was some years ago, is still pitifully inadequate. Compara- tively few have had any sort of special training for rural teaching. Older boys and girls are still being kept out of school to help take care of the younger children or to assist in the early spring and late fall work. The lesson materials in use in the rural school have not yet been adjusted in many instances to the particular needs and conditions of the rural field. Sunday-school lessons and lesson treatments are still the same for city and rural community alike. Even the treatment of the "Graded Lessons" has not yet been adjusted on the basis of the social relations of the pupils who use them. However, the movement for consolidated schools, for county and township high schools, and for standardizing the quali- fications for teachers is making rapid headway so that the necessity of sending young people away from home to secure their secondary school education is fast dis- appearing. Homes. — Home life in village and open country is generally much more closely centered and well developed than in the larger industrial and commercial centers. The apartment house and delicatessen evils have not yet reached these sections. And yet very many rural WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 173 houses are "woman killers." The factors of sanitation and convenience of the dwelling house have not had as much consideration in many instances as the con- venience and equipment of the barns and dairies. Sani- tary laws and regulations, however, are cleansing many streams and are changing many of our homes and bring- ing relief to many an overburdened wife and daughter. The aesthetic elements too in many of our smaller com- munities are beginning to find a place in the thinking of the people. The movement for better homes, beauti- ful streets, clean villages, well-kept cemeteries and lawns, with its emphasis upon the use of whitewash and paint, is transforming many a rural landscape. This beautifying of the physical environment is having no- ticeable effect upon the social customs of the people. Economic, industrial, and political. — The economic, industrial, and political conditions are probably the strongest influences in holding young people to farm and village life or driving them to the city. These interests of agricultural and village communities have been regarded more or less as pawns by big business and poHticians, with the result in some sections that young men and women with initiative will not endure the conditions. Farmers' alliances, cooperative asso- ciations, political forums, and the like have come to the rescue of this situation, and increasingly the small industries and village cooperative associations are de- veloping a worthy spirit of independence and self- sufficiency, with the result that young men and young women of capacity and training are finding therein a challenge to their best capacities. THE CHURCH In its earlier history the church was the center and 174 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS the dominant influence in social, political, and economic life in countryside and village. Largely through its in- fluence and assistance specialized agencies in these lines have been developed. Sometimes the church has failed to grow with the expanding life and interests of the community. The result is that it is left pretty largely alone, and sometimes vacant. Many communities have more churches than can be supported adequately. In his book. The Church Cooperating with the Com- munity, Dr. Vogt says the most important visible task of the rural church of to-day is to ^^spiritualize farm practice. ^^ It has been the disposition of some min- isters to consider a rural appointment as a training ground and a rural church as a stepping-stone to some larger field of activity. Happily, this is being entirely changed, and most of our theological schools and col- leges have had or are introducing specialized courses of training for rural ministers and rural workers. Men and women are finding opportunities for the largest possible investment of their talents in the field of rural church life. Architecture, programs, materials, and methods are rapidly readjusting to the New Day, with the result that the church seems about to enter again into its ancient, honored, and proper place at the center of life. Transportation. — The oxcart and sled have gone; even the horse is fast disappearing as a means of trans- portation from the roadways of the land. Instead of these are to be found steam and electric railways, splen- did roads, pleasure and passenger autos, and huge trucks. The country thus goes to the city. The city thus comes to the country. There are still, however, vast reaches of territory where these conditions do not obtain. Main Street in many a small town and village is anything but WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 175 smooth. Numerous merchants are barely able to afford the rapid transit facilities of a truck. There is still need for promoting good roads. The new day in rural work. — ^When the history of the last decade of the nineteenth and the early dec- ades of the twentieth centuries are written the names of several men and women ought to find place in its records. These are they who have re- turned our atten- tion to the rural fields white already to the harvest. They have stimulated church and home alike into re- newed vigor and new activity. The church as a center. — Good roads mean possible church and Sunday-school attendance and reachable markets. Poor roads preclude them. Abundant crops, prolific flocks and herds, good fruit, pure-bred stock — these and many other factors mean financial prosperity. Good schools well equipped and well manned mean in- creased intelligence. Enthusiastic, well- trained, attrac- tive personalities in the pulpit mean full pews and large Sunday schools. Wholesome recreational and social fa- cihties under proper supervision mean contentment, joyfulness, and enriched social life. The New Church in the New Day, conscious of these things, has taken upon itself the task of securing them for the community of which it is rapidly becoming again the center of thought and life. The New Church in the New Day with its social gospel message is transforming the spiritual, economic, political, and recreational life of countryside and village, thus making life more whole- some and attractive. Again, the church is taking its rightful place in making life richer, sweeter, cleaner, more attractive and wholesome, and so more full of the vitally spiritual factors which our whole faith supplies. Agricultural colleges have sprung up all over the land. 176 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Special departments of rural life have been estabKshed in many colleges and universities. The theological school without a carefully arranged program preparing its stu- dents for lifework in the rural fields is an exception. The government itself has its organized agencies for promoting the interests in counties and districts. The field of rural life service has become as clearly defined, and its specialists as thoroughly trained and equipped as in any other field of life investment. The man who can make two stalks of corn grow where one formerly grew, who can apply the needed remedy when insects, blight, diseases, or other destroying agencies appear, and actually becomes the center of wholesome recrea- tional and social activities for childhood and young peo- ple, has become a standard factor in open country life. The man with social vision, with a program of com- munity cooperation and mutual helpfulness, has ap- peared in our villages and small towns. The result has been that everywhere there are the beginnings of im- proved farming, improved business, improved village government, better churches, better roads, better edu- cation, more frequent mail deliveries, and increase in books, magazines, Chautauquas, institutes, and the like, and a general toning up of the whole moral and spiritual life of the community. In very many instances the man who has this m- formation and this capacity is the trained minister ap- pointed to the local church. The conditions that he has found upon arriving have sometimes been most de- plorable and unattractive. The "stand-pat" attitude of some of his people, and the indifferent, if not openly hostile, position he has sometimes found has been almost heartbreaking. He has worked with his hands at all tasks of farm and field. He has himself actively par- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 177 ticipated in the building or remodeling of churches, in the painting and glazing, janitor and plumbing service — counting all of these things as a part of his ministry. Increasingly he has found his way into the hearts and confidence of a section of people who had come to look upon the minister as not always a serviceable element in the community Hfe, but, rather, some one that must be endured. The New Day of the new rural minister with his new program, his new outlook upon hfe, has brought with it hope and vigor and largeness of vision to all who live in countryside and village. Village pride. — Again, and on a much more desir- able basis, community consciousness and village pride are being established. In the earlier days this was based somewhat upon the fighting capacities of chosen repre- sentatives. To-day community pride centers about the beauty and attractiveness of well-kept lawns, of clean thoroughfares, modern school buildings, honest poHtical leaders, well-equipped churches, successful athletics, de- bating teams, and the like. In it all and through it all the New Day has begun to dawn because somehow the gospel of Jesus Christ is being interpreted by men and women with vision in terms of everyday life and conduct. It is becoming in- creasingly apparent that all those agencies which make for a better and more attractive Hfe, for hope and con- fidence and sweetness, are the tangible expression of the power of Him who said: "I am come that ye might have life, and have it more abundantly." MODIFICATIONS In the preceding chapters (VI and VII) suggestions were offered relative to the organization of department and class in the larger schools in more populous centers. 178 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Certain modifications in detail are necessary in dealing with schools smaller in enrollment and in more scat- tered communities. The purpose, principles, aims, and tests of organization are the same in small schools as in large (Chaps. V and VII). Size and location do not affect fundamental principles. It is needs more than numbers which determine programs. The application of principles to local situations al- ways depends upon circumstances. Thus the nature of the modifications and adjustments of materials and methods to each particular condition will be determined by the conditions themselves and by the necessities of the case. It is the common factors found in practically all of our churches, large or small, that make printed suggestions possible. Such common factors as the pur- pose and goal of all religious education, the laws of growing life, the mental processes, individual character- istics, the assembled experiences of the race as expressed in Bible history, biography, and the like, the common need for social and recreational life, the common hopes and aspirations of mankind, the common needs and common purposes — these are but a few of the elements common to all places and all people. Wherever children are found, wherever men love and hate, have faith and strife, work and play, rise and fall, live and die, there will be found the whole range of human experiences, the common possession of the race. These experiences are educational factors in all times and in all places. The difference lies in the means of expression used by different individuals and groups and in the methods by which these various common factors are applied to growing, changing lives. Expression will range from the crude and elemental activities of the most untutored savage to the skill and finesse of the WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 179 most cultured. Somewhere within that range each one is found, and each group has its place. Our task as reli- gious educators is to see that the experiences brought to anyone or to his group are such as will lift him as far toward the highest as it is possible. Thus there must always be adaptation and modification of mate- rials and methods to the conditions at hand. The chief modifications necessary for small schools are found in class organization and program; and in the character of the social and recreational features. Organization. — The architecture of many of our smaller churches is not well adapted to educational purposes, and they show few provisions for social and recreational life. There are church architects now who are specializing upon the particular needs of large and small churches. Many denominations now maintain de- partments of architecture whose advice, guidance, and plans are available for any society wishing to construct a church building. Men are coming to see that the same amount of money spent under the guidance of a trained church architect wiU secure the desired depart- mental rooms and recreational opportunities as well as provide beautifully and adequately for the other means of grace. Through careful study by these men the very smallest churches are now being more happily ad- justed to the religious educational needs as well as pro- viding for the necessary places of assembly for worship. The church building in countryside and village in most instances, however, will be limited to but a few rooms. The organization, therefore, of Young People's Depart- ments must be adjusted in accordance with the physical conditions of the local church and to the enrollment of the department. Department. — Certain provisions have been found i8o HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS acceptable in dealing with pupils in the range of ado- lescent life in smaller churches both in town and open country. Organization is essential in dealing with young life because it provides the opportunity ^^for self- expression which growing life demands (Chap. V). Where the groups are small (less than two classes) in the intermediate (12-14 years) or the senior (15-17 years) departments, these two may be grouped together in what is frequently called a "Teen Age or High School Department." The Young People's (18-24 years) De- partment sometimes has been grouped with the adults. The latter course is inadvisable if there is any possible chance of separation. Practically never should these young people be grouped with the intermediates and seniors. They have more in common with the adults. Yet even here the grouping together is greatly to be regretted. Young people grouped with adults soon lose interest and drop out. If it is absolutely necessary to combine them with some group, they should be com- bined with adults. However, in practically every school, large or small, some provision can be made for separation by means of curtains or screens where no rooms are available. In case the entire school meets in a one-room church it will be necessary to have some sort of an opening service for the entire assembly, because singing with the piano or organ is impossible when the only separa- tion is by means of curtains. This opening session should never occupy more than ten minutes. It should be under the leadership of the general superintendent, pastor, or some other adult appointed for this purpose. The program for this period should be limited to one hymn, selected preferably by the pupils of the junior (9-1 1) age, and from the church hymnal; one prayer. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE i8i brief, simple, worshipful, intercessory; and any neces- sary announcements. Immediately upon the close of this ten-minute period the curtains or screens should be used to separate the departments of the school. In a school having about thirty or forty present, the de- partmental groups would number probably four or five. For the adolescent pupils, this would mean one or two groups. If one group, it should be a teen-age depart- ment including all the pupils of from twelve to eighteen or the high school years; the young people, eighteen to twenty-four, perhaps being associated with the adults. Where there are two departmental divisions, one should be the teen-age group above mentioned, the other the Young People's Department, eighteen to twenty-four. Once the curtains or screens are drawn and this group separated from the remainder of the school, the pres- ident of the department would proceed to take charge of the further departmental program. This might include further devotional services, such as prayer, Scripture reading, the reading of a hymn (singing is undesirable because of the disturbance occasioned), and a special feature such as has been described in previous chapters. Under no circumstances should this period of the sep- arate departmental opening session exceed ten minutes, or fifteen at the most. Thirty-five or forty minutes of the Sunday-school hour, whatever the situation, should be reserved for the use of the class as such. Not infre- quently the general dev6tional service for the entire school will be accepted as the devotional service in the department, and the entire time after the separation from the other groups of the school will be given to the presentation of the special feature. This will give sufii- cient time to do a more pretentious type of dramatiza- i82 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS tion, or for the presentation or discussion at greater length of the report of some special committee, or for vocational, evangelistic, or other special materials in which the group are particularly interested. It must be recalled that in numerous instances this session will have to be held in a room in which the only articles of equipment are the pews occupied by the pupils and the curtains or screens which separate them jfrom the other departments of the school. To these may be added pictures, a portable blackboard, lap- boards for convenience in note-taking, a folding table which may be stood on a pew or in the aisle at the end of the pews for the use of the presiding officer or for the exhibit of illustrative materials. Special features will have to be adapted to the available space in the aisle or between the pews. Some most effective special features have been put on in this very limited space. Where all the pupils of the Young People's Department are found in one class, the officers of the class and the committees of the class become the officers and com- mittees of the department. These are they who take charge of the program after the ten-minute general opening service has been completed. It is important that a special feature, business, and other items of interest to the young people's group shall be presented to them even though the group be so small that the class and department are one. It is needs, and not numbers, that determine this program. The class. — The organization of the class in the Young People's Department is not affected by either a shortened hour or inferior architecture. Whether the department be large or small, the same principles ob- tain. The same methods of grouping should prevail, with the exception that in very small churches the WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 183 young people's group will probably have a smaller number of classes, and each of these will itself be smaller. Very frequently, because the teaching force is limited, it will be necessary for one teacher to offer several courses, so that in a year's time one teacher would teach three, perhaps four, different three-months' courses. This is a heavy load for the teacher, but in some cases it is the only way in which the vital inter- ests of the young people may be met. Most Sunday- school teachers are in the work not because of its ease, but because of the opportunity it affords them to serve. Where the department and class are the same — this is to say, where there are but six or seven young people in the Sunday school — it is better to have them as- sembled in one class, which should be organized and registered as a class with the denominational headquar- ters, there being then no occasion for registering the department. For the opening session they would be grouped with the adults, but would have their own class. The lesson course.— The lesson course used by the class or classes in the Young People's Department in countryside and village is used in exactly the same way as the lesson courses used in any school anywhere. The needs of the class or the department govern the courses to be used. There is no other safe basis for the selection of lesson material. The same range of courses as suggested in Chapter VIII, the same les- son materials, may properly be offered to these young persons for their choice. 'Tew things do more to prepare the way for the highest religious education than the free and spon- taneous acquaintance with nature."^ The young man or 1 Tracy — Psychology of Adolescence, 1920, p. 213. The Macmillan Company, publishers. i84 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS young woman of countryside and village has unusual opportunity to make this acquaintance at first hand. The city bred get it intermittently in carefully selected quantities. The city group has the better system; the rural group has the closer contact. Upon this acquaint- ance, therefore, we may depend when thinking of any form of organization or lesson material for young peo- ple in outlying sections. One of the greatest needs of the local church to-day is for trained leaders. The reader will find in Chapter XII a fuller discussion of this matter. It is sufficient to suggest here that in the Young People's Department of the small church some provision should be made for courses in training for leadership. Frequently this will mean that a single pupil must be provided for. What- ever the number, if the local church is in earnest about doing in an adequate way the work for which it exists, no effort will be spared to see to it that the young persons who are to carry the burden in the years just ahead shall have careful, thorough, and as complete training as the capacities of the local church make possible. Records. — It is as necessary to effective workman- ship that careful, constant records should be made of the attendance, program, offerings, and activities in the Young People's Department of the small school as it is in the largest departments. The records serve as a check, as a source of information for pastor, general superintendent, directors of religious education, of so- cial and recreational life, and departmental leaders. They also serve as a source of information and guidance for newly elected officers in the department or class. In the very small school, as in the largest, it is nearly al- ways possible to find some young man or some young woman who has both the interest and knack of keeping WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 185 attractive as well as accurate records. This responsi- bility should be committed to such a person. It will be found also that the card system of records is in the end the most dependable, the least annoying, and most ad- justable method of keeping the records. SPECIAL RURAL FEATURES Because young people in rural sections are more widely separated and fewer in number, provisions made for the social, recreational, and other features of work with them have certain characteristics of their own. Smaller groups, greater distances, fewer common inter- ests, smaller organizations — all of these are inevitable. Social and recreational life being at once the greatest need and the greatest opportunity of Young People's Departments, very careful planning and con- sideration on the part of leaders of young people in village and countryside is necessary. The social ca- pacities and instincts do not differ from those of young people in more congested centers. The increasing num- ber of automobiles, road improvement, suburban trolley systems, and increased commuting facilities provided by railroads have brought the city, town, and country into very close proximity so that it is possible, after the day's work is over, for young people to get into the bright lights of the city for an evening's social activity and return home the same night. As young people approach maturity, there seems to be a rapidly increasing tendency to spend their evenings in social activity. This, however, is not a new charac- teristic of youth in the twentieth century. It has al- ways been true, and doubtless always will be true, as young people not only desire and need, but will have a large amount of social activity. As has been indicated i86 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS before, the natural instincts along social and recrea- tional lines are clean and wholesome, until these desires have been misdirected, perverted, or provided with undesirable recreational activities. Our social problems with young people not only in cities but in rural sec- tions are largely of our own creation. There must then be exercised patience, consideration, and care in the recovery of the ground for the loss of which the church and home together are more or less responsible. The first prerequisite of a recreational program in a small church is the provision of a place where such ac- tivities may be held, either within the church building itself, or in some building provided definitely by the church, or on a neighboring lot, and known by the young people and the community to be so provided. There must be a spirit of hearty appreciation, sym- pathy, and understanding on the part of adults. Given these factors, the counselor of the Young People's De- partment with the aid of the director of social and recreational life of the local church, the Sunday-school superintendent, or of some one interested in this phase of young people's activities will work out with the Social Committee of the department or class a program which will be of increasing satisfaction and success in dealing with these young folks. Consideration must be had for the fact that in agri- cultural communities there are certain seasons of the year when the entire time and attention of young people and adults are given to the planting, cultivating, or har- vesting of the crops. Nothing should be offered that interferes with this matter of prime importance. There are other seasons in the year when the social and recrea- tional opportunity ought to be increased very greatly because of the dearth of home or farm duties. In any WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 187 event class and departmental social committees should see to it that the spirit of social fellowship enters largely into the session of the department or class on Sunday, and that the preaching services are invested with this spirit through the activity promoted especially by this department. A Pastor's Committee proves invaluable in a small church. In this way no week during the year elapses in which some social impact is not made. Circuit plans.— A certain large circuit has arranged through the social committees of each of its Young People's Departments for weekly social affairs. These are held at the various points of the circuit in succes- sion, the home church making provision for the refresh- ments, and the visiting churches in turn making provision for the entertainment. A fine spirit of whole- some fellowship, good comradeship, and circuit unity has developed from this type of program. Another circuit has formed circuit clubs of boys and girls under the supervision of the leaders of these young people's groups, which groups also have an association of their own called the Circuit Teen-Age Council, Cir- cuit Young People's Council, and the like. Work in teacher training is organized in the same way. At least annually the schools of this circuit assemble for a circuit training school at which leadership training activities for boys and girls, personal workers, officers, and teach- ers each have their appropriate courses. In addition to these courses a plan of recreational and social activities demonstrates how individual groups in the individual churches of the circuit may have social and recreational activities of their own. There are circuit baseball teams, basketball teams, and other athletic groups. There is practically no limit to the range of activity that may thus be developed when a circuit once gets i88 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS under way. It is interesting to know that the statement is now being made in that section that "S — ites always come back." This whole program developed because one man got a vision of the possibilities of the circuit operating as a unit. Winter specials. — The winter months in village and countryside are long and sometimes socially barren months. Yet there is probably no time in the year when so much opportunity for outdoor activity of a healthful and invigorating sort is to be found. Skating, coasting, sledding parties, and many other similar ac- tivities in sections where snow and ice are to be found are the common opportunity of the young people. In warmer cKmates the freedom from farm and household duties makes possible hay-rides, marshmallow and wiener roasts, opossum hunts, and other similar activi- ties. Long lists might be made of specific activities of this sort. It is sufficient here to have indicated the general direction. The dominant factor of the summer activities is recreation. An additional element ought to be con- sidered in connection with the winter specials, not only in rural schools, but in activities with the young people in the city as well. No occasion ought to be allowed to pass without careful provision being made for some desirable item of educational value. The character of this educational note, of course, will be determined by the needs of the community and of the group. Lecture courses, dramatizations, investigations, debates, open forums, the organization of a literary association, intro- duction and development of clubs for younger boys and girls, current events — such means as these afford a channel by which the educational element may be in- troduced into the winter activities of young people. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 189 The games provided for social events may themselves contain values in this line.^ Combination services. — Frequently the Young Peo- ple's Department of one small or rural school may visit another in a body, the visiting body presenting the opening session program in the combined group. Some- times it is the young people's society through which the visitation operates. Occasionally the combination is solely for the purpose of developing the devotional and spiritual life through evangelistic services. Circuits may thus be combined. The leaders of one circuit may be of assistance to another. The weaker church may be helped by the stronger on the same circuit. It must be remembered that any planning for the special rural features, whether they be circuit, winter specials, or combination services, ought to be made in consultation with the pastor, the superintendent, and other leaders of the work in local church and circuit. No young people's group ought to feel free to go ahead without the approval of their plans in detail by these persons in whose keeping are the larger interests of the church. Recreational leadership. — ^There is perhaps no field of our rural religious educational work where the dearth of leaders is so great, nor where their absence is so keenly felt. In very many of our smaller sections the mark of a real man is that he has gone or is going to a larger place. Leadership is thus constantly removed and the respon- sibility rests down upon shoulders with little or no training for the tasks. And yet there is nearly always some one whose capacities and instincts, though undis- ' See Powell — Principles of Recreational Leadership. Ebright — Recreation for Young and Old. Bancroft — Games for Playground, Home, School, and Gymnasium. Y. W. C. A. — Manual for Leaders Girls' Reserve. Manual of Camp Fire Girls. Geister — Ice Breakers. Stern — Neighborhood Entertainments. I90 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS covered and untrained, make him capable of real leader- ship. Sometimes it is the need of vision, sometimes of training, sometimes of freedom to act. Experience indicates that leadership, conscious or un- conscious, is most free to express itself during social or recreational occasions. The small church, therefore, searching for leadership among its young people, may discover this by carefully watching those persons who assume and succeed in maintaining leadership among their own or younger-aged groups on such occasions. Having discovered this capacity, it is necessary to analyze it for the purpose of finding out whether this leadership is based on a dominant personality or on some less desirable factor. Something of the motive involved must be discerned. If this motive is one of desire to help, such a person may be seized upon and placed by the pastor, superintendent, or director in a position of leadership. Careful direction therein and the provision of either correspondence courses or, if possible, a class in training for leadership, will tend to provide for the local church the necessary personnel for the work to be done. It is a further and very welcome evidence of the New Day in religious education that our colleges and universities are rapidly making provision for courses which will send the young men and the young women who have come from these smaller communities back to them with a vision and with training that will help in the remaking of rural communities. The new min- istry, comprising splendid men, the whole of whose powers and equipment are dedicated to this field, are providing leadership which shall direct these college graduates and others in the operation of the new program. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 191 SUMMARY No one can look with discernment upon the spirit of the times without seeing that the conditions of other days in village and countryside are rapidly changing. The educational handicaps, the economic differences, the pitifully meager social and recreational opportuni- ties, the industrial and political serfdom, the halting and half-divided church, the more or less impassable roads are fast becoming items of an unattractive his- tory. The New Day is dawning. With the church at the center, with specialists trained for their task, with improvements in farm and fireside, with a rapidly de- veloping community consciousness, the program .of the kingdom of God in the field of rural life is finding its new emphasis in this New Day. Church architecture, the organization and administration of educational ac- tivities, the appreciation of the necessity for special types of recreation, of making church, home, and com- munity attractive, not only socially, but economically as well — these and the continual discovery of vital leadership within their own field are the stepping- stones by which the rural church and community are coming into their own, not simply as patterns after churches in larger communities, but with a distinct and a dignified and a satisfying life of their own. To these ends many minds, many dollars, and much consecra- tion are being devoted, so that the field of rural life work contains one of the great challenges of our day. Topics for discussion: 1. Making Rural Life Attractive and Wholesome. 2. The Consolidated School. 3. Overlapping Church Parishes. 192 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS 4. Building a Recreational Program. 5. Training Rural Leaders. Books for further study: Vogt — The Church Cooperating with the Community. Wilson — The Church of the Open Country. Fiske — The Challenge of the Country. Felton — The Rural Church Serving the Community. L. H. Bailey— r^e Holy Earth. Feeman — The Kingdom and the Farm. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 193 CHAPTER X EVANGELISM AND LIFE SERVICE A PROMINENT Methodist minister recently spent some days in camp with a group of young fellows selected because of their unusual capacities and because they had not yet decided upon what they would do with their lives. Among other observations made by the adults in the group was the astounding discovery that these young men did "not want to be thought of as being simple and good." The present wave of extremes in colors, dress, actions, and social relations is, of course, a passing phase of postwar reaction; but underneath it lies a fundamental thing which makes this reaction possible. There is lack of faith in the standards which have guided the parents of our day. "After all they were just a bit puritanical. We of the New Day have greater freedom because we see how foolish many of their customs and cautions were. And then, every- thing is different now." Thus have spoken many young folks of the New Day. An after- war reaction was to be expected. But for America the swing of the pendulum has been pushed too fast and too far by some who would profit commercially thereby. One of our immediate tasks is to hasten the return to normal conditions. Youth is the flood tide of spiritual sensitiveness. A young person without some thought of God is a mon- strosity. His desire to talk of the deeper things of the Spirit may be hidden beneath the skillful camouflage of young life, but it is there. The reader is referred to a previous discussion of this matter in Chapter III for 194 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS some other aspects of this subject. Here we have to study the distinction between evangehsm and life service. In the former we must recognize (i) what evangel- ism means as related to young people, (2) what are the desirable religious responses, (3) how these responses may be secured. Life service has come to have some new and distinct meaning in these days. The stewardship of life as well as of possessions is finding a real place in the thought and utterances of our church. Perhaps this is due some- what to the startling dearth of available ministers, some communions reporting as high as forty per cent short- age. This is not an unmitigated evil. It may result in the elimination of one or more churches in overchurched communities. On the other hand, this significant fact shows a decline in the response to the challenge of the pastorate. Young people are in the volunteering age. Somehow for these years we must (i) present a clear conception of Christian stewardship of life, (2) provide vocational information and guidance, (3) develop right methods of presenting the great fields of life service as challenges to young people, (4) provide adequate train- ing for life work. EVANGELISM Evangelism and young people. — ^The message of the Gospel of Christ is as diverse as the needs of human- kind. The evangelistic task confronting any teacher or worker with young people, therefore, becomes first of all a discovery of the needs of the persons with whom he is dealing, and, in the second place, the bringing to bear upon these needs of the great fundamentals of Christian experience and of Christian doctrine which WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 195 will satisfy these needs to the uttermost. Careful stu- dents of human life have discovered the fact that there are tides of the spirit in the relationship of God to the individual and to the race. These tides are evident both when one considers great and sweeping periods of revival and when one considers periods of unusual sen- sitiveness in the individual human life. As to why there should be this ebb and flow in God's dealing with human kind we cannot answer. Study and observation show that there is a certain recognized parallelism be- tween the ebb and flow of physical and mental develop- ment, of social and recreational instinct, and the tides of the Spirit of God. These are not in the nature of causes, but are, rather, to be viewed as humanly recog- nizable expressions of some great inner and mysterious cause — God in life. Age of power. — As indicated in an earlier chapter, the years with which we are dealing are characterized by a flood tide of physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual power. These powers are both expressional and thoughtful. The tendency of young people to think out things for themselves, to refuse to accept a statement or principle just because previous genera- tions have accepted it — these and many other factors tend to determine the nature of the presentation of religion and the character of the religious activities to be used by workers with young people. The intensely personal relationship which young people have to all phases of life gives us a hint as to the nature of the reli- gious factors that will be found serviceable in dealing with them. The faith of the fathers carries with it certain implications, but only such portions of it as the individual himself may be able to apply to the condi- tions in which he finds himself will be accepted by him. 196 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS This has been called "doubt" by some. It is really the attempt of the young person to find a place to stand. He must have a philosophy of life that will hold him steady in the economic and social struggle. If he is intellectually honest, he will accept only what he has found worthy. Dealing with doubt. — How should the so-called doubts of young people be dealt with? First, by ex- pecting them. They are natural and normal for the developing mind. They should be recognized as an evidence of progress toward a Christian character. Second, by a sympathetic and wholesome attempt to accept these questionings at their face value, and mak- ing a definite and earnest attempt to answer the ques- tions. Third, by recognizing that the questions of later adolescents are not an evidence of mental or moral depravity, but indicate that the soul is feeling out after the fundamental truths of the universe and dependable relationships with God and fellow man. Information, sympathy, guidance, steadiness — these are essential. A young man came to his teacher one day after hours and said, "Mr. , I am an atheist." To his utter amazement the reply came, "Well, sir, I am glad you have thought far enough to believe something. You are beginning to arrive." After a few minutes of quiet conversation, the presentation of a few simple ideas that his immature mind had not yet considered, the young man turned about and said, "I never dreamed it was all so simple and natural. Of course I believe in God now." Faith is not a commodity that can be tied, sealed, and deposited in storage. It is a constantly developing actuality, dependent for life upon the utter freedom of its possessor. The will to believe is essential to faith. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 197 Personality, once self-realized, is never lost. The fact of personality makes the knowledge of good and evil inevitable. Each person must, therefore, make his own choices. Refusal to choose is in itself a choice. We have many times attempted to inhibit the individual's use of his own will. In past years we spoke of "break- ing" or "subduing" our wills. "Our wills are ours, we know not how; Our wills are ours, to make them thine." The problem of adult relationship to this self-determin- ing will of later adolescence is not to thwart but to guide, not to inhibit but to aid. Professor Durant Drake has truly said, "Only the trained will can be depended upon to keep true." John Stuart Mill defines character as "a perfectly fashioned will." The worker with young people finds his greatest opportunity in fashioning this will, and helping the young man or young woman to understand that free will is not license. The high- spirited horse works better under sympathetic control. Into all this must be brought the pupil's will to ac- cept the experiences of others as a start. Training this will to believe is evangelism. In this evangelism there must be a wholesome and thoughtful individual interpre- tation of all the great fundamentals of the Christian faith, so that the way may be clear. Companions. — It is apparent, of course, that very great weight is given by most young people to the judgment and attitudes of their social group. Few of them are willing to openly defy the expressed or implied conviction of their fellows. This accounts for many lapses, and at the same time for many evidences of strength, and adds increased emphasis to the necessity 1 98 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS of providing desirable individual and group association. In this age group the head and the heart are working in very much closer harmony than in any preceding period of life. It is quite possible through overstimula- tion of one or the other to secure certain evangelistic results. In many instances, however, such results are not abiding. Insistence, harassing, group action, stam- peding have no place in evangelism for young people. Previous training. — It is necessary that we should distinguish also between those persons who come into this age of development through years of careful home training and desirable church relationships and those whose home, school, and church conditions have not been conducive to the development of the highest spiritual ideals. For some young people, therefore, "evangelism consists in the discovering of their existing relation to Jesus Christ, the becoming conscious of it, and the voluntary acceptance of it in a manner fitting to their age; for others it consists in securing a recog- nition and the declaration of their attitude to the Saviour; for others, alas! evangelism must recover and recreate a relation lost and destroyed. In some cases evangelism is equivalent to consecration and avowal; in others, equivalent to rescue; but in all cases it is necessary. The relation to Jesus Christ, the Saviour, is the vital thing. There is no other name because there is no other person for child, young person, or adult. "^ The teacher, the pastor, or the friend next to the parent becomes the human hand at the crossroads. Happy the adult whose heart is in such tune with his Master's that he can sense the flood tide of the Spirit and out of his own rich experience offer the guidance that brings the young person safe to port. » Bishop W. F. McDowell. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 199 Significance. — Evangelism to young people means the Christianizing of all of life's contacts. Thus the Word of God must be shown as vitalizing everyday- relationships, affording cleansing and healing, comfort and stimulation, at the same time offering a worthy challenge to virile manhood and womanhood. The pro- gram of the church of God must likewise be intimately related to the great problems of human life and conduct as they are experienced by young people, and must offer guidance and help in all the fields of human en- deavor. A young lady in writing to her teacher said: "In church they say the same things over and over again, yet they don't seem to tell one anything. They talk of their love for Jesus and how happy it makes them, but they never say how they got it. . . . Oh, I wish you could make me understand!" The teacher. — Evangelism for young people must somehow make them understand the presence and power of Jesus Christ in a human life. "As Jesus made plain the kingdom of God to his disciples and to those who heard him by the Galilaean sea, so must parents, teach- ers, friends make Mis Kingdom as a personal presence plain to children, pupils, friends. It is the teacher's high commission. God himself depends upon humans for the release of the powers of the Almighty. The Sunday-school teacher is in the line of power. All the resources of the kingdom of God are at his command. The only limit to this power is the teacher's capacity to use it. There is no task too great, no pupil too far away or too difficult of approach for the leader who has tapped the Kingdom's reservoirs of power. Many a teacher of earnest heart and mind feels his own weak- ness. In fact, no really great teacher ever feels self- sufficient. The abiding inner sense of need is pre- 200 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS requisite to the humility that can truly make the Christ life plain to others. But many a teacher stops with the weakness. It is not necessary to have a professional evangelist, nor a special course of training in evangelis- tic technique to be able to present Jesus Christ to young people. ^An impersonal precept may give us light and a certain amount of wisdom. A guidepost does this. But it does not win our devotion nor compel our wills until it comes to us incarnated in the life of some one who walks along with us.' "^ " 'Our teacher teaches us boys to be polite.' *How does she do it?' asked his mother. 'Oh, I don't know; she just walks around — and we feel as polite as anything.' "^ Many leaders in dealing with young people will do their best evangelistic work by "just walking around." Desirable responses. — ^The reader is referred to the discussion of young people's traits (Chapter III) in order to recall the attitude which characterizes them in religion or any other field of education. The same objective sought in other fields of religious education is to be found in the field of evangelism — the modification of human conduct. Modifications of conduct for young people will be dependent entirely upon the convictions they hold. But convictions are modified by the atti- tudes of the group to which they belong. The relation- ship of a human being to his Maker is a personal relationship. The whole range of one's experience is involved in that relationship. No matter what the chain of experiences or the conditions through which the individual has come, sooner or later he must reach the point of complete surrender to or rejection of the will of God for his Hfe. 1 Even So — Leaflet; Board of Sunday Schools. * Conde — The Human Element in the Making of a Christian. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 201 Variety. — The first step toward the accomplishment of the great objective of every teacher is to bring the members of his class into such a personal relationship to Jesus Christ that in the end he will become accepted and acknowledged as Saviour, Friend, Companion, and Guide. It is to be expected that different tempera- ments, different experiences, different capacities will ex- press themselves in different ways when this vital and desirable experience comes. Those for whom it is a re- newal or confirmation of what has long existed will not express this assurance in the same manner in which one who has wandered away and who has become be- smirched with the evil of the world will show it. The responses will be as numerous and as varied as the needs and the temperaments of the persons who come. The declaration of allegiance may be to a new allegiance or to a larger conception of one already acknowledged. Expression. — ''There is a new motive and a new standard of conduct, but it is still the conduct, thought, and aspiration of youth. Care must be exercised so that no young person shall be led to adopt formal phrases and acts as the normal expression of his youthful Chris- tian experience. There are youthful means of expres- sion fully as acceptable to the Saviour of youth as the adult means of expression are to the Redeemer of ma- ture years. They may not properly be interchanged. Each must be both natural and utterly sincere. It is clear also that there cannot be uniformity of experience and expression, because there is no uniformity of tem- perament and need. Yet all need him; all must have him; 'there is no other name.' But all do not need him, all do not receive him in the same way. Your experience is not mine. Mine is not yours. Yet both of us by faith have given ourselves, accepted the sacrifice he has made. 202 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS and have the assurance that we are children of the King. "For everyone there must be decision. There must be acceptance with all the implications involved. For some this decision will mean a complete revolution of the habits of thought and action. For others it means the determination to keep on in the way. No one can automatically take his place in the Kingdom. There comes a time when the individual must declare his allegiance. This is a conscious act and involves the will. Habits of right decisions must be formed. Our minds must be 'renewed' constantly."^ "When to the soul of an adult who has missed his rightful inheritance and who has grown up unspiritual ahd unsubmissive to his Father there comes the mighty season of reality, the great tide of the Spirit, so that he is convicted of sin and turns to the Saviour from sin, there will naturally be a great confusion and breaking up of the fountains of being, an earthquake of the soul in which all things become new. ... In dealing with young people the too frequent mistake of the evan- gelistic churches has been to expect the same mani- festations of convulsion as in the converted drunkard. In the years of adolescence the whole emotional nature is in a state of flux and instability and nothing is easier than to work upon the emotions. Nothing is more dan- gerous to a church's objective than to set to work upon the emotions in the stratum of religion. Effects can be produced, but the lead in this spiritual mine will soon be worked out. The sensitiveness of this spiritual receptivity will be seared and the remainder of the spiritual Hfe will be deadened through this premature success. The mistaken acceptation that a young per- ^Even 5o— Leaflet; Board of Sunday Schools. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 203 son is not converted unless he gives the same mani- festation as an adult has led too often to an unnatural forcing and a resulting precocity which reacts viciously on later development. It is staying power that is needed. Mr. E. M. Robinson, in describing the manner in which young persons come into their spiritual in- heritance, has offered this picturesque description: ^They are as bathers on the seashore. One takes a sudden plunge, makes at once the great decision, set- tles the problem once for all. Another wades in step by step, deliberately. Another runs in, comes out again, wades in once more, and then swims away. Yet another is forced in by his companions and stays there, but only after a frantic struggle. The last sits on the beach and lets the tide rise and float him away.' God's ways of dealing with souls are exactly adapted to those souls' varieties. Since he never uses exactly the same pattern twice in creating, there will be infinite variety in the being born into the new life. But the new birth is a necessity. The bather must be submerged in the ocean. "^ Method. — There is no "best way." Many devices have been tried. Many schemes and plans have been attempted. In the end it is found that the simple, straightforward, sincere challenge made by parent, friend, or teacher whose life squares with his profession is most effective. Such a challenge is never nagging; it is always sympathetic, and commands respect even if not accepted. The first thing of concern, then, is for the spiritual resource of the person offering the challenge. He must himself have the contagion of a glowing personal expe- rience. He must be patient of results. God himself 1 Barber— rA« Unfolding of Life, 1917. Chapter VI. 204 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS will not compel anyone to accept him. The human will is supreme. With what infinite patience the Father rephrases his love in order to win our wills. We too must be willing to work and wait. "The spirit of im- patience cuts the nerve of influence." 1. If the class is an organized one, the teacher and the class president will have frequent conferences con- cerning the welfare of the class. This includes neces- sarily the spiritual relationships of the individuals in the class. Sunday-school teachers who have missed the joy of prayerful counsel with the presidents of the classes or the chairmen of the groups within the class on this matter have been deprived of one of the rich joys of work with young people. Frequently it will be found that the president's own spiritual life is much in need of enrichment. Imagine that teacher's surprise when he heard his class president pray during such a conference: "Dear Father, help me to get Bender for you." It is not surprising to hear a minister say: "The most effective evangelistic force in our church is the cabinet of our Young People's Department." 2. It is clearly evident that the wide range of social groups involved in any comprehensive work with young people will necessitate a distinction in the methods em- ployed in these groups. As it is necessary to study the particular needs, interests, and methods of approach to the individuals of a class, so too it is necessary that the usable methods and common factors in working with the various social groups of young people need to be studied. Our normal schools, colleges, and univer- sities are alive with young people who down in their hearts long for the message, power, and companionship of Jesus Christ in human life. In some no doubt there are perverse wills, but at heart all are one in this re- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 205 spect. Not everyone has the capacity to approach a group of college students; not everyone is fitted to present the claims of Jesus Christ to an industrial group; some cannot effectively lead young men and young women in rural sections to the foot of the cross; but all must be led; all must reach that point. 3. There are some necessary characteristics of the one who wishes to do this work effectively: (i) He must know in personal experience the message he wishes to bring, (2) he must know the person or persons to whom the message is to be brought, and (3) he must know the ways by which the message can most effectively be presented. There is a gospel for youth just as there is a gospel for age. One must therefore know youth with its diversity, with all its ungovemed passion and pow- ers. One must know its longings and its aspirations, and must be able somehow to reach the tap-root mo- tive of the life. One must speak with the voice of vivid humanity, must have a clear insight, the capacity to think straight. There must be a certain shrewdness guided by moral passion. There must be quickness of perception so as to outwit evil in its own business. All of this must be shot through and through with the winsomeness and the power resulting from personal companionship with Jesus Christ. 4. Certain mechanics need to be noted. Careful recoid should be made in every Sunday school of all decisions of all pupils from their earliest relationship to the school, so that persons dealing with evangelism and young people will have the background of information thus provided. Careful provision must be made for the tying up of young people making decisions to classes in which the fundamentals of the Christian life and experience are presented. The significance of the 2o6 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS erection and adoption of right standards of thought and action need not be discussed. One of the tragedies of life is to find a young person who has accepted the overlordship of Jesus Christ turned adrift among the Christians of more mature years with no program of training in the new Kfe and no opportunities provided for the expression of his new allegiance in terms of Christian activity and service. The Young People's Department program provides a place and a part for each one of these new recruits. Care should be taken to see that it becomes inevitable that one should find his place in such plan where it exists. Where there is no Young People's Department, one should be devel- oped. Departmental teachers and officers, general su- perintendent and pastor together must make it their supreme task to see that those who have renewed or taken new allegiance to the King of kings shall find a vital place in the church's training camp. LIFE SERVICE The present need of ministers and missionaries, the call for trained workers in the new phases of religious education such as week-day religious instruction, di- rectors of religious education, directors of social and recreational life, pastor's secretaries, and other special- ized forms of activity, have raised the whole matter of an adequate supply of workers into one of the most pressing problems of our day. The underlying attitude and the motive of many persons now in professional life, the large number of misfits, the character of the appeals made for the investment of life, all combine to demand a fresh study of the basis upon which life in- vestments are made. The same int-erest attaches to the range and choice of marginal time activities, those WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 207 activities which are carried on outside the field of one's livelihood. The fact that no man liveth unto himself has begun to receive proper consideration. Home, school, and church — all society — are turning with care- ful scrutiny to the question of lifework. A distinction. — Distinction must be made between evangelism and the choice of the lifework. There is some confusion at this point. The complete process of evangelizing a life involves the acceptance of the will of God for the life. This is not a life-service decision. It is clearly a prerequisite to such decision, but is none the less an essential part of evangelism. No life can be wholly Christian until the will of God for it becomes acceptable. Where and how that life is to be lived is a subsequent decision which depends upon a number of factors. This latter decision may properly be called a "life-service decision." It involves the use of the en- tire time and talent of the individual. It remains, then, to discuss the significance of: (i) The stewardship of fife, (2) Vocational information and guidance, (3) Chal- lenge to life service, (4) Training for service. The stewardship of life. — '*Ye are not your own. Ye are bought with a price" (i Cor. 6. 19, 20). There is a deepening desire on the part of the church to help young people to find God's place for them in the world's work. The loss and heartbreak of mere drifting with the tide, or of getting into the wrong place, or of landing in a "blind alley" are apparent to all. For some years industrial interests, professional in- terests, and some extra-church agencies have been combing our preparatory schools, high schools, and col- leges to discover the finest and best-equipped men and women for their needs. To a large extent they have found what they wanted. By this means some who 2o8 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS have been looking forward to the mission field or to the ministry have been sidetracked into commercial or extra-church jobs. The present situation has sometimes erroneously been ascribed to such activities. It is not the only possible cause. All are stewards. — The church and the school and the home have seen that they too should be stewards of life. The failure of a young man or young woman to find the place of largest service in the world's work is often to be laid at the door of them all. The organ- ized movement for vocational information and guid- ance has been under way more or less effectively in the pubKc school world for several years. It is but recently that the church has begun to tackle this matter in a thoroughgoing way. Some communions have gone so far as to organize life service commissions or departments with power. Pastors and laymen/ Sunday-school au- thorities, young people's society leaders, all are facing up to this task in a wholesome and intelligent way. Freedom of choice. — Young people are being given more freedom than in other days in detemfining their lifework. Instead of dictation, facts, needs, and chal- lenges are offered. Desirable standards of choice, mo- tives, and goals are having a much larger bearing upon the decisions of young people than formerly. This is as it should be. But these very conditions create a larger need for vocational information and guidance than under the old methods of inheriting the father's pro- fession or of incidental choice. Vocational information and guidance. — More and 1 A group of Eastern business men of large interests and various denomina- tional allegiance recently held an informal conference on the matter of the lack of ministers and ministerial candidates at this time. They held that that nation could not last whose people were not possessed of faith in God and righteousness. They gladly raised a fund to assure the adequate presentation of this matter to a selected group of desirable young men. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 209 more it becomes apparent that young people get their bent toward lifework in their earlier years. Very many young people know what they want to do before they have finished the grades. Many decide this matter in the early high-school years, due largely to the necessity of choosing one course as against another. Some reach their conclusion because they must arrange their units for college entrance. Early specialization courses in general high schools, the two-year high school, the vo- cational high school, the closer relation of curriculum matter to everyday life, the enrichment of the entire public-school program, including manual arts, house- hold economy, commercial training, clubs, teams, and the Hke, all tend to push forward the age of decision. Developing right attitudes. — No pupil ought to be permitted to reach a decision as to where and how he will invest all his future years without having in hand all possible vocational information and some standards of choice. The obligation to provide both of these and to develop a right motive in choosing rests clearly upon the home, the school, and the church. Instruction should begin with the earliest school years by the pres- entation of concrete examples of men and women who, because they took right attitudes toward service, proved a wholesome example. This undergirding of the whole life with a service motive is of prime importance, must begin early, and never really cease. It is not confined to lifework in its implications. Instruction of this char- acter can best be done in the pre-high-school group. During the high-school years there should be infor- mation and instruction in regard to life investment. This must be recognized to include all worthy Kfe call- ings. Sometimes it is implied that the only ''calls" God makes are to the ministry, the mission field or the pulpit. 2IO HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Nothing could be more erroneous. Every field of human endeavor is subject to the call of God. While the call to the Christian ministry differs in kind and in degree, none the less young people need to see in law, in medicine, in education, in art, in commerce, in motherhood and fatherhood — in every walk of life — an opportunity to serve him. There is no lesson more needed than that every worthy calling is or may be of God, and therefore of service in bringing in the Kingdom. Too long the church has waited to capitalize these human relation- ships for Christ. When the high-school pupil sees in every field a chance to serve and honor Christ it will aid him in choosing his field. Every calHng is inside the program of the kingdom of God, but all are not of equal value or importance. To pupils of high-school age the leader must bring careful knowledge of the fields of human activity. This includes, among other things, information regarding the present and future opportunities and ideals of each of these fields; the requirements for success; the dangers involved, both moral and physical; the rewards, both economic and spiritual; the needs of the field for work- ers; the preparation required. This material must largely be concrete in form, showing how some men with the requisite ideals, equipment, and spirit have made their contribution to their time and to the race in various fields. This material may be offered both through the high school and the church. Some high schools have made definite provision to this end. Using the assembly period, they invite in outstanding men of the various professions to present the ideals, the future opportunities, and the requisites for success in their chosen fields. Ministers, lawyers, physicians, nurses, educators, and others thus have a WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 211 splendid opportunity to show the underlying motive, the needs, and opportunities for service in the various fields of human endeavor. Some Intermediate, Senior, and Young People's Departments in the Sunday school are using the special feature period of the departmental session for this purpose. The value of this plan is evi- dent. It is also fraught with a certain danger due to the method of presentation. The college situation. — During a number of years past the undergraduates in our schools and colleges have been approached by the various candidate- seeking agencies at intervals throughout the college year. Each representative combs the college body for its most promising young men and young women. Each one of these representatives works in his own way, with slight regard for the interests of other perhaps equally worthy agencies. The results on many a campus have not been altogether happy. The students have been the victims of overlapping and duplication. They have been led to life-service decisions without having in hand all the facts. There are instances of the representatives of one agency attempting to win over to themselves a man who had already made his decision to enter the field of another agency. Campus conditions have thus become not only intolerable, but in some instances an actual menace to the welfare of the church. From the standpoint of the young men and young women them- selves the question of fairness might be raised. The local church situation. — The special interest of the pastor in charge of the local church in some par- ticular field of Christian endeavor, or the interest of some enthusiastic lay worker, sometimes the visitation of a representative of some special church interest, comprise about the only impacts which the young 212 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS people in the local church receive from the church with relation to their life investment. Occasionally some of these young persons find their way into summer insti- tute, camp, or conference, and while there are given the particular angle of the agencies conducting the assembly. Here, again, young people are sometimes led to make life-service decisions in the light of partial or inadequate facts. The home situation. — The relationship of parents to children and youth in this matter is as diverse as possible. In most instances the child reflects the spoken or inferred attitude of the parent on the matter of life investment. Perhaps therein lies a partial answer to the present situation. The disorganized and chaotic conditions existent throughout home and school and church are largely the result of a failure to assemble the facts and to organize their presentation so that every life in coming to its decision shall have at hand a world view with the facts, standards, and needs relative to each of the fields of human endeavor, and some worthy bases for the selection of the place at which his life shall be geared into the work of the world. Presentation of life-service challenge. — It is necessary at the outset to distinguish between two kinds of service — marginal-time service and life service. Marginal-time service deals with those voluntary ac- tivities carried on by one whose living is secured in some other way, for example, the Sunday-school teacher, Scout master, Epworth League president, etc. Life service means the giving of the whole life and in- volves the earning of one's livelihood in the field of that service, for example, the ministry, deaconess work, director of reHgious education, etc. In the presentation of life-service challenges it is necessary that certain fac- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 213 tors should receive consideration. The vocational apti- tudes, interests, and capacities of the various age groups will determine the nature of the presentation of the world as a field for Christian service. There have been instances in which men and women past forty years of age under the leadership of some unorganized program, have been led to volunteer for service in the foreign fields. The skill of the speaker resulted in the willing- ness to change from some specific home field where more or less satisfactory service was being rendered to the untried field across the seas. Experience has dem- onstrated that persons of those years are entirely too old to adjust themselves to the conditions of the foreign fields and do satisfactory work. When a church agency refuses to accept such a one it is placed in the embar- rassing position of seeming to circumvent the will of God for that fife. Such unfortunate situations can be obviated only when the methods of life-service presen- tation are thoroughly understood and a life-service decision clearly explained. Standards of choice. — There must be presented adequate standards of choosing a lifework or of selecting marginal- time service activities, (i) The needs and facts relating to all the great fields of human endeavor must be set forth clearly and fairly. (2) The young person must be led to evaluate himself in terms of edu- cation and of developed or undeveloped capacities. (3) In the light of the needs of the fields and of his own personal capacities he must be led to seek the direction of the Holy Spirit as to which of these fields are his. (4) Every life-service decision must be recognized as a decision to prepare. It is therefore necessary that the nature of the call to service should be explained. Decisions in this field 214 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS must be individual decisions. They should be calm, deliberate, thoughtful, prayerful, unhurried. Nagging, hurrying, stampeding, mass decisions, overpersuasion have no place in a wholesome and worthy program of life-service presentation. It is essential also that the tasks offered to young people shall be worthy tasks. "There is something stimulating in great demands. The impossible task makes men. Belittle your appeals and you breed dwarfs; stiffen your challenge and you rear giants."^ For most young men and young women the decision is twofold: (i) The decision to give oneself wholly to the field of religious activity; (2) the determination as to geography and special department. If the first of these has been reached by any fundamental process, it may be recognized as final. The second decision should be recognized as more or less temporary until the period of specialized training for the young person has arrived. Cooperation. — Cooperation of the candidate-seeking agencies is increasing steadily. The waste and ineffi- ciency of previous years is being eliminated. It is being recognized that to find the best man for the place in the light of God's will is the only safe method. Life-service commissions and departments are bringing order out of chaos and simpHcity out of confusion. In cooperation with college faculties and undergraduate leaders ar- rangements are being made by which the interests of the entire field of Christian activity shall be presented wholesomely, fairly, and regularly to the undergraduates by the one who may come representing a church agency. An earnest attempt is thus being made to present all the facts relative to all the fields. It is recognized that a weighty responsibility for vocational guidance rests 1 Dr. J. H. Jowett— The Christian Advocate, New York. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 215 upon the college faculty and the campus leaders. They also make a study of the undergraduate mind in respect to life investment. Representatives of church agencies and extra-church interests are bound to present in their public address the entire field of human endeavor. In conferences arranged by and under the supervision of faculty and student leaders, opportunity for the dis- cussion of special personal interests is provided. In this way the great problems of the world are presented, the insistent need for workers is shown, and the chal- lenge to mighty tasks is laid before the young people. Throughout the entire college year faculty representa- tives and the undergraduate leaders use every oppor- tunity to relate individuals to agencies in possession of the facts. Already this plan is beginning to show evi- dences of superiority over the old methods. In local church. — In the local church field the pas- tor is again recognized as the center of all such activi- ties. Into his hands is placed every desirable item of information and help. Through his enlightened ad- ministration his own young people are led to see the world, its needs, its opportunities, its challenge. In cooperation with his Sunday-school teachers, League and other society workers, wholesome, definite, and worthy decisions are made. The occasional visit of representatives of church agencies confirms and adds to the facts presented by the pastor in the work that he has been doing. Here again the results are justifying the change in method. Card signing. — The question as to whether an indi- vidual making his decision should be asked or required to sign a card is a matter for local decision. In some in- stances a card is most effective; in others it is a deterrent. In every instance, however, when a card is employed the 2i6 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS signature ought not to be asked for in public, nor under the pressure of an emotional appeal or group action. The signing of a card is a serious matter and should be done with deliberation, thoughtfulness, and in an atmosphere of prayer and personal conviction. The life must be wide open to the leadership of the Spirit of God, and the signature should be the result absolutely of that leader- ship, and that alone. In exercising his judgment the individual will use all the facts, all the needs, all the inspiration that have been brought to him through books, addresses, conferences. At the last, however, the decision is his and God's. No other individual pos- sesses the right of interference or of domination. Cards, if desired, may be obtained from denominational head- quarters. Reporting decisions. — ^After a church or denomina- tion has organized its life-service work, whether the decision has been reached in the local church, in an institute, conference, school, or camp, or on a college campus, the decision, of whatever kind, should be re- ported to the central office. In no other way can dupli- cation, overlapping, and chaos be avoided. It is like- wise obligatory upon the leader of any conference, institute, school or college, or any other agency under whose influence a decision has been reached, to ac- quaint the pastor of the one making the decision with the fact and the nature and circumstances of that de- cision. The prior right of the pastor of the local church to gather the fruits of his ministry must be recognized. When a pastor is indifferent or inefficient in this field of endeavor, no valid objection can be offered if his church assumes to supplement his efforts. In a cer- tain town of four thousand not one minister has been WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 217 produced in forty years. Now, however, the whole town has set itself to change that record. Training for efficiency. — The decision on the part of anyone may be a decision to do marginal- time work or to enter the field of life service as a profession. In either case the decision is a decision to train for the field and character of service chosen. Where the field of work is not a part of the decision a broad general foundation of personal enrichment and principles must be laid. The extent of training necessary depends nat- urally upon the previous training of the individual. Everyone, however, will need some special work in preparation for the new activity if his work is to be efficient. In the local church and community this training will take the form of: I. Training classes in the local school. These will be for those who are now doing the work in the local church and must be held at some time other than the hours in which that work is being done. And also for those young persons who will be doing volunteer service in the local church in the near future. For these per- sons the training class would naturally occur in the Sunday school at the Sunday-school hour; or at the hour of the Epworth League or Christian Endeavor meeting. In addition to these there is the opportunity for train- ing in service through the organized Young People's Department, the organized young people's society, the various service activities, the social and recreational programs, and the larger service campaigns. All of these afford an opportunity for training in leadership, for the discovery \)f leaders, and for the discovery of unknown capacities and weaknesses. ?. Community training schools provide classes through 2i8 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS which many workers in the community are given the benefit of the combined teaching strength of all the churches of the community. Through courses offered during the winter months the efficiency of active and prospective workers in local churches may be greatly increased. 3. An increasing number of churches are organizing their training work around a church night. Under this plan the congregation assembles regularly each week for a supper period followed by a series of group as- semblies in which little children, boys and girls, young men and women, and adults are provided with activities which appeal and which tend to satisfy the needs of the groups. Such a program provides play and stories for little children; midweek activities such as Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, or Girls' Reserve for the girls and boys; training classes in leadership, recreational and other forms of service for young people; Bible study, special problems, church interests for adults. This plan affords opportunity for a wide range of training and sociabih'ty. Interchurch schools. — Sometimes where it is not advisable to develop a community school, two or more churches of the same or different denominations unite in a training program planned to fit their own peculiar conditions and needs. In each of these plans special provision should be made for those persons who have made Hfe-service decisions for the purpose of directing attention to the ways and means of preparation for life service, for enriching the personal devotional life, for special study of specific fields, problems, or conditions, particularly with relation to the local church. In school and college. — In high school, junior and senior college, and university, courses are being intro- duced in training for leadership. These courses are less WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 219 technical than those provided for specific training in life service. They are intended largely for the training of marginal-time workers. It is a most happy situation where such courses are offered. Many pastors have found in their dealings with pupils who were sent away to college and university that they came back home with an enlarged vision of the world, with increased de- velopment of their capacities in many other fields of activity; but in relation to their home church and its program they came back less capable, less efficient, and could be listed more as liabilities than as assets. The new program is removing that condition. Schools and colleges are now making definite provision for the training of their undergraduates in the principles, mate- rials, and methods of work in the home church. In state universities, religious foundations are being established, student pastors appointed, and the undergraduates pro- vided with the opportunity to relate all their college and university work to the great ideals, principles, and motives of the Christian life. The day is past when it may safely be said that our schools and colleges cannot be listed as vital factors in a program of religious edu- cation. There are schools and colleges which have failed to see the necessity for such adjustment. As a rule, the pastors do not look to them for the leadership and training of their youth. In addition to these general means of training there are provided departments of religious education, schools of missions and religious pedagogy, theological schools, deaconess and other training schools. The number and range of interests thus embraced is as wide as the needs of the church. Boards of home and foreign missions, pastors and others seeking for workers, are setting worthy standards of attainment for persons desirous of 220 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS entering these fields of service. For the detail of train- ing for marginal-time service, such as Sunday-school teachers, young people's society workers and the like, the reader is directed to Chapter XII. Young people who have decided upon work in a special field through their leader or pastor, should be brought into direct contact with the church board or agency vested with the supervision of the work in that field. The interests of the field and the interests of the candidate will best be served by following the suggestions and utilizing the help of the recognized authority in the field he serves. In this way the assignment of the candidate to a sp>ecific place in the field of his choice can be made with intel- ligence and with satisfaction to all concerned. Assistance of candidates. — Some churches have provided resources which may be drawn upon by de- ser\dng candidates during their training period. The amounts, conditions, and prerequisites of such assist- ance are facts which can be discovered only by direct correspondence between the individual and the church agency having such funds to administer. The pastor, local church, and the president and faculty of the school or college involved ought to be provided with this in- formation. The Life-Service Department of one denomination^ has set forth the following statements relative to life- ser\ice appeals: 1. Always present Life Sen-ice as meaning the devo- tion of full time to some special form of Christian Service. 2. Always make the appeal for decision for Life Service definitel}^ . . . 3. Make no appeals to little children for immediate decision for Life Service. Methodist EpiscopaL WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 221 4. Always make the appeal for a decision for Life Service as a single, separate, and distinct appeal or proposition. 5. Base the appeal on the truth as to the needs of the field and the claim of these needs upon life. 6. In making the appeal for Life Service exercise un- usual care not to take undue advantage of tense emo- tional situations or of unusual conditions of excitement. 7. In making the appeal, always exercise great care not to take advantage of youth on the basis of crowd psychology. 8. Hold a brief interview with every one who responds to the appeal for Life Service decisions and make such report on same as your church has arranged. . . . 9. In private interview and in public appeal be sure to bring the possible recruit to the point of counting the cost of Life Service. 10. Assure the recruit that he will hear from the cen- tral office and wiU have a full opportunity to express his choice regarding the particular form as well as the gen- eral field of Life Service. 11. Send all of the signed cards, or copies thereof, of Decisions for Life Service to the Commission on Life Service (name of your denominational headquarters) . Send in the cards without delay. 12. Seize every possible opportunity to win the finest and strongest of our young men and women for Life Service in our church. Topics for discussion: 1. Preservation and Rescue. 2. Honest Doubt. 3. A Young Person's Religion. 4. Making Life Count. 5. What Constitutes a Call. 222 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Books or further study: Conde — The Human Element in the Making of a Christian. Cabot — What Men Live By. Tiplady — Christia^iity and the New Era, WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 223 CHAPTER XI YOUNG PEOPLE IN CHURCH, COMMUNITY, AND WORLD The hope of the race lies in its coming generation. We have seen how certain early conditions tend to pro- duce corresponding results in later adolescence. Some of these are desirable and some undesirable. The prov- ince of the home, the church, and community is to see to it that the conditions are such as will produce desir- able results. A study of the defects in boy training reported re- cently in Religious Education offered some significant cases illustrative of the out-cropping in later adolescence of undesirable factors due largely to a failure on the part of adults to provide right education in the earlier forma- tive years. A young fellow who spent his early years in Sunday school says it led to vacantness, wandering, moody meditation, with an utter lack of energetic think- ing in regard to religious matters and a passive attitude toward things in general. There was nothing to do and nothing in the range of his thought life. The Sunday school seemed to divorce religion and life. Two other fellows, crippled by diffidence and the lack of ability to express and assert themselves, attributed it all to the fact that they had been habitually repressed during the earlier years. The reader will recall the discussion in an earlier chapter relative to this matter of barren spots or sags due to earlier failure in education or in other training (see Chap. II). "A group of lamentable cases was discovered in this 224 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS study, in which exemplary young men and older boys had on going away from home for the first time at once made complete moral shipwrecks of their lives. In every case it was discovered that they had been al- lowed no freedom in directing their lives at home. Their hour for coming in at night and all other details of life had been rigidly prescribed for them by an arbitrary authority. The result was that early in life their own capacities for creative effort, reflective choice, self- control, and self-direction were strangled before they could develop. There must also have been an abiding resentment against a system at once so arbitrary and so harmful. Among other conclusions reached in this study were: "Any attempt at character-building that leaves the home out of the reckoning is doomed to puerility and failure. "The Sunday school seems to have been in many cases a positively harmful influence, and in others an unappealing and meaningless diversion in the lives of boys. "The home, the school, the church, and social and recreational life must be organized around the expres- sional, creative, assertive needs of life. "Back of every wrong social attitude lies a repressed, buried, or misdirected normal impulse. All the agen- cies that are in the enterprise of character creation must take account of this fundamental and paramount fact."i We cannot escape the conclusion that the church is a vital factor in the development of the life of the race. Next to the home itself, it is the most important factor. It cannot side-step its responsibility. ^ Religious Education, 192 1. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 225 In a certain small town in Ohio the trustees of the local church flatly refused the use of the church build- ing for recreational purposes. The young people of the town immediately set about finding recreation for them- selves. At present they are to be found in pool halls, and in a dance hall in which, according to a traveling salesman, such forms of dancing are permitted as would cause immediate arrest in any well-poHced city. In the high school are to be found cribbing, cheating, and un- usual evidences of immorality. Likewise the community, with its billboards covered often with suggestive words and pictures, its dirty streets and dark places, with its beautiful homes, parks, and buildings, has its sins of omission and of commis- sion. "The hitherto unobserved impressions of child- hood," Pfister says, "control the later development of the normal individual, even the peculiarity of his style, his choice of a vocation, and of a wife, as well as the most significant affairs." More and more the vision of the church at the cen- ter, cooperating with home and school hi sl great world task of making world Christians, is coming to men. More and more the attention of thoughtful persons is being centered upon the industrial waste and competi- tion, the social maladjustments, the slum environment that produces the "slum mind," and upon all correla- ted evils which cry aloud for the justice and healing to be found only in the message and program of Christ. The church, the community, and the world must not only face their responsibility, but young men and young women must be led to find their place in the accom- plishment of that " . . . far off divine event, To which the whole creation moves." 226 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS THE LOCAL CHURCH AND ITS YOUNG PEOPLE It has been iterated to the point of weariness in these pages that a place for and participation in adoles- cent life are requisites in any church program. This is particularly true of young people of eighteen to twenty-four. Much of the weakness of the moral powers of body, mind, and will, much of the indifference to the local church and its work, much of the failure of our work with young people, is due to a lack of partici- pation. A study of the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago, Illinois, in which two hundred and thirty- seven teachers observed approximately one hundred thousand children, brought to light that fifty per cent were vitally affected by the message of the moving picture screen. This study developed the fact that in its influence upon the lives of children the home stood first, the public school second, the moving picture third, the church fourth. This included all branches of the church. The significant element in the study is that the church does not stand in relation to life in the place which its message and power make possible. In some way the local church must make itself a vital part of the fives of young men and young women. There is no way in which this can be done save by closely relating the church program to the actual daily social, recreational, industrial, and educational lives of young people. It must be a seven-day program. It means adequate provision for social and recreational life. It means that the organization, the materials, the methods employed in the field of religion must be based upon the interests, needs, and capacities of these per- sons. Architecture must do its part. Leadership and supervision must be provided. And this will be a matter of expense. There are WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 227 some churches which need to review in the light of the needs of growing life, the distribution of funds they are now making. There lies before us the annual re- port of a large church. It contains these items: for the pastor, $7,000; business agent, $3,000; janitors, $3,000; church music, $4,500; Sunday school, $1,000; Young People's organization, $400. A report has just been made indicating that in a certain denominational body the Sunday schools of that organization contributed more than four times as much to the support of the church as the church invested in the Sunday school. In one denomination only seven per cent of the benev- olent dollar was given (19 19) for purposes of religious education. It is to be noted, however, that home and foreign missionary societies are each doing their part in the field of religious education. Not until the church as a denomination and the local church as a unit takes the matter of religious edu- cation and the training of its young people seriously enough to make adequate financial provision need it expect to receive in return from young people any more serious attention than the church itself exhibits. Church attitudes. — The attitude of the local church on the matter of its ministry to the whole needs of the whole life ought to be made plain to young people from the pulpit, in the class and through the financial pro- visions made as well as through the opportunities of- fered for the use of church time and property. The attitude of the church on the matter of the natural expression of the religious life of young people ought to show itself through the organization of a unified Young People's Department of the church (Chap. V) in which training in worship and expression in service and train- ing for leadership find their place. 228 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Special assignments. — The participation of young people as groups and as individuals in the administra- tion of local church affairs is of real importance. Junior membership on boards of trustees, stewards, the session, deaconess association, or other organizations of mature life in the conduct of local church affairs should be pro- vided. There is no other way in which young men and young women can learn how affairs of the local church are conducted, or be trained for efficiency in conducting these affairs when they themselves come to bear the burdens of such work. Special assignments by these bodies to the young people ought to be made. Studies of community conditions, of local church conditions and needs, the handhng of certain functions, social, recrea- tional, evangelistic, and the like, the organization of church missions to be supervised by adults, but actually conducted by the young people — these and many other types of special work, if offered heartily and sympa- thetically as a field of endeavor for young people, will find a response that will not only be of tremendous value to the kingdom of God, but will itself be a de- veloping factor in the lives and capacities of the young people who participate therein. THE PASTOR AND HIS YOUNG PEOPLE The situation in some churches makes it necessary for the pastor to choose among several fields of activity. For some this means whether the emphasis will be laid upon the pulpit or upon the pastoral office. For some it means a distinct recognition of the young life of the church and a little less emphasis upon adult life, or the recognition of the adult life with less emphasis upon the interests of young people. Each pastor thus sit- uated must make his own choice. However, the choice WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 229 ought to be made in the light of the fact that if young people abandon the church, sooner or later the church itself will die. Statistics indicate that approximately seventy per cent of our conversions and sixty per cent of first crimes occur during the middle and later ado- lescent years. This is the age of voluntary enlistment. Wise is the pastor who takes these factors into account and plans his program with full recognition of the flood tide of power found in the young life of his church and community. A splendid feature of the choosing to minister pri- marily to youth is that such a course does not necessi- tate neglect of either childhood or adult hfe. The pastor who plans carefully a program of participation, who reveals his capacities of leadership by employing his young people to carry on the actual items of the pro- gram, will discover for himself more time for the more important things and an increasing range of contact in all the age groups represented in his church. More things will thus be accompKshed. The pastor's committee. — The pastor's committee has been found by many pastors to be a real asset, both in interesting his young people and in intensifying his relationships. Such a committee is made up of a group of young people corresponding in number somewhat to the size of the church, whom the pastor takes into full confidence in his planning, especially for evening-worship service. This service is recognized as a young people's service. Each of these persons, known to the pastor, but unknown to others, selects a location in the church auditorium which he occupies promptly and faithfully at each church service, providing himself with an extra hymnal, and in case of need, with a fan. They make it their particular duty to see that persons in their 230 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS immediate vicinity are provided with a hymnal and know the number of the hymn and the pages of the psalter reading. At the conclusion of the service those who can be reached are heartily greeted by these young persons. In case of the discovery of sickness or any particular need, the individual is brought to the pastor for his personal attention. It may be practicable for the pastor to indicate to these young persons the nature of the sermon, whether it be in a series or a separate theme. The young people are in a prayerful and helpful attitude. The pastor feels that at any time he may glance in their direction and there find a human center of influence and helpful- ness for him. On the part of the young people there is a feeling of responsibility because the pastor is depending upon them for a certain portion of the success of the worship period. Frequently the ushers are selected from or by this group, as are those who wait upon the con- gregation for the offering. In general, the ushers and those who receive the offering are under the direction and supervision of an adult. Sometimes pastors pre- pare a series of sermons, the themes of which have been suggested by this group. The nature of treatment also may have been indicated by them. The relationships of groups of young people in local churches have been utterly changed by such simple and entirely reasonable devices as these. In some cases where the pastor has gone further and asked a member of this group to assist in conducting the preliminary services some young men have been led to give them- selves to the ministry and some young women to enter the field of religious education as life work. Pastors have used young people as assistants to carry on some of the work of systematic visitation and to perform WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 231 other simple pastoral functions with remarkable success both as to the character of the work performed and as to the effect of this participation upon the attitude of the young persons involved. Deputations. — In the matter of deputation work we have but touched the fringe. Vast reaches of outlying territory in the United States, often whole communi- ties of people in our larger cities, are altogether un- touched by any form of religious activity, Hebrew, Catholic, or Protestant. There are large numbers of homes that have never seen a Bible, to say nothing of possessing one. There are persons who have never heard the Word of God explained by pastor or layman. There is opportunity in our day for the development of a large body of lay pastors and women workers who, under the leadership, supervision, and direction of the pastor of the local church, will be led to the develop- ment and carrying on of one of our most needed pro- grams. Only the future could tell what the effect upon the young lives thus actively engaged would be. Camps. — Increasingly the lure of camping is finding response in the plans of boys and girls and young men and young women. A distinction needs to be drawn between those camps which are purely recreational and those which have an educational element. For a num- ber of years it has been the custom of some men and women engaged in educational enterprises to conduct camps for commercial purposes during the summer va- cation months. Many independent organizations for boys or girls, such as Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., are increasing the number and size of their summer camps. Many of these camps are of very high character and have made a worthy contribution to the lives of the boys and girls partici- 232 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS pating. Most of such camps make provision for tutor- ing the boys and girls who are in need of this. Some others provide for all manner of nature study, camp craft, and the like. Comparatively few, however, have recognized the distinct religious educational opportunity for boys and girls offered by outdoor life under sym- pathetic leadership. Some of our best local churches are providing a camp site and equipment for the use of the boys and girls, young men and young women of their constit- uency. This is a most desirable feature of any church program. The pastor who has been camping with his young people has an insight into their temperament, character, and disposition which he can get in no other way. The young people who have been camping with their pastor have respect for, confidence in, and com- radeship with him which goes far toward making every- thing that he says and suggests worthy of the closest attention and fullest consideration. The pastor who has not had a night under canvas with the young men of his parish has missed something. ^ Sometimes several churches of a denomination, or those of an entire district, unite in providing a camp lasting seven to ten days for the various age groups of their district, taking the young men for a season, the young women for a season, and following each of these with the younger boys and younger girls. Care is taken to select from the older groups such persons as evidence capacity and desire for leadership. This makes it pos- sible to give them the training in action which is most desirable, and under a supervision which assures right attitudes and a worthy program. Where the church has an all-inclusive organization for its young people such a plan is very easily carried out. The morning hours at WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 233 a camp of this nature would be given to serious con- sideration of the great problems which affect the lives of young people. Care should be exercised that there is sufficient range and brevity in these study programs. If too long, they become wearisome; if too short, they omit vital factors. A young man just past eighteen years wrote to his father from a camp saying, 'The trouble is they feed you too much on about six colos- sal world problems instead of a little on about sixty pressing questions that young people now face." District superintendents and pastors will discover in the evening camp-fire period of the young people's camp a splendid time for promoting the interests of the king- dom of God at large, of the district which they super- vise, and of the local churches therein. The development of the personal devotional life in a camp that is properly organized and that has a wholesome program is not only rapid but intense. Its wholesome evangelistic pos- sibilities and life-servace opportunities have not as yet been fully realized. If you want to put anything into the life of a church, of a district, or a communion, as- semble the young people in camps where it can be dis- cussed, understood, and decided by them. It must be clear that such a camp ought to be distinctly under the supervision and direction of the leadership of the church or district, if it is going to prove of greatest value and effectiveness. The suggestive camp programs at the end of the chapter will be found helpful in making concrete the camp ideas here offered. THE YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE COMMUNITY The idea of the community as a unit worthy of con- sideration has been growing rapidly in recent years. In thinking of the relation of young people to the com- 234 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS munity several observations may be made. Young people are very responsive to the influence of the personaKties and opinions of the leaders in the com- munity, whether these be social, economic, educational, or rehgious leaders. Majority opinion has great weight. "Don't lose your first vote" is often given as the basis for the first exercise of the franchise. "Everybody's doing it," and other similar expressions, indicate this tendency. The strong influence of one individual upon another is obvious. The traditions of the community along lines of conduct, ideals, dress, etc., frequently find zealous support from young people. Occasionally equally zealous opposition is shown. Ideals and stand- ards in relation to religion, sportsmanship, the atti- tude to one's job, to the opposite sex, to little children, to adults, are sometimes those of the group rather than standards which have been thought out by the indi- vidual. Just here it ought to be stated that the stand- ards of any group may be changed almost abruptly by the willful activity of an individual or several individ- uals within the group. A single young woman, or two intimate friends may completely change the social and spiritual complexion of a sorority within a few months. The advent of a new family may change the ideals of an entire neighborhood. A dishonest merchant may very quickly affect the standards of weight, measure, and quality in his locality. The interaction of influence must always be considered. What makes a commtinity. — It is difficult to de- fine a community because of the variety of factors which determine its confines. These may be geographical, as "East Side" and "West Side"; or racial, as "Little Italy," or the "residential section"; they may be so- cial, as "middle class," "better class." There is con- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 235 stant change in the confines of a community due to the constantly changing conditions, except, perhaps, the geographical. What makes a community, then, can have no final answer. What may be noted, however, is that two or more people, families, organizations, or a district having some common interest or cause thereby become a community. Merely living in the same lo- cality does not necessarily predicate a community. It is obvious in this connection, however, that with the development of civilization and the consequent increase of the interrelation of human interests the community idea tends to crystallize, and the community confines tend to take more definite form. Where there is com- munity, cooperation is possible. Where cooperation is not possible, the community idea has not yet taken its full place. Community agencies. — Community agencies are of two sorts — those which grow up from within, and those which come from without. The agencies growing up from within are such as develop when individuals begin to see the advantage or necessity of thinking, planning, and working together. Those which grow from without are agencies which have been planned by persons or powers outside the community and brought to the com- munity for adoption, and support. In the former group are to be found such elements as interdenominational organizations, chambers of commerce, boards of educa- tion, of health and other similar factors. Those that are imposed from without are frequently parts of a larger whole which may be national or international in scope. Their primary responsibihty is to the larger organiza- tion of which they are a part. Agencies growing up from within the community are more likely to be representative of the community units 236 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS as such. Agencies coming from without are generally in the hands of selective groups. The former are di- rectly responsible to those units which they represent. The latter are responsible to the overhead organiza- tion only. In most instances those organizations which grow up from within formulate their own programs in the light of all the facts and advice which can be obtained. The outside organization comes with a program which is part of a larger whole. The direction of the organization that grows up from within is vested in the persons chosen by them for administrative posi- tions. The direction of the extra-community agency is supervised from without. Each of these types, from which nearly every community organization varies more or less, has its own peculiar advantages and disadvan- tages. So far as the decision as to which type is best suited to any local community, only the community interests and personnel can determine. One thing, however, is certain, that the young people must be led to recognize that all community agencies for the betterment of the community, whether they have grown up from within or been imposed from without, whether they deal with the church as such, or with the economic, industrial, or social relations — that all of them somehow root back in and exist because of the religion of Jesus Christ as ex- pressed in the organization called his church. Where the church is directly concerned its participa- tion in community enterprises ought to be based on direct and official representation of each denomination as such. It is not always in harmony with the facts to say that a man who is a prominent member of a local church and who has been asked by some community agency to sit on its committee or boards of directors is WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 237 a "representative" of that denomination. He may be, and doubtless is, a worthy representative, but if he has not been so designated by his church he has no corre- sponding authority or responsibility. Community en- terprises to be community enterprises must be formu- lated, organized, and directed by representatives of those units which compose the community. There must be some responsible check. Few, if any, com- munities ignore the larger denominational or national relationship when once they face the cooperative idea. Community activities. — In the last analysis the most active personal agents in the community are its young people. Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, Junior Chambers of Commerce, and the like are a visible ex- pression of the interest which young people naturally have and the energy they are willing to expend in order that their community may be made all it can and should be. This means that where sympathetic leadership is offered, young people will throw themselves into the program which makes for reconstruction, particularly if in the reconstruction some attention has been given to th.e needs and interests of young persons. The range of activities includes surveys, pageants, clean-up cam- paigns, field days, old-home week, teams, clubs, con- tests, and a wide variety of other interests. A small town in a lumbering section contained a small group of young people who, under the leadership of a splendid woman of vision, set about to make pro- vision for the youngsters of the town, whose custom it had been to spend the vacation days loafing about the town square. Just outside the borough limits a stream was dammed up to provide swimming facilities. The county road scraper was borrowed to make tennis courts, baseball diamonds, and the like, in a neighbor- 238 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS ing field donated for the purpose. An entertainment was given in the high-school auditorium, the proceeds of which were used to secure equipment. A committee of adults was organized to supervise the activities. As the season wore on local drug-store and general- merchandise proprietors lent their assistance to the project by refusing to permit boys or girls to loaf on their premises. Baseball teams, tennis tournaments, swimming races, a wide variety of boys' and girls' clubs were developed. The churches of the community stood back of the project, the two local Protestant ministers and the Roman Catholic priest joining in an effort to save the young people of the town from the influences of storeroom and street. The young people themselves did the work assigned to them with joy and profit. There was thus discovered to them their need for training. At the end of the first season under this program two of those who had participated and who had not intended so doing left the community to enter collegiate institutions. Two others reentered training schools for admission to college. These are some of the easily discernible influences of a small community pro- ject. The effect upon the conduct, speech, and ideals of sportsmanship in the younger generation can scarcely be measured. A national birthday. — In some communities the at- tempt is being made to have an annual National Birth- day. Sometimes it is held in connection with the Fourth of July; in others the latter part of October. All the young people of the community who have reached their twenty-first birthday during the year are made the guests of the community in a community birthday party. At this time they are given some idea of the significance of the franchise, some ideals of American WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 239 political and social life, and some standards by which the franchise may effectively be exercised. Such a movement throughout the nation would prove of ines- timable value in setting standards of American life and conduct in the political world. The transition of a boy, sometimes of a girl, into the period of adolescence along about the twelfth year was marked in many primitive races, and is celebrated to- day by some otherwise backward peoples with unusual and more or less dignified ceremonies. It would be a matter of real moment and of great significance if a similar custom could obtain in our land, not only for the transition into early adolescence, but likewise for the transition into young manhood and young woman- hood at the close of the high-school age. This induc- tion, if put on with dignity, with enthusiasm, with a sensitiveness to all the finer ideals of life and conduct, could not but carry conviction and power into the lives of the boys and girls or the young men and young women who were participants. Further, it would call particular attention to the significance of young people in our community and national life. Meeting places. — Recreation and playground asso- ciations, community clubs for social and recreational purposes, athletic associations, and a wide variety of organizations running the whole gamut from viciousness in character to most profitable and helpful influences are to be found in our communities. These are a further confirmation of the fact that young people and their interests will be served, if not under desirable condi- tions, then under such conditions as may be possible. A young men's club made up of thirty wholesome, clean-cut, average industrial workers, sought a meeting place. Wages were such that the dues were limited to 240 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS ten cents per week. The following opportunities were discovered by their committee: 1. A room in a community house in a good location, light, clean, attractive, free. The conditions were that the room would be available on certain m'ghts of the week only and must be vacated at lo p. M. Since the young men could not reach the room before 8:45 or 9:00 this project was abandoned. 2. A desirable room in a most undesirable neighbor- hood at the cost of $2.50 per week. The club decided not to rent it on account of the neighborhood. 3. A large, fairly attractive room above a saloon, free on condition that the club bought drinks (before the prohibition enactment); otherwise, $3.50 per week. The committee was unable to discover a satisfactory room available in any local church. It is a matter of community concern as to where and under what conditions the clubs and associations of its young people assemble. Young people themselves are the best agents to discover the facts and help to provide a solution for the problem. They, however, cannot do it alone. Always the matter must be referred back to the mature members of the community. A group of young men organized a baseball team and asked a college man in the community to act as coach. The ideals of sportsmanship of the coach were high. He found the young men were in the habit of betting on their own game, of using unsportsmanly methods of winning. Kindly, but firmly, he set himself against such conduct and proved beyond a doubt that in the last analysis good sportsmanship and clean play- ing win out. It soon become known that all the teams in the Interchurch League preferred to play on the grounds provided by this team. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 241 Supervision is essential ; it means good sportsmanship and clean play. A study of the pool rooms, the dance halls, the moving picture and legitimate theaters, recreation and amusement parks, of rinks, river boats, automobile routes, road houses, soda and ice cream par- lors, athletic and social clubs, and many forms of com- mercial enterprises in communities would prove of great value in organizing the community to provide worthy substitutes for unwholesome recreational meet- ing places and programs. A financial investment by the community in wholesome, capable, effective super- vision of units within the community is not only good business but is an asset most welcome by the young people themselves. Week-day schools of religion. — There are few mterests concerning which communities need to take more careful thought than that of the religious educa- tion of their children and youth. The primary respon- sibiHty for religious education rests upon the home. The secondary responsibility rests with the church. The state has no capacities in this respect. The church, state, and home, however, are in complete agreement that no education is complete until it includes religion. An increasing number of communities are organizing boards of religious education corresponding in function to the board of public education, for the purpose of see- ing to it that every child and youth within its bounds is offered the privilege, if the parent wishes, of having such instruction in rehgion as the parent may choose. It is beyond the province of this book to discuss this matter except to say that here, again, the community is made up of recognized denominational units in which the responsibility for religious education is vested. These units as such owe it to themselves and to their 242 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS constituencies to see that childhood and youth are not neglected in this phase of their education. From the standpoint of young people the field of week-day religious instruction offers one of the com- manding opportunities for the investment of time, energy, and talent. It is necessary that young people shall be thoroughly trained for this type of work, as well as for teaching in denominational Sunday schools. Protestant churches face the necessity of developing an order of trained teaching women competent to carry on this work in week-day schools of religion. To this end many communities have organized. Community training schools. — In these schools, for ten or twelve weeks in the fall and as many in the win- ter months, there are offered by the churches several practical courses in training for leadership, training for teaching, and instruction in the general field of religion. The standards for work of this type are rapidly ad- vancing. Educational leaders of very high order are participating in the conduct of these schools. No com- munity school can ever take the place of the training that needs to be done for the local leadership in the local Sunday school, but leaders to carry on the train- ing in the local school may properly and more or less satisfactorily be trained in community schools. As an opportunity for the development of their capacities, young people who are unable to secure training in normal schools and colleges will find the community school of unusual value. The organization and conduct of these schools should rest upon the same representa- tive basis as other interchurch or community activities. WORLD RELATIONS Careful attention is being given in many quarters to WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 243 the development of the idea of world citizenship. The nations of the world rise or fall together. Many persons as yet have not the world view, nor have they sensed the significance of the world mind. For our young people there must be the home-keeping heart. In order, how- ever, to make the best home it is essential that the community should be of the highest possible type, that the state of which the community is a part should be founded upon righteousness and justice, and that the world of which the state is a member should recognize Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords. To this cause the world is not yet wholly devoted. The attention and interest of young people must be attracted toward the great world fields of service, their conditions, their needs, their challenge. Modern inven- tions have made the world small enough for young people everywhere to know how the other half lives. Out of the array of facts and information placed in their hands young people can with satisfaction and with propriety set themselves to the task of planning how the world can be brought into subjection to the ideal and under the influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Participation in world afiairs follows participation in world thinking. World thinking is based on a knowl- edge of world facts and world conditions. When these have been provided, not before, we may expect to find our young people rising in their power to meet world needs. SUMMARY I. This is preeminently the age in which young peo- ple are finding larger and larger opportunity to express themselves in thought and action. It is necessary, therefore, if the church desires to have the interest and 244 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS attention of young people, that it should provide a place and a part in which there is opportunity to think followed by opportunity to act. Some of the indiffer- ence and some of the undesirable activities of young people are due in part to the mistakes and failures of their training in earlier years. It is incumbent, there- fore, upon the church of to-day to do its part to make up for any absence of the right sort of training during childhood and early youth. To this task part of the church has set itself. Where it has so done, it is find- ing an increasingly desirable response from the young people. Pastors are giving more and more of their time and a larger place to young life in the conduct of affairs in the local church. Pastors' committees, helpers, depu- tations, training camps, junior members of church boards, special assignments, and the like form a part of this splendid new program. 2. Communities have awakened to the fact that there are some things which can best be done together, and cooperative enterprises in economic, social, and re- ligious fields are producing splendid results. Pageants, civic campaigns, training schools, recreational projects, week-day schools of religion, national birthday, a wide range of activities planned with, for, and sometimes by young people are remaking whole communities. 3. The world is being brought very close by means of newspapers, books, magazines, the screen and lectures. Young people are rapidly becoming world-minded. The increase in general knowledge makes possible an ad- vance in specific knowledge. Planning ways and means to meet world needs, searching for places to invest life at the full, a splendid increase in the number of prom- ising young people taking up world tasks as their life- work results from the introduction of such a program. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 245 The church in the community, the young people in the church and in the community are set to the remaking of the world on the basis of justice, righteousness, and peace. If church and community are wise enough to reckon with the powers, capacities, enthusiasms, and sacrifices of young people, the coming of the Kingdom will be greatly accelerated. Topics for discussion: 1 . How Young People Can Help the Pastor. 2. Recreational Supervision in Church and Commun- ity. 3. Wholesome Evangelism by Young People. 4. Sharing with Young People. 5. The World Mind. Books for further study: Moore — The Youth and the Nation. Hagedorn — You Are the Hope of the World. Atheam — Religious Education and Democracy. Coe — A Social Theory of Religious Education. Loveland — Training World Christians. Fleming — The Marks of a World Christian. 246 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS CHAPTER Xn LEADERSHIP "There is little basic difference between the herd and the leader. Big minds are simply used minds — en- larged and strengthened by constant exercise. Com- manding intelligence anywhere differs from crowd average only in vision, purpose, and determination. Brains are motors incapable without a persistent driv- ing force. The nearest spot is the best location for success. Everybody stands the same chance, but the majority stands still before it. The greatest undertak- ing requires only head room. There was space enough in a log cabin to rebuild an entire nation. The vastest dream under the stars and the machines to process it into reaHty can be covered by a hat."^ The call of leadership is largely a matter of convic- tion. The individual whose convictions are deeply enough seated has the potentialities of leadership. The difference between the leader and the crowd is that the leader is just a little ahead in his vision, in his thinking, in his planning, in his attitude. The motive of the leader and the motive of the crowd may not be unlike. The difference is largely one of speed, passion, and method. In any age an effective Christian leader, says Dr. Lynn Harold Hough, must be a person of vivid humanity, speaking the language of the people, as did Lincoln; a person of vital intellect, who has developed the capacity to think straight; a person of practical ' Herbert Kavifman — McClure's, April, 193 1. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 247 shrewdness guided by moral passion, who has capacity to out- think and out-maneuver evil; a person with' a vital Christian motive, whose eagerness to serve is the result of his passion to make Jesus Christ regnant. The cost of leadership. — General Burnham while in the Saint Mihiel drive, when speaking to a group of chaplains, said: "The loneliest place is the place of leadership. When I was a colonel I knew every one of my men by his first name and had a certain comrade- ship with him. Now every one tries to say what he thinks I should like to hear. I long for the joy of again living with my men." The price of leadership is high. If it seems easy, just try being a leader. The average man seldom thinks of the load which power brings. The rapid maturing and steadying of young persons upon whose shoulders have been laid unaccustomed responsibilities testifies to this. Dean Mathews, in The Making of To-morrow ^ says: ^^ Loneliness is part of the cost of power. The higher you cHmb the less you can hope for companionship." The loneHness of Jesus expressed itself in many attitudes and some words. '^ Could ye not watch with me one hour?" was the cry of a heart longing for companion- ship. Down through the ages those pioneer souls who have led the great movements for the uphft and better- ment of humanity have more often than not been the most lonely and often the most buffeted of men. The lonehness of spirit is the most poignant loneliness the human heart can know. To comparatively few of them was it given to see the fruit of their labors. Submission. — ''Moses, what is that in thine hand? . . . Cast it upon the ground." The leader himself must have taken the attitude toward his vision of com- plete submission and surrender. His passion for serv- 248 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS ice must have swept through his own soul at white heat and consumed therein any competitive or contradictory elements. ''The one-eyed man is king among the blind." When Moses placed himself and all his powers upon the altar, when Paul followed a similar course with his capacities, then it was possible to add to each of them the unlimited resource and power of the Almighty. Then only did it become possible for these great hearts to discover and command in others that which had been discovered and commanded in them. Singleness of purpose, steadfastness, power do not reside in organs but in conviction. "I'll see what God can do with a man when he has full control," said the shoestore clerk. And then God used Dwight L. Moody to shake whole continents. One cannot learn to command until one has first learned to submit. Preparation. — ''The heights by great men won and kept Were not attained by sudden flight; But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night." No effective leadership in any worthy field of human endeavor can be won or maintained by one who is un- willing to spend lonely vigils and give long hours of diligent toil to his cause. Having found his field for service, Moses spent forty years in preparation. For three years of active leadership it was necessary for Jesus to spend thirty years in preparation. Having taken allegiance under the banner of Jesus Christ, Paul added three years of careful training for his task. After a period of quiet and intense devotion Tennyson wrote WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 249 "In Memoriam." Out of more than a decade of stu- dious silence, Browning produced "The Ring and the Book." Leadership demands careful and diligent train- ing. Only those sun-crowned souls who are wilHng to pay the full cost need expect to exercise a vital leader- ship. It is obvious that leadership may be exercised in de- sirable and in undesirable fields. It is as quickly appar- ent that the field and scope of actual leadership varies. In any eft'ective organization there must be a central and final authority, which authority is distributed until the responsibilities reach to the last man. At the end of the line we find the individual controlling and directing things. As one moves up the fine the various degrees of leadership deal more and more with humans. What- ever the scope of activity, however slight the responsi- biHties involved, whether the leader deal with things or people, many or few, no leadership is vaHd, no work- manship is satisfactory until these leaders have been possessed by a vision of their task and have had train- ing for the performance of it. Leaders in the field of religious education possess cer- tain (i) fundamental characteristics — (2) elements of pesonality, (3) processes of training, and (4) objectives — that must be viewed in relationship to both the leaders of young people and young people as leaders. LEADERS OF YOUNG PEOPLE An unusual opportunity is open to leaders and teach- ers of young people. It is a period of peculiar sensitive- ness to both good and evil. The prime requisite of the leader and teacher, then, is the ability to be compan- ionable in the things of the Spirit. It is much more 250 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS vital than companionship in social affairs. But both are essential. As one looks back through the years and recalls those factors which have made deepest and most abiding im- press one finds one's memories clustering less about books and equipment and more about persons.^ The charac- teristics, personality, equipment, and objective of lead- ers of young people will largely determine the nature and success of their leadership. Characteristics. — Thoughtful persons do not enter the field of the leadership of young people because it is a social propriety. It may be ^'the correct thing" to do, but no such attitude can possibly provide the superior dynamic and sensitiveness essential to effective work- manship. One's attitude depends largely upon one's vision of the task. ''Lift up your eyes and behold." The eager, open-minded beholder will find conviction, will see needs, will discover possibilities. There is a passion for service born of vision that will overcome every obstacle. ''Not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give." There is no other sufficient way in the field under consideration — nor in any other worthy field of human experience. Leaders need to sit down and plan the purpose and objective of their leading. The sheer joy of power and the freedom from ordinary restraint supposed to be the happy possession of leaders may attract a few. How- ever, they soon become disillusioned. The leader must himself have "lived" ere he can be competent to direct others on the way. How difficult must be the position of the one who in a place of leadership and teaching does not know why nor whither he goes! Leaders of ^King— The High School Age, 1914, contains a most helpful study of the power of personality in its effect upon pupils. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 251 young people owe it to themselves as well as to their department or class to study their objectives. What contribution can I make? How can I make it? What results shall I seek? Why should I do this thing? These are searching questions, but every leader must fear- lessly face them. Eyes that see, ears that hear, hands that do, hearts that feel, a mxind that understands, courage that dares, faith in God and in human kind — how can any leadership be exercised without these? Carefully prepared lists of qualifications teachers and leaders should or should not possess have been de- veloped. The reader is especially referred to Betts, How to Teach Religion, for a most helpful arrangement of these positive and negative qualities. Suggestion will be found there also as to the way by which a leader or teacher of religion may evaluate his own capacities and may set about strengthening the weak places. In dealing with young people the leader must know how to apply the spur of worthy ambition, and when to use the leash of habit and custom without becoming sub- ject to what Dr. Jowett so fittingly calls "narcotizing conventionality." He must help the young people to recognize desirable aspirations and profit by them; to organize their aims and experiences so as to become self-controlled, steady, tolerant. Ideals should be pre- cipitated into concrete action, and the young person led to determine what contribution he is to make to his time and his race. This is but a repetition of the previous processes of the leader himself. The pity is that so many teachers and leaders have not been through this process. Christian leadership presupposes certain primary qualifications, such as: {a) A Christian character. The leader must have a message and an experience. 252 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS (b) A vision of the task. Without vision there can be no expansion, no passion, no goal. (c) A vital personality; without which there is little, if any, contagion. He should also possess secondary quahfications, such as: (a) A purpose and a goal. No objective means no progress, waste, delay, sometimes shipwreck. (b) A plan. There must be capacity to organize; otherwise there is chaos; for example, activity, but no action. (c) Ability to direct others in doing things. Only thus can the Kingdom be brought in. Personality is and always has been the one great factor in the educative process in every time, age, and field. Primitive people selected great personalities and associated with them the coming generation in order that the strength of the tribe, and not its weakness, might become the common tribal possession. The con- tact of personalities is a sure means of developing con- trols, whether the seat of authority be from without or from within. For young people the study of the per- sonality of Jesus Christ is one of the greatest and most effective contributions that can be made to them, par- ticularly when such a study is illustrated in the effec- tive, wholesome, and Christlike personality of the leader and teacher. In the home the personal charac- ter of the parents counts for most. In the influence of leaders, personality is greater than any other element. The importance, therefore, of having the right sort of leader personalities is evident. Disillusionment and doubt often come to young people when they find pro- fession and practice at variance in the persons who have been in the relationship of leaders and teachers to WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 253 them. If, as Tracey says/ "response to the touch of personality is the tap root of religious experience," then the conception of rehgion and the nature of the re- sponse thereto will depend largely upon the personaHty of the teacher or leader as presenting in tangible form, accurately or inaccurately, a human interpretation of the personality of Christ. Training and equipment. — There is no place of major emphasis in the economy of the kingdom of God upon ignorance and inefficiency. Single-mindedness is not necessarily a fundamental of the Christian life. In many instances the distinction is not made between sincerity and simple-mindedness. There is no resource of power, no capacity too great, no skill too highly de- veloped to find itself taxed to the utmost in meeting the demands of the kingdom of God. Anyone, therefore, in the position of or desiring to become a leader or teacher will give diligent attention to the matter of his personal equipment. There is certain general equip- ment which all workers with young people should have. Some of this has been suggested above in the discussion of characteristics and objectives. Other items follow. Every leader and teacher must be in possession of his message. He must have some knowledge and an eager desire for more. He must be open-minded, teach- able, tolerant, eager. He must have both an experi- mental and a working knowledge of all the facts in and concerning the chief source of guidance and help for all humanity. His acquaintance with his Book must be so thorough and so complete that he can be entirely sep- arated from his textbook while teaching, and yet not be lost. 1 TrsLcey— Psychology of Adolescence, 1920, p. 233. The Macmillao Company, publishers. 254 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Emancipation from the textbook is possible for no teacher mitil he has mastered that book. All that has been taught or may be learned concerning the history, development, and vital message of the Bible must be a ready and usable possession of the efficient teacher. His mind must constantly be outreaching for new attributes and new facts discovered by saint and seer. The history of the Christian religion must likewise be a familiar field. This will include all the great move- ments that have led to the development of our present civilization. A masterful knowledge of men and epochs will go far toward vitalizing the Christian message to the minds of young people. A knowledge of the great religions of the world, and the capacity to show the Christian rehgion as not only superior to them, but as the only sufficient religion, will save many a teacher from embarrassment and many a young person from more serious questioning. In addition to all of this, teachers ought to know the great fundamentals of the Christian faith; they should also distinguish clearly between dogma or creed and the great doctrinal truths. Their own faith ought to be so deeply rooted in these that they not only speak, but also live them with their classes. It is difficult to speak with assurance concerning those things with which one has slight acquaintance and little, if any, experience. Teachers and leaders of young people, realizing that God is in his world, and that each succeeding age begins where the preceding one has finished, that the progress of human life is constantly accelerated, will understand the necessity for continuous personal growth in knowl- edge about and experience in the affairs of men and God. Teachers who have ceased to grow are soon left WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 255 behind by the active, aggressive mentalities of the young people in department, class, or society. Provi- sion has been made for the training and equipment and growth of leaders in the field of religious education so that no one anywhere may feel that there is no material at hand by which these desirable ends may be brought to pass. There is general training for all and specialized training for those who have found their particular places. Carefully developed leadership training courses have been provided in such a way that every leader and teacher everywhere can, if he will, increase his personal efficiency. Regular teacher training courses for use in local Sunday schools, correspondence study for those who cannot find the time or the opportunity for class work, the provision of training on church night, in interchurch or community schools, summer training schools, institutes, conferences, departments of reli- gious education in colleges and universities, the summer session of theological schools — all these have developed thoroughgoing and profitable sources for those persons whose convictions are sufficiently deep to lead them to continued growth in efficiency. A list of standard training courses tor leaders and teachers, together with the requirements relative to certificates and diplomas will be found at the close of the chapter. Other opportunities are to be found by teachers and leaders of young people through the reading of some of the volumes coming from the press concerning this field. Such magazines as The Church School and Reli- gious Education, which should come regularly to every religious educational worker, will be found very helpful and illuminating. No teacher should allow a year to pass by without having read at least one book in the general field of religious education and one book in his 256 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS own particular field of work. In addition to this, at least one institute, conference, or training school should be attended each year so that the teacher may be kept not only in possession of all the materials available for his task, but also with the personaHties that are working in the same field. The exchange of ideas, ideals, and methods is found to be both profitable and inspiring. The following scale for measuring the efficiency of a teacher in the church school is the work of Professor George H. Betts. It furnishes the teacher with a standard of measurement for his school, his class, and himself. A SCALE FOR MEASURING THE EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING IN A CHURCH SCHOOL A. Factors not wholly under control of the teacher but serving as a measure of resourcefulness in making the adaptations required: 1. Cultiu-al equipment of pupils. 2. Moral and religious background of pupils. 3. Social and national homogeneity of pupils. 4. Mentality of pupils. 5. Stability of church school constituency. 6. Conditions supplied by the administration for the class or department. (i) Separate room or in assembly room. (2) Time allowed for session. (3) Physical equipment. (4) Lesson materials — graded or un- graded. (5) Gradation of pupils. B. Factors largely under the teacher's control, and which therefore serve as a measure of his teaching effi- ciency: (These deal with the class only, not with the department.) WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 257 I. Environing Conditions 1. Classroom and equipment (i) Suitability for group. (2) Cleanliness. (3) ^Esthetic quality — decorations, pic- tures, etc. (4) Light, heat, ventilation. (5) Suitability and arrangement of table, chairs, etc. (6) Teaching equipment (maps, books, curios, paper, stereoscope, etc.) 2. Freedom from. Distraciicns (i) By the teacher. (2) By the class. (3) From other sources (Supt., Sec'y, visitors, etc.). IL The Teacher 1. Spiritual equipment (i) Positive personal reHgious convic- tion and belief. (2) Satisfactory and growing religious experience. (3) Recognition of religion as a posi- tive d3niamic element in individ- ual development and the social process. (4) Other attributes or evidences of spiritual qualities. 2. General qualifications (i) Enthusiasm. (2) Rapport with class. (3) Personal appearance. (4) Voice and manner. (5) Executive quality. (6) Cooperation with others. (7) Capacity for growth. 258 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS 3. Preparation (i) General a. Education and culture. b. Knowledge of the Bible and other religious material. (2) Specific a. Mastery of lesson materials. b. Knowledge of childhood and of individual pupils and their needs. III. Skill in the Use of Materials — Lesson Plan and Technique of Instruc- tion 1. Clearness, definiteness, and validity of aim (i) Adaptability to age, sex, interests, needs. (2) Value for religious education in supplying a. Useful religious knowledge. b. Right religious attitudes. c. Skills in every-day living. 2. Method of procedure (i) Skill in selection and use of subject matter — a. Adapting it to aims sought. b. Adapting it to pupils. (2) Plan of approach. a. Point of contact in experience of pupils. b. Suited in spirit and tone to lesson to follow. (3) Skill in instruction — Use of type of teaching adapted to class and materials — a. Story. b. Discussion. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 259 c. Question and answer. d. Topic or report. e. Dramatization. /. Lecture. g. Hand or expression work. h. Other lesson types. (4) Application — Skill and resourceful- ness in leading pupils to make personal application of lessons and ideals set forth. (5) Assignment — a. Definiteness and clearness. h. Motivation. IV. Response prom the Class 1. Regularity and promptness of attendance. 2. Alertness, expectancy, interest, enjoy- ment. 3. Spirit of loyalty and cooperation. 4. Preparation of lesson. 5. Active participation — (i) By reciting. (2) By asking questions. (3) By carrying out assigned activities. 6. Grasp, understanding, mastery of points taught. 7. Conduct in classroom; quiet, reverent, at- tentive. 8. Carrying ideals over into everyday prac- tice. Teachers and leaders will find it most helpful to use this scale thoughtfully, frankly, frequently, to discover whether progress is being made by them in their field of work. The value of mature friendship and understand- ing. — In the lives of young people these cannot be overestimated. There is no contact like the contact 26o HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS with life. Certain elements ought to characterize such friendship. In an earlier chapter reference was made to the personal relations between mature men and young men and between mature women and young women. There must be a certain mutual respect for the privacies of personal experience and thought. There must be a certain respect and appreciation on the part of young people for the larger and longer experiences of adult life. Frequently young people are incUned to be intolerant and think of persons of mature years as "old fossils." True it is that in some places there are those who get along by "clinging to the skirts of antiquity,'' but even in such places young persons should be led through their mature friendships to appreciate the things that older persons have done and seen. They must be led to see that: "Age is opportunity no less Than youth itself, though in another dress. And as the shadows fade away, The sky is bright with stars invisible by day." Probably the most helpful attitude which mature life can provide for those who are immature is that of steadiness, of assurance, of abounding faith and courage. No mature life can have these qualities which is not itself possessed of that inner peace and assurance that come from a thorough knowledge of God's Word, God's works, God's ways, and an enlarging experience of com- panionship with Jesus Christ. There is no other peace; there is no other steadfastness; there is no other free- dom; there is no other assurance like that which comes from a life hid with Christ in God. No more sacred or responsible task ever falls to any WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 261 man or woman than that of being confidant and coun- selor to a young person. "There is a certain reserve and native modesty implanted in every normal young person which is by far the most powerful ally of the intelligence itself in protecting the interests of indi- vidual character in the days of immaturity, and any- thing tending to break down or supersede it entails a moral loss for which there can be no conceivable com- pensation. At the same time there is perhaps no other period in the whole life when the individual so much needs a confidant and when he is so likely to profit from the right sort of counsel."^ Sensitiveness to spiritual powers and needs, sen- sitiveness to the approach to those inner recesses of being where none save God and the individual have a right to enter, a fine personal reserve and wholesome respect for the other's personality will make the friendly relations of the mature and the immature profitable, delightful, and mutually helpful. YOUNG PEOPLE AS LEADERS It is trite to say that to-morrow's working force is found in the young people's group of to-day. It is obvious that the time to train leaders is before they take up their work of leadership. In any program of religious education the necessity for activities express- ing faith and love and conviction is apparent. Young people are more or less motor-minded. When vision grows into conviction a task is essential. When par- ticipation takes place, attitudes and inspiration for life investment follow. The range of activities provides contacts with different kinds of Christian service, and thus the young life is given a chance to try itself out in , 1 Tracey — PsycJtology of Adolescence. The Maaoiillan Company, publishers. 262 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS the actual doing of the things of the Kingdom. From time to time some young life will find its place of great- est power and thence wiU grow a conviction in regard to the field of life service. The sharing of responsibilities with young folks gives them a taste of leadership. It is very easy for the idea of holding a place of command to seize upon a young mind. Young people must be guarded at this point lest not the work but the power become the attraction. Our actual leaders in most in- stances are those who are doing what we would like to do in the way we would hke to do it. The mature life working with young lives would do well to take the attitude toward them which, according to H. G. Wells, Philip of Macedon maintained to his son, Alexander. Mr. Wells, speaking of Alexander, says ^'he was nursed into power generously and unsuspiciously."^ The problem that faces most workers is (i) how to discover leaders and (2) how to equip them for their tasks. The discovery of leaders. — There are many ways suggested for the discovery of capacities for leadership. The trial and error method is most wasteful. To look on the outward appearance is not a sure index. Any scheme must fall down in the face of the inabihty of one human mind accurately to forecast the scope and capacities of another. However, if the leader of young people's work will give careful attention to the young people when assembled for social and recreational pur- poses, he will discover certain spontaneous groupings, the center and moving spirit of which is some individual. A little observation will indicate just the nature of the influence being exercised by this young person. The motive behind the visible activity needs to be » H. G. Wells— Outlines of History, 1921. WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 263 sought out. Sometimes it is just the sheer joy of con- trol. At other times the exercise of the skill is the result of jealousy. Again, it will be found that the individual is actually throwing himself into the work for the purpose of seeing that others find joy and hap- piness in the occasion. Frequently the leadership is deliberately sought. Sometimes the occasion demands it. Again, it is actually forced upon the individual by members of the group. In any case there are evidences of capacity where individuals group about another and look to him for suggestion or direction. The wise leader of young people will study this situa- tion, making perhaps a card index of the factors brought to light. These cards or records should have the name of every young person in the department, class, or so- ciety who can do anything at all well, though it be but the act of shaking hands graciously. This record is invaluable when planning to use young persons as leaders. Then he will set about to apply certain tests to this young life, dehberately planning opportunities for the exercise of leadership, sometimes with younger groups, sometimes with persons of his own age. In addition to these active tests certain characteristics ought to be observed and recorded. Is the person open-minded and sympathetic, accurate and teachable, cheerful and cour- ageous, frank and generous, steady and patient, re- sourceful and vigorous, having convictions and plans? Is he self-effacing and possessed of a belief in the fun- damentals of the faith? Training for leadership. — If the leader has found that all, or many of these elements are present, the young person doubtless possesses capacities of outstand- ing leadership and ought certainly to be placed in a 264 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS group in the local church taking training with this object in view; or if there is no such class and none can be organized, he should be enrolled in a correspondence course for training in leadership. Obviously, the best source of information, inspiration, and training is in the college, university, and theological school, and this should without doubt be the first choice of training camp for such a discovery. While there is no wholly satisfactory local substitute for the training course in the local church, there is de- cided advantage in augmenting this training by sending young people to summer sessions, night schools and colleges, to summer traming schools, camps, institutes, conferences, and the like. It must be recognized, how- ever, that all of these are brief and necessarily more popular and fragmentary in their treatment. Many a young man or young woman has been brought by an adult leader into contact with the fact of his leadership capacities. When, through the careful organization of the religious educational work in home, church, and community, he has had opportunity to try himself out in some of the activities, there may come to him, through these and through the challenge of great minds and hearts presenting the needs and oppor- tunities of the world field, the desire to give his whole life to Christian service. When such a life service de- cision has been made, the plan suggested in the pre- ceding chapter should be followed. Other young persons possessing leadership qualifications may wish to devote their marginal time to some phase of the work in the local church and community. For these, leadership training courses to be used in the local church have been provided and correspondence courses arranged. Summer schools and training conferences add greatly WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 265 to this training for marginal-time service. In every instance the young life should be brought into contact as rapidly as possible and with as much training as time and finances permit. No year should elapse, no summer should pass by without some contact with camp, conference, school of methods, or institute. Six weeks schools of methods in the field of religious education are now being offered by many of our colleges and universities. Sunday- school boards are providing ten- and twelve-day train- ing schools for Sunday school and church 'workers. Young people's societies are offering five- to seven-day institutes. The International Sunday School Associa- tion, Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, and the like are making their contribution toward the training of leaders in the various fields of activity; the extra-church agencies, of course, by special emphasis upon the recreational features; the church agencies work with special reference to a vital spiritual leadership. The time must come when all the agencies promoting training activities for vacation periods, both church and extra-church, dealing with any age group, shall put on a common program, which program must be under the control and supervision of the church, and to which each cooperating agency will make its contribution of faculty and funds. In the local church. — Training for leadership in the local church has no acceptable substitute. The close personal contact of teacher and small group is the most effective and the most desirable method of training. There is no school too small or too large to put on an eft'ective program of leadership training. Though there be but one young person willing to undertake such training, the obligation of the pastor, the superinten- 266 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS dent, and the adult life of the church of which such person is a part is to see to it that the training is pro- vided. It is not necessary that some highly trained specialist should be imported for the purpose. Young people do their own thinking. They long for compan- ionship and guidance in the process. In churches where no one seems quite prepared to handle the leadership training the most likely person should be chosen, no matter what his present relationship, and assigned to the work of training the future leaders for that church. It is not always easy to separate such teachers from the adult class in which or as teacher of which they are frequently found. No interest can surpass in signifi- cance that of training the leadership of to-morrow. During the Sunday-school hour there ought to be offered, therefore, in the local school a standard leader- ship training course. (A list of textbooks and require- ments will be found at the close of the chapter.) Opportunities for practice in leadership are manifold about the local church. Young people's classes take delight in assisting elementary department superinten- dents and workers in recreational and social meetings for these little ones. When the Beginners, Primary, or Junior Department meets at some other hour than that of the young people, this also affords opportunity for practice teaching and observation. The midweek social and recreational activities of the departments of younger pupils of school and church would be greatly profited by having young persons as leaders. When a church or group of churches provide a sum- mer camp for the young people of their own constit- uency, careful provision should be made for courses in training for leadership in the camp's schedule. In a preceding chapter an outline camp schedule was sug- WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 267 gested. It is clear that ample opportunity for a class in leadership training is found in the morning class hours. When any individual or group of individuals shall have completed his work in training for leadership, whether in a class in the local church, by correspond- ence, or in a community training school, recognition of this fact ought to be made by the church of which he is a part. Graduation exercises or public announcement with the conferring of the certificate or diploma will go far toward creating interest and arousing the ambition in others to follow a similar course. Not until the church faces squarely up to the task of training its future leadership by providing leadership training courses in the local church and community, and through the church colleges and foundations, will there be anything like an adequate supply of trained leaders. SUMMARY Some of the problems connected with leadership in the field of religious education are due to the indefinite- ness of the tasks, the lack of vision, and the difiiculties of securing adequate training. The field and profession of religious education are not yet clearly defined. Once this is clearly defined as in medicine, law, teaching, etc., the young mind will sense the need more accurately and respond thereto. Present leadership in very many in- stances is not a matter of conviction and dehberate choice, but is circumstantial. No uniform system has been adopted for the providing of leaders such as the public school has provided through its normal training schools. However, conditions are steadily improving. The challenges to life and marginal-time service are being organized, articulated, and wholesomely presented. 268 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS The number of training courses available and their suitability for persons in all situations and circum- stances is increasing. The day is not far distant when it will be possible for churches to indicate that no one will be permitted to lead or teach who has not pursued some standard course of training for his task. Many churches and schools have already reached that point. The leader and teacher of young people, because of his special qualifications, training, and personality, has in his keeping the church leadership of to-morrow. Consecration to his task, diligence in his own efforts to grow, and a wholesome relationship to his young peo- ple will go far toward enlisting an adequate supply of young people in the training courses for leadership in the field of religious education. These young people bring to their training all the rich resources of youth and immaturity — their eagerness for truth and willing- ness to sacrifice, their intensity of emotional life, their utter disregard for personal cost in the light of a com- pelling cause; these and a thousand other rich assets are poured lavishly upon the altar when love and faith are crystallized into conviction and when the call of God to the investment of all of life's resources in the program of his 'kingdom has reached the heart of youth. Since the development of the kingdom of God seems to depend so largely upon the contact of human personali- ties, it is supremely the task of the church to see that the noblest, mature personalities are brought into con- tact with immature personalities; that all the rich and fundamental religious experiences of the race are made the common personal possession of all our young people. Then, when the church in her majesty shall say, "Who will go for us?" the eager, the enthusiastic response of our young people will be, ''Here am I; send me." WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 269 TRAINING COURSES FOR LEADERS There is to-day only one Standard Training Course for Leaders. This is approved by the Sunday School Council of Evangehcal Denominations and by the In- ternational Sunday School Association. Certain text- books are put out by each denomination which meet this standard. Application should be made to denomi- national Sunday-school headquarters for lists of these books. The joint certificate and joint diploma are is- sued from denominational headquarters for all classes carried on by local churches. Certificates are granted to each person who passes the required test upon any recognized training course book. Additional seals are granted for each additional book until the required number of credits have been secured, when a diploma is issued. Diplomas are issued to all who complete the Standard Training Course. For graduation the completion of one hundred forty- four lesson units is necessary. Of these, one hundred eight units are prescribed and thirty-six units are elec- tive. The prescribed work is as follows: Bible, 24; Child study, 12; Principles of teaching, 12; Sunday school administration, 12; Church administration, 12; Missions, 12; Specialization in the methods of a par- ticular department or office, 24; total, 108; 36 units may be sleeted from any approved leadership training courses. A lesson unit is defined as one recitation requiring at least an hour of preparation, the lesson material of which is made up of the assignment of an approved author. This definition does not require the teacher to follow the author's assignment, but defines the material that must be covered before graduation and is intended 270 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS to forestall the acceptance of courses made up of 120 and 144 lesson assignments which do not come up to the standard. One denomination has approved the following Lead- ership Courses for Prospective Teachers, Officers, and Other Church Workers: FIRST YEAR SECOND YEAR THIRD YEAR Life in the Making, The Training of the Specialization — Barclay, Bro^n, et Devotional Life, 24 units required al. Kennedy-iNIeyer. work in one of 24 units. 12 units. the following Learning and Teaching, The Organization and chosen fields: Sheridan-White. Administration of Beginners 24 units. the Sunday School, Primary Cuninggim-North. Junior 12 units. Intermediate The Program of the Senior Christian Religion, Young People Shackford. Adult 12 units. Administration Community Serv- ice Worid Service Recreational Leadership 24 imits of electives. This course is designed especially for use at the Sunday-school hour. It also presupposes work in the International Graded Les- sons through the First Year Senior Course. For those who have had the Junior and Intermediate Graded Lessons or their equiv- alent, the Bible requirement for graduation will be met by those who complete Life in the Making and Learning and Teaching. For others The Worker and His Bible, 24 units, or its equivalent, must be taken as an elective. The first year of this course should nor- mally be taken at eighteen years of age. Other approved text-books: Primer of Teacher Training, Brown (12 elective units). The Worker and His Bible, Eiselen-Barclay (24 Bible units) . WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 271 The Bible, Part I of First Standard Manual, Barclay (24 Bible units). The Pupil and the Teacher, Weigle (12 units on each subject, total 24). "The Pupil, the Teacher, and the School," Part II of First Standard Manual, Barclay (12 units on each sub- ject, total 36). The Pupil (revised), Barclay (12 units). ^ How to Teach Religion, Betts (12 units in Principles of Teaching). Missionary Education in Hofue and School, Diffen- dorfer (12 Missionary units). Training World Christians, Loveland (12 Missionary units) . Books of accepted authors based on outlines approved by The Sunday School Council of EvangeUcal Denomi- nations. (12 units for the subjects covered in ten les- sons.) Leaders of training classes in local churches should secure the advice and help of their denominational headquarters so that the work done may be in harmony with both the denominational and interdenominational standards. It is advisable in community training schools to use only such courses as will meet the Standard Training Course requirements. Thus the training of the leaders may be raised to a higher plane and the work of the local schools improved and standardized. Topics for Discussion: 1. Leadership of Young People, Characteristics and Training. 2. How Jesus Trained Leaders. 272 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS 3. Our Church Training Program. 4. Enlisting Young People in Local Church Leader- ship. 5. Leadership Standards. Books for further Study: Betts — How to Teach Religion. Home — The Master Teacher. Moxcey — Leadership of Girls' Activities. Woodworth — Dynamic Psychology. Conde — The Human Element in the Making of a Christian. INDEX Activities varieties of, 47 voluntary, 137 Aim of department, 80 Athletics, 66 Attitudes developing right, 209 Baseball, 240 boarding-house, 62 Camping, 67, 231 daily program, 68 camp recreation, 71-72 Card Signing, 215 Certificates, 269 Challenge for live service, 212 Chaperons, 58 Character, 251 as purpose of department. Characteristics of age groups, 52 Childhood, 26 Child Life revaluation of, 14 Church and youth, 13-24 program of, 21 rural, 174 as center, 175 attitudes, 227 camp, 231 and community, 236 Circuit Plans, 187, 189 n Civic Birthday, 238 Class, 122-144 Groups, 122-125 organization, 126-128, 134 relations, 133 methods, 135, 141 equipment, 146 business, 147 devotions, 147 period, 147 session, 147 one in department, 182 Classroom, 133 College evangelism, 211 training in, 218-219 Community influence of, 225 young people responsible for, 233 character of, 234 agencies, 235 activities, 237 training schools, 242 Companions, 197 Companionships, 40 Conduct, 200 Cooperation within department, ^2 Council, 86-88 Courses Bible, 153 mission study, 155 church, 156, 157 evangelism, 157 273 274 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Courses — Continued social service, 158 how to choose, 158, 159 elective, 164 Credits use of, 162 Decisions how to report, 216 Department young people's, 76-95 purposes of, 77-80 relations of, 90 organization in small church, 180 relation to other departments, 181 one class in, 182 Deputations, 231 Diplomas, 269 Disillusionment, 29 Doubt, 32, 196 Dramatics, 66 Devotional Life developed at camp, 233 Education in rural communities, 172 Efficiency training for, 217 of teaching, 256 Equipment, 116-117 Evangelism, Chap. X, XI courses of study, 157 and young people, 194 teacher's responsibility, 199 Expression, 201 expressional activities, 110 Extension, 114 Friendship, 41 inter-sex, 57 value of mature, 260 Groups interests of, 59 typical, 59 social, 204 Hewett, Prof. C. J., 167. Home life in rural districts, 172 and evangelism, 212 Instruction, 109 Interchurch training schools, 218 Interests individual, 61 Intolerance, 29 Leaders, 92 discovery of, 262 Leadership training for, 157, 255, 263 recreational, 189 cost of, 247 preparation for, 248 of young people, 249 characteristics of, 250 purpose and objective, 250 training and equipment, 253 Lesson period, 147 courses, 148, 150, 151 elective courses, 149, 152 material, 150 course in rural church, 183 Life appeal to whole of, 19 INDEX 275 Life Service, Chapter X and evangelism, 206 challenge for, 212 commission, 214 department of M. E. Church, 220 how to present, 220 Life Work vs. life decision, 207 standards of choice, 213 Local Church evangelism, 211 and recreation, 224-225 responsibility of, 225-226 participation in work of, 230 training in, 265 Mating Instinct, 42 Meeting Places, 239 Membership, 85 Mental Life, 28 Methods of teaching, 159 of evangelism, 203 Mission Study, 155 Motive, 77 for individual and group, 78 Music, 104 Officers accountability of, 81 and committees, 88 terra of, 129 Organization principles of departmental, 80-83 test of, 82 of department, 91 of class, 127-128 adapted to church building, 177 Overlapping, 84 Pastor as evangelist, 215 pastor's committee, 229 Personality, 252 Personal Problems, 44 Physical Life, 27-28 Play, 55 Prayer, 105 Program of the church, 21 elements of, 22, 104 of the department, 98-119 of worship, 100 preparation of, 108 for the class session, 147 seven day, 226 Pupil participation of, 17, 82 Reading, 64 Reason, 33 Records, 184 and reports, 89 and equipment, 131 taking of, 131 Recreation boarding-house, 62 undesirable, 65 standards of choice, 113 and commercialism, 115 rural, 170, 185 leadership, 189 Registration, 129 Relationships, 53 of departmental program, ill Religious Life, 43 276 HANDBOOK FOR WORKERS Responses, 200 variation in types of, 46 Rural Church, 167 Service, 44, 112-114 activities as recreation, 66 Session the first, 94 Social life, 54-68, 185 and recreational life, 115 conditions in rural commun- ities, 170 Special Features, 106 Spiritual Life, 36 Sportsmanship, 65 Stewardship of life, 207 Stimulation its results, 35 of social life, 35 Supervision, 82 Teachers, 163 function of, 165 as evangelists, 199 efficiency of, 256 spiritual qualities, 257 prospective, training of, 270 training texts, 270 Teaching, Conditions of, 256 preparation for, 258 materials, 258 method of, 258 Testimony, 106 Training early, 16 through activity, 109 in home, 198 for efficiency, 217 classes, 217 for in colleges, 218 defects in, 223-224 for leadership in local church, 228, 264 in community schools, 242 Trans portation in country, 174 Unselfishness, 43 Variation in Experience, 201 Village and Countryside, Chapter IX Village Pride, 177 Vocation information and guidance, 208 Week-Day Schools of Reli- gion, 241 Winter Specials, 188 Work and Play, 55 World Relations, 242 Worship program of, 100 principles of, 100-103 Young People effect of war upon, 20 characteristics of, 26-34 judgment of, 84 as leaders, 261 as leaders of tomorrow, 268 Y. 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