The Boy and the Sunday School Part 5

Sec. 2. The president shall preside at meetings of the cla.s.s, shall have general supervision over the officers, and shall see that the work of the cla.s.s is pushed in accordance with its object.

Sec. 3. The vice-president shall take the president's place in case of absence, and shall render such a.s.sistance to the president as may be required of him.

Sec. 4. The secretary shall make cla.s.s announcements, keep minutes of all meetings, write to absent members, and report any information to the teacher which may be desired.

Sec. 5. The duty of committees shall be defined by the activity each carries on, said committee being responsible to the cla.s.s for the work entrusted to it.

_Article IX_--By-Laws.

From time to time the cla.s.s may amend this const.i.tution and pa.s.s such by-laws as seem wise in carrying forward the work of the cla.s.s.

A careful study of the Organized Cla.s.s diagram on another page (86) will furnish the teacher with a workable plan. In all cases it should be adapted to local conditions.

Mid-week activities should be planned as a part of the weekly program, keeping in mind the fourfold life of the pupil. The planning of these activities should be left almost entirely to the cla.s.s; any plans that the teacher may have should be turned over to the cla.s.s by way of suggestion. Place the responsibility on the members of the cla.s.s, and once they have caught the idea there will be no lack of suggestions on their part.

THE TEEN AGE BOYS' ORGANIZED CLa.s.s ORGANIZATION +---------------+-------------+ OFFICERS COMMITTEES President [A] Athletic Vice-President [A] Social Secretary [A] Members.h.i.+p[3]

Treasurer [B] Program[4]

Teacher [B] Etc.

CLa.s.s MEETING +----------------+--------------+ SUNDAY SESSION THROUGH-THE-WEEK SESSION Opening Services Cla.s.s Lesson DETERMINED BY ACTIVITY Discussion of Through-the-Week Activities ACTIVITY COMMITTEE IN CHARGE Closing Services RANGE OF CLa.s.s ACTIVITIES +------------+--------+--------------+----------+ PHYSICAL MENTAL SOCIAL SPIRITUAL SERVICE

[A] Older Boy [B] Adult

Prepared by John L. Alexander, Superintendent Secondary Division International Sunday School a.s.sociation.

The cla.s.s session on Sunday should be in charge of the president of the cla.s.s. The opening services may consist of a short prayer by the teacher or pupil volunteering; reading of brief minutes, covering the mid-week activities and emphasizing the important points brought out by the teacher in the lesson of the previous Sunday; collection and other business. The president then turns the cla.s.s over to the teacher for the teaching of the lesson. The closing services of the cla.s.s should by all means be observed.

_Committees._--Short-term committees are the more effective, covering the activities when planned. The short-term committee plan, however, need not be suggested to the cla.s.s until it discovers that the long-term or standing committee has failed. They will doubtless be the first to suggest the new plan.

=Cla.s.s Grouping and Size=

It should be sane and natural and not too large. This should be specially borne in mind in working with boys; a "gang" usually consists of from seven to fourteen. The girls' cla.s.s is different, and the size of the group does not materially matter. The cla.s.s, however, should not be so unwieldy as to make it impossible for the teacher to give personal attention to each individual.

It is impossible to get the best results when pupils of twelve and eighteen are members of the same cla.s.s, for they are living in two different worlds of thought. A teacher cannot hope to hold together a group in which there is such disparity of age. A working basis is (13-14), (15-17), (18-20). This is but a foundation on which to work.

The correct grouping should be on a physiological basis instead of chronological. A pupil ofttimes will not fit into a group of his or her own age; physiologically, they may be a year or two in advance of the rest of the cla.s.s, and are mingling through the week with an older group. Adjustments in such cases should be made so that the pupil is permitted to find his or her natural grouping. Like water, they will find their level.

Under no ordinary circ.u.mstances should cla.s.ses be mixed (boys and girls together).

=Cla.s.s Names and Mottoes=

_Names._--A cla.s.s name will help to create a strong and healthy cla.s.s spirit, and is valuable as a means of advertising the cla.s.s and its work.

Some prefer to take cla.s.s numbers or letters, thus recognizing their relations.h.i.+p to the Sunday school; others select names from the Bible to indicate their relation to Bible study; others choose names that indicate some kind of Christian service, thus committing the cla.s.s to Christian work; while others take names of heroes or use Greek letters.

_Mottoes._--A motto is perhaps more important than a name. It will help to place and keep before the cla.s.s a definite purpose. If often repeated it will aid in producing in the cla.s.s the spirit expressed in the motto.

The following well-known mottoes may be suggestive: We're in the King's Business--We Do Things--The World for Christ--We Mean Business--The Other Fellow--Every Man Up--Quit You Like Men.

=International Teen Age Certificate of Recognition=

The International Sunday School a.s.sociation, through its Secondary Division, issues a certificate, or charter of recognition.

This certificate represents a minimum standard of organization for cla.s.ses, which is considered practical for scholars of these ages. It gives the cla.s.s the recognition of the International, State or Provincial a.s.sociations; and to the schools whose denominations add their seal and signature, or provide a joint certificate, denominational recognition as well. The certificate of the Secondary Division is beautifully lithographed, and is suitable for framing for the cla.s.s room. For cla.s.ses of the Intermediate age (13-16 years) an Intermediate seal is affixed, and a Senior (17-20 years) or Adult seal may be added upon the advance of the cla.s.s to these departments. It can be secured by filling out the application blank at the end of this leaflet, and by sending the same, together with twenty-five cents to cover the cost, to your State or Provincial a.s.sociation, or Denominational headquarters.

Seals may be secured from the same sources.

This certificate and registration links the cla.s.s to the Sunday school teen age brotherhood throughout the world.

[Ill.u.s.tration: =Emblem=]

The royal blue and white b.u.t.ton (white center with blue rim) has been adopted for both the Intermediate (13-16 years) and Senior (17-20 years) Departments, the blue indicating loyalty and the white purity.

=Application Blank= for =International Certificate of Recognition=

=Secondary Division= Years 13-20.

Name of Cla.s.s ________________________________ Name of Sunday School ________________________ Name of Denomination _________________________ Town or City ________________ County _________ State or Province ____________________________ Has the cla.s.s the following officers: President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer? ___________ Is the cla.s.s of intermediate age (13-16), or senior age (17-20)? ______________ What is the average age of the members of your cla.s.s? __________ Name of Cla.s.s Teacher __________ Post-office address __________ Name of Cla.s.s President __________ Post-office address __________ Does the cla.s.s use the Secondary Division Emblem?

____________________________________ Cla.s.s motto _______________________________________ Date of organization ______________________ Present Members.h.i.+p _______________________ Date of Application ___________ 19__ Filled out by: Name ________________________________________ Post-office address ____________________________________ Kindly fill out this blank carefully. Detach and send same with twenty-five cents to your State Sunday School a.s.sociation office.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON THE ORGANIZED CLa.s.s

International Leaflets on Secondary Adult Cla.s.ses (Free).

Pearce.--The Adult Bible Cla.s.s (.25).

IX

BIBLE STUDY FOR BOYS

The study of the Bible that contributes to the boy's education is now generally accepted to be that which is adjusted to the known characteristics of boys. At one time, not so very far distant, all Scripture was supposed to be good for a boy's moral and spiritual character-building. One part of the Bible was held to be as good as any other, the important thing necessary being to get the Bible into the life of the boy, somehow. It did not matter much whether the boy understood all he read and was told, or not. It would prepare him for some future crisis and enable him some time to better meet a possible temptation. It was to be a sort of preventive application, very much as vaccination now is administered to ward off dreaded disease. And, to tell the exact truth, it often did, and the treatment proved more efficacious than some of the present-day Bible study methods, where mere knowledge is attempted. The mistake was the misunderstanding (for misunderstanding it was, and not a desire to merely plague the boy) of the fact that boys were developing creatures, spiritually as well as physically, and that Bible study could be made pleasant as well as profitable. It was a mistake due to a purely mature point of view and a failure to know that the boy mind needed different treatment from that of the adult. Lately we have discovered, thanks to general education, that a boy's Bible study can be adapted to a specific purpose, and to a present, clear, distinct and practical need of boy life.

A recent writer has said, "We have come to a fairly definite understanding that we must take the boy as he is; we must inquire into his needs; we must consider the conditions of his religious development.

We must ask, then, of the Bible, how far it can be effective to meet these needs and this development. The fixed factor is the boy, not the Book. At the same time, we are not obliged to begin always as if the Bible were a new thing in the world, and its claim to value as religious material were to be considered afresh. We know that the Bible has proved itself good. We know that it has been effective in the life of boys. The question, then, really before us is, What parts of the Bible are really desirable for the boy, and how are they to be presented so as to be most useful?"

This, in other words, is Graded Bible Study, and, possibly, were we to give a Bible to the boy and induce him to read it, the parts which he would read would help us a lot in determining the material that would challenge his interest. The parts he skipped over would also fix our problem for us.

The writer had a unique experience in his boyhood. His folks were members and officers of a church where long doctrinal sermons were the rule. These had little interest for the growing boy, but parental persuasion kept him in the pew for hours at a stretch. The boy, under these circ.u.mstances, had to do something in self-preservation, so he spent the long hours in reading the Bible. The stories of the Patriarchs, the Judges, the Kings, and the Acts were his peculiar delight. The sermon period ceased to be tiresome and often was not long enough. He never read Leviticus, or the Prophets, or the Gospels, or the Epistles, however. They had no meaning for him. As well as he can now remember, between his ninth and twelfth years, his favorite Scripture was the Patriarchs and Judges. Between his twelfth and sixteenth years he was pa.s.sionately fond of the Kings and the Acts. After that he began to feel interested in the Gospels. He was pretty well grown up before he cared either for the Prophets or the Epistles; they were too abstract for him.

The writer's experience corresponds fairly well with the growing modern usage in Bible study with boys. The philosophy underlying Graded Bible Study is merely to meet the present spiritual needs, as indexed by the characteristics of the period of his development.

At present there are many schemes of Graded Bible Study for boys on the market. Some of it has been prepared to meet a theory of religious education. The University of Chicago Series of textbooks and the Bible Study Union (Blakeslee) Lessons are examples of this trend. Both of them are exceptionally good. Other courses have sprung up, being written and used among boys here and there, and later worked together into a Bible study scheme. The Boys' Bible Study Courses of the Young Men's Christian a.s.sociation are recognized as such. Then there is the present system of Graded Bible Study of the International Sunday School a.s.sociation.

Fifteen complete years of Graded Bible Study, from the fourth to the eighteenth year, may now be used in the Sunday school. Great care has been exercised in the selection of the material with the aim of fixing definite ideals of Christian life and service. These courses are divided as follows: