MISSIONARY EDUCATION IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

BY R. E. DIFFENDORFER

A FEW months ago the following letter was received at the office of the Missionary Educatiqn Movement. It came from the director of an institute for the training of Siinday School teachers in one of our large cities : ‘ You will note that the Training Institute is solely for the purpose of religious education. The question of arrang- ing to have missionary instruction included another year in the curriculum is for the Board of Managers and the Teacher Training and Graded Work Committee to decide.’ In the mind of this Sunday School worker, missionary education and religious education are thought of as two quite distinct processes. In general, this was the attitude of most religious workers ten years ago. It still remains the attitude of many, especially those who have not come under the influence of the more recent efforts to establish missionary education in the policies of the churches. This distinction between religious education and missionary education was so marked and so persistent as to make certain results in- evitable. Mission boards, both general and women’s, re- cognized more and more that the maintenance of their work depended upon a generation of Christian people in thorough sympathy with missionary work and with full conviction that its expanding needs must be met thoroughly and efficiently. For many years these boards had been reaching down into the local church for the purpose of organizing special groups for training in missionary interest and for added support. Mission bands, junior missionary societies, boys’ and girls’ clubs with a missionary purpose, and 28 434 ftztertliztiotmd Review of Missiotzs voluntary mission study circles were organized wherever there were sympathetic leaders to assume the responsibility. Then the mission boards began to see that these special organizations only reached a small proportion of the children and youth in the churches. The local Sunday School was the most permanent organization in the church dealing with boys and girls. Cases were rare where it did not include within its membership practically all the children and youth in the parish. It was natural, on this account, that the mission boards should desire to interest the Sunday School, as such, in their work. Many attempts were made to break into the Sunday School organization. The policies and the methods of ten years ago in missionary education arose out of this necessity. Missionary committees were organized in the Sunday School and special missionary Sundays were introduced into the calendar, on which days missionary programs and special missionary lessons were taught, sometimes by specially prepared teachers. The material used came from the mission boards, rarely if ever having the endorsement of the general Sunday School leaders, secretaries and editors. There was also the temptation to exploit the Sunday School for the purpose of raising money. Collecting devices of various sorts were offered for use and appeals were made to classes and schools for the support of special objects in mission fields. Many conferences were held to discuss missionary giving in the Sunday School and whether or not it would be right to take five minutes each Sunday or once a month, or substitute a missionary lesson for the review lesson once a quarter. On the other hand, it was natural that the Sunday School leaders, not being in touch with the pressing needs of the mission boards, should oppose and in some cases resent thesc attempts to break in upon their schedule with a new program of study, giving arid service. These religious etlric-ators were providing Bible study in cycles of lessons ki1011-11iis tlic ' Uniform Lesson System.' All the publica- tions dcclt with the treatment of these lessons and all the Missiom in the Sitnday School 435 time of the local schools was spent upon their study and discussion. The funds collected in the local Sunday School in the regular offering were used largely for the purchase of the lesson papers and supplies for the school. As a rule, children were not given any instruction or training in the habits of systematic giving, or in relating their gifts to the work of the local church in its community or to home and foreign missions. Sunday School teachers were trusting to a voluntary application by the pupils of the principles of the Bible to everyday life. They were hoping, also, that the pupils themselves would relate their Sunday School teaching to the needs for gifts of money and service. The regular machinery of religious education in the churches scarcely regarded missions as the main business of the church, and religious education made little or no attempt to create a generation of Christians who would so regard it. The effect of this situation upon the pupil in the Sunday School and upon his conception of missions was logical. He looked upon an interest in missions as something special or optional, or something in addition to his religious thought and life. This conception was heightened by the efforts to organize mission bands and other missionary groups. Children were asked in the Sunday School if they would join the mission band which was to meet sometime through the week. These appeals were zealous and, in many cases, convincing, but, after all, it was optional with the children. To them, it was something in addition to the regular requirements of religious education. The effect of this procedure throughout the churches can hardly be over- estimated. Gradually, there appeared a group of religious leaders who saw that religious education was failing to meet the requirements. It was too academic. Functional psy- chology, as taught in our colleges and universities ; pedagogy based upon ' learning by doing ' ; the principles of child development as revealed in child-study ; the changing conceptions of the church and its work ; and a new emphasis 436 Inferitationa Z Review of &lissio?ts on social evangelism and social service were making it in- creasingly apparent that there must be some radical ad- justment in the aims, material and methods of religious education. This was the situation when, about ten years ago, the writer began an investigation of the relation of missionary education to religious education in general, and especially its place in the Sunday School. It was at once discovered that Sunday School and missionary leaders must be brought together for the purpose of mutual understanding and for the consideration of the questions indicated above. In the different denominations, sometimes with offices in the same buildings, these two sets of people did not know each other’s plans or aims. The larger interdenominational groups seldom held conferences or interchange of communications. One of the first duties, therefore, of the Missionary Educa- tion Movement in this field was to assemble the leaders for the study of this question in committees, institutes and summer conferences. The missionary leaders were able to convince the religious educators that religious education fails unless it produces a type of Christian character which will function normally and naturally in all the contacts of life and support the main business of the Church in attempting to establish the kingdom of God on earth. On the other hand, the Sunday School leaders were able to show mis- sionary enthusiasts that they must accept the educational point of view with reference to their approach to children ; that missionary instruction must meet the needs of the children in their growing life, and that the Sunday School cannot be merely exploited for the purposes of raising money to meet an immediate demand. In the last decade in America, we are able to say that the following results have been achieved : (1) Religious leaders now generally recognize that mis- sionary education and religious education are not two separate problems, but that they are necessarily one and the same process. Missions in the Sunday .ichooZ 437 (2) That Bible study, to be effective, must be related more and more to the everyday lives of boys and girls, and must furnish the principles on which the Kingdom is to be extended throughout the world. (3) That a knowledge of the expanding kingdom of God, the needs of people everywhere for the Gospel and the devotion and heroism of God’s messengers throughout the world is most necessary for the application of Bible truths to present-day problems. (4) There is now active co-operation in nearly every denoniination between the Sunday School and missionary officials, for the purpose of putting into effect a new pro- gram of religious education in which interest in missions and their support shall become normally and regularly a part of the child’s religious training and shall reach all the children in the parish, and not merely a few who are asked to join a mission band. (5) When the new International Graded Lessons were in process of construction, these principles were recognized. There were inserted, in course, in the various grades, mis- sionary lessons correlated with other subjects. In many cases, these were not labelled ‘ missionary.’ For instance, in the junior lessons, when the stories of Paul, Peter, John, James and others were inserted under the title, ‘ The Early Followers of our Lord, ’ those concerning Livingstone, Paton, Morrison and others were grouped around the title ‘The Later Followers of our Lord.’ (6) Giving has come to be considered as more than the process of collecting pennies in mite boxes and other devices, or the giving of an occasional offering by the members of the Sunday School. Educational giving now takes into account the principles of stewardship. The child is taught to support the local church and all its various enterprises, including home and foreign missions. In recent years, the emphasis on social evangelism and the social Gospel has had an effect upon the conception of miwionary education, as it has more and more affected the 281 438 work of missions itself. If missions are to be considered an organized enterprise for the purpose of selecting individual missionaries and sending them to the needy places of t.hc world, then missionary education must directly and con- structively train our boys and girls to support this enter- prise. It must also make an appeal to them to o€fer them- selves, after due meditation and prayer, for service in these fields. On the other hand, if we are to include in missions the process of Christianizing all our social contacts in the community, in industry, in national life and in international relationships, then the scope, the aims, the methods and the material of missionary education will be greatly broadened. It is the writer's feeling that we can never'hope to establish the kingdom of God on earth by depending exclusively on special agents, however well-qualified, sent out by our churches in order that all the people may hear the Gospel. The world now finds itself in closer relationships than ever before. The peoples of the earth form a great family and are in normal contact in trade, national relationships, education, the pursuit of the arts, and in pleasure travel. The next generation, therefore, will face the problem of making effectivein every relationship in life the implications of the gospel of Christ. If this be true, then the aims of missionary education for the present growing generation of children must be comparable with the task which they are expected to meet. Religious education, therefore, will more and more approximate to the conception which some of us have of missionary education. This much is certain- missionary education will be an essential part of all religious education. While continuing to emphasize the need for special workers and their support, we will also show the opportunity for Christianizing all our social, industrial and international contacts. We have already learned that missionary education must be based upon the needs of the child. Just as we have come to see the inefficiency of attempting to teach the same Biblc lcsson to all ages of children, so we must Missions iu dke Suuday S.chooZ 439 recognize that the growing life of the child presents different opportunities for Christian training in his relations to others. We must take into account all the social relations of the child, the expanding of his interests, and the enlarging horizor! of his life and the increase of the complexity and outreach of his own social groupings. Our goal will be to make a missionary out of every Christian. In missionary education we will care more and more for the significance of friendliness, especially in our cosmopolitan communities ; for the strengthening and extension of sympathy; for training in unselfishness and the desire to render service ; for the spirit of co-operation, the working together of all Christians for the common good and for the sake of others; for loyalty to the Kingdom and to Christ as our Master and Lord, the same Christ for all of whatever race or clime ; and for a strong sense of justice and the desire to see righteousness established in the earth. Ideally, there would be no place for a missionary committee in the Sunday School. If all the officers and teachers themselves had been trained in accordance with the principles just mentioned, there would be no need for a special machinery to educate the church in its main busi- ness. Unfortunately, however, this is not the case. Until some generation produces a real missionary church, it will be necessary for those who are interested and trained to take charge of the educational work which will help to produce such a church. Let all Sunday Schools whose leaders €eel that they have not attained the ideal organize strong missionary corn- mittees. Let them be regularly appointed or elected, and let them be efficient and capable in educational matters and sanely missionary. Even though this committee may be considered a special agency, there are a few general suggestions, implications of the above point of view, which will he€p us to regard its work as essential and not optional. (a) The appointment of the committee and the plans 440 fir fevutrtioitnl Review of Missioi:.c for work need not be heralded through the scliool as a pro- vision of the authorities for making the school more mis- sionary. There is some doubt as to whether tlie boys and girls need know anything about the committee at all. (li) On tlie other hand, the school officers and teachers should plan that the work of the committee may find ex- pression in the regular and normal life of the school. (c) The committee, itself, will not attempt to do the work of niissionary education in the school, but will en- deavour to interest, arouse and help each officer and teacher to incorporate missionary teaching and activity into his own endeavour. The committee, once appointed, should stand aside, as it were, and take stock of the regular machinery of the school through which it may seek to accomplish its ends. Rather than add a new department to the organization of the school, it should seek to influence the teachers and officers. Thus, the missionary committee will be at the back of the regular organization of the school ; and all its methods, material, activities, and service will come before the pupils as regular and necessary parts of their religious training. (d) Not all the officers and teachers will respond with offers of co-operation. Whenever any Gf these fail, the committee should attempt to arouse their interest and win their support. It might also seek a direct contact with the school from the platform and in classes. Summing up these paragraphs, it may be said that the purpose of the missionary committee in a Sunday School is to seek to naturalize the missionary spirit and the work of missions in the lives of the members. By taking a broad view of the educational possibilities in a Sunday School, tlie missionary committee will find that it can attain its aims through the training in worship ; the development of a missionary atmosphere through environ- ment and special occasions ; through class instruction, where pupils may obtain a knowledge of the history, the manners and customs and religious aspirations of non- Missions i~ithe .Yzrnu’hy SchooZ 44 I Christian peoples, the motives, methods of work, successes and failwcs of missionaries and the transformation^ in the lives of new converts ; hine reading with class rcports ; and an adequate system of giving, including instruction in the principles of stewardship and the right attitude toward all talents and goods, showing pupils what money is for- that it is a means to an end and not an end in itself. There will be special emphasis on the doing of personal service and also the organization and co-operation of different groups and churches for social service. Worship in a Sunday School usually consists of music, singing, giving, prayer, reading of the Scripture and meditation. By carefully planning this service such feel- ings and religious attitudes as goodwill, courage and faith, loyalty, the sense of brotherhood and sympathy may be aroused in the pupils. A missionary atmosphere may be created in the school and much enthusiasm aroused by observing with appro- priate exercises days and dates which have been of unusual significance in the spread of the Kingdom throughout the world. These may be historical, epoch-making days, birthdays or memorial days. The pictures of great mis- sionaries, both of the past and the present, and copies of great public documents, may be framed and hung with appropriate ceremonies on the walls of parish houses, class-rooms and Sunday School rooms. The visits of missionaries and missionary officials should be utilized to bring the children into intimate contact with those who are doing real service. These visits may be made on the occasion of a demonstration or an exhibit or some other form of arousing popular enthusiasm. We commend, also, the erection of commemorative monuments, tablets and statues, and the dedication of historical places with ap- propriate exercises. Good literature for reading must be provided, story-books and papers for homes and libraries containing accounts of our missionary pioneers and present - day heroes. Missionary programs will consist largely of 3.12 Inter7tntionaZ Review of Missiotrs story-tclling, in which the heroism, devotion and achieve- ment of missionaries and the supporters of missions are recounted. In the United States we are making wide use of the Christian flag as the symbol of Christianity. It is becoming known as ‘ the banner of the Prince of Peace ’ and stands for no creed or denomination. It contains no symbol of warfare. The ground is white, representing peace and purity. In the upper corner is a blue field, the colour of the unclouded sky, the symbol of fidelity and truth. Its chief device, the cross of red, is the emblem of Christian sacrifice. The Christian patriot pledges fidelity to the kingdom of God when he salutes this flag: ‘I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the Saviour for whose Kingdom it stands, one brotherhood, uniting all mankind in service and love.’ In the general exercises of the Sunday School, if ten or fifteen minutes can be utilized, there may be book reviews, reports on missionary current events, mission-st udy circle reports, accounts of service and giving by classes and de- partments, and simple demonstrations of missionary life and work. Through the week there may be missionary musicals, making use of native melodies and Christian hymns translated into foreign tongues, the games of foreign children may be played, and educational dramatics may be utilized. There may also be costume parties, lanteru slide exhibitions and more elaborate demonstrations. For an adequate policy of giving, there may be a two- fold budget for the church, which should include all the benevolent gifts and local current expenses of all the organ- izations in the parish. The amount of money needed for the cxpenses of the Sunday School may be included in this budget. The aniount reasonably expected from the Sunday School for church expenses and for benevolences should be taken into account in these items. This budget should hc iiiadc up of all the items o€ benevolence of all organizations of the church, such as the congremtion, the Missiom iiz the Swday Schood 443 Sunday School, women’s societies, men’s organizations and societies of young people. The double-pocket envelope is the best collecting device for such a policy of giving. It should be printed with the items of the budget for both current expenses and ben- evolent gifts. Envelopes should be provided for every person in the parish, old and young. The simultaneous ‘ every-member canvass ’ should then be instituted and an effort be made to reach the entire parish in a short time. Pledges on a weekly basis for both local expenses and benevolences should be secured from all. The weekly payments may be made by the children in Sunday School or at the church service of public worship, but preferably at the latter. From such a giving policy might not the following results be expected ? (i.) Would there not develop a consciousness of the unity, dignity and worth of the local church ? The Sunday School mould then have a real chance to teach such an idea and create such a consciousness. (ii.) In many churches the Sunday School, on account of long-standing separate financing, is now considered by many in the church as a separate institution. May we not expect it gradually to come to be looked upon as the church in its educational capacity ? (iii.) Sunday School pupils would develop in their maturing days a sense of responsibility for the church and all it stands for. Loyalty to the church is a bigger and better thing than loyalty to a Sunday School, however efficient and independent financially the latter may be. (iv.) The policy would not destroy, but rather help the necessary support of the various church boards and bcn- evolent societies. The idea of giving which expresses itself in a ‘ parish abroad ’ or ‘ station plan ’ could continued and very much strengthened by this schenic of one budget for the whole church. A few suggestions regarding missionary instruct ion for the different ages of the pupils may help sortie who arc 444 Intewzatioizad Review of Missions endeavouring to plan a curriculum of study and service for the Sunday School. Missionary instruction needs no special pedagogy. In fact, the teaching of it, as far as method is concerned, is similar to that of secular history. Missions, from one standpoint, are church history. The best niethods for the different ages are sometimes discovered in the work of day-schools. Every Sunday School teacher would do well to acquaint himself with the text-books, the teaching methods and activities in the day-school attended by the pupils of his class. It is the content and the point of view of the instruction which is of most importance. It is this, also, which is most difficult to impart to teachers. For children under nine years of age, stories of the child life of the world is the key to their missionary instruction. A big family of world children with one heavenly Father is the important theme. The stories may be illustrated by pictures and such objects as describe child life and make it attractive. The aim is to lay the foundation for world friendship. The service activities for children under nine are limited to the child’s world-the home, the neighbour- hood, the school and the church. The people with whom the child comes into contact are parents, friends in the neighbourhood, relatives, playmates, teachers, and the servants of the public good-such as policemen, letter carriers, firemen, health officers and that large circle of shopkeepers who .provide our food and clothing. This is the child’s world. Beyond this he knows little or cares little. Even if he learns of other people who live in other cities or other parts of the country or of other countries, they become real to him only as he takes them into his world. The child’s interest in his world is in activity, and he is con- trolled almost. entirely by his instinctive feelings. Children may be taught to show gratitude, to help in the home, to show kindness to animals, to provide flowers for the sick, to help the poor and to share the good things of their lives with others. These objectives may seem remote from an interest in missions. On the other hand, it could Missions in the Sunday SchooZ 445 easily be shown that these human qualities are the char- acter foundations necessary for the most complete and mature Christian living. In the latter part of this period the teacher may gradually extend the child’s interest to God’s great family of children throughout the world through personal observation of foreign children in the community and through stories, pictures, objects, nursery rhymes, folklore and games. For boys and girls in the pre-adolescent period, the interest in stories continues, but the stories may be of different character. Adult experiences and heroic acts of the physical sort interest boys and girls of this age. The tales must be true and must concern big and wonderful deeds in order to excite the hero-worshipping junior. It is the memory period when the great names, places and events may be eagerly learned as foundation knowledge for future study and activity. The organization of the junior classes or department into a week-day mission band, study classes and societies is now possible and should be em- phasized. Two or three things come into the life of junior boys and girls which increase the range of missionary activity and service. The study of geography and history based on a new sense of space and time gives a real interest to the hitherto undiscovered worlds of the past andof the far away. Boys and girls also have a new interest in con- structing and collecting material things which makes it possible to offer them a much wider range of activity. The junior age is the time to emphasize the systematic giving of money, which will have value just in so far as the child realizes that the money is his own. On account of his new interest in the things that he possesses, times of self-denial are very appropriate. Sympathy arising out of great dis- asters frequently offers such opportunities. In adolescence, new life, physical, mental and spiritual, comes to the girl and boy. Self-consciousness beconies clear and definite, self-feeling is marked and personality takes shape. Just as it is the crucial period of the develop- 446 Irzterttntiomzd X’ezjiew of Missiovs rrient of personal religion, so is it the time for the stamping of character with the missionary spirit and ideals. Rlis- sionary education is now different from that of former years. Direct training of the missionary motive, the will to do and to believe and the desire for personal service should be considered. It is the gang age. Clubs and societies of all sorts are eagerly formed by the boys and girls. The study class and mission band or circle at this period attain their highest efficiency among children. The boys and girls desire an active part in the organization and conduct of their meetings. For material, it will be found that the short story or incident of the previous period will now give place to an extended and detailed account. Biography yields the best material for character study. Boys and girls of the early adolescent period nearly always have some personal ideal among their adult friends, teachers or parents. This tendency to hero worship is the missionary teacher’s oppor- tunity. A text-book and helps for the teacher may be used. Each pupil should be provided with a book and regular meetings should be scheduled. In planning the service activities for early adolescent boys and girls there is one new principle which should be realized by all teachers and parents. Activity and personal service will have value just in so far as they are a real ex- pression of the child’s own inner desire and purpose. The teacher may suggest, make the appeal or modify the pupils’ environment, but the pupils theniselves should make the decision. Boys and girls may actually observe cases of need, discuss what may be done and decide on the manner of performing the service. They should be permitted to decide the distribution of their offerings of money for Christian work. As far as possible, they should have some responsibility in the local churcli, such as the care of the younger cliildren, volunteer clioir service or acting as assistants to tcachcrs and officers. In their organizations, they niay assiimc places of rcqwnsibilit y and help to pro- Missions Ziz the Siiizday Sc?iooZ 447 vide activities for those who are younger than t henisclves. The acts of service outlined for the Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls could be appropriately attached to the religious instruction in both home and Sunday School. Of all the periods of development young people offer the most unique opportunity to the missionary teacher. It is the time of life just before the tasks of manhood and woman- hood are assumed and the period when life work is usually decided. It is the most unselfish period of life, a fact well noted in the beginnings of love-making between the sexes. The romantic in literature has a keen interest. New social duties exclude other things, and there seems to be a falling away of interest in religious matters. Study circles and organizations suffer in attention and interest. Much personal work must be done to start study classes. If the curriculum is worth while from the young people’s standpoint, and if the leader is acceptable, there will be sufficient reward for holding a study circle. For study classes, such topics as questions of life work, the present-day problems of the Kingdom, sketches of the more romantic lives of missionaries and social problems of the community are suggested, and have been found most satisfactory. Other activities are missionary socials, musicals, dramatizations, tableaux, debates, reading circles, original essays and personal investigations. The social and altruistic feelings are now naturally active. The pernianency of these fundamental impulses will depend upon their use in this period. The oppor- tunities for service mill be limited only by the tinie and the ability of the young people to carry them out. There are one or two points of difference, however, between the kind of things which young men and women should be given to do and those provided €or boys and girls. Young people may be asked to assume definite responsibility for work. The activities heretofore suggested should be continued, with the change of empliasis on minuteness of organization and the personal responsibility of the pupils. Yomig pcople 448 ZnternationnZ Review of Missions may teach Sunday School classes, lead mission-study classes, assist in settlements, boys’ and girls’ groups and playground work. They may also be organized to meet special needs in the charitable, philanthropic and benevo- lent work of the community and church. They will rally particularly to the suggestion of the support of some special object in the mission field or the care of some children in the local orphanage. We should also seek to interest the young people in ,he problems and principles which underlie the needs of the world. Their tendency to philosophize about everything shows that their minds are dwelling on bigger matters than the mere alleviation of a single case of poverty or sickness. In the same manner they may be interested in the spiritual needs of the people of the world, and new motives may be aroused for adequately supporting the missionary enterprise. If the work of missionary education has been well done in grades, and if it has been definitely related to mis- sionary giving, prayer and service, when mature life comes, may the young people not be expected to take an active part in the constructive work laid down in the program of the Christian church ? Our ability to utilize every Christian for the purpose of building up the kingdom of God on earth depends upon the efficiency of our church organization, a matter which might very well be given consideration in another article on this subject. R. E. DIFFENDORFER