CHAUTAUQUA NORMAL CLASS.
Twelve Lessons on the Sunday-school and the Teacher’s Work.
LESSON I.—THE PLACE, PURPOSE AND PREROGATIVES OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL.
I. The place of the Sunday-school.
1. The Sunday-school is one of the means employed by the Church of Christ for bringing men under the influence of the Gospel. It is not designed to fill the place of any of the other accepted agencies of the church.
2. The Sunday-school does not, and should not accomplish the work belonging to the pulpit and the pastor, nor does it subserve the purpose of the church meeting for prayer and interchange of Christian experience.
3. The Sunday-school can in no sense do the work of the Christian home. It is an agency differing from all other agencies of the church, and is made necessary by the nature and extent of the body of truth accepted by the church, so necessary that without it the church would be to a certain extent crippled.
4. It is a school, organized and officered as such; occupying a well defined place in the religious system of the church, having a specific purpose, and entitled to certain prerogatives.
5. As a school, its constituency is a body of teachers and pupils, associated together voluntarily, but not without responsibility and accountability.
6. The Sunday-school in its theoretic constitution is the parallel of the secular school.
(a) As the latter derives its life from the community, so the Sunday-school derives its life from the religious community, the church.
(b) As the community delegates the power of control over the secular school to a representative body which exercises supreme authority over its affairs, so the church entrusts the management of the Sunday-school to her representative executive body, by whatever name known.
(c) As the representative body controlling the secular school places the oversight of the system and its details of management in the hands of a general executive officer, or superintendent, so the governing power of the church entrusts the management of the Sunday-school to one of similar name—a superintendent.
(d) As the secular school is within and subordinate to the community, and alongside of the home as its aid and supplement, so the Sunday-school is within and subordinate to the church, and beside the Christian home as its supplement.
Let us gather up these propositions concerning the Sunday-school into a general definition.
Definition.
The Sunday-school is a department of the church of Christ, in which the word of Christ is taught for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ and building up souls in Christ.
As suggested by this definition, we make the following propositions:
(1) The Sunday-school is a school.
(2) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for the church.
(3) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for the prayer meeting.
(4) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for home training.
(5) The Sunday-school is in the church as an integral part.
(6) The Sunday-school is subordinate to the church.
(7) The Sunday-school is an aid to the Christian home.
II. The Purpose of the Sunday-school.
1. The chief purpose of the Sunday-school is the spiritual education of the soul. By education we do not mean the mere putting in possession of knowledge. There have been learned men who were not educated men; men of wide knowledge, but with the power of self-control and self-use undeveloped. By education we mean leading the soul out of its natural condition, into a condition where it can do what God meant it to do, and be what God meant it to be. Spiritual education will therefore be the development of a soul by nature averse to divine control, into a condition of oneness with the divine will, such as is made possible by the at-one-ment of Jesus Christ. This process involves, (1) conversion, and (2) upbuilding in Christ, and would produce, if unhindered, a character that would reach toward the measure of the fulness of Christ.
But many souls in the church have never reached farther than the first or preparatory step in spiritual education—the step which we call conversion. Hence,
2. A second purpose of the Sunday-school is upbuilding in Christ, and this is possible only through searching study of the Word of God.
As the astronomer must know all the intricacies of his science, and be able with the telescope to read the heavens as an open book, and scan their farthest depths, so the Christian must know the hidden mysteries and deep things of God as revealed in the Bible, which is both text-book and telescope to the soul.
3. A third purpose of the Sunday-school is the development of the teaching power in the church. “Go teach,” in the Revised version becomes “Go disciple.” Sunday-school teaching therefore becomes disciple-making. In this respect its aim is the same as that of the church. To accomplish it by preaching, the church provides years of careful training for her ministers in special schools. As careful training is needed by the Sunday-school teacher, and the school itself is the only means by which the end can be secured.
III. The Prerogatives of the Sunday-school.
The Sunday-school exists within the church and because of the church. Yet though a part of the church, it maintains a separate organic life. As a member of the body it has certain rights which we call Prerogatives. We name the most important.
1. Care.—As no member of the body can be neglected without physical loss, so if any part of the body of Christ be left without watchful care, spiritual loss must ensue. The Sunday-school has a right to the care of the church, exercised (a) officially by the governing body, that no want may be left unsupplied, and (b) individually that sympathy, help, prayer and interest may never be lacking, and that ample provision may be made for the efficient working of the school.
2. Support.—The Sunday-school has a right to the pecuniary support of the church. It never should be crippled by lack of means to carry out its plans. The school should not be expected to provide for its own necessary expenses. The voluntary contributions of the school should never be applied to the support of the school as such. Systematic giving should be taught, and should include all the benevolent operations of the church, even to the extent of contributing toward the general church expenses, but that the school should use its funds for defraying its own expenses is clearly an evil.
(3) Recognition.—The school has a right to be recognized as an established agency of the church. This recognition should include (1) regular notice from the pulpit of the time and place of holding its sessions; (2) the same prominence to the annual meeting for the choice of officers that is given to the same meetings of the church, and (3) its importance as a church agency should be recognized by giving to the school official recognition in the governing body of the church.
(4) Pastoral Supervision.—The school has a right to the watchful oversight and regular presence of the pastor. It is not necessary that he should superintend the school—it is better not. It is not necessary that he should be burdened with its cares. But it is essential (1) that he use it as a field of pastoral labor; (2) that he give to it the encouragement of his commendation; (3) that he extend to it the sympathy of his presence; (4) that he know as to the character of the work being done within it.
(5) Coöperation.—The Sunday-school has a right to the hearty coöperation of the whole church, so that (1) there may be no lack of teachers to do the work of the school, and (2) that the work of the teacher may be understood and appreciated in the Christian family, which is the church unit; and (3) that teacher and parent may work in perfect harmony.
This is not intended as an exhaustive treatment of this subject. It presents in outline some salient points concerning the Sunday-school, and leaves the student to continue by himself the line of thought suggested, and to this end reference is made to “Hart’s Thoughts on Sunday-schools,” “Pardee’s Sunday-school Index,” and the “Chautauqua Normal Guide,” by J. H. Vincent, D.D., 1880.