IX
THE SECRETARY OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
1. Importance. The secretary of the Sunday school is an officer of far greater importance than is generally supposed. In too many schools some youth in the adolescent period is made secretary, merely to keep him in the school, without consideration of his capacity and adaptedness to the office. As a result of an unsuitable appointment, the minutes of the teachers' meetings are incomplete, the registry of the classes is neglected, and the true condition of the school cannot be ascertained. If by any good fortune or by a more careful choice an able and faithful secretary takes his place, at once a new impulse is felt by the school. The superintendent, the teachers, and even the scholars will realize that energy, accuracy, and thoroughness count for much in the work of this department. They will appreciate faithful service, and will themselves respond to its influence.
2. Qualifications. The ideal secretary of a Sunday school should possess the following characteristics:
(1) A Business Man. He should possess the instincts of a man of business, being willing to work, systematic in method, and thorough in care of details.
(2) Regular in Attendance. He should make the Sunday school his business on Sunday, with a fidelity equal to that which he manifests toward his vocation through the week. His regularity should also embrace promptness, coming in advance of the hour; for much of the secretary's work may be done before the opening of the service.
(3) Good Writer. He should be able to write legibly, and possess skill in framing sentences correctly, and in writing them plainly, without unnecessary flourishes.
(4) Quick Mental Action. His mental processes should be sufficiently rapid for him to set down an ordinary motion, presented in a public meeting, without requiring it to be repeated or written out by the mover. An able recorder will promptly express in the minutes the form of a motion or the spirit of a speech, thereby saving much time in the meeting and much space in the report.
(5) Quiet Manner. The secretary should watch the program and do his work without interrupting it. He should never appear among the classes during prayer, during the reading of Scripture, or while a speaker is addressing the school. Only under urgent necessity should he come to a class in the lesson period, and in that case only at its beginning. During intervals in the service, or during the singing, he may find it needful at times to pass among the classes; but he should do this necessary work quietly, without distracting the attention of the school.
(6) Courteous Conduct. His bearing should always be that of a gentleman, refined and courteous, thoughtful of others and patient toward all; a manner enabling him to win the friendly aid of every teacher, upon whom the accuracy of the class record must depend.
Whoever can be found, in the school or the community, possessing these qualities, or approaching them, should be chosen as secretary of the Sunday school, whether man or woman. Often a young woman, accustomed through the week to business methods, becomes an efficient secretary of the Sunday school.
3. Appointment. The secretary should be elected by the board of officers and teachers. As he is not merely an assistant to the superintendent, but an officer of the school, it is not necessary that he should receive a nomination from the superintendent. His term of office should be one year, with as many reëlections as will promote the good of the service.
4. Assistants. In almost any school the secretary will need an assistant, whom he should nominate, subject to confirmation by the board of teachers and officers.
5. Department Secretaries. In a graded Sunday school there should be an assistant secretary for each department, who may be one of the teachers, or in the Senior and Adult grades, one of the scholars. He should take the records of the classes in the department and transmit them to the secretary of the school. But the secretary is responsible for the records of the entire school, and should see personally that the record of each department is complete.
6 . Duties. The work of the secretary may be classified as follows:
(1) Record of Meetings. As secretary of the board of teachers and officers, he should be present at all business meetings and make a careful record. Every motion should be stated clearly, with the names of its mover and its seconder, and the action taken. A statement should be given of every committee appointed, its purpose, and the names of its members. All committees should be expected to present written reports, however brief. A concise summary of each report, in a few sentences, or a single clause, should appear in the minutes of the meeting at which the report is presented; and the report itself should be filed for reference in case it should be needed. A committee once named is on the minutes, and cannot be ignored nor forgotten until its report has been presented and adopted, and the committee has been formally discharged. For example, it is not sufficient for the committee on the Christmas entertainment to hold the entertainment; it must afterward report that the entertainment was held on a certain date; must have its report adopted, and receive its discharge. It should be the duty of the secretary from time to time to call for reports of committees named in the minutes of previous meetings, to insist that a report be rendered, and that some action be taken upon it.
(2) Record of the School. In every well-ordered Sunday school the secretary summarizes in writing the attendance in each department, the total attendance, the number of new scholars, and other items to be preserved, including the weather, which may sometimes account for a small attendance; also a comparison with the record of the same Sunday last year. This report should be read to the school by the secretary at the call of the superintendent, or posted before the school; and it should also be recorded in a book which will contain the statistics of the school through a term of years.
(3) Records of Classes. The secretary and his assistants should prepare the books in which the class record of attendance is recorded. The name of each scholar should be given correctly and fully (for example, not "F. Jones," but "Frederick Jones"). The secretary should see that the record of attendance for each Sunday is accurately kept. He will need to give special attention to classes where substitutes take the place of absent teachers, and to see that the record for the day is not neglected. As often as the arrangement of the class books requires the rewriting of the names of the scholars, he should transcribe the list, always writing every name in full. In looking through the class lists he should note the names of those who have been absent for a series of sessions, and should report them to the superintendent, for consideration and for investigation of every habitual absentee. If these scholars can be visited, many of them may be retained in the school.
(4) Records of Scholars. In addition to the record in the class books, another record should be kept of every member of the school, including every officer, teacher, and scholar; a card catalogue, each name upon a separate card, and all the cards filed in alphabetical order. The card for each scholar should give besides his name the date of his entrance to the school, either the date of his birth or his age at entering—approximative, if above eighteen years; his residence, with street and number in a city; parents' names; class to which he is assigned; his relation to the church or congregation, and any other important facts. The card should contain the record of every promotion, and its date; of any changes in residence, and other details, so that it becomes a reliable and complete history of each individual in the school. In many schools the birthday of each member is kept upon the record, and is recognized by sending a birthday card. If a scholar or teacher leaves the school the fact is recorded, and the card is then taken from the regular catalogue and filed permanently in the list of "former members."
(5) Literature of the School. The secretary should be in charge of the literature used by the school, its text-books, lesson-quarterlies, and other periodicals. He should see that the literature is ordered in full time, should receive it, keep it in his care, and attend to its distribution. The particular text-book for each grade is fixed by the superintendent; and the secretary should receive from him direction as to the lesson helps for each grade.
(6) Correspondence. The secretary should conduct all correspondence in behalf of the school or of the teachers as a body, unless for a special purpose the chairman of a committee be in charge of correspondence relating to his work.
The secretary who with the aid of his staff undertakes to do all the work that rises before him will not find his task a light one. But his department carried on with vigor will greatly promote the success of the Sunday school.