5. The Intermediate Department. Here the pupils are from twelve to sixteen years of age. The classes should be small, generally of six boys or girls, never more than eight. This period in life is known as early adolescence, and calls for careful direction by wise teachers. In the Intermediate Department the great biographies of the Bible should be studied, either as the regular or the supplemental lessons; also the heroic lives of leaders in the history of the Church, of foreign missionaries, and of men and women who have labored in the home fields. Boys and girls in this stage of life are instinctively hero-worshipers, and before them should be set high ideals of character and service. Special effort should be made in leading the scholars to personal consecration to Christ and to union with the Church; for if the great decision be not made before the age of sixteen is reached, there is great danger that it will never be reached. But that decision should include more than a formal profession. It should embrace a full surrender to the will of Christ, an inward, conscious spiritual life, an aim for completeness of Christian character, and especially a willingness to work for God and humanity. Youth is a season of ardor and of energy, a period of lofty ideals and noble endeavor. All those active powers of the youthful nature should be guided into channels of usefulness. The true twentieth century disciple of Christ is not one who lives alone feasting his soul on God, but one who stands among his fellow-men, eager to aid in the world's betterment.
6. The Senior Department. This is the preferable title, although some organized schools call it the Young People's Department, and restrict the word Senior to the classes of fully adult age. Still others call it the Assembly, and give it an organization independent of the Sunday school.[7] The age of entrance should be sixteen, except with some who in stature and mind are mature beyond their years. It is imperative, as we have already seen, that at the door of this department the young people should leave their former teachers, and should not form new Senior classes, but as individuals enter classes already established. This department includes the members of the school between sixteen and twenty years of age; not that members of classes must necessarily leave them at twenty, but that men or women above that age entering the school should rather join the Adult Department. The classes may be as large as the arrangement of rooms will allow; larger where each class can have a separate room, which is the ideal plan. Generally, young men and young women should be in separate classes. The teacher of a young men's class should be a man whose character will inspire the respect and win the fellowship of his class. The teacher of the young women's class will generally be a lady, although often men have been successful teachers of young women.
In this department the classes should be organized, each with its own officers, chosen by the members; and the class should be consulted when a teacher is to be appointed, although the voice of the class in the decision should be advisory and not mandatory. Especial attention should be given to the social activities of this department. Each class should have its own gatherings, classes of young men and women should meet together occasionally, and a Senior Reception should be held at least annually to promote acquaintance among the members. The interest of the young people should also be enlisted in some definite form of service for the church or the community.
7. The Teacher-Training Department. The most promising young people, both men and women, should be selected at sixteen years of age—the time of promotion into the Senior Department—and should be organized as the Teacher-training or Normal Class. The best teacher obtainable should be assigned to this department. Often in the high school or some near-by college, a scholarly, Bible-loving instructor may be found who is willing to give a part of his time to the equipment of teachers for the coming generation. A text-book should be chosen from among those approved by the International Teacher-training Committee. No person should be admitted to this class who is not willing to give some time during the week to the study of the course. While the rest of the school may be studying the regular lessons, whether graded or uniform, this class should be at work with the teacher-training text-books. There should be thorough instruction with examinations looking toward a certificate of work done, such as the International Teacher-training diploma.[8] The course may cover two, three, or four years; and new members may be placed in the class at the opening of each year, to begin at the point where the class is studying, and to remain until they shall have completed the entire course. In a properly graded school after a few years there will be a class graduating from and a class entering the Teacher-training Department each year.
This department should also include a Reserve Class, consisting of those who are ready to act as substitutes for absent teachers. If the uniform lessons are followed, the Reserve Class should study the lesson a week in advance of the school. Into this class the graduates of the Teacher-training Class should be placed, to remain until classes are ready for them in the school.
In some schools the Teacher-training and Reserve Classes do not form a separate department, but are two classes in the Senior Department. But it is the better plan in a large school to establish the Teacher-training Department, with its own officers, thereby adding to its prestige in the school.
8. The Adult Department. This will include all who are above the age of twenty years. It is the judgment of advanced leaders in Sunday-school work that at twenty years those who have belonged to Young People's classes in the Senior Department should leave them for the Adult Department. Otherwise, the Senior Department in a few years will cease to be a place where young people of sixteen and eighteen years feel at home. In the Adult Department men and women may meet together as members of the same class, unless there arise a demand for separate classes and the numbers enrolled justify the division. In conducting these classes two forms of instruction have been found to be successful: (1) the colloquial method of teaching, the class studying and discussing the lesson together under the guidance of the leader; and (2) the lecture method, the teacher being the principal speaker, but always admitting questions and answers on the subject suggested by the lesson. Classes in this department may be allowed to choose their own courses of study, provided (1) that the subjects and methods are in line with the general aim of religious education, and not merely secular science or history; (2) that the courses of successive years have some sequence, and are not chosen in a haphazard, accidental manner. The Adult Department under wise direction should promote a large, intelligent, broad-minded, philanthropic type of Christian character in the church and the community.
9. The Home Department. This department, like the Cradle Roll at the other extreme of the Sunday-school constituency, is composed of people, both young and old, who cannot be present at its sessions, but are interested in its work, and willing to give some time to its studies. In every community there are such people—aged or infirm men and women, invalids, mothers unable to leave their offspring, commercial travelers, and people who live too far from the school to attend it. These are organized into the Home Department, furnished with the literature of the school, study its text-books, make their report of work done, and send their contributions to its support through the Home Department superintendent or visitor.[9]