(4) A Bible Student. The Sunday school is the school with one preëminent text-book; and of that Book the superintendent should be a diligent student. His work is executive and not instructional; yet he must supervise the teaching, and this supervision he cannot rightly give unless he is familiar with the course of study. He should study the lesson of each department, perhaps not as thoroughly as the teachers in the department, but sufficiently to maintain acquaintance with their work. And he should master not only the specific lessons of the immediate course before his school, but also the Book as a whole.
One successful superintendent gave as a secret of his power to make his school, both teachers and scholars, willing to do whatever he asked, "I never expect my teachers or scholars to do anything that I am not ready to do myself. Before I ask them to bring their Bibles I bring mine. When I asked my school to be ready on the following Sunday to repeat in concert the Nineteenth Psalm, I committed it to memory during the week, and when the time came spoke the words with the school." Only that superintendent who himself loves the Bible, and studies it, can have a true Bible school.
(5) An Able Executive. The Sunday school is like that vision seen by the prophet Ezekiel, a system of wheels within wheels, all endowed with life; and the master of the mechanism directing its motion is the superintendent. Moreover, each of these living wheels in the Sunday-school machine is a volunteer worker, who may at any moment drop out of his orbit. To hold together these varied elements, to combine their movements, to guide each in his own sphere, to compass the common purpose through all the forces working as one, requires a wise brain and a skillful hand. The superintendent should have a plan for the school, with details throughout for every emergency; he should be ready to assign to every worker the task for which he is best fitted; he should be able to work with others, not merely to command others; and he should be a leader whom others will follow, not by the might of an overmastering will, but by the magnetism of an attractive personality. He should never forget that with others as well as with himself service in the Sunday school is not compulsory but voluntary, that his associates lay on the altar their free-hearted, unpaid labor; and that such workers cannot be commanded, although by tact and wise generalship they may be led to accomplish the most difficult tasks.
(6) Sympathy with Youth. The superintendent's office will bring him into relations with youth during all its stages, from early childhood through the entire adolescent period. He must be able to see life and the world through the eyes of a little child, of a growing boy, and of a young man. The sympathy which he needs is not a compassionate feeling for youth, but a feeling with youth, an ability to put himself in its place; to feel as young people feel, and to understand why they act as they sometimes do. This sympathy will impart a love for young people, such a love as will enable him to be patient with their foibles and faults, to exert a powerful influence over them, and to keep before them noble ideals of character and service.
(7) Teachable Spirit. No matter how much the superintendent knows, or thinks he knows, he should hold his mind open to new knowledge. He should be on the alert for new ideas, from the periodicals, from books, and from his fellow workers, in conversation, at conventions and institutes; not that he may inflict every new method upon his school, but that out of many methods he may select the best. When Michael Angelo was past eighty-five years old, and almost blind, he was found one day beside an antique torso which had recently been dug out of the ground, bending over it, and carefully pressing his fingers upon its surface. When asked what he was doing, he answered, "I am learning"! The masters in every department of work are never too wise nor too old to learn.
If a man can be found who possesses all these seven traits of character and temperament, the school which can secure him for its superintendent will be fortunate indeed. And the superintendent who thoughtfully reads the catalogue of qualifications, and feels that in some of them he is lacking, may by divine grace and his own will working together make progress toward the goal of becoming an ideal superintendent.
VII
THE SUPERINTENDENT'S DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES