Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School: Modern Sunday School ManualsHurlbut, Jesse Lyman
Religion
Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School: Modern Sunday School Manuals
Hurlbut, Jesse Lyman
Sunday schools
(1) _Moral Character._ The Sunday school undertakes to train the young
in character; therefore he who stands as its responsible head must
possess a character worthy of admiration and imitation. His life must
honor, and not dishonor, his profession. It is possible for a man whose
work for an hour on Sunday is in behalf of the gospel so to live in his
family, in business, and in society as to work for six days against the
gospel, and more than undo all his efforts for good. The leader in such
an uplifting movement as the Sunday school must have clean hands and a
pure heart. What Saint Paul wrote of a bishop he would have written of a
Sunday school superintendent: he must have "a good report." In the
well-known painting of the Emancipation Proclamation may be seen
standing at the right hand of President Lincoln the Secretary of the
Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, who once said, "A man in my position must not
only seem right, but be right; and not only be right, but seem right."
So will every one say of the Sunday-school superintendent.
(2) _A Devout Believer._ The superintendent's character should be
irradiated with the fine glow of a Christian faith. He should be one who
has seen the heavenly vision and unto it has not been disobedient; one
whose spirit has been kindled by the Divine Spirit burning like a fire
within; one who is himself a Christian man, longing to lead other men
into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ the Son.
(3) _A Working Church Member._ We have already learned that the Sunday
school is not a society or an institution standing alone. It is a
branch of the church, and one of the most important branches. The normal
growth of the church depends in large measure upon the Sunday school,
and the support of the Sunday school comes, or should come, from the
church. The superintendent who endeavors to do his duty to his scholars
will strive to lead them to Christ and into active membership and
service in the church. Therefore, he himself must be a professed, loyal,
and effective member of the church. His name should not only stand upon
its roll, but his heart should also be enlisted in its behalf.
(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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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