THE SUNDAY SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
In order to perfect Bible knowledge for the moral and religious training
of the children of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America;
the General Conference of the C. M. E. Church directs that there shall
be a Sunday School Department which shall be under the general
supervision of a General Sunday School Board, to be authorized by the
General Conference, whose chief officer shall be that of Editor, and
said department shall be located in the Publishing House, wherever
settled, etc.
1. The Sunday School Department shall include all of the Sunday-schools
in the C. M. E. Church, and shall be subject to such rules and
regulations as The General Sunday School Board and the General
Conference may from time to time direct.
2. The purpose of said Department shall be to educate our young people
in all of the phases of Sunday School training and service, to give
course and impetus to a systematic study of the Holy Bible, and to
supply the Sunday Schools with the proper literature including
Catechisms and tracts, and to assist needy Sunday Schools whenever
practical.
3. The General Conference shall elect an Editor for the Sunday School
Department, whose term of office shall be four years, and until his
successor is elected. The Editor shall be the executive officer of the
Sunday School Department, and shall edit all Sunday School literature
comprising Lessons, Leaves, Books, Tracts, Magazines, Lithographs and
etc. It shall be the duty of the Editor to approve or disapprove of
whatever Sunday School helps that may be suggested by the General Sunday
School Board for use in our Sunday Schools.
4. His salary shall be fixed by the General Sunday School Board per
annum plus his necessary traveling expenses. The General Sunday School
Board shall fix a salary or wage for a stenographer, or other necessary
help of the Department.
5. The Editor shall render an annual report to the General Sunday School
Board, and an annual report to each Annual Conference in the connection
as to the amount of literature used, and number of Sunday Schools using
the Sunday School supplies of our own Church, within its bounds, and a
quadrennial report to the General Conference.
6. The Editor of the Sunday School Department shall be amenable for his
official conduct to the General Sunday School Board and to the General
Conference who shall have right and power for cause sufficient to them
to remove him from office; the General Board having the right to suspend
and to fill the vacancy until the ensuing General Conference.
7. All of the Sunday Schools of the C. M. E. Church shall be under the
management of the Sunday School Department, the regulations of which
shall be as follows: There shall be a Sunday School Board in every
Annual Conference and District Conference, and District Sunday School
Convention, and Quarterly Conference. It shall be the duty of the Annual
Conference Sunday School Board to inquire into the reports read by the
pastors, as to the kind and amount of literature each Sunday School
uses, and to make full reports to the Annual Conference in session on
our Sunday School work, with the recommendations. This report must be
printed annually in the Minutes.
As in the order above, the District Conference and District Sunday
School Convention shall confine their reports and recommendations to the
Sunday School work of the District. The Quarterly Conference Sunday
School Board shall be composed of the pastor and superintendents,
officers and teachers of a station, circuit or mission; whose duty shall
be to extend the circulation and influence of our Sunday School
literature into every possible local precinct, and to make report with
recommendation of the progress of Sunday School work, to the quarterly
conference and church conference and to the district conference and
Sunday School Convention. A Sunday School Board, like a committee, may
consist of from three to forty-nine.
8. An Annual Conference Sunday School Board shall be appointed by the
Presiding Bishop and shall continue their work for four years. All of
the district and quarterly conference Boards shall be affected and
reorganized by the appointments of a Presiding Elder and pastor.
9. It shall also be the duty of the Sunday School Editor to assist the
Book Agent by supplying our Sunday Schools (including needy schools)
with our own literature. Suggested order of business for a local Sunday
School Board.
(a) Devotion.
(b) Reading Minutes of previous meeting.
(c) Unfinished business.
(d) Report and recommendation of Superintendent.
(e) Treasurer's report.
(f) Librarian's report.
(g) New business.