as far as the boy is concerned, but it is destined to be the biggest
force. The church, itself, is the most permanent institution of the
community, and will always be so, as long as humanity remains religious.
In the church are all the conserving elements of the community--slow to
change, it stands for the best. Having adopted anything after approved
worth commends it, it tenaciously holds it in trust. Communities may
have homes and schools, but, without the church, they are not good
places in which to live. The church, then, because it is most permanent,
should tie the loyalty of the boy to herself. This she best does
through her school--the Sunday school.
There are, however, other church forces in the community--organizations
fostered and supported by the material and moral enthusiasm of the
members of the church. Some of these organizations have been frankly
formed for the purpose of assisting the church in some special field of
religious education. This is essentially true of such boy organizations
as the Knights of King Arthur, Knights of St. Paul, Knights of the Holy
Grail, and the Boys' Brigade. It is essentially true, also, of the Young
Men's Christian Association. The first of these--the boy
organizations--constitutes a method which is at the disposal of the
church. The second--the Christian Association--has grown to be a mighty
operating force, with hundreds of employed officers and millions of
dollars of property. Save for the fact that church members compose the
directorates, it is independent of the church. With this and other
organizations what can the church's relationship be? The seeming answer
would be cooperation--a glad working together for the general betterment
of the community itself by tried and approved plans. However, a new
condition has arisen, which offers more than general cooperation between
the Church and these organizations for the teen age boy. Until recently
the church school had no clear-cut method for working with the teen age
lad, while the boy organizations referred to had such a method, and the
Young Men's Christian Association, after years of work, has a force of
more or less experienced experts in boy life in its employ. The methods
of these boy organizations and the boy experts of the Young Men's
Christian Association must have a field of operation, and the best
field, of course, is that of the church school, where boys should be
found. The Young Men's Christian Association, in its own building,
touches but a minute fraction of the boy life of the city in which it
operates, and, to touch the city boy life, must get out of its building.
It then has a choice of fields, Public Playground, Public School, or
Community Betterment. If, however, it is true to the principle of its
founding--to be an arm of the Church among young men--that which it
attempts to do should be tied up to the Church, or, in the case of teen
age boys, to the church school. To accomplish the latter, what shall the
procedure be? Shall the Young Men's Christian Association win the boy,
and then deliver him, saved for service, to the Church, or shall the
Young Men's Christian Association work with the Church as part of the
Church inside the church school? Common sense would say both ways, and
all other ways possible, just so the boy stands saved and in the Church
for service. And this is as it should be, and the employed experts of
the Young Men's Christian Association should render service to the
Church, both within and without the Church--and this service may be
through method, or organization, or both. At all times the weakness of
the Church should be the Association's opportunity to help the Church
realize herself, and this can best be accomplished by the constructive
suggestion that works its way out on the inside of the organization.
Little help comes from battering a wall on the outside. At least it does
not help the house inside any. Cooperation, then, must be understood as
the internal assistance given the Church herself to realize the need and
the plan to meet it.
In this regard every organization must clearly understand the church it
seeks to aid. Most organizations have singular aims and motives. The
Church is a complex organization, with many needs. The church school has
many divisions and departments, has two sexes to minister to, embraces
all ages, from the cradle to the grave, and usually has no paid
officers. Through it all proportion has to be maintained--balance of
organization, fair opportunity for all, young or old, male and female. A
plan for the education of the teen age boy will no more solve the
problem of the Sunday school than it would the educational, physical
employment, or social difficulties of the Young Men's Christian
Association. In proper relationship to the other factors of the problem
in church school, or Young Men's Christian Association, it would help
the whole organization. It surely takes more than plaster to make a
house, important as is plaster.
The Sunday school has its own problems of organization, sexes, ages,
equipment, equality, fair-play, opportunity, leadership, etc. No
organization can help these problems from the outside, or by emphasis on
any one phase. Gain in one department may be loss in another. The Sunday
school needs proportionate gain.
The Sunday school, therefore, should welcome any organization or method
that bids fair to help in the solution of its problems. It should
eagerly avail itself, especially, of the aid that the Boy Life Expert of
the Young Men's Christian Association can give, thus reducing religious,
economic duplication, and achieving united conservation of boy life. On
the other hand, the Boy Life Expert of the Young Men's Christian
Association should thoroughly acquaint himself with the genius of the
Sunday school, the plan of its organization, and the pith of all its
problems of sex and age, leadership and training, aims and objectives.
He should also know thoroughly the policies of denominational and
interdenominational Sunday school bodies, and, where there are
denominations in plural quantity, this may mean a task worth while.
Sometimes it is a slow process. Surely, so! The Kingdom, with all the
wisdom of Heaven, has been twenty centuries in the building, and it has
been wrought out in the Church. The contribution that each man or woman
makes must be small, but likewise great in its possibilities, if wisely,
patiently given.
An organization cannot be permanently helped by introducing into its
life the methods of another without the process of assimilation; neither
can strength be given merely a part of the body to cure the whole.
Organic tone is needed. Intelligent, Sunday school-wide cooperation!
This is the invitation of the church school to all existing
organizations. The conditions of the challenge are not easy, but the
task is interesting and worth while, and the promise of increased
efficiency is great indeed.
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON SUNDAY SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Lawrance.--The Cooperation Sunday Schools Desire (_American Youth_,
April, 1911) (.20).
Flood.--A Federation of Sunday School Clubs (_American Youth_, April,
1911) (.20).
Alexander.--Sunday School Use of Association Equipment (_American
Youth_, April, 1911) (.20).
FOOTNOTES:
[1: Makes provisions for sick and shut-ins but essentially meant for
adults.]
[2: A large part of this chapter is taken from Secondary Division
Leaflet Number 2, International Sunday School Association.]
[3: Older Boy]
[4: Adult]
[5: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division Leaflet
Number 4, International Sunday School Association.]
[6: Much of this Chapter has been drawn from Secondary Division Leaflet
Number 1, International Sunday School Association.]
[7: The Executive Committee of the Department should have membership on
the Sunday School Board.]
[8: These conference may also be state wide in their scope.]
[9: This Chapter is largely drawn from International Sunday School
Association, Second Division Leaflet Number 5.]
[10: This Chapter is a compilation of articles written by the author in
the _Westminster Teacher_ and _Illinois Trumpet Call_.]
[11: This Chapter is a blending of articles written for the Boy Scout
Master's Handbook, the _Adult Magazine_ and hitherto unpublished
material.]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Boy and the Sunday School, by John L. Alexander