The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-05
SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK
FonCEFUL ADDRESS BY W.
 PEARCE or CHICAGO.
Spoke to . Montgomery Audience ~ First Presbyterian Church on the Necessity of Train
 Ing Teachers.

l W. c. Pearce of Chicago. superin' | tendent of the Teachers Training De- | partment and Work of the 1nterna. tional Sabbath School Association, las' night at the First Presbyterian Churcn l spoke to the Sunday School workers oi Montgomery on the importance oi trained Sunday School teachers ana workers
 Mir. Pearee is a forceful speaker and is inbued with enthusiasm in his SUD. tects Training of Sunday School workers is not an old idea; 1t Is mod ern and Mir. Pearce is one of the orisl- nators of the thorough system of tram ing he advocates.
 It was not known positively that MT Pearce would be in Montgomery until a comparatively few hours before he spoke and as a result the audience which heard him, was small. The au- dience, however, was composed oi practically every Sunday School Su- perintendent in Montgomery and a number of the more prominent work CTS. They consider that his coming to Montgomery was not barren of results The speaker was introduced by Rev. O. W. Patterson, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church.
 Mir. Pearce. without preliminaries. launched into his subject. He said that the greatest factor in Sunday School work is the efficiency of the teachers. He had heard it stated by prominent educational experts that S5 per cent of the efficiency of the public school system rested in the teachers
 The great problem of Sunday School work is how to secure teachers. he said. The public school system is in dire need of teachers and a Sunday School requires four times, as many teachers as a public school. In addi- tion, public schools pay their teachers. while the work in the Sunday School is work of love.
 The Church must tackle the prob lem with Angio-Saxon gfit and deter imitation to solve it." he said.
 In helping them to do so, he said. he would deliver i've messages. which might lead to beneficial results.
 The first was to discover the teach CTS. Amplifying this message, he ex- .plained that teachers are not born and teachers are not made. They are both born and made and there is much ma terial for good teachers that Is daily passed over by the Sunday School workers. .." e ,.-f
 The second. message was that the teacher must be called. He believed in a called ministry and he also be- lieved that the conscientious Sunday School worker is just as much ser want of God as the conscientious minis ter. The speaker amplified all his points by illustration from personal experience. He told how after the embryo teachers had been discovered by the Superintendent and other work CTS they should be called in the same manner as Peter was called to become fisher of men"
 His third message was to train the teachers. He spoke of different meth ods and finally explained how in the great Middle West, teachers go through a regular two years normal course of instruction and are gwen diplomas of graduation.
 His fourth message was to install the workers and keep them from be- coming weak in the work, and his fifth message was to encourage them.
 He told Of how a few words of cheer would keep the work from tagging.
 He closed with an eloquent appeal for a trained system of teachers.
 Mir. Pearce will leave today fol North CarolinA j r-.