The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-13
PROBLEM OF
 TEACHING Church Must Take Ad- vanced Stand. SUNDAY SCHOOL INSTRUCTION Some Talk of Putting Teachers on
 a Salary. There is Unanimity as To The Desired Result But Differences As To The Methods of Att
 tainment.

Sunday Schools of the world. fixed this year for October IS, will find these great adjuncts of the church more than ever at variance as to the best methods of imparting religious instruction. Since the foundation or the present-day Sunday School by Robert Raikes at Gloucester, England. in 17So. all Christian denominations have acknowledged the tremendous good to be derived from them in the spiritual training of the young people from whom must come the church of the futNre.
 It is all the more important now when there is a tendency to cut off all religious thought in the public schools. not only in this country but abroad. All the churches recognize the inn mense significance of definite teach ing for the young. Tn none is it more marked than in the Roman Catholic faith, where the clergy place the great est emphasis on the early training of the young in the belief of the church. Episcopalians are hardly less ap- preciative of the moment of this line of instruction.
 The other denominations are coming more and more to see its worth. In the welfare of the. church that has awakened the Sunday School workers to realization of the fact that they are trying to fight twentieth century battle with eighteenth century methods and they are seriously casting about for new means of bringing the Sum day School back to the strength that it should possess after 12S years of life
 The problem Is one that calls for the best brain of the church for the loss of Gch01arQ offar at ln Oa nf Is. is what most seriously threatens progress in these days. If means for holding the million and a half of teach CTS and officials to the proper enthus- iasm can be found. the problem will be half solved as the twelve and half million of Sunday School attendants in this country will be impelled by this very enthusiasm to become more regu- lar in their appearance each Sabbath.
 Stick To The Text.
 It is agreed that the trouble in the past has been too great spirit of dis cursiveness in teaching. Dr. Adeney, a noted ~Congregationalist. declares that it reminds him of the sermon of which 1t was said that if the text had the scarlet fever there was no danger of the sermon taking 1t.
 Those who have the examination of young candidates for the mission field in hand complain that lack of know ledge of the Bible is at the root of all the difficulty in keeping up the proper interest in the Sunday School. They have been impressed with the fact that the majority of the class leaders today simply rake up the old Bible stories and do nothing to promote real Bible study.
 Early in this year. some forty Sum day School workers of repute gather ed in Philadelphia to consider teacher training. They were representative of the International Association and it was their purpose to fix a standard for training that should qualify teach CTS to hold the highest positions in Sunday School work. It was decid- ed that two years time should be de- oYted to the training and that the course should consist of fifty lesson periods of which twenty should be de- voted to the training and that the each to the study of the pupil, the teacher and the Sunday School An advanced course of three years was also provided for and the required work extended.
 This will entail expense on the part or the prospective teacher. The ques- ton then follows as to what propor- tion of the present teaching stan will feel that 1t can afford this expense without there be some promise of recompense. As a result there seems to be an indication that in the near future Sunday School teachers will be paid just as are those in the public schools and the work of the volun- tary teacher will be supplemented by that of the professional.
 The Bishop of Worcester. England In an address to a great gatherins of Sunday School workers in his dio- cese only recently expressed the opin- ion that the time is not far distant when the Sunday School teacher will have to be paid. The bishop admitted | that he did not expect to find many 1 of his way of thinking for 1t would be hard to give up the idea of volun- tary service for church work wherein the young were concerned.
 The very suggestion appeared te | imply lack of enthusiasm in the cause of Christianity. The bishop die
 not wish to infer that but he did de.
 sire to maintain the idea of the Sun. day School institute which has done
 so much to keep up the efficiency oi and the general interest in the church school. Kindly workers have laborec | hard for the schools without advancing
 them beyond a certain point but op- ponents of professionalism hope thai some Smeans of improvement may be devised.
 | OoH6 IdNoT Ine lued or d 1 service, such as is generally in vogue in the Cath olic Church, thus throwing the teaching on the clorgy. Others ad- vocate the training of the present l teachers at the expense of the church itself. This would be a modification of the plan of the International As | sociation. Those who argue for the professional stan declare. however that none of the methods Is likely to be adequate and state that in view of the apparently growing tendency toward secular education the introduc- tion of paid teachers will be essential if the rising generation Is to be grounded in church training. saIaried Teachers in Gotham. It was only half dozen years ago that there were no paid Sunday School teachers in New York City where now there are least two huge churches wherein the Sunday School lesson Is | taught only by salaried men and wo- men. A dozen others have few paid teachers who act as substitutes when | the regular teachers are away. Dr. | Parkhursts school has practically nc volunteers. The 1,20O children in St. Earth holomews East Side Chapel have | principally paid instructore.
 The matter will be ripe for discus sion five years hence at San Francisco at the next International sunday 1 School gathering.