The Oskaloosa herald., 1913-01-16
THE SUNDAY SCHOOLS
Institute is Started With Two Great
Meetings on Sunday.

A large audience was present at the
big Sunday School mass-meetng held
at the Central M. E. CHURCH Sunday
afternoon In the interests of the re-
Gently organized Oskaioosa Sunday
School Institute. ThisIustitutel is to
be college of religious etucationfor
the purpose of training workers and
teachers In the Sunday school and
opens at the Y M. G. A. this evening.
The Penn College Male Quartette, con-
sisting of Messrs. Abrams, Venable,
Lane and Kelsey sang a couple of Sc
Ilections in their usual pleasing man
ner at the afternoon services. Mr.. w,
d. Stem was the first speaker and
| he treated the audience with a very in.
teresting discussion on MEMS Work
for Men" Mr.. Stem is the new secre-
tary of the Iowa State Sunday School
association and is a recognized au-
thority on the Organized Adult Mems
class work. His talk was plea for
better and more efficient work in the
Sunday school and especially the
work of the men. The principal ad-
dress of the afternoon was made by
DIR. Walter S. Athearn, professor OF
religious education in Drake Univer.
sity and speaker of national reputa-
ton. He is a man of great personal.
lity and one of the strongest, most
convincing speakers ever heard in the
city. His subject in the afternoon
was upon THE Mission of the Sunday
School" DR.. Athearn is firm be-
lever in the Importance of the. Sun.
day School to the church and the com.
munity and thinks that it should be
run more as part of the church than
as a side issue. The only difference
between the public school and the
Sunday school is the place that wor-
Iship has in the programs of the two
schools. The plans of teaching in the
two should be the same. There are
three qualifications essential to the
Sunday school teacher as well as the
public school teacher. These compose
the three Ms, matter, mind and meth.
cd. The teacher must know the sub
Iject matter, which she Is to teach,
thoroughly; she must know the sico.
logy in the child's mind; and she must
know the best methods to pursue in
order to reach the child's mind. The
teaching of these things is the object
of the Oskaloosa Sunday School Insti.
tnte and in no other way can the
teacher get the proper grasp of these
essentials.
The church was filled to capacity
at the Union meeting of the churches
held at 1880 and addressed by DR..
Athearn upon the subject, Next
Steps in Religious Education" The
evening talk was even stronger and
more powerful than the afternoon adj
dress and the speaker held the audi.
ence in his power from beginning to
end. The farmhouse Orchestra furn-
ished music for the evening services
and delighted the large audience with
several excellent selections. DR.
Athearn's talk was again upon the
functions and Importance of the Sun
day school. He stated that the Amer
lean citizens have in recent years de
cided upon four things. They have
decided that their children are to be
educated; they have decided that the
Bible is not to be taught in the pub
lie schools; they are determined that
the morals of their children are ia
be regulated and modelled upon the
teachings of the Bible; and they have
decided that the church should be
made the basis of school for the
teaching of Christian education
The Sunday school is the means by
which this Christian education is to
be taught. He mentioned four steps
which the people are taking and must
be a closer relationship between the
church and the Sunday school. The
church should swallow the Sunday
school and dun it as a part of the
church The second step Is to organ
ize and equip the Sunday school
with separate class rooms, maps
charts, etc, so that the lessons may
be properly taught. Third, the Sun
day school should have more time In
which to do the work, and the last
and most important step is to have
trained leadership in the school.