Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-12
IMPROVEMENTS IN
SUNDAY SCHOOL

Radical changes inaugurated during
the past year by the Sunday school of
the Episcopal Church of the Advent, in
the Bloomingdale section, augur well
not only for the future success of that
institution, but for the enlargement
and Strengthening Of the church itself,
new departures.
Both Canon De Vries and the Bishop
of Washington spoke in glowing terms
on the occa sions of their late visits to
Advent parish of the progress that has
been made since Mr.. Plant came as
superintendent of the Sunday school.
Bishop Harding remarked recently that
the Advent Sunday school had grown
the whole diocese, although the church
is still .one of the smallest in Washing
ton.
There has been inaugurated in the
school a system of lessons. introduced
at the beginning of the Advent season.
in 1915, which should be a. potent rae
tor in making the work success: In
the place of the old-style lesson !eaf-
lets, which in the past wereshanded OUT
to the children every Sunday. or bound
into auarterIies, and which. in the nat
ural course of things. were often lost:
misplaced or destroyed, the omcers OF
the Sunday school have gone to con.
siderable expense to secure series OF
books, which are valuable enough for
the pupils to feel the necessity OF
keeping them.
In this series is covered a systematic
and methodical study of the HE or
Jesus Christ and the history OF the
church These books are graded to
suit the needs of children OF dinerent
ages, and the classes in the Sunday
Iii 1a1 hot q
will be taken up in a regular order. IN
the same manner that a subject is
studied in the public schools The
pupils will be promoted from one grade
to the next as they cover the sup!eG.s
taken up in the book they are study
ing
The trouble with the old-style lessons
seems to have been that they took a
Bible stories and lessons. in which
there was little coordination. and by
the time the thoughtful child became
interested in one phase or the STUDY or
religion he would be taken away from
that to study some entirely new cues.
ton, and thus become confused and
lose time. The officers Of the school
believe that under the new system.
when a child has gone through all OF
the primary and secondary courses he
will be equipped for an Intelligent
study of the Bible and the larger Dues
tons Of religion ana the relation OF
the church and the DOCK more iHteiii-
gently.
The o;he- activities of the Sunday
school. that nave relation to the So
cial side Of life, have been developed
with similar success The boys have
basket ball every Tuesday night in the
parish hail. which can be converted
into basket bali court in short
time, and the Phi Mu Sigma Basket
Ball League, which includes teams
from churches of nearly every denor'-
nation, has played all of its scheduled
games il, there this season.
Wednesday the girls haze indoor ten
mis- in the parish hail. Despite many
Interruptions. the girls are hopeful that
they will be aisle to play every Wed
nesday for the rest of the winter
A class which has come into exist
ence in the last year. and which prom
ises to become the largest in the en-
tire Sunday school is the young mems
class, conducted by Robert NJ. Ryce.
This class and the class of Capt. Faris
have formed cha pier in the Phi MI
Sigma Fraternity, known as Pi Chap
ter. and in the first year OF it's mem
bership it achieved a name in frater-
nifty athletics and in other activities.
The Pi basket ball team. is now
lea ding the Phi MI Sigma League.
having won all of its eight games play
ed. If the Phi Mu Sigma forms base
ball league this year Pi is to have. a
strong team If not it will probably
play in the Sunday School League,
where it played last year.
Next Thursday night -Pi Chapter will
hold a smoker in the parish hall, to
which all the men of the congregation
have been invited.