Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-03-26

est, the modern minister must be
content with q service, often scan
tily attended, which lasts only an
hour, considerably less than half
Of which must be devoted to
preaching. The sermon, too, must
be bright and interesting. There
is no time for explaining in detail
doctrinal truths, and most congIe-
cations have little taste for such
preaching.
Some of VA ministers, doubtless,
could give more time-and to &
great many people very acceptably
to calculating ehe great doetrin S
Of the church. But no minister
should forget that perhaps the ma
iority of his listeners are not train
ed to think along theological lines
They certainly must be considered
if they are expected 20 come back
again. And it is this class that the
churches are most anxious to in
terost and attract.
What, then. is to be done? That
something should be done, and
done Mt once is evident. Many of
the churches of our land are rec
ognizing the seriousness of the sit
uation and seeking to meet it, Let
me say that rome of them are
meeting it with wonderful success.
The most effective way, mani
festly, is to begin with the young.
II we can succeed in teaching them
the content OF the Christ an re-
ligion as thoroughly az they are
taught the ordinary subjects in the
public schools, within a generation
We shall have gone long way
toward solving the problem. And
why should not this be done?
Let me mention three methods
which are being used to supple
ment the work of the Sunday
school and the home.
The first is the vacation school.
Sometimes a church-more often
a group Of churches working to-
gether-gives a course in Bible
study for a week or two In the
summer holidays. 1t is wonderful
how much is some times learned
in these schools. Children Outlines
as a result of the work done in
them are found TO take a new IN
terest in the Bible. But at the best
the time that can be devoted to
these schools is short, and those
reached are largely the smaller
children. Too much, however.
cannot be said in praise OF this en-
deaYor to supplement the work of
the Sunday school.
Another method is the giving of
a course in Bible study and religion
on Saturday or after school to the
young people of the church. This
method, too, has been attended
with splendid results. The diff
Guilty, however, is in getting the
children to devote this time TO
study. They feel that they have
a right to one day in the week and
to the time after school for play.
and they are probably right IN this.
Some churches, however, have
succeeded in teaching their young
people at this time, and whenever
1t is practicable good results have
followed.
The third method, however. Is
meeting more and more with pop
ular favor. This is, in co-opera-
ton with the public schools. to
devote certain hours of the school
period to religious instruction. The
child is allowed to go to the
church OF his parents choice for
such instruction. The course Of
fered must come up to the stand
ard Of the other public school
courses, and due credits are given
for the work done. The public
school authorities are usually very
glad to cooperate in this way for
two reasons. In the first place,
they feel the need of more moral
instruction among the youth.
Where this plan has been carried
out, not only has 1t been found
that a higher standard of morality
has characterized the school, but
also that less of disciplinary meas
ures has been required. The pu-
pills have proved to be more con-
scientious in their work. In the
second place, an increasing num-
Der of the colleges and universi-
ties of the land are accepting cred
its in Bible study for marticulation
One of our leading universities.
indeed, Columbia, makes a knowl-
edge of the Bible q necessary con-
dition of entrance. 1t may be in
teresting to some of you to know
that more than two hundred of our
higher institutions of learning give
courses in the English Bible,
among which may be mentioned
Yale. Brown, Boston and Chicago
universities.
Sometimes all the churches of a
community unite and give a uni
form course in what they all ac-
cept as the fundamentals of Chris
tianity, reserving instruction In
their distinctive beliefs to their
Sunday schools. Sometimes each
church takes the responsibility
separately Of instructing its own
young people. The former meth
Cd, when practicable, has natural
ly a more broadening effect and
tends to emphasize those things on
which the churches agree rather
than those on which they differ.
The latter, however, when the COM