Sunday Schools of the Church

Sunday Schools of {he Church By DAVID 0. McKAY General Superintendent of the Sunday Schools of the Church and Member of the Council of Twelve THE proper training of child- hood is man's most sacred obligation. Children at birth are the most dependent and helpless of all creatures, yet they are the sweetest and the greatest of all things in the world. They come, or should come, from the Father pure and undefiled, their souls like stainless white paper on which is to be written the aspira- tions and achievements of a life- time. Whether that scroll shall become the biography of a noble Christ-like life, or a series of blots and blurs depends largely, if not entirely, upon the guiding influence of parents, playmates and teachers. "A creature undefiled by the taint of the world, unvexed by its in- justice, unwearied by its hollow pleasures; a being fresh from the source of light, with something of its universal lustre in it — if childhood be this, how holy the duty to see that in its onward growth it shall be no other." In the formation of character and guidance of childhood parental influence is greatest; next comes the teacher's. Of the former, I cannot comment in this article; and of the latter, I must confine my reference only to a few of those who have sought to estab- lish an environment in which children might be fired with an ambition to be useful, and infused with a desire to be obedient, that thereby they might enjoy the first and foremost right of childhood; viz., to be happy. "There is true nobility in the soul of that man or woman who sincerely desires and strives to lead children out of contaminating influences into an environment of high ideals and lofty endeavor." i[T was just such yearnings and strivings of honest minds and hearts that gave birth to our mod- ern Sunday Schools. The first of these was established at Glou- cester, England, over one hundred fifty years ago. Robert Raikes, proprietor of the Gloucester Journal, a man noted for his deeds of philanthropy, saw from his window one day, "ne- glected, ragged children, playing, quarreling, cursing and fighting and using language too coarse to repeat." These unfortunate chil- dren, neglected by their parents, were gathered in a private home, the charge of four women, "who were employed at a shilling a day." The forenoon session was held from ten to twelve o'clock. Every Sunday afternoon the children were conducted to the Parish Church where they participated in worship and recited from the cate- chism. JUDGING from the description given of this Sunday School in the Gloucester Journal, the public became interested and the move- ment became popular, though some ecclesiastical authorities and "timid religionists" opposed it as a very dangerous innovation. Vol- unteer teachers supplanted those who were paid a shilling a day. It is true there are authentic records The Author extant which prove that Sunday Schools existed before 1783, but Robert Raikes' Sunday School is generally considered the beginning of the modern Sunday School movement. It is difficult to determine who merits the credit of organizing the first Sunday School in the United States. One such school was or- ganized under the direction of Bishop Asbury at the House of the Cranshaws in Hanover City, Virginia, 1786. In December, 1790, a meeting was called to con- sider the importance of this work, and in January, 1791, a Sunday School Society was organized for the purpose of securing religious instruction for poor children on Sunday. The teachers, as those of Robert Raikes, were paid a small salary. Other schools followed and became the nucleus of the American Sunday School Union, a national organization formed in 1824. HTHE first Sunday Schools in the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints were organized in Kirtland, Ohio. Unfortunately, we have very little record con- cerning their organization and con- duct. In Helen Mar Whitney's memoirs we find the following: "Among other pleasing recollections were our Sunday Schools, where I used to love to go and recite verses and whole chapters from the New Testament, and we received rewards in primers, etc.. which I think were more highly appre- ciated in those days than they are at the present time. At ten o'clock we would form in line and march with our teachers up to the Temple. The thought that I could never see or enjoy them again would make me sad, as a child, when we were driven away from Kirtland to Missouri, and sometimes I would cry bitterly." T AM indebted to Sister Susa 1 Young Gates for the following regarding Sunday Schools organ- ized in the European Mission as early as 1840: "When Brigham Young was presiding

The Improvement Era for May, 1930 481 over the European Mission in 1840 and Parley P. Pratt was editor of the Star, a number of questions propounded by El- der Joseph Fielding were answered in the Star. Doubtless Brigham Young scruti- nized both questions and answers before they came into print." Among these questions was this: " '10. Would it be well to establish Sunday Schools in the Church?' ' 'Ans. Certainly; let the Elders gather the people together, old and young, every Sabbath day, in the streets, if no more convenient place offers, and teach them the first principles of the Gospel of Christ, viz., faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, for the first lesson; eating and drinking at the table of the Lord, laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment for the second lesson; and for the third lesson, let par- ents teach their children obedience, and train them in the way they should go; and finally let the Elders, brothers and sisters, all with one accord, teach their friends, neighbors, and make them wise unto salvation; and practice what they preach on the Sabbath and six other days in each week, even unto the end. They will find it a very profitable school, and receive a glorious reward for their labors.' " CISTER Annie Wells Cannon *^ informs me that she has heard her mother, Emmeline B. Wells, "Many times speak of holding a Sun- day School in Nauvoo and also at Winter Quarters. I have thought it was officially organized by the Priesthood, though I think it was held in the home of Pre- siding Bishop Newel K. Whitney, and must have been with his approval." The credit and honor of organ- izing the first Sunday School in the Rocky Mountains is due Elder Richard Ballantyne, who was both teacher and superintendent of the first session held in the West. This was in a room of Brother Ballantyne's log house located on the corner of First West and Third South Streets, Salt Lake City. 'T'HE following are some of the A original members of the thirty who first assembled to receive in- structions from the noble soul who strove to keep the children of Zion under upbuilding influences: Rich- ard Ballantyne, Lydia Phelps Thorpe, Sophronia E. Carter, Margaret O. Best, Angus M. Can- non, Leonora Cannon Gardner, Martha Van Cott Price, Samuel H. B. Smith, S. A. Whitney, Jos- eph S. Home, George J. Taylor, Robert Frank Turnbow, David H. Cannon, John G. Turnbow, Hen- ry I. Home, Jacob Peart, Sarah J. Cannon and Olive Peck. In stating his reason for or- ganizing this school, Elder Bal- lantyne said, "I felt that the Gos- pel was too precious to myself to be withheld from the children; they ought to have the privilege of Gospel teaching and that was the main purpose — to teach them the Gospel." Regarding the growth of the Sunday School I find the follow- ing in the Sunday School Officers and Teachers Hand Book: Total Year Schools Teachers Enrollment 1849 _ 1 1 30 1872 .... 200 1,408 14,781 1918 ^___1,430 20,330 192,382 1924 1.758 25,368 248,075 1925 .....1,835 26,338 258,710 1926 _.__1,910 26,351 258,400 1927 ....1,929 26,194 253,771 1928 1.949 26,505 278,627 "XTOT only in the established ■ ■ stakes and wards are Sunday Schools to be found, but in the twenty-eight organized missions of the Church as well. These fields extend from the antipodes to Alaska, from South America to northern Canada, and from South Africa almost to the ice fields of the North pole. Sunday Schools everywhere are a potent factor for good in teaching righteousness to those who attend, whether mem- bers of the Church or not. The truth of the Biblical saying, "A little child shall lead them," is exemplified in this organization; for many children have been brought t o mission Sunday Schools by playmates and friends, have there become converted and have led their parents and older brothers and sisters into the Church. Not least among the advantages offered by mission Sunday Schools are the opportunities given to local men to act as presiding officers and to men and women to become teachers. Thereby they develop a better acquaintance with the doc- trines of the Church and are more firmly established in the faith. Active workers never apostatize. The Sunday School Union of the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat- ter-day Saints now includes classes which embrace all the member- ship of the Church, and to it has been assigned the special obliga- tion of teaching the Gospel to the children and adults of the Church. The regular course of study for the quorums of the Priesthood who hold their study hour be- tween the hours of ten and twelve Sunday morning are prepared by the General Authorities of the Church. The Council of the Twelve and First Council of Sev- enty prepare the course of study for the Melchizedek Priesthood, and the Presiding Bishopric, for the Aaronic Priesthood. These courses of study are based on the standard works of the Church, and are designed to give a well- organized presentation of the Gos- pel and of the history of God's dealings with man. ALL the adult classes are co-edu- ** cational, but among the dea- cons' and teachers' classes boys, in some instances, meet in quorum capacity and the girls of corre- sponding age meet in separate rooms. In the best conducted Sunday Schools of the Church self-gov- ernment is manifest in every pro- cedure, and fundamental principles of good conduct, worship and de- votion are exemplified in every ex- ercise. That school approaches nearest the ideal in which the su- perintendent finds it unnecessary even to say a word by way of di- rection from the moment when the bishop makes his announcements for the day until the classes march to their respective classrooms. Each participant in the opening exercises knows his duty, and is prepared to perform it properly without either announcement or direction. This may be said also of the school as a body. Thus is the fundamen- tal principle of self-government en- couraged. So in each succeeding exercise are emphasized, in one way and another, punctuality, courtesy, order, reverence, worship, respect for authority, consideration of the rights of others, responsiveness, self-control, obedience, etc. TN these and other ways does the A Sunday School aid in the dis- charging of the most important and sacred obligations of man; viz., the proper training and in- struction of childhood. In the most efficient schools every child and every adult senses the fact that he is an instructor as well as a learner, and to a certain extent, carries the responsibility of follow- ing the divine injunctions — "Suffer the little children to come un- to me for of such is the kingdom of heaven."