Newspapers / North Carolina Christian Advocate … / July 25, 1918, edition 1 / Page 2
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RALEIGH CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. age two EDITORIAL Notes and Comments The New- Church Extension Cliartt have been laid upon our desk. These charts exhibit from year to year the work of the Church Extension. Board as hardly anything el e ould do. They throw it before the eye at a single glance, and in a way to compel your attention. They are suitable for hanging upon the walls of the Sunday-school room, Epworth League room, or Church auditorium. We shall hang ours upon the walls of our office. They are for free dis tribution. Address the Hoard of Church Ex tension Fourth Ave., Louisville, Ky. I 11 11 The Question of Wai-Timo Prohibition will have right of way in the United States Senate on August 2 6 when Congress will re-assemble. The earnest desire for a recess caused the mat ter to go over by agreement, and it is also the unanimous agreement of the Senate that it shall constitute the unfinished business of the Senate on August 20, and continue such, e.cept it may be laid aside temporarily by unanimous consent to consider other pressing matters, until a vot; is secured. This gives the friends of prohibi tion an opportunity to let their senators kno.v how they stand on this question, and constant pressure should be kept up by the friends of temperance until the vote is taken. Pressure will certainly be kept up by the fi lends of th-1 liquor trattic. 1 I Our War Work Activities are at this time of compelling interest. They will not wait. The General Coni'eience put the directing of thes activities into the hands of strong men. W can afford to follow their leadership, and we cannot afford to do likewise. They will keep in touch with the situation, and will determini I heir course according to first hand information. Representatives of them are even now probably on the high seas. They will visit France in per son in order to acquaint themselves with the needs and know better how to direct the activi ties of our great Church. We will give their messagei to the Church from time to time, ana we doubt not that our readers will respond to the call which they issue. We must not be "slackers." The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, must do her part in this tremendous crisis. II II II A Great Teacher Training; Drive is being un dertaken simultaneously by thirty different de nominational in the United State and Canada. Preparations are now being made for it. The time is not arbitrarily fixed, but it is suggested that it begin about the middle of September and continue for thirty days. In some sections it will be earlier and in others later, but every where it is expected to be in September or Oc tober. Five objects are set before it: 1st. At least one Teacher Training Class in every Sunday-school in North America, ' meeting at the Sunday-school hour. 2nd. A Monthly Workers' Conference in every Sunday-school, meeting at least ten months out of each year. 3rd. A mid week Training Class for present Sunday-school teachers in every Sunday-school where such a class is needed. 4th. A co-operative Commun ity Training School of Religious Education for every community where desired and practicable. 5th A definite effort to be made toward helping every Sunday-school of North America to a right selection and use of current literatue and books on Religious Psychology, Pedagogy, and Sunday-school Organization and Management. Such an object is certainly worth the effort of a great drive in this day when drives are the pop ular method of bringing things to pass. The crucial point in the Sunday-school is unques tionably its teaching force, and it ii encumbent upon us to take advantage of every opportunity to improve its efficiency. II U f The Course of the Great War has been run ning in favor of the Allies for the past week. The latest great offensive of the Germans on the Western Front has not only been halted before it got far, but it has been turned into defeat for them. AU the ground which they took has been regained and the Allies are continuing to pres.-; them back. Many prisoners and much war ma terial have been taken by our forces, and the losses of the enemy in killed and wounded are reported to have been enormous. It is not pos sible yet to tell how great this victory wiljl be tor our forces. It must stir the patriotism of every American to read the accounts of the part that our soldiers have taken in this battle. They have been in the thick of the fight and they have led the advance with great bi'avery and tactical skill. It is now reported that the Ger mans really believe there are ten million Ameri can soldiers in France. We suppose they arc judging by the force with which they feel their presence. All of this is very encouraging, but we must not allow ourselves to feal that it is safe to relax in the least our efforis. It is only an inspiration to redouble them and to put all of our available resources upon the altar to hasten the hour of final conquest. Stand By Our Church Schools Once upon a time, as fairy tales begin, we had endeavored to preach on the subject of Christian education. As we were leaving the Church, we met a man who was putting his life into a State institution, lie was a Methodist, a good man, and a man of recognized ability. Evidently with reference to the sermon to which he had just listened, he said: "I think we will all come to recognize some one of these days that Christian education is not necessarily Church education." We did not stop to argue the question with him, but we have thought about it many times sinve, and for our part we are much more fearful that the Church will fail to give Christian education than we are hopeful that the State will ever give it. It is worth while for us to remember that education is not necessarily Chiistian because the institution that gives it is owned and controlled by the Church; but it is an elementary truth that the State in a government like ours a State that in its very organization and policy is non-religious when it is not irreligious is in no posi tion whatever to give Christian education. This is not sayng that the men engaged in the educational work of the State are not good men. Many of them are devoutly religious men. As individuals many of them exert a very whole some influence over those who are associated with them, but the difference between secular and Christian education is not purely a matter of the personal equation. The motive and pur pose of the two policies are different. The em l'basis of life is different, and the bent and trend wh:ch it gives to life is different in the two cases. The Church school may fail to give Chiistian education, but the agency that is oper ating it is doing so for the purpose of giving it Every possible motive is brought to bear upon t. ose engaged in the work to give it. They are furnished with every opportunity that is com- i.ntihln Willi Viiimon Ofinlifin .1 - e lt and the most favorable conditions for the successful accomplishment of this purpose are pi oluc-ei All of these things give the Church school great advantage in the effort to give ChrHia education. In the loregeing paragraphs we have indicatel that it is no easy thing to give Christian edu cation. The Church itself needs to realize thi" truth, and especially do the men engaged in th. educational work of the Church need to realiz it. We believe that in the main they do, and the truth of it will at once become apparent if we will stop to think about it. It is no ea thing to make the home Christian. Compara tively few of them are such in any real sense of the word. Nominally and theoretically, n,0 1 of the homes in our country are Christian. Thev call him "Lord, Lord; but they do not thi things which" He says. There is much in the spirit and life of most of our homes that is f jr from being: in accord with the spiirt of Chri . Sometimes the father and mother are devoutly religious, and yet they find it difficult to their children to be reverent, or to give the r lives to Christ. Oftentimes the parents them selves have worldly ambitions for their chil dren far more than they are concerned for tht-ir religious welfare, and in that case the devil has, a geater advantage still. The Church itself is not always as thoroughly Christian an it should be; that is, the membership of the Church, or too large a per cent of it, lives too far away from Christ. Every true pastor fee's and de plores this fact, and the great burden of his li t is to make it more thoroughly in accord vi;i the spirit of Christ. These things are known and recognized, and yet when it comes to edu cation many good people seem to feel that an agency which by its very constitution must as sume the same attitude toward all types of reli gion and toward no religion in other words a:i agency that is absolutely colorless as to religi:i can give Christian education, it is not o easy a matter. It calls for the most unham pered conditions possible for the best men. And if there was ever a time when we oug it to emphasize Cbivistian education, it seems to iw that this is the time. Educational Weals thai iiave brought civilization to the verge of an awful collapse have a strong hold in this countr. We ar.j now ready to exhaust our vocabulary in denunciation of Germany, but we are face to face with the fact that German .sympathizers have held high place in some of our strongest educational institutions. The pressure has been too great for a number of them, ami they have gotten out; but it is too much to hope that all of them are gone. And what is more senoib still is that many who will denounce Germany today are still saturated with the ideals of edu cation which they learned in Germany ana s remain to inculcate them in o.ir youth. The, same ideals invaded our theological systems, am came perilously near eating the heart out of tie doctrinal content of our religious faith need not try to blink these unw 'h'ome Many of us have felt the process going on in name of scholarship for years, and now lliey blazoned across the sky in lurid Hues so c that even the blind can sye them. llt)W a,r going to reconstruct the religious thought o ., vv can"01 day and of the coming tomorrow. ' igtIall do it without a new emph isis upo-'i 1 education, and there is no agency to do 1 s tept the Church. It is easy to see further that tl e Church i in ell" helpless to do this, if our people are. g ms trust their children to other type' of 1
North Carolina Christian Advocate (Greensboro, N.C.)
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July 25, 1918, edition 1
2
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