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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
August, 1933
Bible, the most important subject of all, to slip out o f our public schools, after we have carelessly neglected to teach it in our homes. The tragedy o f America is that those o f us who believe that the Bible lies at the very foundation of national sta bility have so woefully neglected to teach it either in home or in church. W e lament the fact that bolshevist and mod ernist leaders have entered our colleges and institutions of higher learning and misled our youth, when we should weep over our earlier failure to implant the Word o f God in the heads and hearts o f our boys and girls. The sum and substance o f the whole matter is that Protestants—yes, even Bible-loving Protestants—have not and are not taking Christian education seriously. I f the public schools should be no more successful in removing illiteracy than the church is in furthering the knowledge of
Church is predominant. In 1900, its most honored presi dent, Dr. J. B. Gambrell, declared: “ The most significant o f all modern movements is the work of teacher training.” Upon his recommendation, that denomination adopted the slogan, “ A Certificate for Every Teacher,” and all its re sources were concentrated upon this movement. For the last thirty years, teacher training has been emphasized upon every platform and in every paper. This measure of teacher training has been followed in like proportion by a measure o f success. According to government statistics, the Southern Baptists gained one million scholars between 1916 and 1926, an increase larger than the Northern Meth odists, Lutherans, Disciples, Episcopalians, and Presby terians combined. And because the evangelistic effort that was put forth by their trained teachers has been manifest in accessions to the church from the Sunday-school, we
the Bible, two out of, three o f our nation would not be able to read or write, and the remaining third would be no farther than the second reader. If the Catholic Church edu cated its children as carelessly as the average Protestant Church, it would break down in a generation. To the Catholic child, religion may be a very formal thing, but never theless it is a very constant and im portant thing. Protestant parents pay forty- seven cents of every tax dollar to provide the best trained teachers to instruct their boys and girls in secu lar subjects, and only two cents of every church dollar to teach them the Bible. A recent survey o f 674 churches whose annual budgets averaged $11,000 revealed the fact that sixty per cent did not make any provision whatever for the Sunday-school, while the remaining forty per cent did not contribute more than an average of thirty- seven cents per pupil for instruct ing their boys and girls in the Word o f God. W hat is the S olution ? What will save America from
were not surprised to learn that in 1931 this denomination added more church members than nearly all . the other denominations to gether, while last year their acces sions were even larger. There are in round numbers one million teachers and officers giving voluntary service in the Protestant church schools o f Amer ica. Six years is the average work ing period o f the volunteer worker. This means that the Protestant Church this year and «very other year must recruit and train 160,000 new volunteer teachers and officers for the pupils already enrolled. I f in addition the church is to show any concern or take any definite action toward reaching and teaching the thirty-six million Bibleless and teacherless children and adolescents in theUnited States, no less thanone- half million new volunteer teachers must be recruited and trained this year and every other year. A n E ffort to M eet the R ising N eed In recognition o f the impor tance o f the trained teacher to the success o f the Sunday-school, and in recognition o f the importance of the Sunday-school to the salvation
inevitable collapse? Listen to the sound and sane words o f a high offi cial in the United States army—words pregnant with truth: The army cannot save America. The navy cannot save America. Nothing but multiplying Sunday-schools until they are as thick as schoolhouses will save America. America’s greatest need undoubtedly is the multiplying o f real Bible schools, but there is a great deal o f difference between the standards of our Bible institutes and the aver age Sunday-school. The Sunday-school is supposed to be the training school of the church, but the church does very little training. It is this sad neglect which has given rise in recent years to so many Bible institutes. You cannot have a real school without real teachers, and you cannot have real teachers without training. Up here in the Nor,th, we are accustomed to speak of some o f the' Southern states as being in the Bible belt. These states still are old-fashioned enough to magnify the teaching o f the Bible, and will be among the last to repu diate the prohibition amendment. But there is a reason for the Bible belt. In these states, the Southern Baptist
Keystone View
of the nation, the Evangelical Teacher Training Associa tion has been launched. Thirty-eight Bible institutes, or thodox colleges, and theological seminaries have joined to certify to the public their deep interest and concern for Christian education. In the comparatively few months of its existence, hundreds o f students have been enrolled in the classes of these cooperating institutions, and in one city the number runs into the thousands. Since the last annual meeting in February, more diplomas and certificates have been issued than in all the preceding months o f its existence. The Evangelical Teacher Training Association has es tablished a new curriculum standard. It is the first to con form to the recommendation that a full collegiate course in religious education be recognized as not less than twenty- four semester hours (432 Bible institute hours). This makes its Standard Training Course four times as long as that of the Standard Leadership Course o f the International Coun cil o f Religious Education. In addition, it requires that its students major in Bible, Personal Evangelism, and Missions. The Association be lieves that the teacher must be thoroughly familiar with
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