CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
edited by Margaret Jacobsen
Home Department Last of a series on the adult Sunday school by Henry Jacobsen of Scripture Press
25-MINUTE COLOR FILM! Showing TEAM'S Pioneer Mission Work in Southern Rhodesia write department BZ-1 THE EVANGELICAL ALIANCE MISION 2845W. McLean, Chicago47, Ilinois
W ant to increase the scope and effectiveness of the min istry of your Sunday school? Try organizing a home department (for shut-ins) or rejuvenating the department you now have. The home department isn’t a new idea in Sunday school work by any means hut there is a new ap proach to this project. The old type of home department quarterly — the adult lesson leaflet with a “ home department” cover and a few musty articles reprinted every few years -—•has been superseded by bright new literature, attractive ly printed in large type, that is pre pared especially with the problems and circumstances of home depart ment members in view. The old notion that taking mem bers their quarterly every three months was the sum and substance of home department work has been replaced by the principle that the basic function of a home depart ment is to bring “ shut-outs” into the warmth and joy of Christian fel lowship. In home department work, the visit’s the thing! In the course of your visit, the whole purpose of the department’s ministry must be re alized. Through the medium of a visit you take Sunday school into a member’s home; your visit is an important link between home and church, and through it you bring the warmth of Christian fellowship to bear on a member’s life. How frequently you call on a member will depend on his needs and desires, but once a month is never too often. Once every three months, on the other hand, is never often enough. Make your call at the member’s convenience, rather than on your way home from the office or as you are doing other errands. Your purpose during the first part of a home department visit is to cultivate, a w a rm , in t im a te friendship between you and the member. Greet the member cor
dially and adapt yourself to his mood. Many members, especially older ones who have few callers, will want to unburden themselves and will need no encouragement to talk. Listen understandingly and sympathetically and show real in terest in whatever he wants to dis cuss, and willingness to be of help. During the first part of your visit, pass on to the member any news of the Sunday school and church. Most members will want to know what’s going on. Such news could include brief reports on ser mons, special meetings, business sessions, picnics, adult class social doings and such personal affairs as b ir th s , engagements, marriages, newcomers, arrivals and departures in the community, promotions and the like. Never peddle “ gossip” that would injure anyone’s reputation or feelings, and scrupulously refrain from saying anything that could be construed as criticism of pastor, church or Sunday school. Cultivate your friendship with your member by doing all you can to give him a wholesome and happy time, a time that will cause him to look forward to your next visit. Don’t forget, however, that no home department visit is truly com plete unless it includes Bible read ing and prayer. Your visit is often a member’s chief or only contact with church. Make a point of in cluding a devotional time on your very first visit to a member so that he will come to expect it. If you omit the spiritual element on your first few visits, you will find it in creasingly difficult as time goes on to introduce it. It is your responsi bility as a visitor to direct the course of your visit so that the spir itual element will not be neglected. Ordinarily, you should read the daily Bible reading suggested for the day of your visit in the home department quarterly. (Some visit ors call on a day when the assigned CONTINUED
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The Christian and Missionary Alliance wtf|launch anothergreat %pi§sionary*Î4vance this year. Tbe.se Ttevv missionaries will reach .French West Africa, Viet ¡gen’. L a osjujnm bodra, New Gu)|^a and other fields, and yo i& i^ 'have^^ ital share in tH^wbrk? t \ St' IS»* I &,. m investment, in Alliance %bn.ujtie^ makes.,.this advance possible |£ and . , it assures you regular dividends.; SPt ¡¡¡¡I *iT |§ttb ¡1 Alllaritç JJjcfo-SeaIe. It :||dW fiowyyour^ibvestment P a l l i # divfeSinds aneutrength- ensw iChfjstilp and Mittionary Alliance Annuity Program. • Send me the Picto-Scale at no obligation.
® Name __________ _ Address_________ City
State
® Th e C h ristia n and 0 M issionary A llian ce 260 West 44th Street ® NewYork 36, New York
JANUARY 1957
35
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