July 1928
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Christian Education and Evangelism B y R ev . A lbert E . K elly Bible Institute of Los Angeles
f HE following symposium bears an eloquent testimony. It is withal a heartening and con firming word to us who believe that one, whether young or old, must be born again of the Spirit if he or she is to enter the Kingdom of God. At the same time there is a welcome recognition that they who are appointed to the teaching ministry are to “suffer the little children to come to Jesus,” or, as our fathers would say, “train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” It is clear from such state ments as these that follow from able leaders in the field of Christian Education, that they have not lost sight of- the supreme- object of the whole educational process. There is, as there should be, insistence upon able teach ing, but with the thought always present that such is the preparation for the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit within the heart, and for the acceptance on the part of the one taught, of Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, and then that further instruction may fit the dedicated life for Christian living and service. It will be noted that the term Evangelism as related to Christian Education is well defined. It is used as connoting much, and rightly so. One cannot well ponder such statements as these, warm from the hearts of Christian teachers, and fresh from the personal contacts of the classrooms of the church, without feeling the urge to equip himself to understand the heart of childhood and youth and to become conversant with the principles of teaching to the end that his in struction may mean, as the Holy Spirit uses it, the win ing of souls for Christ, and the building up of saved souls in the graces of Christ. But we let others speak: P rof . G. S. D obbins G. S. Dobbins, Professor of Sunday School Pedagogy and Church Efficiency, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, in his “WORKING W ITH INTERMEDIATES” : “Evangelistic Methods with Intermediates. We need sorely to enlarge our con ception of the term ‘Evangelism,’ particularly as applied to the winning of Intermediates to Christ. Evangelism is the good news. The one who tells the good news must have a message to tell, and must believe in it with all the power of his own soul, so that others will understand it, accept it, and live according to it. The teacher in the Be ginners and Primary departments who is introducing these little ones to the good news, and thus leading them toward Christ is an evangelist; the Junior teacher who is storing their minds with precious truths about the Saviour, 'is an evangelist; the Intermediate teacher who reaps the harvest by personal work that brings to definite decision, is an evangelist; the teacher of Young People who sends them out to exemplify the good news and become ■ themselves soul-winners, is truly an evangelist. We should cease to think of evangelism exclusively in terms of a ‘special meeting’ with its attendant high pressure, and think of it as the everyday, main, essential purpose of the church and Sunday school. Education and evangelism have too long been divorced.”
R ev . A lbert H. G age Albert H. Gage, pastor, Sunday school executive, writes in hisi'A Bigger and Better Sunday School” : “It is entirely possible to have a strongly educational program of religious training and at the same time a spiritual and evangelistic atmosphere. In fact religious education and evangelism belong together. There can be no true evangelism without education. There can be no full education that is not shot through with evangelism. Evan gelism is the heart of religious education. Every Sunday- school teacher should be an evangelist. It is the supreme responsibility and opportunity of each teacher to win his or her own scholars to the Lord Jesus Christ and to develop them in the Jesus way of living. Evangelism in the Sunday school involves at least three things: (1) The presentation of Jesus as Friend, Saviour and Lord; (2) the personal acceptance of Jesus Christ: as Saviour and Lord; (3) development through the years in Christlike service.” D r . W alter A. S quires •. Walter Albion Squires, Director of Week Day In struction, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, author of “A PARISH PROGRAM OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION” : “Now it is the goal of Christian religious education to lead people not only to know about this Saviour, but also to know him in such an intimate and personal and mystical way that He enters into their thoughts and th e ir.conduct as the controlling factor of their lives. Any system of education which omits this, goal ought not to be regarded as Christian. It may have excellent plans and suitable materials for developing the moral life to a certain extent, but if it does not exalt Jesus as Saviour and Lord, it will,certainly fall short of laying a sure foundation for morality and universal brotherhood.” R obert E dw in G a in es Robert Edwin Gaines, in his Holland Lectures for 1926, under the title “GUIDING A GROWING LIFE ,” states the case ably: “But this instinctive religion of which we have been speaking is not enough. It can have no vital ity without the supernatural factor. God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, must be taken into the life. We must be born again into His Spirit. God must speak to the soul of the child and the soul must respond to His voice if the child is ever to become a new creature in Christ Jesus. The story of Samuel’s childhood should be a challenge to parents and teachers of all time, laying upon them the duty of training children in religion as a preparation for the great experience which later the children will have with God Himself, While it is true that God must speak to the soul, previous nurture will determine largely what answer the soul will make to the voice of God. In fact in some cases it determines whether His voice will ever be heard at all. The function of religious nurture in these early years, therefore, is to prepare the soil for the great experience which will come a little later.”
of the educational obligation and responsibility—namely,
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