The Boy and the Sunday School

The Boy and the Sunday School

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Title: The Boy and the Sunday School A Manual of Principle and
Method for the Work of the Sunday School with Teen Age Boys
Author: John L. Alexander
Release Date: May 28, 2005 [EBook #15923]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE BOY AND THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

A Manual of Principle and Method for the Work of the Sunday School
with Teen Age Boys
JOHN L. ALEXANDER
_Superintendent Secondary Division International Sunday School
Association Author and Editor "Boy Training," "The Sunday School
and the Teens," "Boys' Hand Book, Boy Scouts of America" "Sex
Instruction for Boys," etc_.

=Introduction by= MARION LAWRANCE
_General Secretary, World's and International Sunday School
Associations_

ASSOCIATION PRESS NEW YORK: 347 MADISON AVENUE
1920
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS
THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEN WHO MUST
FACE ALL THE PROBLEMS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL--TO
THE MEN WHO HOLD THE KEY TO ALL THE LIFE AND
PROGRESS OF THE SCHOOL--THE SUPERINTENDENTS OF
NORTH AMERICA.

INTRODUCTION
The Sunday school chapter of Church history is now being written. It
comes late in the volume, but those who are writing it and those who
are reading it realize--as never before--that the Sunday school is rapidly
coming to its rightful place. In the Sunday school, as elsewhere, it is the
little child who has led the way to improvement. The commanding
appeal of the little ones opened the door of advance, and, as a result, the
Elementary Division of the school has outstripped the rest in its
efficiency.
Where children go adults will follow, and so we discover that the Adult
Division was the next to receive attention, until today its manly
strength and power are the admiration of the Church.
Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true, that the middle division,
called the Secondary, and covering the "Teen Age," has been sadly
neglected--the joint in the harness of our Sunday school fabric. Here we
have met with many a signal defeat, for the doors of our Sunday
schools have seemed to swing outward and the boys and girls have
gone from us, many of them never to return. We have busied ourselves
to such an extent in studying the problem of the boy and the girl that
the real problem--the problem of leadership--has been overlooked.
The Secondary Division is the challenge of the Sunday school and of

the Church today. It is during the "Teen Age" that more decisions are
made for Christ and against him than in any other period of life. It is
here that Sunday school workers have found their greatest difficulty in
meeting the issue, largely because they have not understood the
material with which they have to deal.
We are rejoiced, however, to know that the Secondary Division is now
coming to be better understood and recognized as the firing line of the
Sunday school.
What has been needed and is now being supplied is authoritative
literature concerning this critical period. Indeed, the Sunday school
literature for the Secondary Division is probably appearing more
rapidly now than that for any other division of the school.
This book is a choice contribution to that literature. It comes from a
man who has devoted his life to the boys and girls, and who is probably
the highest authority in our country in this Department. The largest
contribution he is making to the advancement of the whole Sunday
school work is in showing the fascination, as well as the possibilities,
of the Secondary Division. We are sure this little book will bring rich
returns to the Sunday schools, because of the large number who will be
influenced, through reading its pages, to devote their lives to the bright
boys and fair girls in whom is the hope, not only of the Church, but of
the World.
=Marion Lawrance.=
Chicago, June 1, 1913.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
Foreword 13
I The Home and the Boy 23
II The Public School and the Boy 32
III The Church and the Boy 37

IV The Sunday School or Church School 41
V The Boy and the Sunday School 48
VI Fundamental Principles in Sunday School Work with Boys 57
VII Method and Organization 62
VIII The Organized Sunday School