Was a former Board of the Convention Sunday School; it was formed in 1863 in Augusta and first settled in Greenville, S. Things were shaping up and lines were being drawn on this matter at the approaching sessions of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Board Organized f9r Work
FOLK,
D. SEARS,
After eighteen months I resigned, became pastor of the First Baptist Church, Nashville, and served as President of the Board. The history of the Council's work in its unfolding and expansion can almost be written in the history of its various places of business.
Convention Series of Periodicals
This success is largely due to Dr. Samuel Boyl!:in, who has already received an honorable mention on the previous pages. None surpassed him in nobility of character, and not many in the lasting contribution which he made to our church life." South.
These are distinct from the Sunday school publications, and are for use in the gatherings of the young people in our churches, for. They depart from these great principles which hold their mighty place in the hearts and consciences of our people. They are read and studied at the fireside and in the family circle of many, many thousands of homes.
The Board's Financial History
It had been started in 1895 under the direction of Dr. Bell, but when it was completed two years later, we used the whole amount to buy the council's first house. This fund is collected each year and spent on the free distribution of the Scriptures and other religious literature. It is maintained by funds earmarked for this purpose from the affairs of the board, but also by donations from individuals, churches, Sunday schools and classes in the schools.
It came from necessity, came from generous impulses at the very beginning of the Council's life. Truly, as all will admit, the Women's Missionary Union and the Sunday School Board have given themselves to each other's work in many ways from the beginning, and will go down in history as agencies working together for the building of the kingdom. This is the one single channel in which the Baptists of the South are asked to center their gifts to this great cause.
Making Itself a Mission Board
This opens an open door to the greatest benefit, and is available to all who will cooperate with the Sunday School Board in doing this work. This has indeed been one of the most prominent distinguishing features of all our publications. The board was established at the time (1891) when Southern and World Baptists were celebrating the centennial of the Lodern Missions, dating from the time of William Carey.
As Secretary of the new Council, which was then bidding for denominational place and favor, I sought with others for the advancement of the great interests. Mission day in the Sunday school was a conspicuous factor in this particular and specific line of work. Special programs are being prepared and extra efforts are being made, all aimed at the specific training of our people in the great cause of evangelizing the world.
Book and Tract Publication
This opens up to the Board, and through the Board to the public everywhere, the world book market and makes it possible to meet in the greatest way the needs of those we serve. In addition, the Board has in the past ten years distributed free literature in books and tracts, exceeding well over one hundred thousand dollars in monetary value. But there was the obstacle of the Birmingham restriction, and the Board has always been true to the wish and guidance of the Convention.
The Board presented the book to the Norfolk Convention, May, 1898, with full explanation in its annual report. Under these three funds, the Board has published twelve books, which collect nearly seventy-three thousand copies, as follows: In closing this statement of the Board's business in books and tracts, it is somewhat important to understand how we relate ourselves to others in a similar business.
Sunday School Education
The whole Sunday-school situation in the South has improved for the better in that time, and the work being done cannot be overestimated in its value to Sunday-school education in Southern Baptist churches. He makes the Sunday School Board an excellent educational institution, with its large business set on higher things. Gambrell is not very strong and only states what is said everywhere: "The most significant movement ever inaugurated among Southern Baptists is the work of training teachers of the Sunday School Board.".
That we denounce any tendency that might separate the organized classes from the Sunday school work of the local churches and from the denomination. It gives us a definite position in the Sunday-school world, and would give a firmness of character—and standard, of purpose and effort; would create an institution that would be felt from one end of the country to the other. 34;The Sunday School Council cherishes these classes and seeks to unite them into a compact body with a common purpose and spirit."
Lesson Committee and Graded Lessons
ITS HISTORY AND WORK 67 directing energy into the Sunday school life of the denomination, whether Baptist or otherwise. Our Committee on Instruction is a committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, elected at its annual meeting on the recommendation of the Sunday School Committee. Wallace was removed from the convention grounds, and the Sunday School Board from Dr.
This Bible series became the basis for the work of the Committee on Baptist Lessons, was adopted, modified and adapted to the needs of our people. The most recent and somewhat remarkable incident in the Sunday School world was the conference in Philadelphia on April 21, 1914, between the Sunday Se-hool Council of Evangelical Denominations of the United States and Canada and the Executive Committee of the International Sunday School. Association at Chicago In the same manner in which the Sunday-school has been encouraged and its conditions greatly improved, the Convention can easily and effectually set its hand to the training of Baptist youth in the South.
Need for Doctrinal Emphasis in Teaching
It is no idle boast, but simply a fact that speaks for itself everywhere, the work being done is of impressive and growing importance, and the B. It was Luther's polemic that shook Europe to its very core, and the Reformation of the sixteenth century. century found its way. Jeter of Virginia, and hundreds of others in the Baptist ranks saving the day for spiritual interpretation of the New Testament in general and of the ordinances in particular.
Christ established the kingdom with the church, using preaching and teaching as an external means - evangelizing and teaching. And this we have today as QUI' inheritance from them - the kingdom, the church and the book. Evangelism and teaching is the combination for which we stand, and in which the Sunday School Committee unites and directs all its forces for the coming glory of the King.
We can recognize the presence of God in the field and in the dwelling more easily now than then. Ellis, then pastor of the Eutaw Place Baptist Church, Baltimore, but since retired and crowned in the presence of the King. Once in a speech his great spirit, in full force when he made a prayer for the new Board, said these words: "If only there had been a Sunday School Board.
She was firmly rooted in the South through her business and benevolence, she had a host of friends who were kind, sincere and sincere in their support. And so the work grew—grew in its business and in the things being done, grew also in its bearing on the hearts of the people. Moreover, there was a crisis in the affairs, even in the life of the Board itself.
The Forces that Brought Success
They now present to the denomination the result of their labors, and of the management of the affairs committed to their trust. Of my secretaries — three of these since the work began — in every department of the work these men and women have done their part and deserve this public mention of what they have done to make the Sunday School Board. The business which by the process of the little March, just passed, was the largest month in the history of the Board for receipts, and yet the average cash note yielded but a small amount.
The Sunday school board was not alone in the field, but stood together with other institutions and gave as it could and received in return from them the things that gave it growth and power - State boards, our theological seminaries, our schools and colleges. . The Southern Baptists made the Sunday school board first by their vote in Birmingham; secondly, in their sincere support which made Birmingham possible and inevitable; thirdly in their loyal support since. We only synchronize the entry of the Sunday School Board with this period, in whose fullness and.
Personal Word Concerning My Secretaryship
The brothers, however, were mostly kindly and considerate, especially the committee members. I was aware of the seriousness of the situation and first of all I set out to win over those who were considered to be in the opposition if possible. Carroll, a royal man with a royal heart, was the pastor of the First Church, and he commissioned me to preach at the Sunday morning service.
And until my return he put the affairs of the committee far ahead. When the interests of the board were involved, neither personal interests nor family comforts were considered. Each annual report from the first to the last showed the expansion of the work in every respect, and bore expressions of confidence and greater views into the future.
