Seventh Meeting

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 27, 1909

May 17, 10:30 A. M.

Elder H. W. Cottrell in the chair. After the opening song, prayer was offered by Elder Allen Moon.

New delegates were seated as follows: Lake Union, E. A. Bristol, P. E. Sheppler; North Pacific Union, Prof. M. E. Cady.

The chairman called upon Mrs. L. Flora Plummer, secretary of the General Conference Sabbath-school Department, to render the department's report. The Conference listened with deep interest, punctuating the report with hearty amens at many points. The report follows:—

Report of the General Conference Sabbath-School Department

MRS. L. FLORA PLUMMER, SECRETARY

Early History

Fifty-seven years ago this summer the first seed was planted, which, taking deep and abiding root, developed into what we now call the Sabbath-school work of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. That summer, Elder James White, traveling by carriage from Rochester, N. Y., to Bangor, Maine, was deeply impressed with the need of some regular system or plan of Bible lessons, especially adapted to the youth. After dining by the roadside, and while waiting for his team to feed and rest, using his lunch basket for a table, he prepared the first series of Sabbath-school lessons ever used by our people.

At that time the believers were widely scattered; the name “Seventh-day Adventist” had not been coined; the word “church” was seldom used; no ministers had been ordained; no church elders cared for the flock. Strange as it may seem, but little attempt was made to instruct the children of believers in the doctrines cherished by their parents. Elder White, to quote his own words, thought this “a grievous error, sufficient to call down the frown of God.”

It was decided to urge the organization of Sabbath-schools and to encourage a uniform course of Bible study. To promote this the first number of the Youth’s Instructor was issued at Rochester, N. Y., in August, 1852, and contained four lessons for use in the Sabbath-school. From that time until 1863, lessons were supplied, with occasional lapses—these lapses ranging in length of time from eight months to three and one-half years.

During this time such schools as were held seemed each to be a law unto itself. There were long intervals when no lessons were furnished. During such times each school chose its own lessons, and even in the same school there were various lessons selected by the different classes. There were no maps, no record books, no song-books, no system of reporting, no contributions, no uniformity in the plan of organization, nor in the manner of conducting the exercises of the school. I do not believe there is power enough in anything in this world—in anything in which men believe—to hold together so scattered, so pitifully helpless a flock, save the power there is in God’s last message to this world.

The earliest regularly organized schools of which I have been able to learn were held at Rochester and Bucks Bridge, in New York State, in 1853 and 1854. Elder John Byington was the leader in the latter place. After the removal of the Advent Review Office to Battle Creek, Mich., in 1855, the Lord moved upon the heart of Brother M. G. Kellogg to engage in this work. Of his early experience he says: “For months the life of this poor weakling of a Sabbath-school hung by such a brittle thread that it was a question whether the succeeding Sabbath would find it alive; but by patient perseverance and much strong crying unto God for help, it not only lived, but gradually became a stronger factor for good than I had expected.”

State and General Organizations

In 1868-69 the need of some definite plan for Sabbath-school organization was recognized. A regular program of exercises, a system of keeping records of membership and scholarship, was devised and put to the test of practical use in the Battle Creek school. As soon as the efficiency of a method or plan was determined, it was presented to the other schools through the medium of the Instructor. Every effort to bring order and system into the work met with opposition; but the wisdom and excellence of a simple form of organization were at length generally recognized, and it triumphed over all hindrances.

One evening during the summer of 1877, at a teachers’ meeting held at the home of Elder James White, Professor Bell, superintendent of the Battle Creek school, asked the teachers if they thought it possible to develop some organization which would bring together the Sabbath-schools of a State—some union which would enable them to help one another. A committee was appointed which outlined a plan for a State association. These plans were submitted by correspondence to workers on the Pacific Coast, resulting in the organization, in August, 1877, of the California State Sabbath-school Association. The Michigan Association was formed soon after. State after State followed, so that during the General Conference held at Battle Creek, Mich., in 1878, with delegates present from twelve States, the General Sabbath-school Association was formed, with C. H. Jones as president of the association, with headquarters at Oakland, Cal. As our work advanced into other lands, this association was re-christened the “International Sabbath-school Association.” In 1901 the organization of the International Sabbath-school Association was dropped, and the general Sabbath-school work became simply a department of the General Conference.

First Statistical Report

The first official compilation of a statistical report was made at the close of 1878, and is as follows:—

	No. of Schools	Membership	Attendance
Michigan	43	1,753	1,227
Missouri	14	412	230
Minnesota	12	673	344
Illinois	16	482	314
New England	16	396	281
New York	7	231	145
Iowa	16	679	410
Totals	124	4,626	2,951

You observe that no contributions are reported.

The following statistical table shows the record of membership, total contributions and donations to missions, from 1887 to 1908, inclusive:—

The Record for Twenty-two Years

Previous to 1887 the California schools had given $700 for the work in Australia.

Year	Members	Total Contributions	Donated to Missions
1887	23,700	$16,751.83	$10,615.72
1888	25,375	18,485.77	10,755.34
1889	28,900	22,541.24	11,767.95
1890	32,000	28,642.75	17,707.39
1891	33,400	29,435.05	16,750.94
1892	35,300	37,542.27	23,618.77
1893	40,100	37,936.11	24,162.50
1894	49,626	39,502.42	20,850.50
1895	50,466	37,336.35	19,800.76
1896	54,070	40,125.13	23,666.08
1897	52,045	41,541.40	33,409.32
1898	55,160	40,301.87	21,475.18
1899	53,967	39,071.79	21,842.09
1900	55,255	46,794.40	25,235.47
1901	57,762	43,819.67	21,947.90
1902	59,351	51,642.01	28,298.86
1903	66,811	55,823.85	34,778.85
1904	71,643	60,460.80	40,278.05
1905	71,700	69,421.95	48,972.42
1906	75,622	74,775.26	57,915.81
1907	83,651	86,454.47	71,753.01
1908	88,843	104,917.72	94,500.12
Totals		$1,023,384.11	$680,802.48

During this time, in addition to the amount contributed to missions, the Sabbath-schools on special occasions gave $53,104.40 for the maintenance of the Haskell Home for Orphans.

The Last Four Years

Turning from this historical survey of the Sabbath-school work, I will speak particularly of its development during the last four years. Speaking of the field as a whole, we can praise God most heartily for the manifest evidence that the Sabbath-school work is reaching a higher standard. Week by week the lessons are taught with the power and effect that comes from patient, persistent, faithful effort. Little children are learning to love the Saviour, many among our youth are being bound to this message with bands stronger than iron, and through the Sabbath-school influence the hearts of the fathers and mothers in

Israel are strengthened, encouraged, established. The Sabbath-school has been, and is now, our pioneer organization. We have schools before we have churches. Unquestionably, the Sabbath-school is one of the leading factors in molding, establishing, building up, and making permanent and sure our denominational work.

At the close of 1908 there were 3,747 Sabbath-schools with a total membership of 88,843. Of this number 1,269 schools and 22,611 members are in foreign fields. During the last four years persistent effort has been made to get in closer touch with the Sabbath-school work in other lands.

The Mount Vernon Convention

In July, 1907, a Sabbath-school and Young People’s Convention, the first of its kind, was held at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, that deserves special mention because of its far-reaching influence. More than two hundred representative workers were together. The occasion was one of absorbing interest, and the company of sober-minded men and women gave themselves faithfully to the consideration of the problems at hand. The Young People’s work, fostered from the beginning by the Sabbath-school Department, was there fully launched as a separate department, under the name Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Department.

Convention Work in the Schools

Each year the majority of the schools in this country have held at least one service which might properly be named a Sabbath-school convention. Each year a suggestive program has been printed in the Sabbath School Worker, appropriate subjects suggested, and instruction given to aid wholly inexperienced workers in holding a successful convention. The secretaries of a long list of States report that the majority of their schools have held these conventions as planned. The reports from some portions of the Southern field, from mission fields, and from the schools that have but few advantages, were particularly gratifying. So universal a consideration of Sabbath-school topics can not but be fruitful of results.

The Home Department

A study of the statistics of the denomination led to the creation of the Home Department of the Sabbath-school. The membership of our schools had been about one fourth less than the church-membership. It should be considerably larger, as such a large proportion of the Sabbath-school membership is made up of children who are not members of the church. The formation of the Home Department has not only connected with the Sabbath-school the isolated, the feeble, the aged, and those really unable to attend the school, but the effort put forth in behalf of the non-attendants has materially increased the regular membership. The latest returns now show that instead of having a smaller number in the Sabbath-school than we have in the church, we have 8,000 more. The Home Department now numbers 4,500 members. They contribute liberally to missions, and seem to prize highly their connection with the Sabbath-school work.

Sabbath-School Finances

Believing that our Sabbath-schools needed the blessed inspiration of a real burden for the work in mission fields, it was suggested that our schools the world around endeavor to give $1,000 a week to missions in 1906. They gave almost five thousand dollars more than that. In 1907 the same financial motto was chosen, but the call was restricted to the schools in the United States and Canada. The schools responded nobly, giving $10,500 more than the year before, and only fell $600 below the mark. The returns for 1908 smashed the Worker thermometer and all previous records, the schools in the United States and Canada giving $70,758.26; the schools in all the world giving the handsome sum of $94,500.12 to missions.

Suggestions for the Future

The Sabbath-school work is so old and well established that there is danger of its needs being disregarded in a meeting of this kind, where such a multitude of matters come up for consideration. But if our Sabbath-schools ever really fulfil their mission, there must be great improvement in the quality of the work the schools are now doing. What course of training can be placed within the reach of Sabbath-school officers and teachers that will increase their efficiency? How shall we make real Bible students of Sabbath-school scholars? How can the work of the General Conference Sabbath-school Department be strengthened and conducted to better advantage? What are helping and what are hindering policies in the conducting of conference Sabbath-school departments? What shall be the financial policy of our Sabbath-schools? These are five Sabbath-school questions. Upon their solution depends, to a large extent, the advancement of the work during the next four years.

I believe this conference should make definite recommendations upon the following matters:—

1. The preparation of a Sabbath-school Manual. The little book, “Testimonies on Sabbath-school Work,” is the only literature we have in book form. If an inquirer asks for a book giving instruction in the details of Sabbath-school work, he must be referred to Sunday-school books as the only matter available. While the various Sunday-school manuals contain much that is helpful, there is very much that is not at all adapted to our work. I believe there is no better or more effective way to improve our teaching force and to help our schools as a whole, than to provide a well-written, practical, up-to-date Sabbath-school Manual.

2. A Reading Course for Sabbath-school officers and teachers. The demand for more efficient officers and teachers is imperative. We are beginning to realize that our Sabbath-schools are dealing with souls for whom they must give an account. The value of practical reading courses is unquestioned. I believe a reading course based on “Testimonies on Sabbath-school Work,” a good Sabbath-school Manual, and perhaps one other selected book of merit, would give an uplift to our work that would be felt throughout the entire field.

3. This Conference would do well to recognize the value of the Sabbath-school lessons, and to urge our people to heed the message, “Parents, set apart a little time each day for the study of the Sabbath-school lesson with your children.” We have only to remember how very little the Bible is studied in the homes of our people, to recognize the need of this. In many homes these good lessons which we have been told “are of far greater consequence than many now discern,” are passed by unstudied, perhaps even unread. As heresies, vain philosophies, and fables abound more and more, those who are not establishing their faith by patiently, steadfastly, and continually studying the truth, are standing where they may very easily be led to accept darkness for light. The influence of this gathering ought to go out unwaveringly in favor of the daily study of the Sabbath-school lesson in the home.

4. The Home Department should receive your approval.

5. The Sabbath School Worker needs attention, even if it does not deserve it. As accurate an estimate as it is possible to make shows that only about one half the schools in this country are taking it. Counting out the schools that do not read English, there are yet a large number not supplied with a single copy. So far the subscription list has more than met the cost of publication, but a very little effort on the part of those who visit schools and churches would materially increase the influence of our Sabbath-school journal. The most experienced workers among us are chosen to write the lesson helps for the various grades, and this feature of the paper alone would justify an energetic effort in its behalf.

6. Perhaps this Conference will desire either to approve or disapprove of the schools giving all their donations to missions. We can hardly believe that a backward step could be recommended. However, it should be remembered that in asking the schools to give all their donations to missions, the State conferences, to be consistent, should make no levy on those donations to support the conference Sabbath-school work.

7. We very much hope that each union conference may establish the custom of holding a Sabbath-school convention at least as often as once in two years, at which time all the conference Sabbath-school secretaries in the union may come together for counsel. Such counsels would yield rich results in better and more effective work.

Closing Words

In closing I want to plead most earnestly for a removal of every hindering policy in the conducting of Sabbath-school affairs. I fear that sometimes the progress of this work has been unconsciously hindered by its friends. Every conference officer, every minister, might well note whether his interest has been active and as sympathetic as he could make it.

This child of the church which has to do with the children of the entire denomination, should not be regarded in the conference as merely an organization for the collection of reports, and the work thus restricted.

We are pressing forward. Our eyes and hearts are fixed on those who should be brought into the fold of Christ, and strengthened and established.

Every conference needs a devoted, faithful, capable Sabbath-school secretary—one you can trust,—one who has a burden for souls,—one who knows how to conduct the work, or who, with your help, will set herself to learn how,—one who has time for this work,—one who is not carrying so many other burdens that the Sabbath-school work is mere incidental,—one who will be an inspiration to every Sabbath-school in