The Standard of Attainment Plan by Milton E. Kern

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 14, 1913

The Standard of Attainment Plan

By Milton E. Kern

EVERY Missionary Volunteer should be a soul-winner, for truly, as Amos R. Wells says, “A Christian that is not making other Christians is as much a contradiction in terms as a fire that is not warming or a flame that is not lighting.” Christ was the ideal Christian worker. His recorded talks with the lonely sinner are as marvelous as his sermons to the eager throngs that pressed about him. We need to be filled with the same knowledge and with the same spirit that he was in order to be successful in Christian service. Every Missionary Volunteer should learn how to lead a conversation pleasantly and easily from secular topics to the theme of all themes.

The Standard of Attainment is a plan for getting acquainted with Bible doctrines and our denominational history. It is an important landmark on the road to thorough preparation for service; and reaching it will give one confidence and courage to press on to greater heights.

Growing Rapidly

This plan was launched at Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1907. For years it grew slowly though steadily, but in the fall of 1912 it received a remarkable impetus. Workers in many places seemed to awaken suddenly to the importance of the plan. Hundreds of young people entered the race for the Standard of Attainment goal. Scores of societies organized bands for studying the important subjects for which the Standard of Attainment plan stands. Last spring the conference secretaries called for nine times as many sets of examination questions as at any previous test.

The Missionary Volunteer workers in the Columbia Union are aiming to have one hundred new Standard of Attainment members by March, 1914, while the workers in the Lake Union have made their aim two hundred new members of Attainment by the same date.

Who May Take This Course

All our Missionary Volunteers are urged to become members of Attainment. Others, old and young, who desire to take these studies, will find a hearty welcome. Any one with a moderate capital of diligence may become such a member. One becomes a member of Attainment by passing satisfactorily the tests in Bible doctrines and denominational history issued by the Missionary Volunteer Department of the General Conference.

Examinations

When the Standard of Attainment was launched at the Mount Vernon convention several years ago, the following resolution was passed:—

“(a) The General Conference Young People's Department shall prepare questions once every six months, and in response to orders shall send them to the young people's secretaries of the local conferences, or if there is no such secretary, then to the church elder.

“(b) The church elder or some one appointed by him shall conduct these examinations during the first weeks of March and September of each year.”

This plan is still followed; so when a candidate wishes to take the examination, he should write to his conference Missionary Volunteer secretary, asking for the test questions and giving the name and address of the examiner to whom these questions are to be sent.

A Bible may be used as reference during examinations, but no concordance, personal markings, or other helps.

Liberal time will be allowed for answering the questions, but the examination in one subject must be completed at one sitting and in the presence of the examiner, to whom the paper will then be given. The examiner forwards the same to the local conference Missionary Volunteer secretary.

The test need not be taken in both subjects at the same time. For instance, the candidate can take the examination in Bible doctrines in the spring and denominational history in the fall or later.

The examination paper should bear the name and address of the candidate. All writing should be done with ink.

The conference Missionary Volunteer secretary corrects the papers, and sends the names of all who pass the tests in both Bible doctrines and denominational history to the General Department, where the certificates are issued. When a certificate is filled in, it is sent to the conference Missionary Volunteer secretary for her signature, and she then passes it on to the successful candidate.

Importance of These Subjects

“Our only safeguard against the wiles of Satan is to study the Scriptures diligently, to have an intelligent understanding of the reasons of our faith, and faithfully to perform every known duty.”

—Review and Herald, Nov. 19, 1908.

As to the importance of knowing our denominational history, the spirit of prophecy says: “The work is soon to close. The members of the church militant who have proved faithful will become the church triumphant. In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what the Lord has wrought, I am filled with astonishment and with confidence in Christ as our leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and his teaching in our past history.”—General Conference Bulletin, Vol. V, No. 2, page 24.

Surely all parents and church officers who are acquainted with this standard of efficiency in Bible doctrines and denominational history will strive to get the youth about them to reach the goal. The spirit of prophecy teaches us the importance of this study in these solemn words: “None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.”—“Great Controversy,” page 593. M. E.