Practical Missionary Work in Church-Schools
By Ada Mae Phillips
IT is needless to write on the advisability of connecting missionary work with our schools; others have discussed this subject, and doubtless all who are teaching in our church-schools are convinced that the most successful way of training workers and missionaries for the cause of God is by beginning with the plastic minds in our primary grades, and have them “learn to do by doing.” The question that confronts teachers is, What kind of missionary work shall I take up, and how shall I go about it? The first requisite for practical missionary work in connection with the school is for the teacher himself to become thoroughly imbued with the missionary spirit. Children are not slow in catching the spirit of the teacher, as the following incident will show:— “Missionary day” had come. A very interesting story had been read to the children on China and her needs, and of the great desire manifested by some to know more of Jesus. After the reading the children were quiet and thoughtful, and some of their little eyes were moist; their hearts had been touched, and they were ready to co-operate with the teacher in any plans which might be laid whereby the message might be sent to China. One little boy, all aglow with missionary zeal, hurried home to tell his mama of the story read and the plans to help the poor Chinese, and, “Mama,” he said, “I believe Miss —— is getting the missionary spirit.” Teachers, it will work a transformation in our schools if we will “get the missionary spirit.” The past four years my work has been confined to primary grades, and each week one day was set apart as “missionary day.” We spent only from a half to three quarters of an hour in our meetings, but the children were always delighted to see that day come. The children saved their copies of the Little Friend, and got clean copies of the Instructor and Signs of the Times from their parents, and these were folded, wrapped, and sent off. Those who brought pennies were allowed to mail the papers, thus encouraging them to save their pennies for the work. I always save interesting incidents from the lives of missionaries, points of interest concerning the countries to which they were sent, and these I would read to the children. I think it a good idea to decide, at the beginning of the school year, on some country to which all your missionary efforts will be directed during the year. In the industrial classes teach them to make articles to sell, the proceeds to be applied on the fund for the country chosen; and by the close of the year you will be surprised to see that the pennies, nickels, and dimes have grown into several dollars. One year I taught the children to make raffia hand-bags, picture-frames, etc. These were so nicely made that the parents of the children paid them the price, and took the articles, as keepsakes, because of their children’s work thereon. Another year I taught them the different stitches used in sewing, and these, worked out on canvas with colored zephyr, made very pretty lamp mats and sewing bags, which were disposed of much the same as the raffia articles. One spring I gave the children a penny apiece to invest as missionary money. Some bought garden seeds, some eggs; and at the close of school—the day of reckoning—we found that each penny had gained others, some ten, some twenty, and others had increased a hundredfold. Only those who have entered into such missionary enterprises can fully appreciate the zeal and earnestness with which the children pursue them, and how refreshing it is to the soul of the teacher. Last year a little sack of shells was given to the children to be sold for our mission work in India. I would put a few of the shells in an envelope, and write on the outside that the shells had been picked up by Brother and Sister Shaw on the island of Ceylon, and the money realized from the sales would be sent to help forward our work in India. The children sold five dollars’ worth of these shells in a few weeks. I must tell you of one thing which impressed me deeply while they were engaged in this work: they would talk to one another and to me of the work, and would say, “I am going to Brother —— or Sister ——. I know they will buy shells.” The ones mentioned were generally leaders in the church, Sabbath-school, missionary meeting, or children’s meetings; and if they refused to buy, the little ones returned to the schoolroom with their missionary zeal dampened, and it took quite a little encouraging to get them to try again. Always encourage a child, in a substantial way, in any missionary enterprise in which he may be enlisting your sympathy and support. I like to teach the children to write missionary letters in the writing class, not every day, but once in a while; and when one has been written correctly and neatly, allow the one who has written it to mail it to some child to whom I have been sending the Little Friend. I do not always get an answer, but I have known the children to receive a letter in reply. When I was teaching a mixed school where there were older pupils, one year we made a quilt in our sewing class, and on Thanksgiving day the mothers were invited to the schoolroom to quilt, and the fathers were invited to take dinner with us, which we spread all together. In the afternoon the children gave a thanksgiving program which they had prepared, after which a thank-offering was taken up, and this, together with the quilt, was sent to the Orphans’ Home. To the teachers who are seeking for ways and means to train workers for God, whether they be in the primary, intermediate, academic grades, or in the college, the Lord will not turn a deaf ear when they seek him for wisdom and judgment to guide them in their work. Numerous plans for practical missionary work will open before them; and before they are fully aware of it, the “missionary idea” will be the center around which their school work will rotate.