Special Course at Washington Training College by J. W. Lawhead

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 23, 1906

Special Course at Washington Training College

By J. W. Lawhead

WASHINGTON TRAINING COLLEGE, in connection with the officers of the General Conference, is planning to conduct a special course of instruction for laborers who feel the need of further preparation, and for others who desire to study the great questions with which the denomination is now dealing, either for their own guidance or for the purpose of helping others. The lines of instruction to be offered in this special course will consist of studies on organization, missions, nature and progress of the message, religious liberty, Sabbath-school and young people's work, health and temperance, close of prophetic history, the certainty of our hope, and other kindred topics.

The studies on organization will be conducted by Elder Daniells, who has been giving special study to this question for some years past. His position as the leader of the denomination gives him great advantages in studying and presenting the different phases of this question from the standpoint of actual experience as the denomination is organized to-day. At the last session of the General Conference, it was voted to invite Elder Daniells to prepare a manual on this important subject for the benefit of our young workers and others who are interested, and he hopes at this time to present much of this subject-matter.

The studies on missions will be conducted by Elder Spicer, who has made a careful and exhaustive study of the subject of missions in general, and whose long experience in connection with our own missionary work especially qualifies him to deal with this most important question. As Elder Spicer has not yet returned from Europe, it is impossible to confer with him and to get a definite outline of the work as he may desire to present it, but without question much attention will be given to the real nature of missionary work, the fields already entered by our missionaries, results obtained therein, and the methods and means best adapted to the work in different countries. The missionary work of our denomination has been progressing with great rapidity and force in the last few years, and one of the most absorbing topics for study at the present time is to trace the movements of our missionaries, the fields that are already open, and the small portion of the world yet to be entered before the truths of the third angel's message shall have belted the entire earth. Mission stations are being established almost everywhere, and the educational missionary movement will doubtless result in a large number of recruits going forward to these stations and pressing out from them in every direction, quickly carrying the gospel of the coming kingdom to all the people of the world. But while it is hoped that this study will be an intensely interesting one, we must look for something more than entertainment, and expect and pray that God will touch the hearts of those who are informing themselves respecting this work, and lay upon them a burden for bearing a part of the labor, that the message may go quickly and in power to every honest soul in all the world.

The studies on the nature and progress of the message will be conducted by Professor Prescott, who has given close and continued study to this subject, and whose presentation will doubtless be exhaustive and of the utmost importance to every one. The time has fully come when every Seventh-day Adventist ought to know what the third angel's message is, and ought to realize and understand the truism that the whole is equal to the sum of all its parts. In other words, this study will serve to give a broad and comprehensive view of the question, and will in some degree safeguard those who take it from making the mistake of narrowing the message to some particular phase of work which is but a part of the entire movement; and it therefore becomes one of the large and vital questions to be studied by our people, and especially by our youth who are preparing to bear a part in the proclamation of the gospel.

The other studies will be conducted by men who are especially qualified from experience and study, and whose one purpose will be so to present their topics as to make them of direct practical value to every member of the class.

This special course will open October 24 and continue until December 19; and it is hoped that these dates will accommodate a large number, as the instruction to be given will be of great value and importance to every worker who can possibly attend, both in the subject-matter of study and also in personal contact and acquaintance with the officers and leaders of the denomination.

If any are interested in learning more fully respecting this proposed special course, we would be glad to correspond with and to inform every such individual. Our address is Washington Training College, Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C.

J. W. LAWHEAD.