AN APPEAL FOR TEACHERS by E. A. Sutherland

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 27, 1900

AN APPEAL FOR TEACHERS.

By E. A. Sutherland

“In all our churches, and wherever there is a company of believers, church schools should be established, and in these schools there should be teachers who have the true missionary spirit; for the children are to be trained to become missionaries.”

“There is earnest work to be done for the children. Before the overflowing deluge shall come upon all the dwellers upon the earth, the Lord calls upon all who are Israelites indeed to serve him. Gather your children into your homes; gather them in from the classes who are voicing the words of Satan, who are disobeying the commandments of God. Get out of the cities as soon as possible. Establish church schools. Gather in your children, and give them the word of God as the foundation of all true education. Had the churches in different localities sought counsel of God, they would not need to be thus addressed on this point. . . . Any one of the children of the Hebrews who was found in the Egyptian habitations was destroyed, . . . We have a special work to do in educating and training our children, that they may not, either in attending school or in associating with others, be influenced by those of corrupt habits. . . .”

“The education that is generally given in the schools of the world is not that which can be accepted as the true education. Let us view the case correctly. Children are the heritage of the Lord, and are to be educated that they may be the younger members of the Lord’s family, prepared by proper instruction to serve the Lord in their childhood life. Shall the members of the church give means to advance the cause of Christ among others, and then let their own children carry on the work and service of Satan? . . . Can we wonder that children and youth drift into temptation, and become educated in wrong lines, when they are continually associating with other neglected children? . . .”

“Workers must be educated. Schools which will provide for the education of children must be opened in places where they are so much needed. In the last days, children’s voices will be heard proclaiming the message. As Christ in the temple solved the mysteries which priests and rulers had not discerned, so in the closing work of this earth, children in their simplicity will speak words which will be an astonishment to men who now talk of higher education. Then let the church carry a burden for the lambs of the flock in its locality, and see how many can be educated and trained to do service for God.”

“We can not in this day of peril accept teachers because they have been in school two, three, four, or five years.”

“No cheap cast of mind should be placed in our church schools. The very best is required for educating and molding the human mind. . . . The teachers for our schools should be selected from the very best class; they should be experienced Christians, well balanced in mind, men and women who have learned the lesson of self-control.”

“Work as if you were working for your life to save children from being drowned in the polluting, corrupting influences of this life.”

“We may bring hundreds and thousands of children to Christ if we will work for them.”

Here is definite work that the Lord says should be done. If you have the gift of teaching, do you wish a part in saving the children to whom the hearts of the parents will be turned? If the Lord is calling you, take your training now, and enter this grand work.

Churches ought to be sure that some one is preparing to teach their school next year. If you know of a teacher who could take a training for the work, encourage him to attend. If he has no money, heed the instruction of the Lord by helping him financially. “There is a great necessity of making plans that there may be a large number of competent workers, and many should fit themselves up as teachers, that others may be trained and disciplined for the great work of the future. The church should take in the situation, and by their influence and means seek to bring about the much-desired end. Let a fund be created by generous contributions for the establishment of schools for the advancement of educational work.”

Read the notice of the teachers’ course in Battle Creek College Training School, found on this page.

E. A. SUTHERLAND.