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Counsels on Sabbath School Work
They should be won to Christ, and instead of expending time, money,
and effort to make a display, let the whole effort be made to gather
sheaves for the harvest.
Many have seemed to think that all that was essential in Sabbath
school work was to organize the school, and drill the scholars so that
they would act in harmony with a set of ceremonies and forms; and
that if persons could be secured as teachers, the Sabbath school would
run itself. Teachers are often secured who cannot lead souls to Christ
because they know not what it is to find Him precious to their own
souls; but all those who do not value the soul so that they will work as
Christ would have them, will scatter away from Christ. “He that [mark
these words] gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.” If teachers
have no burden to lead souls to Jesus, they will grow indifferent to the
truth; they will become careless, and the atmosphere with which they
surround their souls will work to scatter away from Christ. And with
such elements in the Sabbath school, there will be a perpetual conflict
with difficulties; for when the teachers engage in the work and have no
interest in it, the pupils will partake of the same spirit.—
Fundamentals
of Christian Education, 253, 254
.
[155]
Need of Consecration in Sabbath School Workers
Those who engage in Sabbath school work should be persons who
have consecrated themselves to God. They should be men and women
of strong faith and warm sympathies, who are fervent of spirit, and
interested in all that pertains to the cause of Christ. They should
give themselves to the work with unselfish endeavor, and at whatever
sacrifice it may require, laying themselves on the altar, and pleading,
with strong crying and tears, for the conversion of the youth who have
been committed to their charge. Among those who would work for
the Lord in the Sabbath school, let all selfish ambition be crucified,
and “let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” Let it be the
Sabbath school worker’s first ambition to educate the youth to do their
duty in the fear of God and with simplicity.
The great want in the Sabbath school is not the want of machinery,
but the want of knowledge in spiritual things. How greatly do the
workers need a baptism of the Holy Spirit, that they may become true