Article January 21, 1950 Issue

The New Pupil

Momentous indeed is the child's entrance into the Christian Science Sunday School. And how important that his first impression be one of loving welcome and joyous anticipation. In a letter written by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, to a First Reader, which now appears on page 247 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," is valuable counsel which may well be heeded by all Sunday School workers. Here we read: "God has called you to be a fisher of men. It is not a stern but a loving look which brings forth mankind to receive your bestowal,—not so much eloquence as tender persuasion that takes away their fear, for it is Love alone that feeds them."

Ordinarily the child's first contact is with the registrar, whose duty it is to record certain information required for enrollment. But the registrar's work is not wholly the recording of required information. A "loving look" and an attitude of "tender persuasion" at the registrar's desk are of great importance that the new pupil may be assured at once that the Sunday School is interested in him and is happy to welcome him.

Many pupils begin in the Sunday School as toddlers. The beginning pupil may be two years of age (possibly in some cases even younger), or perhaps two and a half or three. Although the little one finds himself surrounded by unfamiliar faces, no timidity or fear will mar the harmony of this new and holy experience, and there will be no sense of separation in the child's thought when the parents leave the classroom, if the teacher realizes clearly that the child is at all times in the presence of the divine Love which casts out fear, and that God's child is ever conscious of the tender love of his Father-Mother God.

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