Article September 15, 1951 Issue

Our Sunday Schools

Home Assignments For Little Pupils

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15). This was Paul's counsel to his youthful pupil Timothy. Today, as yesterday, teachers recognize the need of regular and systematic study on the part of pupils. And perhaps most Sunday School teachers for this reason assign some kind of home study. The child who has learned to meditate daily on spiritual truth will find it natural to continue the practice in later years. And even the tiniest pupils are not too young to begin this training.

In the primary classes it has been found that assignments for home study, besides furnishing daily spiritual food for thought, are a substantial aid in reaching the child's interest when he comes to Sunday School, for they establish in his thought a purpose in coming. Suppose a little boy is left in his class on Sunday with instruction from his mother, "Now, be a good boy until Mother comes for you; Mother will be back soon." This would give the child no other reason for being in Sunday School than to await his mother's return. And should it be surprising then if presently he becomes restless waiting for just what he has been told soon to expect?

But suppose that on the preceding week at the close of Sunday School the teacher had handed the mother a slip of paper on which was the citation "Exodus 20:3." where the First Commandment is to be found, and had asked her to help the child memorize the Commandment. Suppose too that the assignment had included that portion of the second chapter of Exodus which tells of the protection of the baby Moses in the bulrushes. What a difference in the child's attitude toward Sunday School. Quite likely he will hasten to the class, his little face beaming with delight. He knows what to expect. Enthusiastically he joins the group in talking about the baby Moses, whom God loved and protected, and he listens intently as the teacher assures the children that God loves them, too, and loves Mother and Daddy and everyone, and takes care of all His children wherever they may be. And so the little one begins to grasp the significance of the Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and the words become more deeply impressed upon his thought.

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