CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. In connection with the International Conference of Employed Officers of the Young Men's Christian Association, held at Indianapolis, a meeting of the Department of Christian Associations was held on June 4th. It took the form of a breakfast conference gathering in the Claypool Hotel, and about eighty persons, almost exclusively secretaries and paid officers of the Young Men's Christian Association were present. The following program was presented, followed by general discussion as to the work which this department may undertake: Review of the progress of religious education in Christian Associations during the past year, Herbert W. Gates, Secretary, Central Department, The Young Men's Christian Association, of Chicago. What service can the Religious Education Association render to the Young Men's Christian Association, Walter M. Wood, Manager of Institutional Work, The Young Men's Christian Association, Chicago. Organized Work for Religious Education, Henry F. Cope, Secretary, The Religious Education Association. What Service Can the Young Men's Christian Associations render to the Religious Education Association? L. L. Doggett, President, The International Training School, Springfield, Mass. Officers were elected, President Doggett being chosen for Chairman, and Mr. Henry E. Rosevear, Louisville, for Recording Secretary. The Executive Board of the Association later elected Mr. W. K. Cooper, of Springfield, Mass., as Executive Secretary. The Executive Committee, consisting, in addition to the officers, of Mr. Edwin F. See, Mr. Wm. J. Parker, Mr. Walter M. Wood and Mr. G. W. Mehaffey, of Boston, is preparing plans for the definite activities of this Department. Rochester, 1907 A meeting was recently held in Rochester, New York, at which an invitation, formally signed by representatives of many denominations and educational institutions, was extended to the Religious Education Association, to hold its next great convention in that city. This invitation has been accepted by the Executive Board of the Association and the convention will be held in Rochester, New York, in the week beginning February 3, 1907. Without doubt this will be the most important and valuable convention yet held by the Association. Interest, attendance, the worth of papers and discussions and the net value of the whole gathering have been cumulative at Chicago, Philadelphia and then at Boston. Definite announcements as to program will be made at an early date. Associational Activities A midsummer review of the work accomplished by the Executive Office of the Religious Education Association was presented to the Executive Board at its recent meeting, held June 25. Mr. Loring Wilbur Messer, reporting for the Business Committee, showed that the indebtedness reported at Cleveland had been just about cut in two. All the other committees reported showing definite things accomplished. Amongst many other things the general report of the Secretary mentioned the following: Furnishing of the new offices at 909, 153 La Salle St.; extension of the "Exhibit"; the publication of THE JOURNAL; the maintenance of the membership; the increase in number of sustaining members; the cancellation of the current indebtedness, the debts at Donnelly Bros., and the open account at the University of Chicago Press, and the reduction of the indebtedness at the Commercial National Bank; the activities of the following Departments: Universities and Colleges; Churches and Pastors; Sunday-schools; Teacher Training; Christian Associations; The Home; The Press; Summer Assemblies; Religious Art; the holding of five special conferences, giving ten special addresses, and covering sixty-nine Assemblies and other gatherings by addresses and literature; the organization of a state Association in Iowa; the adoption of Volume III in the Congregational Licentiate Preacher's Course of Study for Illinois. Guilds Very encouraging tidings are coming in as to the organization of local guilds in many centers.. Whenever there are several persons interested in the improvement of religious and moral education, there is no more helpful thing they can do than to get together and form a local guild of the Religious Education Association. This gives them the marked moral impetus of the sense of unity with a great organization; it gives them the aid of all its strong thinkers and workers in their researches, discussions and endeavors. The many clubs, circles and societies which are seeking to realize the ideals of the Religious Education Association find it greatly to their advantage to come into organic touch with the Association by becoming local guilds. The organization of a local Guild has been effected at Meriden, Connecticut, with the following officers: President-Rev. R. A. Ashworth. The first public meeting took place on May 14th when Prof. Charles F. Kent spoke on "Development of our System of Religious Education." The Hyde Park (Chicago) Guild recently held its annual dinner and outlined its work for the coming winter. In addition to conducting the teacher-training classes, the work in which it so successfully maintained or co-operated with nine classes last season, it will offer a course of lectures on "The Messianic Hope in the New Testament," to be given by Shailer Mathews, D. D., Junior Dean in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. This guild has decided, as one of the special departmental features of its activities, to work under the Home Department in an investigation of the significance, to religious education, of the first three years of child-life. The group working in this will be under the direction of Professor Charles R. Henderson, D.D. In addition to this work investigation will also be carried on in some very practical subject such as, for instance, the Sunday-school curricula of the field of the Guild. Conferences Conferences on religious education have been held at a number of points recently. Mr. L. Wilbur Messer attended one at Hartford, Conn., held in connection with the R. E. A. local guild. A very interesting study of religious conditions in Hartford, particularly with reference to enrollment in the Sundayschools, was there presented. At Iowa City, Iowa, the interest centered about the problems of local inter-denominational Biblestudy and teacher-training. A dinner and conference was held in the early evening, and later a general public meeting. Mr. Cope attended this conference and also others at Grinnell, Des Moines, Iowa; Naperville, Plano, Ill.; Winona Lake, Indianapolis, Ind.; Lake George, New York, and Saugatuck, Michigan. Besides these conferences, the principles of religious education have been presented at about fifty summer assemblies and conventions by leading thinkers and speakers, members of the R. E. A. At about forty other conventions and assemblies, literature on the subject has been distributed. A plan was adopted at the recent meeting of the Executive Board to hold a series of strong conferences in the leading cities in different parts of the country. These conferences would have some of the characteristics of conventions, lasting one or two days and taking up the wide and general problem of religious education, the special work of Departments and the problems peculiar to the local need of each place. A Conference on Religious Education in the Congested Districts was held at Saugatuck, Mich., July 22-24, under the auspices of the R. E. A. in co-operation with The Forward Movement. Dr. Frank Gunsaulus spoke on "The Problem in the City" and also gave an evening lecture on "Religious Art." Rev. Geo. W. Gray, D.D., Secretary of The Forward Movement, opened the conference proper with a statement of the general problem. Other addresses by leading workers in the congested districts, dealt with their need of religious education and how to meet it; and the Secretary of the Association spoke on its service for religious education. In the British Public Schools In Great Britain "Continuation Evening Classes" are conducted in the public elementary schools under the auspices of The Recreation Evening Schools Association. The purpose is to supplement the inadequate work of the day schools by general ethical and physical training. England is undergoing an awakening to the fundamental importance of education in religion and morals. A circular memorial has been prepared which is signed by many bishops, peers of the realm, educators and other leaders, calling attention to the need of "effective moral training, based upon Christian principles." This memorial is addressed to the local educational authority in each community. It sets forth the necessity for moral training, based on Christian principles, with the further necessity that this shall be supported by the spirit and example of the teacher. Conferences looking to the securing of co-operation and efficiency in this work are recommended, and the following practical suggestions are offered: I. The reading books should be of a kind which hold up high ideals of conduct; they should contain stories of heroism, self-denial and integrity, and thus give the teacher the opportunity of teaching the value of character. 2. Songs which stir the noblest emotions should be encouraged; songs tend to form the character of the young. 3. Pictures which illustrate heroic deeds might be placed on the walls. 4. Scholars should have their attention drawn to the laws of health and Christian conduct, from which the evils of intemperance and gambling and other vices which degrade national character could be pointed out. 5. Teachers could, by superintending games in the playground, promote manliness of character, self-control, and a love of fair play. 6. The formation of an Old Scholars' Association cultivates loyalty to the school, and a wholesome esprit de corps. |