The Junior Sermon
Dear to the heart of every true parent is the welfare of his child. Just as dear to the heart of the church should be the spiritual welfare — the winning, the holding, the reclaiming — of her youth and children. Our Saviour's charge to Peter, " Feed My lambs," is the perpetual charge to every shepherd. Never was it so imperative as to-day. Indeed, one of the outstanding calls of the hour is to save our youth. Convictions vary on the advisability of the distinct and complete junior sermon, in contrast to adaptation of the whole hour in remembrance of junior needs. But here the plan is presented. The discussion here begun will be concluded in April, and will contain a Junior Sermon Bibliography.
L. E. F.
Junior Congregation Yields Big Returns
By M.E. Kern
Secretary, General Conference M. V. Dept.
" What is put into the first of life is put into all of life." The pastor who is faithful in feeding the lambs of the flock is nourishing a growing congregation, and doubtless will realize larger returns from his junior sermon than from any other discourse in his ministry. We are glad that many pastors throughout the field are coming to realize this important fact.
Remember the Children
By Ernest Lloyd Editor, Our Little Friend, Mountain View, Calif.
There is no portion of the minister's congregation of greater importance, or worthy of more earnest personal attention, than that comprising the children, and for no other class does pastoral labor yield such certain and abundant harvest. The pastor whose heart and prayers and words do not embrace the lambs of the flock, is strangely unmindful and most unwise.
The Sabbath morning church service, as well as the Sabbath school, should be made attractive to the young. But far too often the preaching service contains nothing whatever to interest the children. The prayer which is offered expresses the needs and desires of the grown-ups only, the songs which are sung have no meaning to the child mind, and the sermon is exclusively for adults. To remedy this widespread situation, it is not necessary that the hour for public worship take on the aspect of a juvenile program, but the consistent plea is that, as the congregation consists very largely of children of tender years, there be due recognition of their existence and presence, when administering spiritual food at the weekly Sabbath service.
In the preparation of his sermon, the minister should bear in mind that a large proportion of his hearers are under fourteen years of age, and should seek earnestly to cultivate the art of speaking in such a manner as to reach the comprehension of these young minds. Truth presented in such a way as to attract the mind of a child is not necessarily lost upon the adult. On the contrary, the parts of a discourse adapted to the minds of the young often exert the most powerful influence upon the mature mind.
Every sermon should have in it something especially designed for the young, and addressed to them. There is not a minister of the gospel who does not possess the gift to do this, and it is time to entreat our pastors most earnestly to think of this. It becomes painful to parents and lovers of children to attend the church services week by week and year by year, and never hear a word from the pastor to indicate that the children and youth enter into his thoughts or plans for feeding the flock. The Saviour requires not alone the feeding of the sheep, but He also said, " Feed My lambs."
Statistics and Experience
By H. T. Elliot Associate Secretary, General Conference M. V. Dept.
According to the best estimates we can secure from a census taken in certain local conferences, about 60 per cent of the entire church membership ranges in age from six to twenty-five years, and about one half this number are fifteen years of age or less. It is therefore very apparent that such a large percentage of the regular Sabbath service attendance should not be overlooked in ministering to the congregation, but should rather be given very special consideration. I believe that the junior sermon, of five or ten minutes' duration, in which to captivate the interest of the children, is an indispensable feature of the church service. The junior sermon which is properly planned for and conducted, never fails to interest the adults; and if the minister makes free use of illustrative material in his regular sermon, he will be able to hold the interest of the junior audience to the end of the church service. I have found that the best material with which to interest juniors is mission experiences, and personal experiences through which I have passed, told, perhaps, in the third person. On certain occasions it may be advisable to hold a separate service for the children at the same time the sermon for older folks is given; but as a rule, the junior sermon in connection with the regular sermon, will best serve our aim in developing an interest in the regular Sabbath service on the part of the children and youth.
Birth and Development of the Idea
By George F. Enoch
After thirty years of service, chiefly in the mission field, I returned to the United States and was assigned to local church work. The establishment of the junior sermon as a regular part of the church service was not the result of planning, but rather grew out of a great need. On first contact with the church, my wife and I were shocked by the irreverence manifested in the house of God, and the confusion which occurred between the close of Sabbath school and the preaching service. In the mission fields it is the custom to come reverently into the house of worship, to bow the head in silent prayer, and to enter into an hour of real spiritual communion with Jehovah. After the benediction is pronounced, the worshipers once more bow the head in silent prayer before separating and going out into the world. But in this church to which We were assigned we found the children restless and noisy, and the older folks much the same, and we felt that we must do something to help old and young to realize what it meant to come into the presence of God. Out of that great need the junior sermon was born.
It was the first Sabbath in the Week of Prayer that I incorporated into the regular service a simple, heart-to-heart talk to the children on what it meant to be ready to meet Jesus. The next Sabbath I followed the same plan, giving to the children a description of heaven in simple and realistic language. At both these Sabbath services, the conclusion of the junior sermon was marked by all the children standing and singing an appropriate song, the older people remaining seated. Somehow the idea took permanent form. On the third Sabbath, without any invitation on my part, the front row of seats and the side seats nearest the pulpit were filled with children, eager for their sermon, and I just had to keep on.
For this third junior sermon I gave a talk on how Noah built an ark that stood the storm and stress of the deluge, and about the little boys, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and the three little girls who, as children, watched the big boat in building, and who played in its shadow, and were told of its meaning; and I explained that these six children were the only children of that generation who were saved from the flood. A brief, realistic description of that loss, readily carrying the mind down to the time when the world will perish in a lake of fire, and closing with the song by the children, " Building for Eternity," served to make a deep impression on the entire congregation.
The next Sabbath seemed a good time to stress the thought of the kind of material to be used in the building of the temple of the body. I described a triangular building, suggesting that the body was one wall, therefore we must be careful about eating and drinking. I made a strong plea for health reform, and cautioned against injurious things, such as sweets, flesh foods, etc. Another wall was called the mental side, making plain that the mental wall of their building would be as strong or as weak as the material which they put Into it, entreating them to discard the mental trash of fiction. The third wall was likened to the spiritual nature, and attention called to the vital need of knowing God.
Remembering my prime objective,—establishing reverence and quietness in the house of God,— I told a story, " How the Monkeys Went to Church," as found in Chamberlain's mission books. In connection with the story I read the statement from the " Testimonies," that " common talking, whispering, and laughing should not be permitted in the house of worship."—"Testimonies," Vol. V, p. 492. The parents unanimously expressed appreciation of this lesson, and have assured me that their children will never forget the monkey story. I know that the children were not the only ones to remember and to profit by the suggestions, for a great change soon became apparent in the church. Between the Sabbath school and the preaching service there was a stillness and reverence that was very gratifying.
I find the juniors the most interested and perhaps most interesting part of my audience. Their interest is manifest not only in their particular little corner of the sermon, but all through the sermon which follows. And somehow the attitude of the juniors has seemed to have an influence on the attitude of visiting ministers. As they see the enthusiastic interest manifested in the junior sermon, they seek to make their sermon a little more simple, and to bring it within the :range of the younger minds.
The range of subjects for the junior sermon is endless. I have exhibited a bird's nest and given a talk on how the great God cares for the birds and for every child. Sometimes I have brought flowers, those in full bloom. in bud, and with bud half open, and through this object lesson emphasized the mystery of the new birth. It has seemed so simple and easy to make the juniors understand what we mean by heaven, when we take the song of the bird, the beauty of the flower, and the love of parents, as foretastes of heaven which we may have right here.
Our church is not large, and we have not tried to separate the children from their parents. About twenty children are always found on the front seats at the beginning of every Sabbath service, some of them returning to sit with their parents at the close of their song, but the majority remain on the front seats. There are a number whom we call " juniors " scattered through the congregation, but they all stand together during the song. Sometimes the adults are asked to sing (softly) with the juniors. Once when a general appeal was made to young people for consecration of life, the juniors responded practically 100 per cent, and I attribute this intelligent and sincere response to the effect of the junior sermons.
A recent request came in to our church that fifteen minutes in each service be allotted to another purpose, but when the matter was considered by the church council, there was unanimous request that nothing be allowed to crowd out the junior sermon. My congregation seem to be as much interested in the junior sermon as they are in the sermon designed for them, and I am not sure but that they get as much good out of it as the children do. Somehow it does even the oldest of us good to simplify these great lessons in the word of God.
(To be continued)
