The question as to what becomes of the college-trained Bible instructors seems to receive periodic emphasis by some who regret that there are not more of these useful workers entering conference employment after completing their college Bible instructor training. Fortunately, this is not an isolated inquiry focusing on just Bible instructors. Other professional groups at times meet the same plight in experiencing a dearth of workers. One of our leading denominational journals recently sent out urgent pleas for candidates for the nursing profession. In the same issue was the announcement of a series of forum discussions intended as an appeal for stenographers. Our department of education most audibly regrets its lack of teachers all the way from elementary to college level. And so we might continue to elaborate on the needs of various professions in our ranks where a periodic worker shortage is apparent.
The Master Himself made a prophetic state-ment that should be weighed well in answering our query regarding the dearth of trained Bible instructors. He said, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest." So it is not simply a call for more Bible instructors, but rather it is a challenge to our youth to consider a place in God's work the most attractive goal. Again, we must be realistic in recognizing that the less sacrificing professions will always attract the majority who are bent on ease and temporal remuneration.
It is in the individual homes where parents must first receive a vision of God's claims on the children's talents. Because there are today too many divided homes in our ranks, perplexed or confused parents should be educated into counseling with their spiritual advisers, especially when the higher education of their children must be considered. Parents should be impressed with a sense of their responsibility. The choice of a lifework should not be left entirely to the decision of inexperienced youth. There must be close co-operation between the home and the church. Parents should be guided by the godly counsel of the ministry, who should be setting before the church the needs of God's cause for the proclamation of this last message.
Let us next study this Bible instructor problem from the angle of the local church from which these youth come before they enter college. Here an interest in the young people and a proper guidance for their training must find expression in more ways than a farewell party and good wishes for the student's success upon entering college. If the pastor and his church officers are doing their work wisely for young people entering training, they can help them crystallize their thinking and choose their future profession. Example in this respect speaks more eloquently than sermons. Some ministers with unbiased vision are setting the right pattern in their own families by guiding their children into professions for which they individually show aptitude, and into those fields of service that must be filled in the balanced development of God's work. Such ministers will instill true principles of service in the youth of their churches. These offset the tendency to seek glory, ease, and remuneration in one's chosen vocation.
The challenge to serve in the rough furrows of life's harvest field, with a willingness to spend oneself in winning souls to Christ, is the true spirit of the Adventist worker. Even in God's service there should be equality of wages, but the right vision for one's chosen profession will cause our youth to study more than wage brackets. The influence of the Missionary Volunteer Society for guiding youth into proper vocations is also powerful. Programs planned to give guidance to our young people should climax in youth's dedication to serve God wherever He leads. We will now consider our colleges, where Bible instructors receive their initial training. Here we must candidly face the fact that fewer young people are being directed into the Bible work than into some other professions. Teachers naturally popularize the courses they teach. But they are not alone at fault. We must all share in the college's larger responsibility for symmetrically developing the professions that must continue to function in the proclamation of our message. Since the cause of Adventism should remain a balanced work, an overemphasis upon building one phase of it at the expense of the instability of others should bring concern to our leadership. Students entering upon college courses are usually strangers to the matriculation committee, and the fatherly pastor makes certain that the prospect for Bible work, or some other profession, is not diverted into another course by an undiscriminating faculty.
Believing wholeheartedly in the fine work that our colleges are doing, and knowing their determined spirit to build a strong Bible instructor course in their schools, we bring the cheering word that our colleges are earnestly endeavoring to succeed in their Bible instructor training. We might point to scores of fine young women, well prepared for larger Bible work, who have entered conference employment during the last year. As we today catch the vision of a greater evangelism in our midst, the services of many more of this type of worker will be in even greater demand. Judging by the many urgent pleas for Bible instructors placed with the General Conference, we know that a new day has dawned for the Bible work.
Next let us follow the young prospect for the Bible work into her senior year at college. She is no longer a child, but looks into the future. The consecrated young woman now considers how she may best fill her place as God designed it. For some, as is true in other professions, marriage enters into their immediate plans. These plans are usually expedited by the pressing plans of the young intern ministers. Together they have sought the counsel of godly teachers who have guided them into partnerships in the Lord's service. And thus some of the prospects for conference Bible work are married.
Let us follow this young couple for the next few years, and then decide what has become of one particular type of Bible instructor. She is now the alert wife of a budding evangelist, well prepared to co-operate with him in every phase of evangelistic endeavor. She functions admirably, mainly behind the scenes. Together this couple visit scores of homes week after week as the interest is being developed. At home the wife answers endless telephone calls. She must often write the script for her husband's radio sermons. He may even count on her to interview publicity men of the city. Because of a pressing need she may also supervise the radio correspondence school. At the meetings she helps with her musical and artistic talents. At times she may conduct health and dietetics classes. In the local church she is the counselor of childhood, youth, and maturity. Need we still ask, What has become of the college-trained Bible instructor?
But not all Bible instructor prospects of college days immediately plan for marriage. More than a few young women have a strong conviction to make the Bible work their career, either temporarily or as a life dedication. These women have consecrated themselves to Christ completely, and service to Him is undivided with any other purpose. Considering that their decision in this respect is utterly from choice, do they not belong in the very front ranks of heaven's nobility? Only the records above will furnish the complete story of their sacrifices and the price paid for their noble exploits.
The Bible instructor's working day cannot be measured by the clock. No eight-hour system has ever fitted into Bible work. Neither is the usual record of their lives of short duration; generally the decades find them accelerating their pace and adding to their burdens. They bear these alone, except for their Master's help and comfort. Such women are too often obscured by the more conspicuous talents of the evangelists with whom they labor. Some have laid down their mantle of service with a very brief and casual obituary to mark that their labors were ended.
While in some sections of the field the pressing needs of evangelism have drawn some lay Bible instructors into conference work, the average Bible instructor today is the product of our own schools. Those who have access to accurate information are happy to furnish this report. Many women who have entered our work from the lay ranks soon found their way into one of our schools for at least a short period of training. Ministers and Bible instructors are to be developed according to God's pattern of training. And the Bible instructor who is drafted into conference work from the lay ranks soon needs more in her preparation than a brief and greatly simplified course of instruction. A work comparable only with that of the ministry must set a high standard for its profession.
Before ending our discussion on the status of the Bible instructor we should introduce another profitable type of worker in our midst—men Bible instructors. In many countries our brethren called to the ministry of personal work are doing a most noble service. They are not an insignificant group; hundreds of them are today the evangelists' right-hand men. There is now a strong emphasis on the place of men Bible instructors since both men and women are much needed for our more intensive city evangelism, and for the outpost areas of the world field. In some countries these men Bible instructors are classified with ministers, and in other fields as Bible instructors.
As we review the question, What becomes of .the trained Bible instructor? we may lift our heads with renewed courage, believing that the cause will not lack for such workers. They are still an integral part of the evangelistic program of our day. Although the number of prospects training in our colleges is steadily on the increase, we will all do wisely to continue to stress the needs for an enlarging Bible work, and keep on steering promising prospects into this profession.
L. C. K.
