With such a situation in every community there has fallen on the religious agencies the burden of the instruction of children in the subjects of religion. That task was, for 10 dec ades, relegated to the Sunday school. But rising educational standards indicated the in adequacy of this school with its brief weekly period its corps of purely amateur and un trained teachers and its lack of any sort of physical equipment. It lacked professional leaders, educational ideals and standards of work. It was expected to accomplish specific instruction in religion when it lacked educa tional standing and consciousness. In fact it had no plan of instruction in its own field. in religion, as it attempted no more than per functory instruction in certain parts of the Bible. Along with the revival in educational science came a quickening of scientific interest in religion, especially in its literature and its phenomena. The churches had laid upon them a difficult task, to meet the demands of this new interest, to furnish instruction which could meet modern, prevalent, scientific concepts and to meet the need for religious instruction of the young with plan and plant recognized as totally inadequate and inefficient. Leaders in the dif ferent churches began to see the seriousness of the educational need; they began to seek for religious educational leadership. They found it through the work of the Religious Educa tion. Association. (See RELIGIOUS Enucte(tox ASSOCIATION). Before long there developed leaders who began to interpret the work of re• ligion in educational terms.
The development of religious education in the churches has been marked by : (1) The edu cational reorganization of schemes of instruc tion. The Sunday school has become, in many instances, a real school. Courses of study are now provided, in a variety of forms, for as many as 20 different grades, from the youngest to the adults in a school. The material in cludes religious history, teachings and ideals both in the Bible and outside, ancient and modern problems of present-day living and social organization. At least 250 textbooks are available, nearly all having been prepared since 1903. This elaboration of curricula has taken place in practically every Church communion, including the Roman Catholic, the Hebrew and the Mormon. It brought about the complete reorganization of the International Sunday School Lesson Committee which formerly pre pared one single lesson for all scholars in all Protestant schools; a new committee prepares schemes of graded lessons, a different lesson for each year of the pupils life. (Consult Cope, H. F., 'The Modern Sunday School and its Present Day Task; also Athearn, W. S., 'The Church School' ). (2) The provision of suit able facilities for the work of instruction in religion. A very large number of churches now provide special buildings for their general educational work There have classrooms with regular equipment, often gymnasiums, and fa cilities for play, recreational and social activi ties. (Consult Evans, H. F., 'The Sunday
School Building and Its Equipment' ; also Cope, H. F., The School in The Modern Church'). (3) The development of professional leaders in religious education, especially for the organiza tion and direction of work with the young. Leadership is passing from the amateur to the trained expert. Hundreds of churches are em ploying persons who have been trained in special courses in psychology, pedagogy and educational method as superintendents of church educational work, including Sunday schools and as teachers. The Religious Education As sociation established a professional standard and lists nearly 200 persons as (Directors of Religious Education in Churches" These all have had several years of graduate study of a technical character. A special organization of directors exists. (Consult Religious Education, April 1914, p. 186; Oct. 1915, p. 444). (4 The Church communions have provided s ized leadership in religious education by organ izing what are known as commissions on re ligious education. Among the more active and important commissions are those of the follow ing churches: Episcopal, Secretary Win. E. Gardner, New York; Baptist, Secretary Prof. E DeWitt Burton, Chicago; Congregational, Secretary Rev. F. M. Sheldon, Boston; Presby terian in Canada, Secretary Rev. J. C. Robert son, Toronto; Disciples, Secretary R. M. Hop kins, Cincinnati; Methodist, Secretary Dr. Edgar Blake, Chicago. The commissions out line advanced plans of religious education in churches, communities and families. The official denominational organizations are also federated in what is known as the Sunday School Council of Evangelical De nominations for the common supervision of the work of this group of churches in this field. This body has effected a common organization with the International Sunday School Associa tion for the promotion and supervision of work in this field. The Federal Council of Churches also has a commission on religious education. (5) The special of ministers of churches for relipous educational work. In 1903 the Hartford School of Religious Pd was organized. In 1906 a chair of Sunday school pedagogy was established in the Southern rn Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1912 50 theological seminaries made provision for one or more courses training ministers for educa tional work in the churches, 10 of the seminaries having chairs in religious education. In 1919 all the larger seminaries provided such courses and many colleges were offering work in re ligious education both as preparatory to theo logical seminary courses and for layman.