320 PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



have been crude and the aims narrow, three great ends. It has 

 introduced multitudes of the laity, both men and women, to their 

 lifelong careers of useful and often constructive service; it has de- 

 veloped an army, huge in dimensions, of loyal disciples of Jesus; it 

 has created and fostered a widespread interest in the study of the 

 Bible. The Sunday-school has apparently reached a turning point 

 in its development. It must in the future become the channel 

 through which the manifold interests of the Church in the religious 

 education of its whole membership shall find productive expression. 

 Not until it ministers to the education of old as well as young, and 

 to each in the way which his special need requires, will it fulfill its 

 mission. And to accomplish this end it must make larger use than 

 ever of the trained laity. 



I cannot pass in review every kind of religious organization that 

 depends upon the laity for its successful development. I would not 

 wholly ignore the sisterhoods of the Roman and the Episcopal 

 church, both such as minister to some form of need and those 

 which devote themselves to instruction, the orders of deaconesses, 

 and the movements for the redemption of special classes or races 

 or for the reformation of society in some particular respect. Their 

 name is legion, but they are at one in drawing upon the laity for 

 their workers. 



I have reviewed the foregoing lines of activity which call out the 

 energies of the laity, because the data set forth introduce a series of 

 significant assertions regarding the present status of trained leader- 

 ship among laymen in the work of religious education. It may 

 seem that I have called attention to much religious activity which 

 could not fairly be classed as educational. This would be true if 

 we used the term " educational " in a technical and limited sense. 

 We must not forget that religious education is a training of the whole 

 personality into religious responsiveness. It should strengthen the 

 will while stimulating the intellect. What Professor Coe calls " ex- 

 pressive activity " is a normal and important element in religious 

 development. A movement which gives itself solely to the promo- 

 tion of personal religious activity of a devotional sort may have 

 great educational value. If it has none, the fault will lie with those 

 who are its promoters. 



It is instructive to note, however, that almost without exception 

 a movement which begins as an organization for the promotion of the 

 religious sensibilities is sure, if successful, to develop a directly educa- 

 tional function. 



The Young Men's Christian Association in its early aggressive days 

 gave itself to rescue work almost as distinctively as the Salvation 

 Army does to-day, After entering upon its more specialized field 

 of young manhood, it was characterized by a policy of the anticipa- 



