– 1957 –
Question: Will the Church building committee assist wards in equipping their rooms with chalkboards?
Answer: In The Messenger, issued by the Presiding Bishop’s Office for January, 1957, it was suggested that each ward should have available a chalkboard in each classroom. If your ward desires financial help for this project, it should write to the Church building committee and request Form CBC-23. The Deseret Book Company, 44 Est South Temple, Salt Lake city, Utah, has all kinds of chalkboards and will supply a price list on request.
Question: How can we prevent a boy or girl reading a statement written by an adult for a 2-1/2 minute talk?
Answer: The development of a 2-1/2 minute talk should center around the teacher and the class discussion. At least two weeks advance notice is necessary to the member assigned. The talk often may be given as an assignment in a lesson or a review of a previous week’s lesson.
Question: Does the general board recommend appointment of a special 2-1/2 minute talk director in the ward Sunday School?
Answer: Because the 2-1/2 minute talk should be closely tied to the lesson, the responsibility for its development should rest with the class teacher. For this reason the appointment of a special 2-1/2 minute talk director for the Sunday School is not recommended.
Question: Should the sacrament service precede or follow the hymn practice?
Answer: The sacrament service is the last order of exercises in the worship service before the separation to departments. This is recommended so as to give the most reverential attitude possible immediately prior and as a carry-over to the class period.
– 1958 –
Question: If teachers find errors in the manuals which are contradicted by the Standard Works, should they be corrected when presenting the lesson?
Answer: Most certainly. When error creep into manuals, it should be immediately called to the attention of the general board so the error will not be perpetuated on reprinting. On questions of doctrine, errors can immediately be corrected by consulting your bishop.
Question: When was the sacrament first administered in the Sunday School?
Answer: It was not until 28 years after Richard Ballantyne had held his first Sunday School in the West that the sacrament became a regular part of the Sunday School program. In 1877 the First Presidency of the Church directed that the sacrament service be conducted in Sunday School each Sunday morning. From that time, the sacrament became an integral part of the Sunday School worship service.
Question: Can a woman be a member of the Sunday School superintendency?
Answer: The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right of presidency; it has authority over all the offices in the Church. When there is no one in the ward or branch holding the Melchizedek Priesthood who can serve in the Sunday School superintendency, then and only then should a woman be called to assist.
Question: Should all verses of the sacrament song be sung, disregarding the time required for preparation of the sacrament?
Answer: The sacrament song is, in effect, a prayer. It carries a message appropriate to the service; therefore the message of the song should be completed. when the thought contained in a verse is complete, the singing may end with a verse.
Question: Are announcements permitted I prayer meetings?
Answer: Yes. If announcements are judicious and do not detract from the spirit of prayer meeting, the first five-minute period before the prayer thought and the prayer may be used to keep teachers currently advised of business matters of the Sunday School. This would be in wards where faculty meeting is combined with monthly stake preparation meeting.
Question: Is it advisable to allow a teacher to choose his own course of study?
Answer: No. The teacher would be unable to receive any help from the stake board; there would be no class to attend in stake preparation meeting and could result in members of the class being subjected to the same subject for two successive years.
Question: Is part singing or the learning of parts during the Sunday school worship service recommended.
Answer: Part singing that comes naturally should be encouraged, but using the practice time to drill individual parts should be avoided.
Question: Should Junior and Senior Sunday School be held on the day of general conference?
Answer: Yes. Those persons attending general conference should be excused to do so. If desired, television sets may be brought into the Sunday School so the older pupils may listen to conference, provided these sets do not interrupt other classes or the use of the meetinghouse by another ward. No particular ward procedure has been suggested when the conference session is broadcast in an area only by radio. it is recommended that the ward superintendent consult with the bishop concerning the propriety of administering the sacrament.
Question: Who should first call the Sunday School to order and welcome those present?
Answer: The bishopric is in charge of all organizations in the ward. It delegates such of its responsibilities as it desires to the Sunday School superintendent. Most bishops would choose strong superintendents and delegate to them the opening of the Sunday School and welcoming those present. In the ideal Sunday School, however, there is no need for any welcome or announcements. The program is arranged and published before hand and proceeds accordingly. In the absence of any assignment of responsibility when announcements are made, the bishop greets te congregation, makes is brief announcements, and sits down, and the superintendent nods tp the organist and chorister and the music begins.
Question: Should a nonmember of the Church be a Sunday School teacher?
Answer: No. President Joseph Fielding Smiths aid: “There are two vital things in this training of children in the Church. First, to see that nothing but the fundamental and established doctrines are incorporated in the lessons; second, that only those who are filled with the spirit of the Lord and who have a testimony of the truth are called to teach the classes.”
Question: What will we do with the people when the enlistment program doubles our attendance?
Answer: Every Sunday School in the Church can be divided into an A and B Sunday School (in addition to Junior Sunday School, when already held). Instead of one, there will be two Sunday Schools in the ward. If there are two wards in one chapel, there will be four Sunday schools; there are three wards in one chapel, there will be six Sunday Schools. Under what is called “Double Schedule-Double Use,” all of these schools may meet the same day without conflict and provide two times the capacity.
Question: One of the wards in our stake has been interested in writing Junior Sunday School materials and taking pictures which might be used in the worship service or as lesson material for the class period. Should they be encouraged in developing these plans?
Answer: The Deseret Sunday School Union general board follows a carefully outlined plan for complete study of the Gospel during the Junior and Senior Sunday School program. Courses are outlined in the framework of this plan and checked by a Church reading committee for accuracy. Locally developed materials would not have the advantage of this type of planning and could tend to replace the outlined program.
There is need for local Junior Sunday School workers to adapt the manual lessons to a given class situation and teaching plan. This would seem the area and challenge for ward and stake creativity.
– 1959 –
Question: What situations make a less than 90-minute Sunday School session permissible?
Answer: On fast day, when the fast meeting immediately follows it sown Sunday School, if a full 90 minutes is not feasible, the Sunday School time may be shortened for not more than 15 minutes. The period should only be shortened where either more than two wards occupy a single meetinghouse or extensive travel of ward members is entailed.
Yeah, they didn’t answer the question at all.
HokieKate — as this was right about the time I started giving talks in Junior Sunday School, I can add to their answer. They did not want the children standing up and simply reading something someone else had written — such as a story from a church magazine or a small chapter out of a children’s bible story book. They wanted it to be a talk written by the children, assisted by their parents and teachers. Usually a specific class was assigned to give the talks on all four or five sundays in the month, and the teacher coordinated the talks and worked with the parents to ensure it was happening. We would often stay a few moments after class to practice our talk in front of our teacher and parents, who would then offer praise and suggestions. This practice used to turn out good speakers as they grew into teens and then adults.
Bruce,
It’s been 60 years. I’m not interested today in their intentions (which I can surmise as well as you can). Instead I am interested in their actual answers. They did not answer the question. They did not say the things that you said.
In other posts I have asked for input on others’ experiences to better understand the history. I understand children’s talks. I have given them, and I have worked with my children to balance the development of a talk in their own words versus my adult perspective on what they should say. I’ve seen kids and teens read talks written by their parents. Here, I was simply commenting on the response as written.
I really like this question: Question: Should Junior and Senior Sunday School be held on the day of general conference?
I remember my sisters and I attending Junior Sunday School during Stake and General conferences. Even my boys went to class. But Senior SS don’t remember that. When kids started attending sessions with their families, the whole atmosphere changed. it is a little bit more busy and the sound level is very bad in back.
With the Sacrament being done both in the morning and afternoon, we got a lot more chances to reflect about your lives and maybe we were a little more committed to the cause.
I find Bruce’s answer to be very interesting and helpful. There’s no need to be rude in response.
The answer about women in the Sunday School superintendency is weird. Sure, the Melchizedek Priesthood is the relevant authority to do anything in the Church, but if women serve in presidencies in Primary or Relief Society — was Sunday School more a part of “the Church” than those other organizations at the time? Was it subject to “Priesthood Correlation” before those other organizations?
Time for a rest hymn — what Sunday School school should we sing to put us in a good mood?
JRL — I didn’t take HokieKate’s reply the way you might have; all is well. It sounded a bit strong at first, but when I reread it I was fine. Thank you, though. It’s very hard to “hear” the tone in which someone is speaking on the internet, so I always try to fault towards the idea that I need to read things a few times before guessing that what they wrote was meant in a courteous tone. And I agree with HokieKate: they didn’t answer the question.
Adris — It’s not specifically a Sunday School song, but we can always sing “Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words.” But I draw a line at “Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” — my chiropractor has put that on the list of songs I’m no longer allowed to perform unless he’s there to put me all back in place. 🙂
Until I read this, I had forgotten that the schedule was so different on fast Sundays. Sunday School was shorter and Fast Meeting was in the morning. I remember thinking it was so weird to have fast meeting be just like sacrament meeting except with testimonies instead of talks.
I don’t think I’ve seen that 1877 FP directive before. Something to try and hunt down!
So, Jr Sunday School was today’s Primary, Primary was a weekday thing kind of like Seminary for elementary school kids, Sr Sunday School was for teens and tweens? Were there adult classes as part of Sunday School?
Primary was more of a play and recreation and learn-good-behavior program than like Seminary or Sunday School. There were songs and prayers and some teaching of scripture beginning about mid-century, but crafts and games and parties were also a major feature. Primary really survives now in name only, since what happens in today’s Primary is much more like Junior Sunday School was.
Junior Sunday School went from nursery age up to age 8. Older than that, the classes were part of Senior Sunday School. And yes, there were classes for adults (called Gospel Doctrine for much of the 20th century) as well as for tweens and teens. Senior Sunday School included a parents’ class, a missionary prep class, a genealogy class, and other types of classes — not just occasionally the way such classes might be a part of your ward’s Sunday School now, but year-round. Of course there were some variations through the century, but this is the general pattern.