https://www.fepl.ca/localhistory/files/original/edff40a6b70022f56f961c840afdd725.pdf 5be516ecba9520065f9bab35367307ad PDF Text Text !! -~"m NOTES AND QUERIES IN BRETHREN IN CHRIST HISTORY : April-June, 1962 Number 2 ~ ~>>~ The Sunday School Movement in the Brethren.in Christ Church V in ·the Nineteenth Century }· ·.. . o. C.arlton Wittlinger I ;< :¥J;.:[i Goneici.erable obscurity surrounds the questions as .to where and when Sundat <.;~~n6ol 14()rk began in the Church. We have no information for tfe period prior ~o "t~~.,~?$0 but a fairly safe inference would be that there wa no Sunday Schodl •s. · ~~A.~ity during that ti?r.e. One writer states that Bertie Dist ict in Ontario qoop.e~,.rt~d in a Sunday School which began in the Humberstone Sch olhouse in 1863 ..!l Anotj1:E)'1.. auth~r identifies Asa Bearss as the organizer and first superintendent jof th~t..school. I at hand indicates that the above assertions which rest only upon oral on cannot easily be reconciled with each other. Asa Bearss was born in 1840 onverted when about twenty"'"seven years of age. 11 3 •Xhis would place his conn approximately in 1867, or about four years after the reported opening of the stone Sunday School. If, .therefore, Bearss started that School, he either did $~·~15,f:ore he professed experiential conversion and united with the Church, or else '5..t•<;f:l:egan later than 1863. The present writer seriously questions whether the Bertie bX'e~))~en would have joined in such a new venture as Sunqay School work with an un. ·. · ·· ted man who did not hold membership in their group. Thus, the statement that .:rtie District co-operated in a School begun in 1863 would seem to require at the qualification that such co-operation began some yea:i-s after its beginning. ~. ~\ »earss• connection with the founding of a Sunday School in the Humberstone $Q~~il.l~611se is so finnly fixed in the traditions of his family that such connoetioll credible even in t~e absence of more satisfactory documentary proof. is inclined to look with more sk0pticism upon :a specific dat.e which is only by oral tradition, the year 1863 is probably the best approximation we to achieve for the Asa Bearss venture into Sunday School work. As pointed ett:~~~u:x>ve, such a venture in that year would have preceded by several years his ntial conversion and subsequent affiliation with the·· Church. This would not prising, for persons of many diff erent-·religious_ viewpoints and_ emphase-s- took .'f:erest in the Sunday Schooi- movement. :t~1e may surmise that when Asa Bearss professed experiential conv.e·rsi~n about l3the Bertie brethren received both him and his Sunday School into fellowship. ~).f,uation whicli\ would have resulted under those circumstances could account Bertie tradition of co-operation in a Sunday School startea in the Humb0r~choolhouse in 1863.. We do know that the Bertie people must have held Bearss esteem from the beginning of his affiliation with them, for they ordained t:he ministry only three years later when he was only approximately thirty o~ age 5 This esteem for the man might well explain why the conservative groui:> took a positive view of Sunday School work at a time when such work ost unknown within the Church. Dr. A. w. Clirnenhaga 1 s data a..ssembled from nnaires completed several decades ago by presumably knowledgeable individuals ous parts of the Brotherhood reveal no claims for Sunday School work ante1880. except in Bertie District and, possibly, at Sippo, Ohio. His Bertie nts mentioned tbe Humberstone School of 1863 and also stated that Sunday ... e ,,,..,, '>>•WJ·~- ••~·-<•.. •... ...,.,.. ,~ ..... �···--~ .... ..._- ... - .l .. 9 ... IP: 7)" tl was held in tho Bortie meeting houso from the time of its erection in 188.5. 7 sions and generalizations.based only upon the oral traditions of localities coursq, be regarded witb much caution. Fortunately, however, we have docui·:proof that Bertie District had a Sunday School in 1887, and the rgport of tivities suggests that it :was not a recent innovation at that time. .~t more documcntation would certainly be welcomed, the present writer~s rtfisthnt the claims of Eertie District to the earliost Sunday School within herhood rest upon more substantial considerations than can thus far be forward on behalf of any other locality. He has also previously expressed n%on that the account of Asa Bearss and tho•Humborstone Sunday School is 4.Y· credible, although the nature of the r9lationship of that School to Bertie ~et is by no means clear. Interestingly enough, the e.arliest documentation of Brethren in Christ Sunday activity does not relate to the long-established Bertie District where we tho first Sunday School began, but to a small mission point in Columbus, an interest in Sunday School work developed as early as 1876, for in that quGstion as to whether tho brethren at Columbus could have a Sunday School to tho floor of the General Council (Conference). Tho minutes Qf tho rocord tho following action: "That it is granted that tho Columbus Brethren a Sabbnth School to bo hold in their church provided thoy hold control of , as has boon said, this is tho o.n.rliost documentation of Sunday ;, a.cti vity within tho Brotherhood, it in no way proves that Sunday Schools had s.tartod earlier olsowhoro, say in Bortio District, Ontario. early Sunday School movement had to go forward against much opposition. ;£ this may have boon a psychological carry-over f;rom an oarli.:ir period whon lie ministrations of tho Church l~rgoly disregarded tho ovangclization and nurture of children and youth. O Various specific criticisms wore adhowover. Two such criticisms wore stated and then challenged by "A Friend 11 as follows: """""'--"""""- �- 15 - w. Cli.toonhaga, "History of thE:> Brethren in Christ Sunday Schools," V (April, May, June, 1953), p. 3. L. Wingor, "Asa Bearss, tho First Sunday S~hool suporintondent, II I 2. Bcnrss obituary. Ev~ngclical Visitor, XXXVIII (D3comber 21, 1925), obituary makes clonr that ho died in 1925 nnd not in 1921 as hasil • See Morris Sider, "History of tho Brethren in Christ (Tunker) , Canada," p. 28. Unpublished master's thesis, The Univ0rsity of [ Wlll•~~.~tt~n Ontario, 1955. grandson <Df Asa Bearss, told tho. writer that the account'. . '·1'!J,l"<l,.;,"'"v1.1.1•,.. •••i:. of the Humbcrstono Sunday School has boon commonly known and .aciaetJL@a.'within tho family as long ns ho cnn remember. :~Asa Bearss c;c,t~; ':'.~o obituary. Evnngolical Visitor, XX.XVIII (December 21, 1925), p. 9. prosont wri tor' s impression of Bortio consorvatism in tho 1860 1 s may be · ·~t(~Y:>infiuenced by an anecdote told to him by M. L. Dohnor. 1 When, i:i.bout the ·· ;);tidicl\tod, the latter's grandfather wont from the United States to Canada t~i;:itaticm among the churches, the Bertie brethren hesitated to admit him ~ :6,6munion bocnuse he c rune in a carriage with springs • Apparently carriage sp~lllgll!suggestod to them an affinity for the world. :.· /lA. vtV• (April, Climcnhaga, May, .vll'o:rWard, ·,,"-< "History of the Brethren in Christ Sunday Schools, 11 June, 1953), p. J. ,rge Detweiler, 11 Report of Sabbath School," Evangelical Visitor, I ' 1,, 1888) ' p. 75 • •:~;,·.";~Gri~in, Confession .2.f Faith fill9. Church Gove~nmont, Together filh fill Abstr::i.ct ·~. Irnpo:rtnnt Decisions, ~ .Q:z the Gonerhl Council .Q.f. the Brethren in Cornrnonl:;,;: Called River Brethren. 1871-1881 Inclusive (Wooster, Ooio, 1881), · 15. This action is not included in any of tho three subsequent coinpilaGeneral Council minutes in 1887, 1901, and 1904. ~ "I Arn So Glad, 11 Evnngclical Visitor, N (Feb;ruary 1, 1891), elical Visitor III (February 1, 1890), p. 45~ Os H. Hess, 11The Sunday School," Evangelicnl Visitor, XIX (March l.5, 1905), .utes £t. ~ General Conference ••• 91, the Brethren l:n, Christ ••• 1885. X.l. Broadside in Tho Archives of the Brethron in Christ Church. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Fort Erie Schools Subject The topic of the resource Fort Erie elementary and high schools Description An account of the resource Historical photos and documents of Fort Erie district elementary and high schools Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fort Erie Public Library Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived FEPL -LH -Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Forte Erie Public Library and Louis McDermott Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Notes & Queries on Brethren in Christ History Description An account of the resource Listed here is a document pertinent to the Sunday school movement in the Brethren in Christ Church during the 19th century. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Louis McDermott Collection schools