[32] 1. The Church Membership Roll Should Be Checked.

Certainly every church member should be in some department of the Sunday school. Every church member should be studying the Bible with the other church members in the Sunday school. There is little definite Bible study done outside of the Sunday school, not enough to take into consideration, so we might say that people who do not go to Sunday school do not study the Bible.

The first source from which we begin building the attendance of the Sunday school is the membership of the church-the members should be in the Sunday school. Let the superintendent and pastor go carefully over the church roll, compare it with the Sunday school roll, and make a list of all those who do not attend the Sunday school. This list will afford valuable information to the officers and teachers for building the school.

2. A Religious Census Should Be Taken.

A religious census should be taken at least annually in every community; in growing centers and communities, twice each year; and in mill and factory districts, with shifting, changing populations, a canvass should be made every three months. In taking a census, all homes should be visited. The purpose of the census is to get information to be used in building the Sunday school. At the same time, it is a good way and worth while to let the people know that the Sunday school is at work and anxious to help all.

If the pastor and the superintendent will make careful plans and lay the matter upon the hearts of the workers, the very fact that the homes of the people in the community have been entered by earnest, consecrated workers will prove a great blessing to the workers themselves as well as to the people who are visited.

[33] Either the pastor or the general superintendent should take charge and act as general director of the census, or some definite individual should be selected and enlisted for this work. The following steps should be taken to guarantee a successful house-to-house canvass.

(1) The Territory Should Be Definitely Defined.

The legitimate territory for which the church is responsible should be decided upon by the superintendent and pastor and any others they wish to consult. A specific definition of this territory will need to be indicated for the house-to-house canvass. In cities maps may be used and certain boundary streets or natural divisions can be found. In rural communities roads will serve.

(2) The Territory Should Be Prepared for Assignment.

The preparation of the territory for assignment will need careful clerical attention by some who are familiar with it. There should be the general division into some four or more districts, according to size, using natural or assigned dividing lines. If possible, have a good map of each district. Then each one of these districts should be subdivided into blocks or sections small enough to be canvassed by a worker in two hours' time. The number of these small divisions will, of course, determine how many census takers must be enlisted.

The illustration shows how these small divisions should be drawn off. Each should indicate how many houses are contained in it. Use a card, or secure an envelope for this purpose large enough to hold the census cards and draw the territory according to illustration on back of envelope. Follow the same general plan in towns and rural communities, using the natural dividing lines, roads, highways, etc., in preparing the territory. . . .

[34] (3) Workers Should Be Definitely Enlisted.

A capable individual should be selected and placed in charge of each of the larger districts as captain. His task would be to familiarize himself with his territory and at the proper time when his workers are assigned to him be ready quickly to assign the territory to them, get them out on the field and assist them in any other way possible. He should not be responsible for enlisting the workers.

Then comes the task of actually enlisting the necessary census takers. One fine way is to assign a quota to each department, and in the Young People and Adult ages to [35] each class. Then lead them to work toward the end of getting the quota actually signed on the dotted line at least one week before the census is to be taken.

Each age group up through the Juniors should be asked for a quota equalling the number of officers and teachers. The fifteen and sixteen year Intermediates make fine workers and of course all the young people and adults who can be enlisted.

The pastor will lay it upon the hearts of the people from the pulpit and the superintendent will do the same from the platform, but the task of securing the workers to do the canvassing must be done by personal solicitati6n, and urging will often be necessary. No effort should go unused and no slackening of energy should be allowed until sufficient census takers have been secured.

(4) Sufficient Materials Should Be Provided.

Many times the taking of a census is handicapped because of insufficient materials with which to work.

First, there should be a most liberal supply of census cards like the specimen shown. Add about ten per cent to the total population of the territory to be canvassed and have ready this number of cards. Every home is to [36] be entered and a card filled out for every individual, and a shortage of materials here will prove disastrous. For the best results, do not change the card. The simpler it is and the fewer questions it carries, the easier will be the work and the more nearly complete the information secured. Years of experience have produced the card pictured on the preceding page and proved it to be satisfactory.

Other materials will include a good supply of pencils, rubber bands, and the sheets carrying "Instructions to Census Takers," referred to in the following discussion.

(5) The Best Time Should be Selected and the Workers Instructed.

Any season of the year is suitable and any time a good time for this work. The best day in the week for the work in most cases is Sunday afternoon. It is the most suitable time as the people are at leisure and it is easier to get the required number of workers to take the census. Experience teaches that no more people are away from home on Sunday afternoon than at other times.

In this day of Sunday afternoon outings it is far better to arrange to serve a light lunch in the church at the close of the morning service and send the census takers out by one o'clock. This will increase the effectiveness of the census at least one-third. Otherwise, gather at the church as early in the afternoon as possible.

At the appointed hour gather the census takers together for a period of devotion and general instruction. Give each census taker a copy of "Instructions to Census Takers," which is illustrated here. These may be ordered, a copy for each census taker, from the Sunday School Board without charge.

Three things will need especial emphasis at this meeting: First, let it be thoroughly understood that the workers must go into every home where people live, talk [38] with the people no matter who they are and get information concerning everybody. Second, that a separate card should be made for every individual in the home. No one is to be omitted and no two are to be combined on one card. Third, that every blank on the card is to be filled. If any question is not answered the card will very probably have to be thrown away. Workers should not be allowed to take the census unless they attend this meeting for instructions.

[37]

"LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK ON THE FIELDS

Instructions to Census Takers

• Do not ask for special territory. Accept the territory assigned.

• Master the rules before stasting out. Know exactly where you are to go and what you are to do.
  • 1. Go into every home where people live, Make no exceptions.

  • 2. Use a card for EACH individual. Write only one name on a card.

  • 3. Get the information first band. Don't guess. Do the writing yourself. BE ACCURATE.

  • 4. Fill in every blank on EACH card or the information will be incomplete and useless. BE THOROUGH.

  • 5. Get the EXACT AGE of EACH individual. Do not turn any card in without indicating age.

  • 6. See tbat initials and names are correct. Write "Mrs." before names of married women, and "Miss" before names of all unmarried women and girls of all ages.

  • 7. Stick to your own territory. Don't miss anybody. Complete your task.

  • 8. When your territory is finished return the information immediately to the Baptist Church.
    Be Prayerful -- Be Patient -- Be Persistent -- Be Thorough

(6) The Territory Should Be Assigned.

This meeting for general instructions ought not to occupy more than fifteen minutes. The meeting should then break up into sections which should be presided over by the district captains who should quickly assign to Each worker the territory he is to canvass. Each captain should have a secretary to list the workers as they are assigned their territory and to see that each one is provided with a pencil and a liberal supply of census cards. Also each captain should have enough automobiles to send his workers out to their territory. Instruct them to bring all the cards back to the church as soon as their work is completed.

It is most helpful for the pastor at the Sunday evening preaching service to give a few minutes for verbal reports from the workers. Many short, helpful sermons will come out of their experiences.

3. The Information Should Be Prepared for Use.

The information as brought by the census takers and secured from the church roll is not by any means ready to be used, and little lasting good will come from the work done unless it is put in convenient form to be used.

(1) The Information Should Be Assorted.

It will be an easy matter to secure the help of at least a half dozen bright young women to meet at the church building on Monday morning following the census to assort [39] and grade the cards. The cards should be assorted first. All cards showing a preference for other denominations are thrown to themselves. All the other information would belong to the church taking the census. Included in this would be the membership of the church taking the census, all the members of their families, Baptists with membership elsewhere, persons expressing preference for Baptist churches and all those expressing no reference. All this information should be carefully checked against the church and Sunday school rolls so that a composite of the three sources of information will be available and so that duplications can be eliminated.

(2) The Information Should Be Graded.

The next step is to grade all the information gained from the church roll and the census. This should be done on the department and age group basis, as follows:

• Cradle Roll -- birth to 3.
• Beginners -- 4, 5.
• Primaries -- 6, 7, 8.
• Juniors -- 9, 10, 11, 12.
• Intermediates -- 13, 14, 15, 16.
• Young People -- 17 to 24.
• Adults -- 25 and above.

Above eight years of age all should be graded by sex as well as by age.

Where the possibilities for a Sunday school are large, the information will have to be graded closely. Often provision will have to be made for a class for each age in the Beginner and Primary departments, and a class for each age of boys and each age of girls in the Junior and Intermediate departments; and in many situations there will be need for more than one class to each age. In such schools there should, of course, be several classes [40] for Young People and several for Adults. The information would determine how many classes there ought to be in each department. The classes in the Beginner, Primary, Junior, and Intermediate departments should be kept small, not more than ten to each class, and even smaller.

(3) The Information Should Be Tabulated.

The next thing after grading the information is to tabulate it. It should be typewritten, if possible, and the cards should be destroyed. This is absolutely necessary if the best results are to be had from the census. The cards cannot be handled by the teachers, and the information should be so classified that each teacher may have his task clearly indicated and arranged.

Again let it be said, the cards cannot be used effectively; they should be copied after they are graded. It will be very simple to have this done, as practically all churches now have in their membership those who use typewriters and who will be glad to do the work gratis. If not, the same young ladies who graded the cards will be glad to copy them with pen and ink, or preferably with a pencil, using a carbon, thereby producing two copies. It is best, if the information is typewritten, to have at least five copies made, one each for the pastor, superintendent, department superintendents, teachers, and one to be filed for future reference. Some schools have the information printed in order that each member may be furnished with a copy. In this way it is easier to keep a permanent record of the possibilities for the school.