i I! 'ii:;ilil{ii|i;iii.' iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii I'^nt " ' Xntcrcst Students of North Hiticrica study as its pivotal department — the depart- ment on which depends the highest efficiency of all of its other activities. Fifteen years ago when the Movement began to devote spe- cial attention to this department there were less than two thousand young men in voluntary Bible classes in all the colleges of North America. Last year ( 1901-2) the number had increased to over fifteen thousand. In twenty undenominational universities in which several years ago there were no Bible classes, there are now in each from fifty to three hundred men engaged in such associated Bible study. In the Christian colleges also there has been a constant increase. Cjppeof xhe Association has stood for the devo- Bible Stud;; tional and scholarly study of the Bible. It has furnished a thorough, constructive, satisfying mode of studying the great documents of the Christian religion. It has encouraged students to employ the best historical, literary, and sci- entific methods and to carry forward their studies in an unprejudiced, fearless, reverent spirit. As a Movement the Young Men's Christian Association is large enough to in- clude men of widely differing points of view on questions of Biblical study. Its main con- cern has been to help young men to acquire 26 Hcbi«witiciit8 of the Movement correct methods and to form a right habit of Bible study and to keep before them the most important objects of such study — the develop- ment of symmetrical character and vital, intel- ligent faith and the promoting of Christ-like service. To accomplish these purposes sys- tematic and progressive courses of Bible stu- dies have been prepared by the Movement. Under its leadership cycles of Bible study have been provided covering the entire college course. In addition to these, courses designed for training Christian workers, for preparatory students, for other classes of students, or to serve other special purposes have been elab- orated or are now in preparation. By general consent these courses occupy a leading place among Bible study text-books. A distinctive feature of many of these courses has been their arrangement with reference to the forma- tion of the habit of daily study. The Association has also grappled success- S'*'* cusses fully with the problem of the organization and conduct of Bible classes. It has evolved a great variety of effective methods for enlisting men in associated Bible study. It has greatly im- proved the leadership of the classes. While the cooperation of hundreds of college pro- fessors has been secured in this work, special 27 Students of North Hmerica stress has been placed on utilizing and de- veloping student leaders. To this end a sys- tem of normal classes for training student leaders has been established at the student summer conferences, as a result of which nearly one thousand young men each year re- ceive special preparation for the work of lead- ing Bible classes. Bfbu Study The Movement has a Bible study secretary Setrrtary ■^ at its headquarters in New York who, in con- nection with his varied work of supervising the development of the Bible study depart- ment, carries on an extensive correspondence with all Bible class teachers who desire his assistance. The work of this Bible study specialist in studying the problems of Bible study in institutions of higher learning, in su- perintending the preparation of courses, in enlisting the cooperation of professors and others who are best able to train leaders of classes, in organizing and unifying the Bible study activities of the entire Movement, is of far-reaching importance. The Bible study work of the Associations has been one of the principal, if not the chief cause, leading to the introduction of biblical studies in the curri- culum of a number of the colleges, and has given the initial impulse to not a few men 28 Hcbicwmcnts of the Movement who to-day as professors in colleges and the- ological seminaries or as clergymen are de- voting themselves so largely to the advance- ment of biblical research and teaching. The Associations are training schools. The cra<'"*««' bury said that nothing inspired him with more hope than the recent uprising of university students for the evangelization of the world. From the very beginning of their intercol- legiate organization the Associations have urged the claims of the unenlightened nations upon the students who constituted the most en- lightened class in the Christian countries. As far back as twenty years ago the missionary department was the most highly developed in the Association. When the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions came into be- ing in 1886 it gave a tremendous impetus to this part of the work. Although the Volunteer Movement at the beginning was independent, when it assumed an organized form in 1888 it was found desirable to relate it organically to the Student Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation Movement so that, so far as young men are concerned, the Volunteer Movement and 39 Students of IVortb Hmcrtca Results of HctiTit}" its activities constitute the most prominent and important factor in the foreign missionary de- partment of the work of the Associations. The advantages of this arrangement are mu- tual and obvious. The missionary movement, kept within the Associations, has done a great deal to broaden and to vitalize them and to call out their best energies. On the other hand much of the good accomplished by the Volun- teer Movement would have been impossible apart from the Associations. It should not be forgotten that the Associations supplied the conditions without which there would have been no Volunteer Movement. Moreover they furnished it a common ground from which its appeal could reach all students. They placed at its disposal an organization and forces which greatly facilitate the accomplishment of its pur- poses. What have been some of the results of the foreign missionary activities of the Association and Volunteer Movement thus closely re- lated? For half a generation Christian stu- dents have been instructed more fully than in any previous period concerning the world-wide nature of the Kingdom of God, — its progress, condition, needs, opportunities, problems, re- sources, and claims. Regular missionary meet- 40 Hchtevcmcnta of the JMowmcnt ings have been held in nearly all institutions. An extensive missionary literature has been prepared with special reference to students, and has been widely circulated. Collections of missionary books have been placed in hun- dreds of institutions. For years students have been the largest purchasers of missionary books. The colleges have led in the scientific study of Christian missions. Under the leader- ship of the Volunteer Movement with its edu- cational secretary many progressive courses of mission study have been prepared and intro- duced. When this feature of the work was undertaken about ten years ago there were not more than a score of classes for the thorough study of missions in all the colleges and theo- logical seminaries of North America; during the past year (1901) there have been over three hundred classes with an enrollment of nearly five thousand students. Over half the members of these classes were not volunteers for foreign missions. This means much for the future leadership of the missionary forces at home. For many years the colleges and seminaries ^*^^^ have given annually from $30,000 to $40,000 to foreign missions. The principal benefit re- sulting from this financial cooperation has been 41 Students of )Sortb Hmcrica that of helping students to form the habit of systematic and proportionate giving. It also sends them out into the churches with the ob- ject lesson of their own colleges supporting missionaries which makes it more probable that later they will lead their churches to do like- wise. furmshes ^n important achievement of the Move- Volunteers fortheffeid ment has been that of leading the students of our day to regard the evangelization of the world as one of their chief responsibilities. Thousands of students have been induced to ofifer themselves as volunteers for foreign mis- sions. Within the past sixteen years fully two thousand, of whom two-thirds were men, have been sent out to the mission fields by the regu- lar missionary societies of the Church. Nearly one hundred per cent, more volunteers have sailed during the last eight years than during the preceding eight years. The work of the Movement has also enabled the mission boards to raise their standard of qualifications partly as a result of increasing the number of candi- dates and partly as a result of the valuable pre- paration afforded by the Associations. A re- cruiting agency has thus been afforded the Church the like of which she had never known. In addition to raising up thousands of capable 42 Hcbicvcmcnte of the Movement candidates for foreign service the Associations are placing on tens of thousands of Christian students who are to work at home as pastors and as laymen an equal burden of responsi- bility to back up and promote the foreign mis- sionary enterprise by their advocacy, by their gifts, and by their prayers. These men who have gone out with enthusiasm and intelligent conviction are already making themselves felt throughout the home churches. They are lead- ing in developing the missionary life and work among the millions of members of the young people's movements of the Church. One of the principal contributions of the Movement to the Church has been the em- phasis of its watchword, "The evangelization of the world in this generation." This has exerted a great unifying influence among the volunteers and other Christian students. It has arrested the attention and stimulated the thought of a multitude of Christians on the subject of world-wide missions. It has pre- sented a powerful appeal to some men to be- come missionaries and to others to make their lives tell in Christian lands for the world's evangelization. It has placed a much needed emphasis on the urgency or immediacy of our missionary obligation. The quadrennial con- 43 Che {Oatchword Students of JVortb Htnmca ventions of the Volunteer Movement are recog- nized as the largest, most representative, and most powerful missionary gatherings held in the world and have deeply stirred all branches of the Church. H airifying ^ most significant result of the Association Influence ° Movement among students has been the unify- ing influence which it has exerted. Un- doubtedly it has tended to draw together the students in each college who otherwise would be divided along the various lines of cleavage which exist to a greater or less degree in every institution. Reference has already been made to the value of this in promoting a more demo- cratic spirit among students. It also makes possible the bringing to bear of a stronger in- fluence on the moral problems of the college. The Association has unified the religious inter- ests in each institution and thus presented a common front to the forces of evil. The Move- ment has done more to develop the intercol- legiate consciousness and the intercollegiate spirit and to bring the colleges together in help- ful relations than any other agency. It has bound together the student Christian organiza- tions of all North America and has related them closely to similar societies of students all over the world. Gladstone, in his lecture on 44 Hcbtevemetits of the Movement "The Work of Universities," speaks thus of the influence of the universities of the Middle Ages : "They estabhshed, so to speak, a tele- graph for the mind ; and all the elements of in- tellectual culture, scattered throughout Europe, wrere brought by them into near communion. They established a brotherhood of the under- standing." So this Movement has established a telegraph in things spiritual, and the different ideas and methods wrought out in the ex- perience of groups of Christian students in each country have been made known to the Christian societies of students in all other lands. This interchange of ideas and enlarged knowledge has increased the working efficiency of every Association, as well as enriched its sympathies and augmented its missionary spirit. The world-wide student movement has re- «toru-«Hd« vealed to the Christian students of all nations, races, and climes with greater fullness and at- tractiveness than ever their oneness in Jesus Christ. It has emphasized that high over all the peculiarities and differences that would di- vide us stands our common faith, and, above all, our common Lord. The Association Move- • ment, as no other agency, is uniting in purpose, in spirit, and in practical effort the various 45 Students of North Hmcrica branches of the Church of Christ. In its ranks in the colleges and theological seminaries are the leaders, both clerical and lay, of the Church of to-morrow. They are working to- gether in harmony and sympathy and with power on the basis of agreement in the essen- tials of Christianity. So they will continue to do as they leave college walls. This already presents the most telling object lesson in Chris- tian unity that the world affords. Never after the years of Christian fellowship and asso- ciated effort within the colleges will these men cease to demonstrate to the world that "there is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." 46 Ill POSSIBILITIES OF THE MOVEMENT There is room for a large expansion of the a«»oei!upfed Association Movement in the field of the unor- ganized institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada. Among the insti- tutions which do not yet have Associations are 132 colleges and universities. A large section of these are German and Scandinavian Luth- eran colleges of which several are non-English- speaking. In view of the influential relation which these educational centers sustain to the cosmopolitan life of America, persevering ef- forts should be made to affiliate them. There are still over 140 medical, dental, pharmaceuti- cal, and veterinary schools or colleges and about fifty law schools which have not been or- ganized. These professional schools are nearly all located in large cities. Professional stu- dents are the most neglected and the most se- verely tempted class of students on the North American continent. Moreover, they are to wield an immense influence for good or for evil in the various communities in which their professional career is spent. They are in the final stage of their student life. The probabili- 47 Students of North Hmertca ties are very great that they will never be brought into vital relation to Christ and trained for His service, unless it be during their stu- dent days. How important it is, therefore, that Associations be established in every one of these institutions. The advantages which have attended the affiliation of theological seminaries emphasize the desirability of identi- fying with the Movement the forty-five insti- tutions of this kind which do not yet have As- sociations. There are several technological schools which should be drawn into the Move- ment. The 174 normal schools still without Associations constitute a field of great promise and of critical importance. The possibilities of these institutions, which so largely furnish the teachers of North America, are indeed very great if wisely cultivated by the Movement, There are thus between 560 and 600 colleges and professional schools, having in them fully 60,000 students) into which the work of the Young Men's Christian Association has not been introduced. SeconcUry Although the Movement has for several aehools years given attention to preparatory and other secondary schools resulting in a fruitful work, not more than the fringe of this field has thus far been touched. There are in the United States 48 possibiltties of the Mowmcnt alone 1,897 private high schools with an enroll- ment of 47,1 18 boys. Of these 226 have fifty or more boys each and a total enrollment of 20,134. Moreover, there are also in the United States 6,005 public high schools with an en- rollment of 216,207 boys. If we combine these two kinds of secondary schools and also in- clude similar institutions in Canada we have a field embracing over 8,000 schools having in them fully 275,000 boys. The good already accomplished in the academies and high schools of North America, as well as the results which have attended the efforts put forth by the stu- dent movements of Great Britain, Australasia, and of various countries on the Continent of Europe, afford ground for the belief that the special prosecution of this work by our own Movement will exert an influence of immediate value and of far-reaching significance. The boys in the secondary schools are at the critical age when they are most susceptible both to good and to bad impressions. These schools are the keys to the colleges and universities, ■What can be more vital to the cause of Christ among students than wisely bringing to bear upon these hundreds of thousands of school- boys the influence of the Association Move- ment? 49 Students of JSorth Hmmca ^«**" Notwithstanding the opportunities and need Needed for expansion there is even greater need of a more thorough supervision of the Associations already existing. The force of international, state, provincial, and metropolitan secretaries is insufficient to give adequate attention to all the Associations. The growth of the super- visory agencies has not kept pace with the extension of the Movement and with the in- crease in the number of students in the fields already entered. The fact that the student population changes on an average once every three years, together with the fact that the offi- cers of the student Associations are as a rule changed each year, renders vigilant and con- stant supervision more necessary possibly than in case of any other religious organization. The enlargement of state, provincial, and metropolitan supervisory agencies, the estab- lishing of still closer relations between these agencies and the International Committee, the wider adoption and higher development of the plan of the local general secretaryship, the mul- tiplying and increasing the efficiency of con- ferences for the training of voluntary workers, are the chief factors in the solution of the problem. 50 possibiUttes of the Movement In the institutions in which Associations «h