The blackboard and object-lessons in the prayer-meeting

J.F. Cowan: The human mind is a house with several doors. Sometimes the ear door seems to be locked. There is a spirit of inattention to what the leader is saying, and to what others are saying. It may be the vitiated [corrupt] atmosphere; it may be something else. But in such straits there is another door, and if the leader has a key to it he can get in with his message. Indeed, even if he has entrance through the ear, he may make his message more effective by using eye-teaching as an auxiliary. It gives him two chances of making his message effective, where he would have but one chance if he used only the ear entrance.

The subject-matter of this chapter may appeal more strongly to leaders of young people's meetings than to leaders of the midweek prayer-meeting, though I have known ministers to use the blackboard quite effectively in conducting the church prayer-meeting for adults. For missionary and other special meetings, the blackboard will be found effective, whatever the age of the audience. Therefore let us consider what? and how?

1. How to have a blackboard. Some prayer-meeting rooms are provided with blackboards; many are not. In the latter case, a portable blackboard of slated canvas may be substituted. It has the advantage over a stationary blackboard that it may be rolled and carried under the arm. This admits of at least a part of the drawing being done at home, which is better for inexperienced users of crayon. When hung in the prayer-meeting room, it may be turned face to the wall, or covered with a sheet of paper until the leader is ready to have the blackboard work exposed; for to expose it to view from the beginning might sometimes prove distracting, and cause it to lose its effect.

A still cheaper substitute for a blackboard is a large sheet of white paper, such as may be had at any printing-office for a few cents. In the absence of this, ordinary wrapping-paper can be made to answer.

White chalk is best for use by artificial light, on a blackboard, and black crayon on a white surface or wrapping paper. The colored crayons show up poorly under lamplight. This may be said of the relative efficiency of the blackboard and the "whiteboard," a white line on a black surface can be seen more plainly than a black mark on a white surface. In case the drawing used is a map, or a chart, or anything that is likely to be used again, it is better to make it on cheap, starched muslin.

2. Who dare undertake blackboard work? It is not necessary that one be a finished artist, in the sense of being able to turn out artistic work. One need not be a Frank Beard, or a professional "chalk-talker" to print a few big, bold letters; and yet such a simple use of the blackboard as this may sometimes make a prayer-meeting topic twice as plain and interesting as it would be without the blackboard. The leader who lacks confidence in his ability even to print "big, bold letters," may do it by proxy - he may find some one who can do just this one thing to the glory of God and the edification of the church, but who cannot be induced to take any other part in the meeting.

3. What shall be put on the blackboard?

(1) The topic and such divisions of it as will suggest lines of prayer and remarks. For instance, suppose the topic is "Growing in Grace." Would not such an outline as the one below be suggestive

Why do I need to...
What means will help me to...
How plant life teaches me to...
What scripture passages encourage me to...
grow in grace?

(2) Questions on the topic may be put on the blackboard. For instance, on the topic, "Men of the Bible who Failed," the following questions might stimulate prayer and discussion:

What was the secret of Cain's failure and how may I profit by it?

What weakness in Samson made him fail, and what is its modern significance?

How may we avoid good Eli's one bad trait?

What flaw in Saul's character characterizes modern society?

We must not make the mistake of thinking that these questions are to be asked and answered in the meeting. The prayer-meeting is no Bible class. They are placed before the eye simply for their suggestiveness. The leader may refer to them, or not, as he deems best.

(3) Teachings on the topic, or deductions from it, may be set forth on the blackboard. These are the salient points which the leader wishes to "stick." Take, for example, such a topic as "The Temperance Lessons of Benhadad's Defeat" (1 Kings 20). How much more practically the theme may be brought to bear upon modern temperance problems if such a set of conclusions as the following is flashed upon the audience just at the right time!

Drink made Benhadad unfit to lead; it makes unfit leaders to-day.

Drunkenness is a social evil - are we solving it as a social problem?

Drink unfitted the rank and file for service; it makes unprofitable employees to-day.

The young men of Israel saved the day; are we educating our young men to save society?

(4) Statistics and figures of any kind are more valuable if presented to the eye. Statistics of population, in connection with missionary topics, can best be presented by a large square, representing the total population of the country, divided into small squares, representing each a million, or whatever fraction of the whole is desirable. The squares representing the heathen part of the population may be colored one shade, and those representing Christianity may be colored another color.

(5) The value of symbolical designs - hearts, crowns, anchors, etc., is problematical; with adults it is admittedly zero. But if one wishes to put designs of some artistic pretensions upon the blackboard, a very sure way to attain symmetry is to draw them from a pattern. For instance, stiff paper may be folded double and cut to represent one half a heart, an anchor, a shield, etc. When the paper is unfolded it will give a complete figure, both halves of which will be exactly alike. The pattern may be traced upon the blackboard in lines invisible to the audience, and easily reproduced in heavier lines at the proper moment. This precaution prevents that askewness of figure which sometimes makes the drawing of amateur draughtsmen laughable.

To draw a perfect circle on the blackboard, all one needs is a bit of cord with a loop. Place the crayon in the loop; hold the other end of the cord with thumb and finger against the board; swing the crayon around with a taut cord, and you have half a circle. Change hands and complete it.

(6) Maps and charts might illuminate the prayer-meeting topics much oftener than they do. They are far more valuable than anagrams, acrostics, symbolical figures, and ornamental penmanship. People pray more fervently on a subject when they understand it more clearly. Every missionary prayer-meeting should have displayed before it a map of the country or field under consideration. In the young people's societies there are usually public-school pupils who have been taught map-drawing, and whom it will do good to use their skill in making an outline map. In most adult prayer-meetings there is a public-school teacher who could draw such a map. A very crude outline will suffice; the fact that some one in the community has made it will give it value exceeding that of the most expensive map that could be bought. Dr. Josiah Strong's book, "Religious Problems and Progress," has a number of charts valuable for use in missionary prayer-meetings.

Every temperance prayer-meeting will be the more effective for presenting, through a chart, some temperance facts to the eye. A great variety of temperance drawings may be used. The W.C.T.U. Publishing Department, the Prohibition Press, Chicago, possibly other temperance societies, have in stock charts showing the relative expenditures for bread, schools, missions, tobacco, drink. In states having a county local-option law, a map of the state will be effective, having the license counties colored black and the no-license counties white. Temperance conditions in the wards of a city may be portrayed in the same way.

(7) Under "Miscellaneous ways of using the blackboard" the following might be noted

(a) For posting the missionary prayer cycle in the young people's prayer-meeting.

(b) For making important announcements for Sunday or the next prayer-meeting.

(c) To place before the eye the Bible references on the topic, that are to be found and read in the meeting.

(d) To report, at the close, how many were present and took part, for comparison or encouragement.

(e) To announce the next week's topic.

If the user of the blackboard will remember that alliteration [repetition of elements] is not always elucidation, and that the blackboard is to be an accessory of worship, and not a distracting element, there is likely to be very little abuse by over-elaborated or fantastic designs. On the other hand, nothing that is not susceptible of abuse is susceptible of use. To make the blackboard a success will require a little effort - yes; but that is just what counts most in us - the willingness to undertake a thing though it looks hard. I have heard a great many pleased comments from those who have attended prayer-meetings in which some simple effort had been made to rivet the truth by the help of the blackboard. I am convinced that God never meant us to leave our eyes at home when we go to the prayer-meeting, and that if we take them along, we might as well use their, as to use our ears and our tongues.

Roman Foot Lamp
Roman foot lamp Sandalled Foot Oil Lamp, inv. s. 86. Roman. 2nd AD
Terracotta. H. 8 cm. L. 12 cm. (including handle)
This delicate mould-made lamp is fashioned in the shape of a right foot with the large toe serving as the dispenser for the wick. The lamp is decorated in relief with various straps connecting to a rather thick heel. The lamp was covered with an orange and brown slip. Bumps on the bottom of the heel imitate hobnails. The representation of a sandal and foot as a lamp both delights the viewer and user of the lamp, exemplifying the versatility of the Roman lamp craftsmen.

(8) What is said under the head of object-lessons in the prayer-meetings may be thought more applicable to young people's or junior prayer-meetings, but at a prayer-meeting of John Wanamaker's Brotherhood, fourteen hundred spools of thread were distributed at the door, just to emphasize and clinch a certain truth. At a certain prayer-meeting held in the tenement-house district of a city, a loaf of bread was given to every comer, the theme being, "Jesus, the Bread of Life." I recall leading a meeting for the young people of Howard B. Grose, now the editorial secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society, New York. The theme was "The Bible, a Light," and among other things there was shown an oriental foot-lamp which the pastor had picked up in his travels, and which illustrated the verse in the reference, "Thy word is a lamp to my feet," etc.

I should not hesitate to introduce the Underwood or White stereographs of Palestine into a prayer-meeting whenever they would illustrate the topic and help to a clearer and more reverential appreciation of the message.

On patriotic occasions, the stars and stripes draping the Bible stand is an object-lesson. We all claim to believe that God moves in the affairs of our nation, yet how few churches, comparatively, own an American flag!

The Bible itself may be used as an object-lesson. In a service the topic for which was, "How We Got Our English Bible," a miniature facsimile of the Book of the Law (a Hebrew roll) was shown; the chart in a book with the above title was reproduced on the blackboard, and from the teacher's Bibles in the hands of the audience, facsimiles of the Greek, the Latin, and Anglo-Saxon versions, and the oldest English translations were inspected, as the leader explained the successive steps by which our Bible had come to us as it is today. A great many went away from that prayer-meeting exclaiming, "Why, how plain it all is! I never knew that was the way our Bible came to us!"

By John F. Cowan, New York, 1906

Go to next chapter

Go to previous chapter

Go to Table of Contents

New Life in the Old Prayer Meeting

By John F. Cowan, New York, 1906

Go to Literature Index Page

This URL is www.abcog.org/cowan12.htm