Numidia Mennonite Bible School - Reflector Yearbook (Numidia, PA)

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Ii' I H A l ta. I lo .. ' a stu. .rod either people in Ed because 5' God's nel of is Wight IVBS, and F as Our, each the flings of Rhodes elf-but ke joy burns istian. Ihrist- ing in ps and ission we to 9 our arest Y OP' d by it be ar it l Our mis- evel' ffl? J, Q-FX JFQW, ,.--Q-4 ' - .lem ., u!'a', 1,-.g,.,g.:x., ,..v- - . n ,LW wg- V diff' ' it . fig, , . if 1 J ' ff lr' ,. ,Q- ,Sigma ANABABTISTS LEADERS AND TEACHINGS How about joining us at Numidia Men- onite Bible School in our study of our llorefathers? There are about 16 of us that d meet Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday an Friday at 2:40 in room 2, with Brother Edwin Gehman as our teacher. Our studies began with what the Catho- lic church believes and teaches. We then learned how a certain group couldn't go along with those teachings any more, and left the Catholic faith. This certain group was called Anabaptists . Among the main Anabaptists we stud- ied about were Conrad, Grebel, Simon Stumpf, Felix Manz, and George' Blau- rock. We learned of their horrible perse- cutions and sufferings because of their faith. Some were drowned, some had parts of their bodies removed, and others were burned at the stake or starved to death in dark castles. But through all this they wouldn't recant. Praise God for forefathers with strong convictions to stay true to God. May we also prove ourselves faithful till He calls us home to be with Him. g -Rachel Hostetter DIVISION 4 - PRACTICAL STUDIES INTRODUCTION TO CHILD STUDY We discovered in. our class that child study is no different today from what it was a 'thousand years ago. As an introduc- tion to this course we studied the import- ance of life in general. No human esti- mates can determine the immeasurable, incomprehensible value of life. It is a very solemn thought that once we begin life there is no end for us. Child life becomes very important when we realize that Christ Himself was a child, He magnified child life, the child life ministers to mankind, and the child life is plastic. It is a well-known fact that the waters first cuts the channel in which a r1ver runs and that, once it is cut, the channel controls the river. By the age of thlfty an individual has fashioned the groove in which his life Will' run. There are four sources of child study which are accessible to every student. Observation, which is the most used and best method, can become very interesting lf the observer can keep the child unaware that it is being watched. Those Who can recollect their childhood days are well fitted to understand children. Through literature and science we might also un- derstand the ways and methods of child- ren. Heredity, environment, and personality are the three forces that build a life. The child is born in part, he is made in part, in part he makes himself. Religious education has three phases -- information, worship, and expression. A child is born with a right to know God, and it is the place of the parent and teach- er to see that this knowledge is provided. Children are not born atheists. It is through neglect that they become so. The home, school, and church should work together to build up a religious education. We studied the periods of child life from infancy throughout early, middle, and later childhood and on through ado- lescence. Through this study we have become better acquainted with children and our- selves. -Margaret Shelley

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NONRESISTANCE We students, under the teachings of Brother Menno J. Brunk, were carefully indoctrinated in the subject of nonresis- tance. Pacifism, we learned, differs quite a bit from Biblical nonresistance. Paci- fists oppose war on the basis of econom- ical loss and loss of life. They believe in betterment by reformation rather than by a new birth experience. The purpose of our government is to punish the evil doers, protect the pious, and keep order in the world. We were reminded of our responsi- bilities to the government: we are to pray for, be subject to, pay tribute to, and honor our rulers. Why did God comand His people to fight under the old dispensation? a stu- dent inquired. We learned that God either approved or commanded His people in their warfare. His people suffered because they failed to carry out completely God's decree to exterminate the evil nations of Canaan. In the New Testament, Jesus taught that we should not resist evli, but that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, and that we should love our neighbor as our- selves, and that we should preach the Gospel of peace, bringing glad tidings of good things. -Eva Rhodes DIVISION 3 - CHURCH BIBLICAL BASIS FOR MISSIONS ' In this class we were made more aware of what the Bible has to teach us in the field of mission work. We noticed a type of mission work in the Garden of Eden. When man sinned and fell away from God, God called to Adam: Where art thou ? He was concerned about man and wanted to call him back into fellowship with Him. There are other places in the Old Testa- ment where we see mission activity. But in the New Testament it is more outstand- ing. In fact, it is a direct command of Christ that we go out into all the world and teach all nations about the plan of salvation. The command is not the only reason why a Christian should be inter- ested in mission work. When a person is really born again he will have an experi- ence which he can not keep to himself but he will be overflowing with Christlike joy and love. A burden for lost souls burns deep in the heart of every true Christian. There are many places where a Christ- ian can witness, the first place being in the home to brothers, sisters, parents and children. If we do not accept this mission field, then we will not be of much use to the world around us which would be our next obligation. Starting with our-nearest neighbors we should witness at every op- portunity so that when we are called by Cod to a more difficult task we might be ready to serve wherever or whatever it may be. As we studied this topic with our teacher, Edwin Gehman, the call to mis- sion work seems to come louder than ever before. -Ronald L. Martin

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f... 'C e . -.-u AJpll w1 YOUTH PROBLEMS T Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy plea- sure they are and were created. Using this as our theme verse we 22 students learned that we are created to give honor and glory to God. Brother William W. Wagler brought out 'many ways in which we can do this. First of all, we have to be dedicated Christians and seek His will for our lives. Some of the problems we as youth face are, understanding ourselves and our par- ents, conducting wholesome courtship and and finding the right life companion. We should be very thankful for our Christian parents, those who love us enough to instruct us to go the right way. We learn- ed that when youth becomes social some of the greatest temptations are before them. We must remember to ever keep our minds and bodies in subjection to His will in order to bring glory and honor to Him. Some of the questions that we answered were: When is a person mature enough to date? What kind of persons should we date? Where can we go and what can we do on dates? I'm sure we all appreciate this class and we learned much. -Sallie Stauffer TYPING We gathered each day after lunch in the dining room to learn to work with our fingers. Sister Ida Bontrager was our teacher. Our class was honored with three students. Each day as we opened our class with prayer we became more conscious of the many ways we could use typing to serve our Lord. We used the book Typing Made Simple. We questioned the title at first, but as we moved on from home base we became more ready to agree that typing can be mastered. We went over drills each day and T-R-I- E-D to have a bit of rhythm and speed. Each day we learned four new letters. During the first three weeks we learned to type the alphabet and how to use our margins and margin release, after which we had speed drills. The following three weeks we went on to numbers, symbols, horizontal and vertical centering, tabu- lating, and letter writing. We took this course hoping this typing skill might help us better serve the Lord. -Margaret Martin rusuc SPEAKING It's much more important to have something to say than to know how to say it, Brother Menno Brunk told the four listeners in his public speaking class. But as Jesus told the Pharisees, other undone.' So, we need both form and content in our speaking before a group. - l It wasn't all lecture, though! In fact, there wasn't a whole lot of time left for lecture, as each day each class member gave his speech: perhaps on an apostle, perhaps on a subject of his own choosing, or perhaps by reading a chapter from the Bible. Criticism was also a vital part of this class. With each speech given, crticism came from fellow speech-givers and from Brother Brunk himself. This aspect of our class was to help point out each other's weakness and thus improve one another's speech-giving ability. Be yourself , Brother Brunk remind- ed us. But he also admonished us to culti- vate good habits, so that we could natur- ally do what is proper. Adapting ourselves to our situation was also a point he brought out that applied to us very keenly. We met on the stage of the auditorium and a thin curtain divided our class from that of Tabernacle study which met in the back of the auditorium. One day a week we had the whole auditor- ium to ourselves. On those days our speech giving voices needed to cover a wider area than when we met in the small quarters of the stage. t We learned, practically, some things about public speaking. This is one vital avenue we can use in bringing God's Word and will to others. l -Pat Shank