The Senior MV Society, “the youth church within the church,” was staffed by officers elected by the church, composed of the leader, assistant leader, secretary-treasurer, sponsor, chorister, and accompanist; and others elected by the society, a devotional secretary, an educational secretary, a fellowship or social secretary, band leaders, a publicity secretary, and a servicemen’s secretary. These officers, with the Junior MV superintendent, the church missionary leader, and the church pastor and/or elder, formed the MV executive committee, which directed all the work and planning of the MV Society. Membership in the Senior MV Society (ages 16 to 30, but including persons over 30 who carried MV leadership responsibilities) was of two kinds: regular, for young people who were members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; and associate, for other young people with Christian ideals who wanted to join.
The Junior MV (JMV) Society also offered two kinds of membership: preparatory, for children under 10 who were old enough to understand the purposes of the society; and regular, for boys and girls 10 to 16 who understood the JMV ideals and who knew by memory and declared their allegiance to the JMV Pledge and Law.
The Junior Society was guided by a superintendent elected by the church, usually an elementary teacher, since most JMV Societies were conducted in the church school. Other officers elected by the society from their own group were a leader, a secretary-treasurer, a pianist or organist, and unit captains. These comprised the executive committee for planning programs and activities.
A supplementary organization for juniors was the Pathfinder Club, which extended the program of the JMV Society with particular emphasis on physical activities and various skills. Pathfinder Club officers were the director and deputy directors, elected by the church; and counselors, instructors, unit captains, and unit scribes, appointed by the staff. Pathfinder Clubs are still active in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Activities. The Senior MV Society’s objectives were best revealed by the variety of features in four classifications:
Devotional: Personal devotional reading plans, such as the Morning Watch, the Bible Year and Encounter, were promoted. A group devotional activity was the MV Week of Prayer, conducted annually in the spring.
Educational: Leadership training included the youth ministry training courses, the Pathfinder Staff Training Course, and the extensive requirements for the rank of Master Guide. Other educational features of the society were the MV Book Club, MV Honors, nature clubs, and hobby clubs; also youth Bible conferences and courses in Bible doctrines and denominational history called Heritage of Truth.
Share Your Faith: The devotional and educational features were preparatory to participation in the society’s supreme goal, expressed in its slogan, Share Your Faith. Under this heading was a great diversity of ideas and services. Some of the better known were MV Voice of Youth (public evangelism); Friendship Teams (neighborhood personal evangelism); IN Groups; Literature and Correspondence Bands; various MV Community Services bands for prison, hospital, rest home, and orphanage work ( see “Share Your Faith” ).
Fellowship: Youth congresses and rallies, social gatherings, MV camps, nature exploration, and all other acceptable forms of recreation.
For most of the MV features here named, guidance literature was provided by the Youth Department. Members of the Junior MV Society participated in such of these as were suitable for their age.
Meetings. The local MV Societies, both senior and junior, and the Pathfinder Club usually met once a week. Program material for the meetings and leadership guidance were provided in the quarterly magazine Youth Ministry Resources . Youth officers planned the programs; members of the groups participated in speeches, interviews, quizzes, panel discussions, and other programs, dealing with Christian ideals, religion, missions, church history, methods of service, cultural subjects, and nature.
Since the MV Society was, by definition, organized for “Missionary Volunteering,” the weekly meeting was the time also for presenting plans, recruiting participants, and for reporting on the progress of projects connected with lay evangelism.
Aim, Motto, and Pledge. The blueprint for MV activities was found in the Aim, Motto, and Pledge. For the Senior Society these were:
Aim— The Advent Message to All the World in This Generation.
Motto— The Love of Christ Constraineth Us.
Pledge— Loving the Lord Jesus, I promise to take an active part in the work of the Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Society, doing what I can to help others and to finish the work of the gospel in all the world.
Pledge and Law. The Junior Missionary Volunteer Society and the Pathfinder Club were guided by a Pledge and Law.
The JMV Pledge: By the grace of God, I will be pure and kind and true. I will keep the JMV Law. I will be a servant of God and a friend to man.
The JMV Law: The Junior Missionary Volunteer Law is for me to—1. Keep the Morning Watch. 2. Do my honest part. 3. Care for my body. 4. Keep a level eye. 5. Be courteous and obedient. 6. Walk softly in the sanctuary. 7. Keep a song in my heart. 8. Go on God’s errands.
Societies under the MV name and organization date from 1907. In this year plans for a Young People’s Department were made in a General Conference Council at Gland, Switzerland; and later in the same year at Mount Vernon, Ohio, the new department was named the Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Department. This department gave the societies their name and organization. In 1972 the name of the department was officially changed to Youth Department of Missionary Volunteers.
MV Societies in Colleges. The MV Society was the center of the missionary activities of the school. The college society was of strategic importance, since the colleges attracted the talented group of SDA young people, those who after graduation become the leaders of churches and institutions. One important purpose of the school MV Societies was to send out graduates filled with the spirit of service and a desire to help the young people in the local churches. The sponsoring of a student missionary by the college MV Society was one North American project to promote interest in the worldwide work of the church. ( See AY Societies .)