Missionary Survey As An Aid To Intelligent Co-Operation In Foreign Missions

The modern demand for intelligent co-operation

The same demand in relation to Foreign Missions

The need for a definition of purpose

The failure of our present reports in this respect

Is definition of purpose desirable?

It is necessary for formulation of policy

Societies with limited incomes cannot afford to pursue every good

object

The admission of diverse purposes has blurred the purpose of Medical

Missions

The admission of diverse purposes has confused the administration

of Educational Missions

The admission of diverse purposes has distracted Evangelistic

Missions

Hence the absence of unity in the work

Hence the tendency to support details rather than the whole

The need for a dominant purpose and expression of relations

The need for a statement of factors which govern action

The need for a missionary survey which expresses the facts in

relation

This demand is not unreasonable

1. All survey is properly governed by the purpose for which it is

made

The purpose decides what is to be included, what excluded

A scientific survey is a survey of selected factors

This is not to be confused with the collection of facts to prove a

theory

The collection of facts is independent of the conclusions which may

be drawn

2. The survey proposed is a missionary survey

The difference between medical and educational surveys and missionary

survey

3. The survey proposed is designed to embrace the work of all

Societies

4. Definition of aim necessarily suggests a policy

We have not hesitated to set out that policy

We make criticism easy

5. Survey should provide facts in relation to an aim, so as to guide

action

6. Twofold aspect of survey-survey of state, survey of position

Survey is therefore a continual process

7. Possible objections to method proposed-

(i) The information asked for statistical

All business and organised effort is based on statistics

Every Society publishes statistics

(ii) The admission of estimates

The value of estimates

(iii) The difficulty of many small tables

Why burden the missionary with the working out of proportions?

The tables should assist the missionary in charge

(iv) The objection that we cannot obtain all the information

Partial knowledge the guide of all human action

(v) The tables contain items at present unknown

The Work to be Done, and the Force to Do it.

We begin with survey of the station and its district If the station exists to establish the Church in a definite area then we can survey on a territorial basis The definition of the area involves a policy I. When the area is defined we can distinguish work done and work to be done, in terms of cities, towns, and villages; in terms of population The meaning of "Christian constituency" The reasons for adopting it Example of table, and of the impression produced by it Example of value of proportions Tables of proportions The difficulty of procuring this information The value of the labour expended in procuring it II. The force at work The permanent and transitory elements (a) The foreign force The use of merely quantitative expressions Such tables essential for deciding questions of reinforcement (b) The native force Reasons for putting total Christian constituency in the first place The Communicants. The paid workers. The unpaid workers The difficulty in this classification The interest of these tables lies in the proportions Summary But we need to know something of capacity of the native force (1) Proportion of Communicants The importance of this proportion in itself In relation to the work to be done (2) Proportion of paid workers to Christian constituency and to Communicants The difficulty of appreciating the meaning of this proportion It must be checked by (a) the proportion of unpaid voluntary workers (b) The standard of wealth (3) The contribution to missionary work in labour and money (4) The literacy of the Christian constituency The importance of widespread knowledge of the Bible The importance of Christians having a wider knowledge than their heathen neighbours