Missionary Survey As An Aid To Intelligent Co-Operation In Foreign Missions | Page 2

China now nearing completion places that country in a premier position as far as a foundation for wise building is concerned. Recently in London, neighbouring Mission Houses have been getting into touch with each other, and the Conference of British Missionary Societies and the analogous body in America have made conference between missions frequent and fruitful. But there is a long way yet to travel before we can have that comprehensive planning which the present world situation imperatively and urgently demands.
But just as neighbouring missions should get to know about each other's work and plans in order that funds may be spent most effectively; so a world survey is necessary if the command of Christ is to be adequately obeyed. The unit is the world, and survey in patches may misdirect money which would have been spent differently if the whole need had been before the eyes of those who are charged with the responsibility of administration.
We make bold to affirm that no Society can be sure that it is spending the money entrusted to it wisely unless it has a satisfactory system of survey in operation, a system which takes account not only of its own work but also of the work of others. We go further and say that the chances are the money is not bringing the maximum return. When world need is so vast it is time to challenge a reasoned contradiction of this assertion. If each Society did what in justice to its constituency it ought to do, a survey of an area such as a province or a country would be an easy task, and a survey of the world would be neither difficult nor expensive, and after all, until we know the whole, we cannot intelligently administer the part.
The missionary enterprise waits for the men who will take the comprehensive view and become leaders in the greatest and most fundamental task of all time. Until these leaders appear, mission work, for those who seek to understand it as a world enterprise, will, as a layman said recently, remain worse than a jigsaw puzzle!
THOS. COCHRANE.

ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A DOMINANT PURPOSE.
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

CHAPTER II.
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.
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

CHAPTER III.
SURVEY OF THE STATION AND ITS DISTRICT.
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