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MISSIONARY SURVEY AS AN AID TO INTELLIGENT CO-OPERATIONIN FOREIGN MISSIONS

BY

ROLAND ALLEN, M. A. SOMETIME S. P. G. MISSIONARY IN NORTH CHINAAUTHOR OF "MISSIONARY METHODS, ST. PAUL'S OR OURS, " ETC. 

AND

THOMAS COCHRANE, M. B. , C. M. LATE PRINCIPAL OF UNION MEDICAL COLLEGE, PEKING, AND HON. SECRETARYOF THE LAYMEN'S MOVEMENT, LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY

1920

PREFACE. 

This book, written by Mr. Allen, bears both our names because we studiedthe material together, and settled what should be included and whatexcluded. We discussed and disputed, and finally found ourselves incomplete agreement. We therefore decided to issue the book in our jointnames, on the understanding that I should be allowed to disclaim thecredit for writing it. But the book would never have been written at allsave for the inspiration and help of Mr. S. J. W. Clark, who, in histravels in nearly every mission field, has brought an unusually acutemind, trained by a long business experience, to bear upon missionproblems, and has done more hard thinking on the question of survey thanany man we know. 

Let anyone who doubts the need for survey study the present distributionof missionary forces. He will find little evidence of any plan ormethod. In one region of the world there are about four hundred andfifty missionaries to a population of three millions, while in anotherarea with more than double the number of people, there are only abouttwenty missionaries. 

After travelling in the latter region I asked one of the senior workerswhat in his opinion would be a large enough foreign staff, and heindicated quite a moderate addition to the existing force. Suppose I hadsuggested a total of a hundred missionaries, he would have declared thenumber far too large. Perhaps he was too modest in his demands. Conditions in one area differ from those in another. But such a widedifference in distribution and in demands makes the need of survey toascertain facts and conditions absolutely imperative, especially when weremember that to the force of four hundred and fifty in the territorywith the smaller population, missionaries will probably continue to beadded and unevangelised regions will have to wait. 

After surveying one of the better staffed divisions of the missionfield, a missionary declared that not more missionaries were needed, buta more effective use of the force at work; and fortunately in thatparticular field central direction is beginning to secure that end. Butusually there is no central direction and no comparison of plans betweenneighbouring missions on the field, although several missions may belocated in the same town or city; and two Mission Houses in London maybe almost next door neighbours, and may have missions in the same cityin the Far East, and may yet be entirely ignorant of each other's plansfor work in that city. They might be rival businesses guarding tradesecrets! Hence it is not strange that when late in the day a survey of acity in China is made in which there are about two hundred missionaries, it is found that not one of them is giving full time to evangelisticwork! Across the city of Tokyo a line could be drawn west of which allthe foreign workers live, while east of it there are nine hundred andsixty thousand people without a single resident missionary!

But not only is intermission planning, based on survey, sadly lacking;few missions have thoroughly surveyed their own fields and their ownwork, and fewer still have surveyed them in relation to the work ofothers. The result is that policies are adopted and staffs increased ina way which--for all administrators know to the contrary--may be addingweight where it should be diminished, and may be piling up expenditurein the wrong place. 

It should be pointed out, however, that survey is beginning to come intoits own. It is being more and more realised that it should be the basisof all co-operative work, and the survey of China now nearing completionplaces that country in a premier position as far as a foundation forwise building is concerned. Recently in London, neighbouring MissionHouses have been getting into touch with each other, and the Conferenceof British Missionary Societies and the analogous body in America havemade conference between missions frequent and fruitful. But there is along way yet to travel before we can have that comprehensive planningwhich the present world situation imperatively and urgently demands. 

But just as neighbouring missions should get to know about each other'swork and plans in order that funds may be spent most effectively; so aworld survey is necessary if the command of Christ is to be adequatelyobeyed. The unit is the world, and survey in patches may misdirect moneywhich would have been spent differently if the whole need had beenbefore the eyes of those who are charged with the responsibility ofadministration. 

We make bold to affirm that no Society can be sure that it is spendingthe money entrusted to it wisely unless it has a satisfactory system ofsurvey in operation, a system which takes account not only of its ownwork but also of the work of others. We go further and say that thechances are the money is _not_ bringing the maximum return. When worldneed is so vast it is time to challenge a reasoned contradiction of thisassertion. If each Society did what in justice to its constituency itought to do, a survey of an area such as a province or a country wouldbe an easy task, and a survey of the world would be neither difficultnor expensive, and after all, until we know the whole, we cannotintelligently administer the part. 

The missionary enterprise waits for the men who will take thecomprehensive view and become leaders in the greatest and mostfundamental task of all time. Until these leaders appear, mission work, for those who seek to understand it as a world enterprise, will, as alayman 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-operationThe same demand in relation to Foreign MissionsThe need for a definition of purposeThe failure of our present reports in this respectIs definition of purpose desirable?It is necessary for formulation of policySocieties with limited incomes cannot afford to pursue every good objectThe admission of diverse purposes has blurred the purpose of Medical MissionsThe admission of diverse purposes has confused the administration of Educational MissionsThe admission of diverse purposes has distracted Evangelistic MissionsHence the absence of unity in the workHence the tendency to support details rather than the wholeThe need for a dominant purpose and expression of relationsThe need for a statement of factors which govern actionThe need for a missionary survey which expresses the facts in relationThis demand is not unreasonable

CHAPTER II. 

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 

1. All survey is properly governed by the purpose for which it is madeThe purpose decides what is to be included, what excludedA scientific survey is a survey of selected factorsThis is not to be confused with the collection of facts to prove a theoryThe collection of facts is independent of the conclusions which may be drawn2. The survey proposed is a missionary surveyThe difference between medical and educational surveys and missionary survey3. The survey proposed is designed to embrace the work of all Societies4. Definition of aim necessarily suggests a policyWe have not hesitated to set out that policyWe make criticism easy5. Survey should provide facts in relation to an aim, so as to guide action6. Twofold aspect of survey--survey of state, survey of positionSurvey is therefore a continual process7. 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 districtIf the station exists to establish the Church in a definite area then we can survey on a territorial basisThe definition of the area involves a policyI. 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 itII. 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 SummaryBut 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

CHAPTER IV. 

THE EMPHASIS LAID UPON DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORK. 

I. Work amongst men and women respectivelyWe first distinguish men, wives, and single women among the Foreign MissionariesThe reasons for applying the distinction between men and women to the Native ForceII. The different classes in the population chiefly reached by the missionIII The different races and religionsEmphasis upon one class or race or religion is no proper basis for adverse criticism of the missionIV. The emphasis laid on evangelistic, medical, and educational work respectivelyThe difficulty of distinguishing medical, educational, and evangelistic missionariesThe reason why grades need not here be distinguishedV. Sunday Schools--The diverse character of Sunday SchoolsThe table proposed

CHAPTER V. 

THE MEDICAL WORK IN THE STATION DISTRICT. 

The tendency to treat medical and educational work as distinct from evangelisticMedical and educational boards and their surveysThe difficulty of determining the aim of the medical missionFirst of medical missions as designed to meet a distinct medical needTwo tables designed to present the medical force in relation to area and populationThe necessity of considering non-missionary medical work in this connectionThe extent of the work done in the yearThen of the medical mission as designed to assist evangelistic work (i) The extent to which evangelists work with the medicals Caution as regards the use of this table (ii) The extent to which medicals assist the evangelists outside the institutions (iii) The extent to which the evangelistic influence of the hospital can be traced

CHAPTER VI. 

EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE STATION DISTRICT. 

The difficulty of determining the aim of educational missionsThe difficulty presented by different grades and standardsThe reason for excluding Colleges and Normal Schools at this stageFirst of the educational mission as designed to meet a distinct educational needTwo tables designed to present the educational work in relation to area and populationThe necessity of considering non-missionary educational workThe existence of non-missionary schools may either increase the need for missionary schools or decrease itThe extent to which education is provided for the better educated and the more illiterateThe extent to which education is provided for boys and girls, for Christian and non-Christian scholarsThe extent to which mission schools receive Government grants throws light on their character and purposeThe extent to which education is provided for illiterate adultsThe importance of thisThe importance of the distinction between Christians and non-Christians in this tableThen of the educational mission as designed to assist evangelistic work (i) The extent to which evangelists work with the educationalists in schools Caution needed in the use of this table (ii) The extent to which educationalists work with evangelists outside schools The importance of the work done by educationalists outside the schools (iii) The immediate evangelistic results of education given The difficulty The table proposed The support given by the Natives to medical and educational work

CHAPTER VII. 

CO-OPERATION. 

The importance of the relation between the different parts of the missionThe relations already expressed in earlier tablesThe chief difficulty lies in the relationship between medicals and educationalistsThe importance of medical work in schoolsThe table showing the work of medicals in connection with schoolsThe importance of educational work in hospitalsThe table showing the work of educationalists in hospitalsSummary of co-operation between evangelists, medicals, and educationalists

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE NATIVE CHURCH. 

The end of the station, a Native ChurchThis end a condition into which the Church must be growingSurvey must therefore deal with the Native ChurchThe reason for beginning with self-supportThe meaning of self-supporting ChurchesIn rare cases it means independence of external supportIn most cases it means attainment of an arbitrary standardIn most cases it does not represent the power of the people to supply their own needsIn most cases it is not sure evidence of growing liberalityNevertheless we must begin by considering the self-supporting ChurchesWe ask for proportion of self-supporting ChurchesThis will not reveal the power of the Churches to stand aloneWe inquire then the proportion of inquirers in self-supporting ChurchesWe inquire then the proportion of unpaid workers in self-supporting ChurchesWhere self-supporting Churches are not recognised we inquire--

 (i) Power of Christians to conduct their own services (ii) Power to order Church government (iii) Power to provide expenses of Church organisation

CHAPTER IX. 

SURVEY OF DISTRICTS WHERE TWO OR MORE SOCIETIES ARE AT WORK. SURVEY OF MISSIONS WITH NO DEFINED DISTRICTS. 

I. The possibility of united survey by missionaries of two or more Societies The evil of ignoring the work of others Survey is concerned with facts not with ecclesiastical prejudices The difficulty of obtaining the facts The use of estimatesII. The mission which has no defined district--Ageneral expression of the purpose of such a mission In its widest terms survey of the work of such a mission would involve survey of the whole state of society In its narrower terms it is survey of a mission establishing a Church In this case most of the preceding tables could be used, omitting proportions to area and population Then we could see force at work Then we could see forms of work Then we could place the mission in a survey of the Country

CHAPTER X. 

SURVEY OF THE WORK IN A PROVINCE. 

The mission station is not an isolated unitThe relationship of station with station is recognisedSo the relationship of all missions in a country is recognisedWe can then consider the work of a mission station in relation to all mission work done in the Province or CountryConsidered in relation to the larger area, impressions produced by the earlier tables may have to be revisedThe first necessity is to gain a view of the whole work in the CountryThe difficulty presented by capitals and other large citiesI. The items proposed as necessary for such a general view-- (1) The work to be done; a bare quantitative expression in terms of population, perhaps also in terms of cities, towns, and villages unoccupied This expression ought not to suggest that the work to be done is to be done by the foreigners (2) The Foreign Force at work in relation to the work to be done is larger than that presented by returns from all mission stations The Native Force also is more than the sum of the station district returns (3) Different forms of work; one table revealing proportion of Missionaries, Native Workers, Foreign Funds, and Native Contributions employed in different forms of work One table of results A serious flaw in this table (4) The extent to which different classes, etc. , are reached. One table including the station returns with the addition of special missions which work among special classes in the whole Province or Country (5) Self-support. One table showing the relation of the native contribution to the total salaries of all paid native evangelistic workersII. To this must be added tables of students in training for different forms of mission workFirst the relative proportion of students in training for different types of workThen of each more particularly-- (1) Evangelistic Confusion of nomenclature prevents more than a rough classification (2) Educational: divided roughly into four classes (3) Medical: divided into three classes These tables are prophetic of line of advance in the near future The question of perseveranceIII. Then the Educational Institutions excluded from the district survey must be added to the sum of the station returns to show the relation of the educational work to the population of the larger areaThe importance of the relation of the higher to the lower grade institutionsThe educational work of non-missionary agencies must also be consideredIV. Medical work needs only the addition of provincial hospitals and non-missionary medical workV. Two other subjects claim attention here, literature and industrial workThe difficulty of dealing with literature. It needs special treatmentTwo brief tables suggestedThe difficulty of dealing with industrial work still greaterFor industrial missions, other than those which are really educational, we suggest three tablesVI. Union work

CHAPTER XI. 

THE RELATION OF THE STATION TO THE WORLD. 

A world-wide work can only be conducted on world-wide principlesThese world-wide principles must govern the work in every part, however smallNo country, however large, can be an isolated unit from missionary point of viewHow shall we gain a view of this large whole?We suggest that four tables would suffice for our purpose:-- (1) A table showing the force at work in relation to population (2) A table designed to reveal something of thecharacter and power of the force (3) A table showing the relative strength expended in evangelistic, medical, and educational work (4) A table showing the extent to which the native Christians support existing work This is only a tentative suggestion proposed to invite criticism

CHAPTER I. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF A DOMINANT PURPOSE. 

It is a marked characteristic of our age that every appeal for anexpression of energy should be an intellectual appeal. Emotional appealsare of course made, and made with tremendous force, but, with theemotional appeal, an emphasis is laid to-day upon the intellectualapprehension of the meaning of the effort demanded which is somethingquite new to us. Soldiers in the ranks have the objective of theirattack explained to them, and this explanation has a great influenceover the character and quality of the effort which they put forth. Labourers demand and expect every day a larger and fuller understandingof the meaning of the work which they are asked to perform. They need toenjoy the intellectual apprehension of the larger aspects of the work, and the relation of their own detailed operations to those largeraspects; and it is commonly recognised that the understanding of themeaning and purpose of the detail upon which each operative may beengaged is a most powerful incentive to good work. In the past leadersrelied more upon implicit, unreasoning obedience, supported often byaffection for the leader's own character, and profound trust in hiswisdom, and a general hope of advantage for each individual who carriedout orders unhesitatingly and exactly; but they did not think itnecessary, or even desirable, that the common workers should understandtheir plans and act in intelligent co-operation with them: to-day, intelligent co-operation is prized as it has never been prized before, and its value is realised as it has never been realised before. 

If this is true in the world of arms, of labour, of commerce, it isequally true in the world of foreign missions. The common worker, thesubscriber, the daily labourer, is beginning to demand that he shall beallowed to take an intelligent part in the work, and missionary leadersare beginning to see the importance of securing intelligentco-operation. In the past the appeal has been rather to blind obedience, and immense stress has been laid upon the "command"; the appeal has beento the emotions, and love for Christ, love for the souls of men, hopeof eternal blessings, hope of the coming of the Kingdom, and (fordirection of the work) trust in the wisdom of great missionary leadersor committees, have been thought sufficient to inspire all to put forththeir best efforts; but to-day, as in the labour world, as in commerce, as in the army, so in the world of missions, the intellect is taking anew place. Men want to understand why and how their work assists towardsthe attainment of the goal, they want to know what they are doing, theywant to understand the plan and to see their work influencing theaccomplishment of the plan. 

It is no doubt true that the demand for intelligent co-operation, bothon the part of the subscribers and workers on the one side and of thegreat leaders and boards of directors on the other, is at presentslight, weak, uncertain and hesitating; but it is already beginning tomake itself felt, and must increase. Certainly it is true that thesupport of a very large body of men is lost because they have never yetbeen able to understand the work of foreign missions. They areaccustomed in their daily business to "know what they are driving at, "and to relate their action to definite ends; and they have not seenforeign missions directed to the attainment of definite ends. They havenot seen in them any clear dominant purpose to which they could relatethe manifold activities of the missionaries whom they were asked tosupport; and they cannot give to the vague and chaotic that supportwhich they might give to work which they saw clearly to be directed tothe attainment of a great goal which they desired by a policy which theyunderstood. The attitude of these men is the attitude of those who awaitan intelligent appeal to their intelligence. 

For a true understanding of foreign missions it is necessary first thattheir aim and object should be clearly defined. Without such adefinition intelligent co-operation is impossible. Unless the objectiveis understood men cannot estimate the value of their work. They cannottrace progress unless they can see clearly the end to be attained; theycannot zealously support action unless they are persuaded that theaction is truly designed to attain the defined end. There may indeed bemany subordinate objects, and men may be asked to work for theattainment of any one of these, but there ought to be one final end andpurpose which governs all, and intelligent co-operation involves theappreciation of the relation between the subordinate and the final end. Consequently if many objects are set before us, as they are in ourforeign missions, it is essential that these many purposes and objectsshould be presented to us not simply as ends to be attained, but intheir relation to one another and in their relation to the final endwhich the directors of our missions have clearly before their eyes. 

Now it is just at this point that we fail to attain satisfaction. Allsocieties publish reports and statistics, but the reports and statisticsdo not provide us with any clear and intelligible account of progresstowards any definite end. They seem rather designed to attract and toappeal to our sympathy than to satisfy our intelligence. They set beforeus all kinds of work unrelated, indefinite, changeable, and changingfrom year to year, as though the compilers selected from the letters ofmissionaries any striking statements which they thought would attractsupport in themselves and by themselves. No goal is set before us, andthe progress towards that goal steadily traced from year to year; stillless is the relation between the different methods and means employed toattain each subordinate objective expressed so that we can see, notonly what progress each is making towards its own immediate end, butwhat is the effective value of all together towards the attainment of afinal end to which they all contribute. 

But would not the definition of one great end or purpose hinder us? Arenot all the great ends which we set before ourselves indefinite enoughto include a host of different and mutually separate and evenoccasionally incompatible subsidiary objects, aims, and methods? Wouldnot the rigid definition of the aim of our foreign missions, byexcluding a great many legitimate aims and methods, weaken and beggarour missions, which are strong in proportion as they admit all sorts ofdifferent aims and methods? There are men who speak and act as if theythought so, and in consequence welcome as a proper part of themissionary programme all Christian, social, and political activities. _Anything_, they think, which makes for the amelioration of life, _everything_ which tends to enlighten and uplift the bodies, the souls, and the minds of men, is a proper object for the missionary to pursue, and the missionary should assist every movement towards a higher life inthe heathen community as well as in the Christian, and should introduceevery method and plan, industrial, social, or political, literary, orartistic, which tends to ennoble the life of men. It may be so. It maybe true that the introduction of everything which tends to uplift andenlighten is a proper object for missionary activity, but we venture toargue not all at once, in the same place, nor even any one of them atthe whim of any missionary at any time, anywhere. Nor all in the sameorder. There is a more and a less important. And we do urge that if weare to take an intelligent part in foreign missions and to give thosemissions intelligent support, we must know what is the more importantand what the less. We are told that the duty of the foreign mission isto bring all nations into the obedience of Christ, and that "all thenations" means all the people of all the nations, and all thecapacities, powers, and activities of all the people of all the nations, individually and collectively, and that any work which tends to bringany part of the collective action of any non-Christian people under thedirection of Christian principles is, therefore, the proper work of themissionary, and that the most important is the particular social, industrial, or political scheme which the missionary who is addressingus believes to be the pressing need of the moment in his district. 

So long as foreign missions are presented to us in that way, so long asany mission may serve any purpose, we cannot possibly take anyintelligent share in foreign missions as a whole. We are lost. We cannotco-ordinate in thought the activities of the missions, as we see plainlythat they are not co-ordinated in action in the field itself. And it ispractically impossible for us to imagine that the missions are directedon any thought-out policy, because a policy seems to involve necessarilythe sub-ordination of the aim deemed to be less important to anotherwhich is deemed to be more important, and the less or the more mustdepend, not upon personal predilections, but upon closeness of relationto some one dominant idea; and, therefore, the definition of thedominant idea is the first necessity for the establishment of areasonable missionary policy. 

To some minds the idea of a policy in connection with missions seems tobe abhorrent; but can a society with an income of something between halfand a quarter of a million pounds, or even less, afford to aim at everytype and form of missionary activity? Is it not necessary that itshould know and express to itself, to its missionaries, and to itssupporters what forms of activity it deems essential, what lessimportant, what aims it will pursue with all its strength, and what itwill refuse to pursue at all? It cannot afford to pursue every good ordesirable object which it may meet in its course. It must have adominant purpose which really controls its operations, and forces it toset aside some great and noble actions because they are not so closelyrelated to the dominant purpose as some other. 

A society with the limited resources which most of us lament cannot doeverything. In medicine it cannot afford to aim at a strictlyevangelistic use of its medical missions and at a use which is notstrictly evangelistic. We hear men talk sometimes as if it were thebusiness of a missionary society to undertake the task of healing thephysical afflictions of the people almost in the same sense as it is thebusiness of a missionary society to seek to heal their souls. We hearthem talk sometimes as if it was the duty of a missionary society tosupplant the native medical practice by western medical science assurely as it is their business to supplant idolatry by the preaching ofChrist. And the tolerance of these ideas has certainly influenced thedirection of missions. The evangelistic value of medical missions hasnot been the one dominant directing principle in their administration, and the consequences have been confusion of aim and waste of power. Norhas any other dominant purpose taken control; no other purpose, philanthropic, social, or economic, ever will take control so long asthe vast majority of the supporters of foreign missions are people whoseone real desire is the salvation of men in Christ. But the admission ofanother purpose has blurred the aim. 

Because they have been pioneers in education, missions earn large praiseand not in-considerable support from governors and philanthropists; butthey have sometimes paid for these praises and grants dearly inconfusion of aim. Many of them started with the intention of relatingtheir educational work very closely to their evangelistic work; butbecause the evangelistic idea was not dominant, a government grantsometimes led the educational mission far from its first objective. Similarly, the establishment of great educational institutions alteredthe whole policy of a mission over very large areas, because no dominantpurpose controlled the action of the mission authorities. Theinstitutions demanded such large support, financial and personal, thatwhen once they had been founded they tended to draw into themselves avery large proportion of the best men who joined the mission. In thisway a great educational institution has often altered the policy of amission to an extent which its original founders never anticipated, anda mission which was designed primarily to be an evangelistic mission hasbeen compelled not only to check advance, but even to withdraw itsevangelistic workers and to close its outstations. But that was not theintention of the founders of the institution. The difficulty arosebecause there was no dominant purpose which governed the direction ofthe mission. There was no purpose so strong and clear that it couldprevent the foundation of, or close when founded, an institution whichwas leading it far from its primary object. 

Again it is notorious that what we call the work of the evangelisticmissionary is so manifold and variegated that it includes every kind ofactivity, every sort of social and economic reform. Our evangelisticmissionaries are busy about everything, from itinerant preaching to theestablishment of banks and asylums. Can we afford it? What purpose isdominant, what aim really governs the policy of those who send outevangelistic missionaries? What decides the form of their work and themethod by which they pursue it? It is hard to guess, it is hard todiscover, it is hard to understand. 

Now when our missions are presented to us and we are asked to supportthem on all sorts of grounds, as though a society with its slight fundscould really successfully practise every kind of philanthropic work, webegin to doubt whether it can really be wisely guided. Each missionstation, each institution, seems to be an isolated fragment. Themissionary in charge often appeals to us as an exceedingly good and ableman, and we support him, and we support the society which sends him andothers like him. And we call this the support of foreign missions; butforeign missions as a unity we do not support because we can see nounity. The directors of foreign missions appear not to have hitchedtheir wagon to a star, but rather to all the visible stars, and wecannot tell whither they are going. So we fall back on the individualmissionary, or the isolated mission which at any rate for the momentseems to have an intelligible objective. 

Hence the common conception of missionary work as small. We look at theparts, and the smallest parts, because our minds instinctively seek aunity, and only in the parts do we find a unity, nor there often, unlesswe concentrate our attention on one aspect of the work. But by thinkingof foreign missions in this small way and speaking of them in this smallway, we alienate men who are accustomed to think in large terms of largeundertakings designed on large policies. 

What we need to-day is to understand foreign missions as a whole. Wewant to take an intelligent part in them viewed as a unity. We want toknow what is the grand objective and how the parts are related to thatend. We do not want merely to support this mission because thismissionary appeals to us; we want to know what dominant purpose governsthe activities of the different societies, directs, and controls them, deciding what work good and excellent in itself the mission cannotafford to undertake, what it can and must do with the means at itsdisposal in order to attain an end which it has deliberately adopted. 

We need more, we need to know on what principles the missionaries aresent here or there. We need to know what facts must be taken intoconsideration before any mission, evangelistic, educational, or medical, is planted in any place, what facts decide the question whether work isbegun, or reinforcements sent, to this place rather than to that. It isnot enough to be assured that there is a need. There is need everywhere. We cannot supply all need; but we can have some settled and clearjudgment what facts ought to weigh with us, what information we mustpossess before we can decide properly whether the claim of this place ismore urgent than the claim of that. We ought to have same basis ofcomparison. The mere appeal of an earnest and devoted man, the mereclamour of a body of men, the mere insistence of a persevering man, isnot sufficient to guide us aright. The mere offer of some supporter toprovide a building ought not to suffice. Acceptance of the offer mayalter the whole balance and character of the mission. We ought to knowwhat facts must be considered and how. 

We need therefore a reasoned statement of the work of our foreignmissions expressed as a unity, which sets forth the work actually donein different departments showing their relation one to another and therelation of all to a dominant object. In other words, what we need is asurvey of the missionary situation in the world in terms of theserelationships. 

It may be said that such a claim is outrageous and impossible; but weare persuaded that with our present enlightenment, with the means ofknowledge which we now possess, we could, if we thought it worth while, lay our hands on the necessary information. Our firm conviction is that, if we did that, and set out the results of our examination in a formintelligible to thoughtful laymen, we should obtain the support of agreat number of men to whom foreign missions at present appear asnothing but the ill-organised, fragmentary and indefinite efforts ofpious people to propagate their peculiar schemes for the betterment ofhumanity. Without some such statement we do not know how anyone can takean intelligent, though he may take a sentimental, interest in foreignmissions. 

CHAPTER II. 

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS. 

1. We need a survey of the missionary situation in the world which willexpress the facts in terms of the relationships between the differentmissionary activities and between them all in relation to a dominantidea or purpose. Such a survey is strictly scientific. All scientificsurvey is properly governed by the end or purpose for which it is made. 

It is this purpose or end which decides what is to be included and whatis to be excluded from the survey. If, for instance, we are making asurvey of the acoustic properties of church buildings in England, it isnot scientific to introduce questions as to the character of the gospelpreached in them. A scientific survey is not necessarily a collection ofall possible information about any people or country; that is anencyclopaedia; a scientific survey is a survey of those facts only whichthrow light on the business in hand. A scientific survey of foreignmissions ought not then necessarily to look at the work carried on from"every point of view". The point of view must be defined, the end to beserved defined, and then only those factors which throw light upon thatend have any place in a scientific survey. We cannot be too clear aboutthis, because in survey of a work so vast and so many sided as foreignmissions we might easily include every human activity, unless we definedbeforehand the end to be served and selected carefully only theappropriate factors. Carefully defined, missionary survey is not theunwieldy, amorphous thing which people often imagine. There is indeed adangerous type of survey which starting with a hypothesis proceeds toprove it by collecting any facts which seem to support it to the neglectof all other facts which might disprove it. The procedure advocated hereis the adoption of a definite and acknowledged purpose for which thesurvey is to be made and the collection of all the facts which bear uponthe subject in hand. The facts are selected, but they are selected notby the prejudices or partiality of the surveyor, but by their own innateand inherent relationship to the subject. 

A scientific survey can only be a collection of facts; but inferenceswill certainly be drawn from the facts which will direct the policy ofthose who administer foreign missionary societies. The drawing of theseinferences from the material collected must be carefully distinguishedfrom the collection of the material (i. E. The making of the survey). Thelatter precedes the former and is independent of it. Inferences hastilydrawn, or prematurely adopted, would only tend to discredit missionarysurvey as a means to the attainment of truth. The adoption of ahypothesis and the making of a survey in order to prove it by a carefulselection and manipulation of facts would not discredit survey as ameans to the attainment of truth; it would only discredit and debase themoral character of the man who made such a survey. 

2. The survey here treated of is missionary survey, that is to say, ittreats of missions and is governed by a missionary purpose. And it is asurvey of Christian missions; therefore it is governed by the purpose ofspreading the knowledge of Christ. This statement is of great importanceand needs to be carefully conned before it is accepted, because by itmissionary survey will be distinguished from all other survey. Forinstance, medical boards survey medical institutions. Their soleconcern is whether those institutions are well found and efficient. [1]But when a missionary surveys a missionary hospital (if the principlewhich we propound is accepted), he surveys it not _qua_ medicalestablishment but _qua_ missionary utensil. The object is not to findout the medical efficiency of the hospital, but its missionaryeffectiveness. It may be answered that a medically inefficient hospitalcannot be truly effective from a missionary point of view. That may betrue; but it is not certainly true. Whether it is true or not, that doesnot alter the fact that an efficient medical establishment is notnecessarily effective from a missionary point of view; it is notnecessarily either missionary or Christian at all. Then to surveymedical missions simply as medical institutions is to ignore their realsignificance. Missionary survey must relate the information asked for tothe missionary purpose; and unless it is so related the survey is amedical survey, not a missionary survey. The same holds good ofeducational work, and of pastoral work. 

[Footnote 1: We could produce surveys of medical and educational missionwork which are essentially of this character, dealing solely withmedical and educational efficiency. ]

3. The survey here proposed is designed for all societies so far as thesocieties can be persuaded to supply the information. It would perhapsbe more simple to provide statistical returns for one society of whichthe ecclesiastical organisation is known and the ecclesiastical termsused consequently fixed. But survey of the work of a society, invaluableand necessary as that is for a society, is not sufficient by itself. Itis essential to-day that we should be able to place our work in theworld in relation to all the missionary work done. We can no longerafford to ignore the work of others and to plan our missions as thoughother missions did not exist. As we try to point out from time to timeno society can act rightly in ignorance of another's work. Therefore wehave attempted to design a survey which would show what is the work ofany mission in such a form that its work can be related in some sort tothe missionary work of all, and not only to the other missions of itsown society. 

4. Seeing that all survey is scientifically governed by the object forwhich it is made, it is essential that in a survey such as we proposethe end for which it is made should be stated in each case as clearlyand definitely as possible. This involves often such a definition ofthe end as implies a certain missionary policy. Realising this, we havenot hesitated to set forth the policy implied in the terms which we useand the questions which we ask. [1] We are well aware that this lays usopen to attack from men who may question the policy and dispute thevalue of the survey. It would be far more easy to set down simply thefacts which we think any true survey should contain, leaving themunrelated to one another, so that no one could tell exactly what we weredriving at. This is the common plan. Men say they want to know the factsof the missionary situation, any facts, all facts, indiscriminately, andthey draw up a list of all the facts that they can think of and issue a_questionnaire_ which leaves the compiler of the answers in completeignorance concerning the purpose of the questions. Such heaps ofinformation might be used anyhow if they were really complete; but infact since they have not been designed for any definite use they aregenerally deficient for any definite use, and remain mere masses ofinformation on which no true judgments can be based. So far fromrevealing the missionary situation they obscure it. We have, therefore, taken the risk of explaining why we want each piece of information, howwe think it might be used, and have drawn our tables in such a form thatit is actually seen at work. By so doing we open the door at once, bothfor intelligent co-operation and intelligent opposition. We frankly makecriticism easy; we invite it; for we believe that frank criticism on thebasis of agreed facts is extremely fruitful. 

[Footnote 1: It does not follow that we approve the policy implied. ]

We may well acknowledge that the aim which above all others has appealedto us is the aim of the establishment in the world of a ChristianChurch, native, indigenous, living, self-supporting, self-governing, self-extending, independent of foreign aid. That has no doubt colouredour work and will perhaps render it less acceptable to some; for thefacts which must be included in a survey which accepts that aim areprecisely the facts which societies do not now tabulate and are oftenestimated with some difficulty. 

But though this thought has inevitably governed our conception of surveyand we have made no attempt to conceal it, we have nevertheless tried toavoid the danger of selecting for survey only those facts which mightserve to support a theory of the method by which that aim is to beattained; and we have kept in our minds constantly the needs of menwhose idea of the aim of foreign missions differs from our own. 

5. Missionary survey must justify itself by assisting definitely andclearly those who make it and those who have to direct and supportmissionary work in all parts of the world. The first question which weought to answer in every case where our help is asked is this: "What dowe want to do? What is our purpose in doing anything at all here?" Thesecond question is: "What must we know to enable us to act discreetlyand wisely in this case? What facts are properly to be taken intoaccount in this matter?" The first question is the question of aim, thesecond is the question of relation. Suppose we say that we want to sendour missionaries where they are most needed, what information must wehave to direct us? First we must know what we mean by need, what kind ofneed we are to put first in our thoughts; that is the question ofdefinition of aim. Then, how shall we decide where that need is greatestat the present time, for us, that is, within our possibility of activeassistance; that is the question of relation. The facts of need as wedefine it must be related and compared. The survey of which we speak asnecessary for an intelligent understanding of foreign missions mustprovide these facts in a form easily grasped and understood and comparedfor different countries and districts, so that those who direct actionand those who support the action may be able to do so with reason, notbeing guided merely by the most influential voice or the loudest shout. 

6. To serve this purpose survey must have twofold aspect. It must be areview of the present state of the work, it must also be a review of thepresent position of the work. It is a review of the state of the work, the stations, the converts, the Church; it is a review of the position, the progress made compared with the work to be done. But the statevaries, the position changes, and action must be taken continually. 

The survey, therefore, should be not simply a single act but a continualprocess. Mission work is not a task which can be undertaken and finishedon a predetermined plan, like the construction of a railway. It is atask the conditions of which vary from time to time, and consequentlyplans and policies and methods must vary, and this variation can onlybe rational if it is determined by recognition of the changingcircumstances, and the change of circumstances can only be understoodand appreciated if the survey of missions is a continuous process keptconstantly up to date. It is a form of mission history in which theomission of a few years may break the connection of the whole narrative. 

7. (i) It may perhaps cause surprise to some that the information forwhich we ask is mainly such as can be expressed in a statistical form. But the fact remains that all statesmanship (and foreign missionsinvolve large elements of statesmanship), and all organised effort (andforeign missions are highly organised), is in the world always basedeither upon carefully compiled statistics, or upon guess work; and thatthe business which is directed by guess work does not enjoy the sameconfidence as the business which is directed by knowledge derived fromcarefully compiled statistics. 

Take, for example, this extract from a letter written by a firm in theUnited States of America which deals with candy securities:--

The candy business, the history of which shows a remarkable record offreedom from failure, is to-day enjoying unparalleled prosperity, andthere is every reason to believe that the present high earnings of allthe large candy concerns in the United States will continueindefinitely. Those fortunate enough to hold shares in well-establishedcandy manufacturing concerns may expect, therefore, to enjoy largerearnings than could reasonably be expected from funds placed in mostother enterprises. _Prohibition is proving a tremendous factor inincreasing candy sales. Best estimates show that the American public isnow spending between $800, 000, 000 and $1, 000, 000, 000 annually forcandy_. ---- & Co. Are specialists in the candy and sugar securities. Wemaintain a statistical department, and endeavour to furnish informationconcerning all of the prominent issues based on these industries. Youare invited to avail yourself of this service, and if you are interestedin any candy or sugar stock, we will be pleased to have you confer withus. This department now has in preparation an analysis of the candy andsugar situation as it exists to-day in the United States. Interestingdata is also being collected from most reliable sources, giving figuresand statistics for the world. The number of copies which we arepreparing for general distribution is limited. If you will sign theenclosed card, and return it to us, we will take pleasure in extendingto you the courtesy of a copy of this analysis free of charge. 

When individuals work individually, for themselves, as they please, statistics are only necessary for the onlooker who wants to compareindividual effort with individual effort; the individuals who want tomake no comparison of their own work with that of others, nor to keepany record of the progress of their work, need keep no statistics; butsocieties always want to keep a record of their work, and that recordmust be largely statistical. 

It is vain to attack statistics to-day. Every society publishesstatistical sheets. Every society by publishing them shows that itrecognises the value of statistics. The difficulty to-day is not thatthe societies do not publish statistics, but that the statistics whichthey publish are not related to any aim or purpose, and do not includefactors or standards which enable us to measure progress. 

(ii) It may also cause surprise that we ask for estimates in some caseswhere exact information is not immediately accessible. It may be saidthat statistics are misleading, but estimates are hopelessly misleading:let us have correct figures or none. That attitude is easily understood, but under the circumstances it is vain. "Correct figures, " that is, meticulously exact figures, are unattainable. An estimate is in nearlyall matters of daily life and business the basis, and rightly the basis, of our action. It will be noticed that in that letter which we quotedabove concerning the statistics of the candy trade in the United Statesof America, estimates had a place, and foreign missions involve mattersabout which "correct figures" are more difficult to obtain than thecandy business. An estimate carefully made and understood, a deliberatestatement expressed in round numbers, is not unscientific: it is onlyunscientific to mistake such figures for what they do not profess to be. When men object that the figures are not exact, if the figures do notprofess to be exact, it is the objector who is unscientific, not thestatistics. 

Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that the admission of estimates andround figures does open the door to serious error. Men will be temptedto mistake an estimate for a guess. An estimate is a statement for whichreasons can be given, a guess is--a mere guess. The great safeguardagainst guesses, as against all slipshod statistical entries, is theassurance that the statements made will be used. At present missionarystatistics are untrustworthy mainly because so few people use them, andconsequently those who supply them do not feel the need of revising themcarefully. 

Furthermore, it is important to bear in mind that the field for estimatein statistics of the kind proposed is limited; it only embraces figuresfor which exact totals are unobtainable, for instance, area, population, and figures of societies which refuse to give statistics, etc. , and inevery case precision in these statistics is not of vital importance. 

(iii) The main difference between our tables and those of others is thatwe make them very small and express in each a relation. The figuressupplied by the societies in their reports are seldom related toanything; they are mere bundles of sticks; we suggest the introductionof a relation into every table which gives to each figure a significancewhich by itself it does not possess. In our tables every figure is setto work. Our idea of missionary statistics demands that they should be abasis for action. We think that it is waste of time to collectstatistics from which no conclusion can be certainly drawn both by thecompiler and the reader--a conclusion which ought to be suggestive whentaken alone by itself, and, when considered in relation to theconclusions suggested by similar tables, compelling. 

But it may be said that we are adding to the already overwhelming burdenof accounts and reports over which missionaries toil to the greatdetriment of their proper work. The tables in this book are arrangedapparently for the worker on the spot as well as for the intelligentsupporter and director at home; why multiply tables and trouble themissionary with the sums of proportion? Why not ask the man there simplyto give the necessary facts and then let the man at home work out forspecial purposes the various relations? The answer is simple: weourselves have been asked to fill up long schedules of unrelated facts;and we know that the labour is intolerable. The supply of unrelated, meaningless facts dulls and wearies the brain. Few men can do the workwith pleasure or profit, and consequently the schedules are often filledup, not indeed with deliberate carelessness, but with that heavypainfulness which, taking no interest in the work, often produces aspitiful a result as downright carelessness. "Thou shalt not muzzle theox that treadeth out the corn" is a maxim which has a great applicationhere. The man who provides the information should be the first to profitby it and to be interested in it. The first man to criticise thesetables should be the missionary who fills them up on the spot; and hismost valuable criticism might be a demonstration that the last column ina table was futile; that the table led him to no conclusions andsuggested no remarks. That column of conclusions and remarks we hold tobe the most precious of them all. We would have no man supplymeaningless information. Only, we believe, when the information is ofvital importance and interest to the man who supplies it will it besupplied carefully, correctly, willingly, and above all, intelligently. We venture to hope that our tables may be one step towards the day whenthe supply of statistical information by the missionary will cease to bemere drudgery. 

(iv) Seeing that the missionary task is essentially world-wide, it isobvious that a world-wide work cannot be properly directed without aworld-wide view. Now, missionary survey is in its infancy, and in mostparts of the world it has yet to be begun. A full and completemissionary survey of the whole world would necessarily be a considerableundertaking, for many important facts could not be easily or quicklycollected. There is then a strong tendency for men to argue that, sinceall the facts desirable cannot be known at once without much time andexpense, it is futile and dangerous to collect those facts which can becollected speedily without great expense. A little knowledge, they say, is a dangerous thing . . . Let us remain ignorant. 

We would venture to suggest that a little knowledge is only dangerouswhen it is mistaken for much knowledge; that it is far better to act onknowledge which can be obtained than to act in total ignorance, blindly. Where we must act it is our duty to know all that we can know, and if, because we cannot collect all the information that we should wish topossess, we refuse to collect that information which we can obtain, because we realise that it will be incomplete, we commit a serious moraland intellectual crime. If we can know only one factor out of onehundred, we offend if we refuse to know that one. We must act. We haveno right to shut our eyes to knowledge which ought to guide our actionbecause we are aware that action taken on that one factor will beinsufficiently guided. The one factor is an important one and mustinfluence our action, and would influence our action if we knew all theother factors. We ought to allow it to influence our action even inignorance of the other factors. 

In daily life we habitually act on partial knowledge, and we shouldthink that man mad who urged us to refuse to be guided by our partialknowledge until our knowledge was complete; we should think a man madwho, being under necessity to act, refused to know what he could know, because he was aware that fuller knowledge might lead him to modify hisaction. Now missionaries and missionary societies are acting and mustact, and the refusal to collect the information which they can obtain isas culpable as the ignorance of a man who refuses to attend to the oneword "poison" printed on the label of a bottle which he can read, because he cannot read the name of the stuff written on the label. 

Yet it is very commonly argued that unless survey can be made complete, unless, that is, every factor which we can think of as exercising aninfluence on our action is duly weighed, it is futile to survey thelarger, commoner, and more easily accessible factors. This objectionrecurs again and again, and unless it can be put out of the way it mustprejudice missionary survey. It would be wise, it would be right, tocollect information on only one point, if that were all that we coulddo. It would be better than to rest content with total ignorance. Nevertheless, when anyone collects with care statistics on anyparticular point, he is certain to meet the objection that his labourought to be ignored because he has not collected information aboutsomething else. As if total ignorance were preferable to partialknowledge! Is there any answer to the argument, that "Where ignorance isbliss 'tis folly to be wise, " when supported by "A little knowledge is adangerous thing, " other than Dr. Arnold's maxim, "Where it is our dutyto act it is also our duty to learn"?

(v) We have not been careful to avoid asking for details of which we arewell aware that the statistics do not now exist. We have thought it ourduty rather to point out the information necessary for arriving at rightconclusions than to mislead our readers by pretending that it ispossible to form judgments and act properly without taking the troubleto collect information which is really necessary. This is nocontradiction of the argument which we set forth that partialinformation is better than none, but it does warn the surveyor thatblanks in the forms leave him not fully equipped, and that steps oughtto be taken to secure information without which his conclusions areuncertain. 

CHAPTER III. 

STATION DISTRICT SURVEY. 

THE WORK TO BE DONE, AND THE FORCE TO DO IT. 

Missionary work is presented to us here at home mainly at two points;the one, work at a mission station, the other, the condition and needsof a country or of a continent. In the one case we hear a great dealabout the missionary's life and work; in the other we hear about greatproblems, religious, moral, social, and very little about the facts ofthe work. 

We propose to begin with the mission station and to set down theinformation which we need, in order that we may take an intelligentinterest in the work at the station, viewed by itself, as progress ismade towards the immediate object of its existence; and then we proposeto look at it in relation to other stations in the province or country, both comparatively to see how they differ, and as parts of a whole, tosee what is the position of the Church in the province or country, andwhat place each station occupies in the work done in the larger whole. 

When we look at the mission station viewed by itself, the first questionwhich we ask is: Has the station any defined area, district, or parish, connected with it in which it is the business of the missionaries topreach the Gospel and establish the Church? If the answer to thatquestion is, "Yes, it has, " and that answer would very commonly begiven, then at once we get our feet on firm ground. We can start oursurvey on a territorial basis; and with a common territorial basis wecan immediately compare the work of one station with that done atanother station. We have further a _terminus ad quem_, and in our surveywe can tell whether progress is in that direction and how rapid it is. 

We can do this, because the definition of a parish or district impliesthe recognition on the part of those who define the parish or district, of the purpose, if not the duty, of preaching the Gospel andestablishing the Church in the area of that parish or district. The meredefinition of the area, therefore, implies a policy for the missionwhich defines the area and for the station for which the area isdefined. For such a station, therefore, we design our first survey, theobject of the survey being to discover how far the work of the stationis succeeding in performing the task which it obviously undertook whenit accepted the definition of area. 

1. We begin then by surveying the position of the work in the stationdistrict extensively: we ask--What is the relation between the work doneand the work remaining to be done? We ask this question in two forms;first, in terms of the cities, towns, and villages which lie in thestation area, and secondly, in terms of population. We ask the questionin this double form because we believe that by this means the surveyorwill obtain a clear view of the situation and will be able easily to seewhat has been done in relation to the work yet to be done, and it is therelation of those two that is most illuminating. If these tables wereconstantly revised the progress of the work could be traced from year toyear easily and helpfully. Put side by side they illuminate each other, and each affords a check upon the other. Progress in numbers inproportion to population and progress in the number of places occupiedshould often properly advance side by side. Progress in numbers inproportion to population without any increase in the number of placesoccupied may often occur; progress in the number of places occupiedwithout a corresponding increase of the Christian population inproportion to the non-Christian population may also occur, and each mustgive the missionary food for thought. The tables are simple, dealingwith bare numerical proportions:--

------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Number of| Number of | | | Date of | Occupied | Unoccupied| Work toDistrict. | Area. | Foundation| Cities, | Cities, | be Done. | | of Station. | Towns, | Towns, | | | | Villages. | Villages. |------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | |_________|_______|_____________|___________|____________|__________

By "occupied" we mean places where there are resident Christians, few ormany. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Total | Total | Total |Work to | RemarksPopulation. | Christian | Non-Christian | be Done. | and | Constituency. | Constituency. | |Conclusions. -------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |___________|_______________|________________|__________|____________

By _Christian Constituency_ we mean the total number of people who callthemselves Christian in the area in question. They may not be baptised, they may be mere inquirers or hearers; but if asked their religion theywould call themselves Christians rather than anything else. 

The reasons why we adopt this extremely wide expression are: (1) Somesocieties, whose members are undeniably Christian in morals and thought, do not baptise adults; many societies do not baptise infants; yet theseunbaptised people are certainly not heathen; they certainly do notbelong to any other religious organisation than the Christian. Again, some societies baptise very much more freely than others, and count asmembers large numbers of people whom other societies would consider tobe in the position of inquirers or hearers. Consequently any justcomparison between different areas in which different societies areworking is impossible unless a very wide expression is employed, and avery wide interpretation given to it. 

(2) The Christian cause, both for good and evil, is largely influencedby the existence of these unbaptised. They are called Christian, theyare considered to be such by their heathen neighbours, they sufferpersecution often with the other Christians when any outbreak occurs. Their numbers and conduct exercise a wide influence in the society inwhich they live, for or against the progress of the Christian faith. 

(3) The attitude of these people to the Christian missionary is quitedifferent from that of the heathen. They acknowledge Christ as the oneDivine Teacher and Lord. The missionary cannot count them as belongingto the heathen; he cannot approach them as the teacher of a newreligion. He must approach them as an exponent of the religion whichthey already profess. However inadequate and confused their ideas aboutChristian theology and practice may be, they expect to receive from aChristian teacher instruction in their own religion, and that religionis a religion common to him and to them. Consequently to omit them fromthe Christian constituency is to do an injustice to them, and tomisrepresent the true facts of the case. 

(4) In many areas two or more societies are at work and their conceptionof the qualifications for the name of Christian differ. In a survey eachsociety is tempted to ignore the members of the other, and to reckon asChristians only those who fulfil the conditions which are applied by theone society. So certain Protestant societies ignore all Roman Catholics;but that for the reasons already stated is most misleading, for whenpersecution arises Protestants and Roman Catholics alike suffer for theName of Christ. Whatever the members of another society may be, they arecertainly not heathen; the heathen deny them. Consequently they cannotproperly be counted with the heathen by any surveyor who wishes topresent the facts. 

For these reasons we have been compelled to adopt a very wideexpression, and the expression used by the China Continuation Committeeseemed to be sufficiently elastic to serve our purpose. Nevertheless, toavoid error as far as possible, when we institute comparisons betweenChristian and non-Christian population, we introduce side by side withthe total Christian Constituency the total Communicants (or FullMembers), which is a valuable check. 

Take then an example. The figures here given are obviously not thefigures of a station area; they are figures for a province; but theyserve to illustrate the point. We cannot fill up the area table; we canonly supply figures for the population. 

---------------------------------------- Population. : Total : Total Non- : Christians. : Christians. ---------------------------------------- 32, 571, 000 : 534, 238 : 2, 036, 762----------------------------------------

Now, here of the 534, 238 Christians 500, 655 are Roman Catholics, theProtestants numbering 33, 583. The Roman Catholics in this area beganwork about 300 years earlier than the Protestants. Are we to eliminatethem?

Are all these 33, 583 Protestants more worthy of the name of Christianthan some of the Roman Catholics? Or shall we eliminate some of the33, 583? If so, how many, and on what grounds? Is not the denial of theName to those who claim to be servants of Christ absurd? Are there notenough non-Christians to be converted?

Suppose the Roman Catholic figures to be an estimate. Is it not plainthat in dealing with considerable areas estimates may be useful thoughfaulty? How little difference in the work to be done does an error inthat estimate make? Knock off or add on 50, 000 and is the work to bedone seriously affected? It is true that in some calculations an errorof that magnitude might mislead us somewhat, but hardly enough tovitiate our whole view of the situation, especially if we carefullycheck our conclusions by the results of other tables given later. 

At the first glance these figures produce the impression that verylittle has been done. In the beginning, and that was many years ago, there were over 32 million non-Christians; there are over 32 millionto-day. But let us look at proportions and see what a differentimpression is produced. 

----------------------------------------------------------- Population. : Total : Total Non- : Proportion : Christians. : Christians. : of Christians to : : : Non-Christians. ----------------------------------------------------------- 32, 571, 000 : 534, 238 : 32, 036, 762 : 1 to 60-----------------------------------------------------------

One Christian to every sixty non-Christians gives us a totally differentimpression. We begin to feel that if only the Christians awoke to theirduty they could influence the whole population profoundly. That isprecisely the effect produced upon the Christians by a missionary surveyundertaken with them, and understood by them; they begin to see theimmensity of the work to be done, they begin to see that it can be done. 

There should properly then here be two tables parallel to the first two. Thus:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Number of | Number of | | | Occupied | Unoccupied | Proportion of |RemarksArea. | Cities, Towns, | Cities, Towns, | Occupied to |and | Villages. | Villages. | Unoccupied. |Conclusions. ------|----------------|----------------|---------------|------------ | | | |______|________________|________________|_______________|____________

----------------------------------------------------------------------Total | Total | Total Non- | Proportion of | RemarksPopulation. | Christian | Christian | Christian to | and | Population. | Population. | Non-Christian. |Conclusions. ------------|-------------|-------------|----------------|------------ | | | |____________|_____________|_____________|________________|____________

Observe what light is thrown upon a district by the mere juxtapositionof those few facts. I think those two tables alone should suffice toprove that a survey which regarded only a very few factors might be ofimmense service, if those who used it kept clearly before them itspartial character and did not allow themselves to treat it as complete. 

But, unfortunately, these first facts which we have desired are, likeother facts of importance, procured only with difficulty and toil. Inorder to fill up the preceding tables the missionary surveyor must beable to state what is the area and what the population in the stationdistrict. But some could not supply that information. Its acquisitionmight involve a journey of many months given up to careful examinationand inquiry. It is no small demand to make. In many cases a reasonedestimate is indeed the only possible statement; but as we have alreadyargued careful estimates are invaluable, and where a census does notexist they give us for the time something to work upon. 

Where the physical survey can be undertaken it is most illuminatingwork, illuminating both to the missionaries and to their native helpers, who often gain an entirely new view of their work and its possibilitiesfrom such personal examination. Testimony to the value of thisexperience is growing daily in weight and volume. 

This physical survey would naturally result in the production of a mapof the area in which the cities, towns, and villages in the stationdistrict were marked with notes on their character from the missionarypoint of view. In this map all places where Christians resided, wherethere were Christian congregations, churches, preaching places, schools, hospitals, dispensaries, etc. , would be marked. It would be a pictorialpresentation of the facts so far as they were capable of expression inmap form. 

But whether in map form or in statistical form, the area and thepopulation for which the mission is working must be expressed either byexact figures or by estimates if we are to trace progress. 

If these tables were kept over a number of years, the missionaries onthe spot and directors and inquirers at home would be able to see whatprogress was being made towards fulfilling the obligation implied by thedefinition of the station area or district, and what that obligationinvolved. 

II. When we know the work to be done we turn to the consideration of theforce available. This force consists of permanent and more or lesstemporary members. Some will in all human probability remain in theplace till they die; they are of it, they belong to it; others willprobably depart elsewhere; they are not of the place; they speak of homeas far away; they are liable to removal; sickness which does not killthem takes them away; the call of friends or business carries them backto their own land; they are strangers all their days in the missiondistrict. Nevertheless, they are generally the moving, active force;upon them progress seems to depend. It is strange, but it is truegenerally: the permanent is the passive element, the impermanent is theactive. Here we simply state the fact to excuse or condemn the placingof the missionary force first in our tables. First it is to-day. 

We need then a table of the foreign missionary force. In its form itwill be a mere statement of proportions. The proportions are essentialin order to make comparison between one area and another possible; andcomparison is the sweet savour of survey. We cannot compare the work ofthree men labouring among an unstated population with the work of twoother men working in an unstated population; the moment that theproportions are worked out the cases can be compared. But some mendetest this purely quantitative comparison. They insist, and rightly, that there is no true equality in the comparison. One man differs fromanother man and his work differs from the work of the other man: overlarge areas it is often the work of one man among many which reallysaves the situation. It is quite true. In the last resort survey becomessurvey of personalities. But in a survey of the kind which we propose, survey of personalities is impossible and most undesirable. 

The survey proposed cannot deal with personalities, but that does notinvalidate the importance of the information asked for. Such formsreceived from many different stations would certainly throw light on theserious question of reinforcement. It is of course obvious thatreinforcements could not be allotted rightly on such slight evidence asthe proportion of missionaries to the population of a district. Thequestion is not whether reinforcements could be allotted on this factoralone; but whether they could be allotted rightly in ignorance of it. Taken in conjunction with the preceding and following tables, this tablewould reveal something that we may call _need_ in a purely quantitativeexpression, and comparative need should certainly influence theallotment of reinforcements. Though the statement of need in this tableis indeed utterly insufficient by itself, it is nevertheless true thatno statement of comparative need which ignored the proportions here setout would be satisfactory. This quantitative expression is notsufficient; but no statement is sufficient without it, and, as often, sohere, it is the proportion rather than the actual figures which makecomparison possible:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Total |Proportion |Proportion | RemarksDistrict. |Popula- | Foreign | to | of Women | and | tion. |Missionaries. |Population. | to |Conclusions. | | | |Population. |---------|--------|-------------|-----------|-----------|------------ | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

We turn now to the permanent Christian force in the district. We want toknow what is the force. We ask, therefore, that the total Christianconstituency may be accepted as the first expression of the nativeforce. The progress of the Gospel is most seriously affected by thewhole number of those who in any sense call themselves Christians. Theyare the force in the place which influences the heathen for or againstit. It is of the utmost importance that they should be reckoned first, and treated first, as the force which above all others works slowly, quietly, imperceptibly, but mightily. The whole body of those whoprofess and call themselves Christians should be put in the very firstplace. 

Then the communicants (or full members) are commonly the body to whichall turn for voluntary zealous effort. The communicants are the strengthof the Church. We compare them next with the work to be done. Then thepaid workers. Then the voluntary unpaid workers, recognised as such. 

The difficulty of calculating the unpaid voluntary workers is indeedvery great. We know of no definition which would serve to give anyuniformity to returns made by different missions. We recognise thatdifferent missions would make the returns on different bases. Weearnestly desire a common definition, which all might accept. But underexisting circumstances it seems impossible to find one. Nevertheless, without some statement of the number of voluntary workers, we are, as weshall see, in grave danger of misjudging the situation and wronging ourmissionaries and the native Christians. For the time then we suggestthat it would be far better to accept the returns given to us by themissionaries on their own basis, asking them to append a note to thereturn explaining how they calculated their voluntary force. We shouldthen have the following table:--

_The Native Force_. 

_(a) The Christian Constituency_. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------District. |Population. |Christian |Proportion to |Remarks and | |Constituency |Non-Christian |Conclusions. | | |Population. |------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

_(b) The Communicants or Full Members_. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------District. | Population. | Communicants. | Proportion to | Remarks and | | | Non-Christian | Conclusions | | | Population. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

_(c) The Paid Workers. _

---------------------------------------------------------------------District. | Population. | Paid Workers. | Proportion to | Remarks and | | | Non-Christian | Conclusions | | | Population. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

_(d) The Unpaid Workers. _

-----------------------------------------------------------------District. | Population. | Unpaid | Proportion to | Remarks and | | Workers. | Non-Christian | Conclusions. | | | Population. |----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

Here again it is the proportions which are illuminating and enablecomparisons of different areas to be made. The bare figures of thenumber of Christians and communicants and workers by themselves wouldtell us very little; only when we have them related to a common factordo we get any real light. 

Let us now sum up our inquiry thus far. 

+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Work to be Done: Non-Christian Population. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Untouched, Unoccupied Villages. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Foreign Force Compared with Work to be Done. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Native Force Compared with Work to be Done. |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+ Christian Constituency. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+ Communicants. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+ Paid Workers. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+ Unpaid Voluntary Workers. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+

If these tables were kept over a series of years, the progress of theforce in relation to the work to be done would be most interestinglyrevealed. 

But in estimating the Christian force in the district we need to knowmore than its number; we need to know so much of its character asstatistical tables can show. 

One Christian to every 129 heathen may mean much or little. It mightmean that the day when the Christian force would be the controllingforce in the area was close at hand. That would depend largely upon thecapacity of the Christians, their education, their zeal. The tableswhich we now suggest are designed to reveal, so far as tables canreveal, the truth in these matters. 

We begin then with the proportion of communicants in the Christianconstituency. If we take the last table and, instead of considering theproportion of the communicants to the non-Christian population, considerthe proportion of communicants to the Christian constituency, we gain avery different view. We gain then an idea of the character of theChristians. Instead of an idea of the size of the force at work wereceive an impression of the quality of the force. Even one who layslittle stress on the value and necessity of sacraments would not denythat he would expect more from a Church of 1000 in which 500 werecommunicants than he would from a Church of 1000 of which only 100 werecommunicants. He might deny that his expectation was based upon anyfaith in the virtue of sacraments, but he would acknowledge the factthat in our experience the Church which possesses large numbers ofcommunicants is generally stronger than the Church which possesses asmall number. The comparison of the number of communicants in relationto the number of the total Christian constituency does properly producean impression of the strength of the Christian body. 

If we can fill up the table

---------------------------------------------------------------------District. | Total. | Communicants | Proportion of | Remarks and | Christian | or Full | Communicants | Conclusions | Constituency. | Members. | to Christian | | | | Constituency. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

we gain an impression of the strength of the Church. But it is importantto observe that it is only in relation to the earlier tables, which setout the force in relation to the work to be done, that this impressionof strength is of immediate importance to us. We are dealing with amissionary survey, a survey concerned with the propagation of theGospel. The mere strength of the Church, unrelated to any work in whichthe strength is to be employed, is a very different matter. We mighttake pleasure in the sight of it. We might congratulate ourselves andthe missionaries on the beauty of the strength revealed, but not untilit is related to work to be done does strength appear in its true glory. We find in nearly all missionary statistics the number of communicantsand converts set forth, and we often wonder what for. It cannot be thatwe may glory in our conquests and say: See how many converts andcommunicants we have made! But, unrelated to any task to be done, thatis all that appears. Therefore we have instituted this comparison here, in close relation to the earlier tables, that we may know what is theforce on the spot at work in the area defined. 

Next, the proportion of Paid Workers in proportion to the number of theChristian constituency and the communicants is a most illuminatingfactor. By itself it is a difficult factor to appreciate rightly. Suppose we find, as we do sometimes find, that one out of every tencommunicants is a paid worker. That may imply that the proportion ofrice Christians is very high, or it may imply a high standard of zeal, very many of the converts being able and willing to devote themselves toChristian work and at the same time too poor to be able to supportthemselves without pay. This proportion, therefore, should be carefullychecked by a table which shows the proportion of unpaid workers andanother which shows the standard of wealth. But commonly we are giventhe number of paid workers, and given neither the number of unpaidvoluntary workers, nor the standard of wealth, and therefore the dangerof reading amiss the number of paid workers is great. We have alreadyexplained the difficulty of obtaining exact figures, or even estimates, of the number of voluntary unpaid workers, but a mere glance at theproportion of paid workers to communicants should be enough to persuadeany man who desires to judge our work fairly of the necessity for such atable as we now suggest. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------District. | Paid | Proportion | Proportion of | Remarks and | Workers. | of Paid Workers | Paid Workers | Conclusions | | to Christian | to | | | Constituency. | Communicants. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------District. | Unpaid |Proportion |Proportion of | Remarks and | Workers. |of Unpaid Workers|Unpaid Workers | Conclusions | |to Christian |to | | |Constituency. |Communicants. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Proportion of Christian | | | Constituency. According | | | to Local Standard. |---------------------------------------------------------------------District. | Christian | Well | Poor | In | Remarks and | Constituency. | to do. | | Poverty | Conclusions | | | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

There is indeed a way of judging the zeal of native Christians for thepropagation of the Gospel very popular among missionaries, the way oftabulating and comparing the amount which they subscribe for missionarywork. Obviously this method is the form most natural to us, but it isone of the worst conceivable. When a Christian congregation livessurrounded by heathen, for it to learn to satisfy the divine spirit ofmissions by putting money into a box, is most dangerous. The zeal ofChristians for the spread of the Gospel ought always to be expressedfirst in active personal service. We should prefer to omit any questionas to the amount subscribed for missionary work far off. We believe itto be a most delusive and deluding test. It deceives the giver, itdeceives the inquirer. We should prefer to inquire the number of hearersor inquirers brought to the Church by the undirected effort of theChurch members, or the number of Church members who go out to teach orpreach in their neighbourhood, or perhaps best of all, the number oflittle Christian congregations which as a body are actively engaged inevangelising their neighbours. But we admit missionary contributions asan additional question

---------------------------------------------------------------------Christian |Inquirers |Congregations| Amount | Remarks andConstituency. |brought in |Evangelising | Subscribed | Conclusions |by Native |their | for Missionary | |Christians. |Neighbours. | Purposes. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

That a Church must be instructed and instruct its children all areagreed: where men differ is with respect to the manner of the teaching. On the one side are those who would safeguard the faith by committingthe teaching of it to a small body of carefully trained men, the clergy, whilst the majority of the Christians, the laity, remain unlearned andaccept what is taught by the trained official teachers: on the otherside are those who would boldly commit the faith to all, opening to allthe door of learning. The one party would preserve the faith in thehands of a select few, the other would put the Bible into every man'shands. It is an old controversy; but we suppose nearly all those forwhom we write are of the second party, men who would gladly see everyChristian able to read the Bible and to base his religious life upon it. We stand for the open Bible; we believe that the Christian Church inevery country will progress and develop strongly if it is based on awidespread knowledge of Holy Writ, and we are prepared to believe that acapacity to read the Bible is a sure sign of health in any ChristianChurch. The test of literacy commonly adopted in our missions is thecapacity to read the Holy Gospels: we accept that gladly andconfidently. 

Furthermore, the influence of the Christian Church in the country willlargely depend upon the extent to which the Christians are better ableto read and understand literary expression than their heathenneighbours. 

We want then to know the literacy of the Christian community as comparedwith the literacy of the non-Christian population from which it springs, and, if possible, a little more than that--what proportion of theChristians have had a sufficient education to enable them not only tosatisfy the very slight demands of a literary test, but to have somewider knowledge with which to improve their own position and toenlighten others. 

The table which results is as follows:--

---------------------------------------------------------------------Non-Chris-|Propor- |Total |Propor- |Proportion | Remarks andtian |tion of |Christian |tion of |of Christians | Conclusions. Popula- |Liter- |Consti- |Liter- |of Higher | tion. |ates. |tuency. |ates. |Education. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

In this table we touch one of the points on which exact figures areoften inaccessible and an estimate must be made. An estimate which isrecognised as an estimate is not misleading, and, if it is carefullymade and based on evidence understood, is generally most useful, onlyestimates carelessly made and mistaken for precise and accuratestatements of fact are misleading. 

These tables would, we suggest, suffice to give us a fairly clear ideaof the strength of the force at work, especially if they are taken inconjunction with the tables which we suggest under the heading of theNative Church in Chapter VIII. Where we deal particularly withorganisation. 

We ought now to be able to form some idea of the work to be done and ofthe force to do it. We know in quantitative terms the work to be done, we know the relative force of missionaries, we know the relativestrength of the native Christian constituency, its communicants, itsworkers, its education, its wealth, in relation to the work to be done. 

We have now to consider how the force is directed, along what lines itis applied, and how its efforts are co-ordinated. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE EMPHASIS LAID UPON DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORK. 

When we know the area and the force at work in it, we must next considerhow this force is applied. We need to know in what proportion it worksamongst men and women, how far different classes of the population arereached by it, and what emphasis is placed upon different forms of work, evangelistic, medical, and educational. We propose then four tableswhich will help us to understand these things. 

First, we inquire into the relative strength of the force in relation towork among men and women. In the foreign missionary force we distinguishmen, wives, and single women; in the native force we distinguish onlymen and women; because marriage generally affects the character of theforeigner's work more than it affects the character of the work done bythe native Christians who live in their own homes among their ownpeople. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Single | | | | Women and | Remarks and | Men | Wives| Widows | Conclusions---------------------------------------------------------------------Foreign missionaries. | | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | WomenChristian constituency | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Communicants. | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Native workers (paid) | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------

Since it is generally agreed that men in the main appeal to men, andwomen to women, that table should tell us roughly what is the force atwork in relation to men and women; and any mistake in that suppositionwill be checked by the statistics for the Christian constituency, whichserve a double purpose. The statistics of the Christian constituencyshow us not only an important part of the Christian force at work inrelation to the men and women of the non-Christian population; but inrelation to the foreigners and the native workers they also help us tosee how far the idea that men appeal to men and women to women, is infact a good working rule. 

Next it is desirable to know to what classes the mission especiallyappeals. Here we shall probably have to accept estimates, sometimesrough estimates, for part at least of the information desirable; in somecases the table may be impossible; in some it may be most useful. Thetable which we suggest is:--

----------------------------------------------------------------------In the Population of Station District--_____________________________________________________________________Per Cent. |Per Cent. |Per Cent. |Per Cent. | Per Cent. | RemarksStudents. |Officials|Agricultural |Traders. |Labourers, | and | |Small Holders. | |Craftsmen. | Conclusions. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Christian Constituency--

_____________________________________________________________________Per Cent. |Per Cent. |Per Cent. |Per Cent. | Per Cent. | RemarksStudents. |Officials|Agricultural |Traders. |Labourers, | and | |Small Holders. | |Craftsmen. | Conclusions. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

If that table could be filled up it would show at a glance what class ofthe people was reached most easily and fully, and whether any wereunduly neglected. 

Then, in many station areas there are divergencies of race andreligion, and it is important to know how far the mission is reachingeach of these. In some areas, for instance, large numbers of convertsare made from the pagan population whilst a Moslem population in thearea is practically untouched; in some nearly all the converts are madefrom one caste out of many. That is no reason for adverse criticism ofthe mission: it may be, and often is, a reason for striking harder atthe point on which the work is now most successful; but it is a factwhich throws great light on the nature of the work done and upon thecharacter of the Church which is rising in the area, and thereforecannot be ignored. We append then a table to reveal this:--

-------------------------------------------------------------------- | Area of Races, Castes, | Remarks and | Religions, etc. | Conclusions | |Proportion of Population | |--------------------------------------------------------------------Proportion of Christian | |Constituency derived from| |--------------------------------------------------------------------

We cannot possibly supply the table complete for all areas in the world. We suggest that such a table kept up to date would reveal not onlyfacts useful to illustrate the progress of the Christian faith, but alsoto show the progress of aggressive non-Christian religions such asMohammedanism. 

Then we want to know what is the emphasis put on different forms ofmissionary work, evangelistic, medical, educational. Here we come to adifficulty. Medical missionaries, thank God, do evangelistic work, andso do educational missionaries, and one day we shall learn that theevangelistic missionary, technically so called, is doing a mostimportant educational work, and often truly medical, healing work. Thedivision is a technical one and missionary-hearted men begin to resentit; they are all evangelic in their work, if not technicallyevangelistic, and the division seems unreal, unnatural, untrue. It wouldbe a sad day for our missions if medical and educational missionariesceased to be at heart evangelists, and were content to leaveevangelistic work to others. Nevertheless, the technical distinction isa real one and must be expressed. Some men express their evangelisticfervour naturally and providentially in medical form, others inscholastic, others in teaching, preaching, and organising of theconverts and the hearers. But how shall we divide them? The best planseems to be to put each man into that category in which he spends mostof his time, and in cases of doubt to use fractions, e. G. A doctor maybe as keen an evangelist and may preach and strive to convert hispatients as eagerly as his colleague who is called an evangelisticmissionary. An evangelistic missionary is perhaps a doctor by trainingor experience, and heals the sick as eagerly as his colleague who iscalled a medical missionary. Each is unwilling to be catalogued in onecolumn only. He feels, and feels rightly, that that single figure beliesthe facts. The evangelistic missionary may be the only doctor in thewhole area who really understands the use of western drugs andimplements, the doctor may be the only evangelist in the whole area whoreally knows how to preach the Gospel in language which the people canunderstand. Clearly, in such cases the only possible thing to do is touse a fraction, though the inner truth might be more easily expressed byfigures which represented that one man as two or three. 

The table then is as follows:--

-------------------------------------------------------------------Missionaries. | Paid | Amount of| Amount of | Total | Remarks | Native | Foreign | Native | Funds | and | Workers| Funds | Funds | including | Con- | | Spent | Spent | Government| clusions | | on: [1] | on: [2] | Grants. |--------------------------------------------------------------------Evangelistic | | | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------Medical. | | | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------Educational | | | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------Other Forms | | | | |of Work. | | | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------

[Footnote 1: All funds derived from foreigners except Government grants. ]

[Footnote 2: Including fees and contributions. ]

It will be observed that this table is designed, like all the others, toserve primarily one single purpose. Since that purpose is to show therelative weight thrown by the mission and the Christians into differentforms of evangelistic expression, all missionaries, all native workers, all funds mainly occupied in each form are lumped together. There is noneed at this stage to distinguish doctors from nurses, or Bible-womenfrom pastors or priests. 

From these tables we should hope to gain a general idea of the directionof the force at work. 

We thrust in here an inquiry concerning a form of work upon which manymissions lay great stress. It is exceedingly difficult to classify. Itis not certainly evangelistic work, though it is commonly organised byevangelistic workers; it is not educational in the sense thateducational missionaries accept it as a definitely recognised part oftheir work, though educational methods are employed and it often has adistinctly educational purpose. It is sometimes a form of Sunday servicealmost akin to a Church service. It is often a form of children's schoolwhere the religious teaching given, or neglected, during the week in theday school is supplemented: it is sometimes a form of elementary schoolfor adults, Christian, or inquirers: it is a form of Bible school foradult Christian workers. It is a method of propaganda for the conversionof heathen children or adults. It is a form of work where untrainedChristian voluntary workers find opportunity for expressing theirreligious zeal; it is a form of work in which experts in certain typesof elementary religious teaching revel. It is educational work carriedon by those who are not technically educationalists: it is evangelisticwork carried on by those who are not technically evangelists. 

What sort of information then are we to seek concerning it? It is soimportant that it cannot be omitted; it is so widespread that it almostdemands special consideration; it is so protean that tables designed toreveal all its aspects and values would be with difficulty designed, andtediously minute. From the point of view of this survey it would befutile to ask, as most of the societies ask, simply for the number ofSunday schools, the number of teachers, and the number of scholars. Fromthose bare numbers we can gain no information which really enlightensus. We want to know what the Sunday schools exist for, and whether theyare accomplishing the object of their existence. But we cannot define, nor even enumerate all the objects. We therefore arbitrarily selectthree which are directly related to the establishment of a nativeChurch, and make one table serve. We inquire: (1) How they are relatedto the Christian constituency; from this we hope to learn the extent towhich Sunday schools are a part of the Church life. (2) How the teachersare related to the communicants (or full members); from this we hope tolearn the extent to which the voluntary effort of the communicants findsexpression in this work. (3) How the scholars are related to baptismsand confirmations (or admission as full members); from this we hope tolearn to what extent the Sunday-schools are a recruiting ground for theChurch. 

The table then is as follows:--

+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+District | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Number of Sunday Schools. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Proportion of Sunday Schools to Christian Constituency. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Sunday School Teachers. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Proportion of Communicants. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Sunday School Scholars. (M. /F. ) | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Proportion of Sunday School Scholars | |Baptised in the Year. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Proportion of Scholars Confirmed | |or Admitted Full Members in the Year. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Remarks and Conclusions. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+

CHAPTER V. 

MEDICAL WORK IN THE STATION DISTRICT. 

Thus far of the force in its general aspect. When we turn to closerconsideration of the medical and educational work we meet with adifficulty. Medical and educational work, as we have already pointedout, often, if not generally, have a definitely evangelistic character, but each, nevertheless, appears to be designed to meet a special need ofthe Church and people. There is a strong tendency in thought, and oftenin speech, to emphasise this special need and to make it a distinct, separate need. Herein lies a danger. Medical missions are sometimesurged upon our attention as though they were founded to meet a medicalneed of the people, as if it were the recognised and accepted duty ofmissionary societies and of missionaries to supplant the native medicalpractice by western scientific methods as certainly and fully as it istheir recognised and accepted duty to supplant native religion by thefaith of Christ. But that we for our part emphatically deny. The one maybe a philanthropic duty; the other certainly is a religious duty. Consequently we deny that there is a medical need which it is the dutyof missionaries to supply in the sense in which we affirm that there isa religious need which it is the duty of missionaries to supply. Medicalmissions are, and ought to be, evangelistic in their aim, merehandmaids[1] of evangelism. Similarly we deny a separate and distincteducational need which it is the duty of missionary societies to supply. The missionary societies ought not to take upon themselves the supply ofevery need. We think the Christian Church is misled when it allows themedical need of a country to be presented as a distinct need which it isthe duty of missionaries to meet, and when it allows the ignorance of acountry to be presented as a distinct need which it is the duty ofmissionaries to meet. From such a presentation educational missionsbecome detached, medical missions become detached, each designed to meeta distinct and separate need of the people. 

[Footnote 1: If any reader experiences a revulsion at this expression, he will know at once what we mean when we say that a distinction hasbeen drawn between evangelistic, medical, and educational missions asthough they were three co-equal and separate things. They are notco-equal and they ought not to be separate. Education does notnecessarily reveal Christ, medical science does not necessarily revealChrist, only as education and medicine assist the revelation of Christare they proper subjects for Christian missionary enterprise, that is, only when they are clearly and unmistakably subordinate to anevangelistic purpose. Of course we do not undervalue medical andeducational efficiency: efficiency should increase evangelistic power. ]

One result of the sharp distinction which is drawn between medical andeducational and evangelistic work is that in some countries there aredistinct medical and educational associations which collect informationabout the state of medical and educational missions in the country, dealing with these missionary activities most prominently, if notwholly, from the point of view of medical and educational efficiency. These associations issue _questionnaires_ and publish reports often morefull, detailed, and carefully compiled than any evangelistic reports. Consequently it is peculiarly dangerous for a layman unacquainted withthe working of these associations to trespass upon their preserves. These departmental surveys should be treated separately by experts. Nevertheless, since we are dealing with the work of the station in itsarea, and this work includes often medical and educational work, wecannot pass over it with no more than the general treatment which wehave hitherto given. We need to know what is the medical and what theeducational work carried on at the station, when these are viewed, asthey are viewed, separately, as distinct expressions of missionary zeal. 

Dealing first with medical missions we suppose that the question mightbe put in this form, What are the medical missionary resources availablein the district in relation to the need which it is proposed to meet?

Here again there arises the difficulty that there is no common agreementas to the purpose of the medical work of the missionary societies. Whatare the doctors there for? What does the hospital exist to do? Who cantell? So diverse are the ideas of different men on this subject, solittle thought out, that a man of unusual experience told us that he hadmet few missionary doctors who could answer the question: "On the basisof what facts ought the question of the establishment of a hospital tobe decided?" Few could tell him whether in sending doctors themissionary societies ought to consider the duty of caring for thehealth of their missionaries first or last. Few could tell him whetherthe care of the health of the children in schools and institutions wasthe first duty, or the last, or any duty at all, of the medicalmissionary. Yet obviously, those two points if they were once admittedwould influence largely the location of doctors and hospitals. Again, wehear it argued that missionary societies ought to establish medicalschools, hospitals, and institutions of the finest possible type inorder to show how the thing really ought to be done, to demonstrate thevery best example of western medical work, and to train natives to awestern efficiency. That would not only influence the location ofdoctors and hospitals, it would also affect the character of thebuildings and would demand a special type of medical missionary. Oragain, we hear it argued that medical missions are the point of themissionary sword; but if it is the point of the sword then it ought tobe in front of the blade. That, too, would direct the location of thedoctors and hospitals. It would also affect the character of thebuilding unless the missionary sword is to become an immovable object, which having once cleft a rock remains fast in the breach until aGod-sent hero, like King Arthur, appears to pull it out and set it towork again. We cannot state all the different aims. They are not simpleand formulated; they are complex and confused. Very often theestablishment of a medical mission turns upon no more thoroughexamination of the facts of the situation than the conviction of acapable missionary that there is need for medical work in his district, and that he must supply it if he can, and that he must persevere inappeals till he can supply it. When a man asks: "On the basis of whatfacts ought this or that to be done in the mission field?" he has got along way into the complexity of the problem, and the need for survey, ifa society is to act with wisdom, is already apparent to him. But mostmen in the past have acted simply, without much argument: they said, "Here is a need; I can supply it, " and the societies were the feeders ofsuch men. Naturally. So one hospital and a doctor was the point of asword which in twenty years' time was stuck fast in the rock; and thenthe hospital was enlarged and became a medical school under the ferventdirection of a doctor who was a natural teacher; and then it became aninstitution, and then part of a college. And in all this there may havebeen no definite policy, any more than there was any definite policy inthe guidance of its twin brother, which, instead of changing itscharacter, remained what it had always been, the point of a sword, onlyburied in a rock, competing feebly with a Government institution. Whenone writes of mixed motives, and mixed policies, and mixed methods, itis natural to use mixed metaphors. 

But to return to our point. It is not easy to say what some hospitalsare there for. If we knew, we could at least formulate tables to set outthe progress which they have made towards the object proposed. Thatwould be reasonable survey as we have defined it. To collect allpossible information concerning all the things which the doctor orhospital might do, or may be doing, unrelated to any end, is to collecta mass of information which we cannot use; and that we have declined todo. What course then can we pursue? We propose first to accept thenotion that the medical mission is there to supply a medical need of thepeople, and to consider how far it does that; and then to look at themedical work at the station as definitely designed to assist theevangelisation of the people, as evangelistic in its purpose. We have, therefore, designed a double set of tables to serve these two purposes. 

First, tables to show the medical work in relation to the presumed needof the district for western medicine. 

Here, as before for evangelistic work, so now for medical, we haveexpressed the relation between the medical work and the district interms both of area and population in order that each table may be acheck upon the other. Thus:--

(i) In terms of area. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Number of| | | | | |Qualified|Number of |Number of |Number of|Number of | |Medicals. |Assistants. |Hospitals. | Nurses. |Dispens- | | | | | |aries. District. |Area. |---------|-----------|----------|---------|--------- | | M. | F. | M. | F. |For | For | M. | F. | | | | | | |men |women| | |---------|-----|----|----|-----|-----|----|-----|----|----|--------- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | |_________|_____|____|____|_____|_____|____|_____|____|____|__________

(ii) In terms of population. 

---------------------------------------------- District. |Population. |---------------------------------------------|Proportion of | | |Medicals to | | |Population. | | |----------------------------------------------Proportion of | | |Assistants to | | |Population. | | |----------------------------------------------Proportion of | | |Nurses to | | |Population. | | |----------------------------------------------Proportion of | | |Beds to | | |Population. | | |----------------------------------------------Proportion of | | |Dispensaries to | | |Population. | | |----------------------------------------------

It will be observed that in this second table the items are notidentical with those in the preceding table. In the place of hospitalswe have beds; because in relation to the area the thing of importance isthe number of the hospitals; but in relation to population the thing ofimportance is the number of beds available. Two hospitals in a singlearea are probably not in the same place and imply more widespreadinfluence; but if each has twenty beds, in proportion to population itis of no importance whether the forty beds are in one place or two:forty in-patients fill the beds. 

But in medical work, when we are considering the need of the district, another factor of importance often enters. The medicals of the missionare often not the only men meeting that need. There are often others, Government officials, or private practitioners, who, from the point ofview of medical practice, are doing the same work. The medical need of adistrict where the missionary doctor is the only exponent of westernmedicine is not the same as that of the district where he is competingwith Government or private doctors fully trained as he is. Consequentlyit is essential in order to understand the position that we should knowwhat other, non-missionary, medical assistance is available, and weneed the following table:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- |Hospitals. |Qualified|Assistants. |Nurses. |Dispensaries. |Beds. | |Practi- | | | | tioners. | | | |--------|----------|---------|-----------|-------|-------------|--- | | | | | |Mission-| | | | | | ary| ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ___-------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | Non- | | | | | |Mission-| | | | | | ary| ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ____ | ___ | | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

If any surveyor finds it difficult to fill in such a table, he must makean estimate, but he ought to realise that a table of the kind is anecessary part of any appeal for increased support; for support cannotbe reasonably given to his work _on the ground of this medical need_unless these facts are known. Of course that does not mean that supportought to be given or withheld solely on the statistics so provided. There may be a thousand reasons for strengthening and enlarging workwhere this table would suggest less need; but no support should be givenin ignorance of these facts. 

Then we need tables to reveal, as far as such tables can revealanything, the extent of the medical mission work done in the year. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------District|Area|Popul-|Hospital |Dispensary, |Total|Propor- |Remarks | |ation |Patients in|Patients in|Pat- |tion of |and | | |Year |Year |ients|Patients |Conclu- | | | | | |to Popul-|sions | | | | | |ation |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | |M. |F. |Child|M. |F. |Child| | | | | | | | | | | | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | | | | |________|____|______|__|__|_____|__|__|_____|_____|_________|________

Turning then from the medical need to be met, we proposed to inquireinto the medical work as an evangelistic agency. This inquiry is hard toformulate; but we suggest that the three tables appended, taken inconjunction with the preceding, would throw certain light on thisquestion, and would help towards a true understanding. 

First, we inquire into the relative extent to which the medical workersmake use of the assistance of evangelistic workers. This table would_not_ reveal the evangelistic influence of the hospital. On the onehand, there is sometimes a tendency for the medical men and women to domedical work exclusively, and to leave all religious work to theevangelistic workers, and to give way to the temptation to imagine thatif evangelistic workers read or preach in the waiting-room and visit thepatients, the medicals can be satisfied that they have done their dutyas medical missionaries. On the other hand, a medical who does hismedical work in the Spirit, who speaks to and prays with his patients, exercises an evangelistic influence wider and deeper than that of manyof the evangelistic workers directly so called, and in such a case thefact that the evangelistic workers are apparently lacking in thehospital does not at all show that the medical work is not a strongevangelistic force. But any danger of misguidance which might arise ifthis table stood alone must be counteracted by the other tables; for thethree can be taken together. And when this allowance has been made thetable is useful with the others, and lights one side of the questionbefore us. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Hospitals | Dispensaries | | (Where these | | are not attached to | | hospitals)-------------------------+--------------+----------------------------Number of Medicals | |on Staff. [1] | |-------------------------+--------------+----------------------------Proportion to Patients. | |-------------------------+--------------+----------------------------Number of Evangelistic | |Workers on Staff. [1] | |-------------------------+--------------+----------------------------Proportion to Patients. | |-------------------------+--------------+----------------------------Remarks and Conclusions. | |-------------------------+--------------+----------------------------

[Footnote 1: By "on staff" we mean regularly attached to, or regularlyvisiting. ]

When we have seen the extent to which the medicals use the evangelisticworkers in their institutions, we need to know the extent to which themedicals assist the evangelistic workers outside the institutions. Weput this in the form of a table designed to reveal the extent to whichthe medicals assist in evangelistic tours, helping the evangelisticworkers on tour, either by healing the sick on the spot, or by sendingthem to the hospitals, or by preaching, or in all these ways. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------Number of |Number of |Number of |Number of |Number of |RemarksEvange- |Evangelistic|Medicals |Days spent by|Days spent|andlistic |Workers |Assisting. |Evangelistic |by |Conclu-Tours. |Assisting. | |Workers. |Medicals. |sions. ----------|------------|----------|-------------|----------|------- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | |__________|____________|__________|_____________|__________|_______

Finally, we inquire how far the direct evangelistic influence of thehospitals and dispensaries can be traced. We might at first suppose thatthis could be done by asking the number of inquirers enrolled as adirect consequence of attendance at hospitals and dispensaries; but itis not surprising that patients are willing to enrol their names asinquirers simply to please the doctors or nurses, without any intentionof pursuing the matter further when they leave the hospital; andconsequently such a question by itself might be very misleading. Wetherefore add two further questions, the first, what number ofcommunicants trace their conversion to their visits to hospitals ordispensaries, the second, what number of places have been opened toChristian teachers and preachers by the influence of doctors andpatients. Some missionary doctors are much interested in this inquiry, and we all might well be interested in it. The answers would be a mostimportant contribution to our study, and might go far to justify medicalmissions as an evangelistic agency. 

+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Number of Inquirers Enrolled in the Year as a Direct | |Consequence of Attendance at Hospitals and Dispensaries. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Proportion of Total Inquirers. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Enrolled in the Year. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Number of Communicants Derived from Attendance | |at Hospitals and Dispensaries in the Year. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Proportion of Communicants Enrolled in the Year. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Number of Places Opened to Christian Teachers through | |the Influence of Doctors or Patients in the Year. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Proportion of Total Places Opened in the Year. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+Conclusions and Remarks. | |+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+

CHAPTER VI. 

EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE STATION DISTRICT. 

The difficulty of providing tables for the survey of educational work isas great as that of finding tables for medical work, and for the samereasons. There is the same separateness, the same diversity of immediateaim, the same alteration of character, the same uncertainty of policy. 

Educational missions have been designed to convert the young whilst theywere yet pliable, to influence the growing generation in order toprepare for a great advance of Christianity later, to Christianisesociety, to educate young Christians in a Christian atmosphere, toprepare leaders for the Christian Church, to elevate an ignorant andilliterate Christian Church. All these various objects have been setbefore us as the reasons for the establishment of schools, bothseparately, each in different circumstances, and unitedly, all at thesame time, as though one school could fulfil all these differentpurposes without any confusion. At one and the same moment Christianchildren were to be educated in a Christian atmosphere, andnon-Christian children in large numbers were admitted, and non-Christianteachers employed. At the same time non-Christian children were to beconverted and not converted, but filled with Christian ideas. 

All these aims and objects are confusedly set forth, each as its turncomes round, as the immediate aim of our educational missions; but theattempt to draw tables for a survey which shall embrace impartially allthese objects is enough to satisfy the inquirer that they are not easilycombined into one. We propose, therefore, in this bewildering maze ofmixed purposes and ideas, to follow the line which seemed possible inthe case of medical missions--to accept the idea that there is aneducational need of the people which it is the business of theeducational mission to meet so far as it can; and then to add a furtherinquiry concerning the direct evangelistic influence of the educationalmission, and its relation to the evangelistic and medical work. 

But in educational mission survey there is an added difficulty whicharises from the fact that scholastic education is divided into manygrades, and this division has no common standard in different countries, sometimes not even in the same country. We, then, who are seeking lightnot from one country only but from all, are compelled to simplify thesegrade distinctions as much as possible, and to accept the localdefinitions. This does not really invalidate comparisons betweendifferent areas so seriously as we might at the first glance be temptedto expect. There is in every country a grade which is primary; there isa secondary, or middle, or high school; there is a normal, or college, or arts course. The primary in one country may run into higher primaryand be at its best far in advance of the primary in another country; andso far the two are incomparable; but, nevertheless, this primary gradeis the lowest grade in each country, and if the inquiry is, what numberof pupils are taught in this local first grade, then the comparison isadmissible. Similarly of the second grade and the third. If the inquiryis understood to imply no more than it states, and no conclusion isdrawn as to the relative stage or merits of the education in the twocountries in relation to one another, it may justly be argued that theprimary pupils in one country stand in relation to the illiterate andmore highly educated pupils in their own country in a similar positionto that in which the primary pupils in another country stand to theilliterate and more highly educated pupils in their own country; thoughthe primary pupils in the one may be far more advanced than the primarypupils in the other. On this basis a possible comparison can be made. 

But since colleges and normal schools generally serve a larger area thanthe station district, these are reserved for provincial survey, and thepresent tables deal with nothing above the secondary, or middle, or highschool. In the station district area the matter of chief importance isthe extent to which the need of the district for primary and secondaryeducation is met, and the proportion in which the needs of the many andthe few are met. 

Of course where the surveyor has before him more elaborate tablesprepared for some board, he can serve all purposes best by keeping thosetables carefully and sending copies of them to those who may beinterested. Our hasty division into primary and higher than primary isonly designed to save trouble in those districts where no elaboratedistinctions and definitions have been made. If it is desirable forpurposes of comparison to reduce tables from different parts of theworld to a common basis, so long as the tables supplied from any part donot contain _less_ than the tables here suggested, the comparison caneasily be made, for what it is worth. 

We begin then with the educational work done in the station district asdesigned to meet a distinct educational need. The first tables, therefore, correspond to the first evangelistic and medical tables andset forth the quantitative extent of the educational work in relation tothe area and to the population. 

_______________________________________________________________ | | | Number of | | | Number of | Secondary or | Remarks andDistrict. | Area. | Primary Schools. | Middle or | Conclusions. | | | High Schools. |_________|______|_________________|______________|_____________ | | | | | | | |_________|______|_________________|______________|_____________---------|------|-----------------|--------------|--------------

_________________________________________________________________ | | | Propor-| | Propor-| | | Number | tion | Number | tion | | Popula-| of | to | of | to | Re-District. | tion. | Primary | Popula-| Higher | Popula-|marks. | | Teachers. | tion. | Teachers. | tion. |_________|________|__________|________|__________|________|______ | | | | | |_________|________|__________|________|__________|________|_______

Here it will be noted that whereas in the area it is the number ofschools which is considered, in relation to population it is the numberof teachers, because in the area the point of importance is theaccessibility of the schools; whilst in relation to the population it isthe number of teachers which reveals to what extent the population isserved. 

Then similar reasons to those which led us to take into account thenon-missionary medical assistance in the area force us to consider thenon-missionary education. If we are to consider scholastic education asa need of the people at all, we must acknowledge that the presence ofGovernment or private schools makes a great difference to the situation, and if an appeal for medical missions ought to be affected by thepresence or absence of non-missionary medical assistance, equally oughtan appeal for educational missions in any area to be affected by thepresence or absence of non-missionary educational facilities. 

It may be true that if the aim of educational missions were defined asthe provision of educational facilities under Christian influence, thepresence of non-Christian educational facilities, in proportion to theirmagnitude, might be a challenge to Christians to increase theirs. Onthis basis the mission would deliberately compete with Governmentschools where Government schools were strongest. But if the mission isdesigned to supply a liberal education for Christians, the presence ofGovernment schools does not necessarily induce competition. We mightwell ponder the question put by a Christian convert in India, whendiscussing the use of educational missions by the missionary societies:"Hindus, " he said, "are not deterred from sending their children toChristian schools by the fear that they will cease to be Hindus, and dothe societies think so little of our religion that they are afraid thatour children would cease to be Christians if they attended a Governmentschool?" Whatever answer we give to that question, in either case theexistence of non-Christian schools is a serious and important factor inthe situation. 

We therefore inquire into the non-missionary educational work done inthe area. We are well aware that in many cases the surveyor will find itdifficult to supply the required information, and may be driven to makean estimate; but the information ought to be provided for any true andjust administration of educational mission funds, and estimates must behere regarded as at the best a poor substitute, though under existingcircumstances perhaps a necessary one. 

_____________________________________________________________________ | | | | | |Propor- | Higher | | Propor- | |Primary| |tion of | or |Teach-| tion of |Re- |Schools|Teachers|Teachers| Second-| ers. | Teachers|marks. | | |to Popu-| ary | | to Popu-| | | |lation. |Schools. | | lation. |---------------------------------------------------------------------Missionary| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Non- | | | | | | |Missionary| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Then we need to consider the extent to which the educational efforts ofthe mission are used to meet the needs of the better educated and of themore ignorant. This will be revealed by the average attendance in thedifferent classes of schools. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------Total | | |Propor-| | | Propor-| Re-Scholars| | |tion of| | | tion of|marks in |Primary |Scholars|Total |Secondary| Scho- | Total | andMission |Schools. | | Scho-| Schools. | lars. | Scho- |Conclu-Schools. | | |lars. | | | lars. | sions. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | |________|________|________|_______|_________|_______|________|_______

Then we must inquire into the proportion in which the education given inthe schools is given to boys and to girls. This is peculiarly importantin considering the influence of school education upon the risinggeneration of Christians, since well-taught girls make intelligent andhelpful wives and mothers, and this tends enormously to the advancementof the Christian community. And the same truth applies to thenon-Christian population. 

 | Mission | Mission |Remarks and |Primary Schools. | Secondary Schools. | Conclusions. -----------------+----------------+---------------------------------- | Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. |-----------------+-------+--------+-------------------+--------------Christian or | | | | |From | | | | |Christian homes. | | | | |-----------------+-------+--------+-------+-----------+--------------Non-Christian | | | | |-----------------+-------+--------+-------+-----------+

Here we divided Christians from non-Christians, and thus the tableserves a double purpose. It tells us the division of the scholars by sexand also by faith. It throws light upon the condition of the Christiancommunity and upon the extent to which mission school education is givento Christians and non-Christians. 

One other point must be considered in connection with mission schoolsbecause it throws great light upon the character of the schools andtheir purpose. It is the extent to which the educational missionreceives Government support. If there is any doubt as to the dominantaim and purpose of a school, the fact that it receives Government aidreveals at once that in the eyes of the Government it stands for thegeneral enlightenment of the population rather than for any directevangelisation. The dominant aim of the Government is generalenlightenment, and the Government gives no grant without some sort ofcontrol. If then a school receives a Government grant the dominant ideaof general enlightenment will certainly exercise great influence overits direction. Consequently, if we know what proportion of the schoolsin any mission receive a Government grant, we have at least someguidance as to the extent to which the mission accepts the aim ofgeneral enlightenment. We have also some assurance that the schoolsreach the Government standard of efficiency in the teaching of secularsubjects. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------Primary | Proportion | Higher | Proportion | RemarksSchools | Receiving | Schools. | Receiving | and | Government | | Government | Conclusions. | Grant, if any. | | Grant. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |________|________________|__________|____________|___________________

Hitherto we have dealt only with schools in which the pupils areprobably for the most part children; but in some countries the missionmakes a great effort to enlighten the illiterate adults, especially theilliterate adult Christians, and thus, as in China, missionariespropagate simplified systems of writing the language, or in othercountries have reduced to writing, languages which possessed no script. 

We have already set out the reason why this appeals especially toProtestant missionaries. The reading of the Bible is a keystone in theirevangelistic system, and with them Christianity and reading go hand inhand. We must then make room in our survey for a movement so profound, so widespread, and so vitally important, and a movement of thischaracter deserves and demands a separate table. It cannot be confoundedwith the establishment of ordinary primary schools. It is essential thatwe should inquire what education is given to the illiterate adults ofthe area; and we must inquire in what proportion this teaching is givento Christians and non-Christians, because this proportion is verysignificant. The teaching of reading to the illiterate is by somemissionaries viewed as a means preparatory to the preaching of thegospel, a gift to be given as widely as possible, in the belief thatthe more who can read, the better will be the hearing given to thepreachers of Christ; by others the teaching is given rather toilliterate inquirers and converts, and it is given to them as adefinitely Christian gift for the edification of the individual and ofthe Church. 

By the one this teaching would be classed with the general work ofChristian educational missions for the whole community, the meeting ofthe general intellectual need of the district; by the other it would beclassed as a part of the work done by the educational mission for theenlightenment of the Church, the meeting of a need of the Church. By theone it would be classed with the tables which deal with the relation ofthe educational to the evangelistic work; by the other with the tableswhich deal with the educational work viewed as meeting a special need. The table suggested is:--

--------------------------------------------------------+------|Population. | |--------------------------------------------------------+------|Illiterate Population. | |--------------------------------------------------------+------|Number of Teachers of Illiterate Adults. | |--------------------------------------------------------+------|Number of Illiterate Adult Scholars. |--------------------------------------------------------+------| Christian. | |--------------------------------------------------------+------| Non-Christian | |--------------------------------------------------------+------|Proportion of Illiterate Population. |--------------------------------------------------------+------|Proportion of Teachers to Illiterate Population. | |--------------------------------------------------------+------|Remarks and Conclusions. | |--------------------------------------------------------+------|

This table leads us naturally to consider the educational work done inthe station area from an evangelistic point of view. We must inquirethen into the extent to which evangelistic missionaries assist in theschools, and educational missionaries assist in evangelistic work, andthe evangelistic results so far as they can be traced of the work inschools. 

We ask first the extent to which educationalists employ the services ofevangelistic workers in their schools and institutions. As we pointedout in dealing with the relation between medical and evangelistic work, so here we would insist that this particular table is not by itself agood guide. There is a serious danger in an institution, whether medicalor educational, of dividing the work in this way. We have alreadyasserted our conviction that medical missionaries should beevangelistic, and educational missionaries evangelistic also. But whenevangelistic workers distinctly so called are on the staff of hospitalsor schools, there is a danger lest the medicals and the educationalistsshould consider themselves absolved from personal effort by theoccasional presence of an evangelist. "Let him do the religiouspreaching, and let me do the secular teaching. Preaching is his job, teaching is mine. " Thus a division is created which reacts seriouslyupon the work of both. The pupils learn to distinguish the one work fromthe other, as separate and distinct departments. They prefer the one, they are bored by the other. No man can serve two masters; and if thereligious teaching is plainly in the hands of one teacher and thesecular teaching plainly in the hands of the other, they will tend tothink that they can hold to the one and despise the other. This we sayis a danger, but it is not an unavoidable danger. Only we must not judgethat an institution is doing good evangelistic work because evangelisticservices are held in it. The table is as follows:--

-------------------------------------------------------------------Schools. | Number of Schools | Proportion of Schools | Remarks and | Regularly Visited | Visited by | Conclusions. | by Evangelists. | Evangelists. | | | |------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |_________|___________________|_______________________|____________

Then there is a most important work which the educational evangelistdoes, or might do, outside the school. Perhaps we ought to explain this;for many supporters of missions are unfamiliar with the idea. They thinkof the work of educational missionaries as necessarily bound up withschools and institutions. A teacher without a school, or outside aschool, seems to them rather like a gunner without a gun. If aneducational missionary goes on an evangelistic tour it is, they think, as an evangelist that he goes, not as an educationalist. Yet, if weunderstood the work of an evangelistic educationalist, we should notthink it strange to meet an educational missionary on tour, doingevangelistic educational work. Evangelistic work is educational to thecore, and it leads to educational results. No evangelistic work amongstan illiterate, or a literate, people can be really complete, if it doesnot lead at once to the organisation of education amongst the convertsand hearers. The illiterate must be taught to read the Gospels, and itdemands an expert in the teaching of illiterates to direct theirstudies; the illiterate and the literate converts alike must be taughtto transform that education which they all give daily to their children, whether in the home or in a school, into Christian education, and thistoo demands the attention of a skilled educationalist. This work isinvaluable and most exciting and interesting work, and must produceresults which, for the establishment of the Church, are almostincalculably important. As then for the medical missionaries, so forthe educationalists we ask:--

------------+------------+---------------+-------------+------------Evangelistic| Number of | Number of | Number of |Conclusions Tours. |Evangelistic|Educationalists|Days Spent by|and Remarks. | Workers. | Assisting. | Evangelists | | | | on Tour. |------------+------------+---------------+-------------+------------ | | | |------------+------------+---------------+-------------+------------

When we turn to the immediate evangelistic results of the educationgiven in the station district, we labour under difficulties even greaterthan those which we met when we tried to formulate tables to reveal theextent to which medical missions were effective as an evangelisticagency. 

The difficulty lies in the fact that the educational missionaries whoset before themselves as the aim of their work a far distant goal to beattained by the cumulative effect of Christian influence brought to bearupon generation after generation of children who do not themselvesbecome Christians, naturally resent a table which seems to demand apresent, immediate, result in the tabulation of baptisms, and we fearthat the other tables will hardly reconcile them, because we are afraidthat few educational missionaries have yet learned to understand what avast and important and absorbingly interesting work the education of theconverts outside the schools affords. Consequently we shiver when wethink of the reception which these tables are likely to receive at thehands of some of our friends in foreign countries, and our ears tinglein anticipation. 

Nevertheless, if we are to be told, and to act on the hearing, thatChristian schools are founded because it is easier to convert the youngthan the old, and the twig can be bent while the tree resists till itbreaks, we must inquire how far this saying is justified by experience. A survey which neglected the factors which throw light upon it would bea partial and unjust one. 

Hence we ask first--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Scholars | Baptism | Baptism | Confirmation | Remarks | | of | of | or Admission | and | | Scholars | Parents | as Full | Conclusions | | | | Members |---------------------------------------------------------------------Primary | | | | |Schools | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Secondary| | | | |Schools | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

and secondly--

----------------------------------------------------------------Number of Places Opened to | | RemarksChristian Teachers by the | Proportion of Total | andInfluence of Scholars. | Places Occupied. | Conclusions. ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |___________________________|_____________________|______________

These two tables will give us some idea of the direct influence of theeducational mission as an evangelistic force. 

Some are anxious to know what support the educational and medical workcall forth from the natives for whom these are set in hand. They wantthis information, we suppose, as a help towards an understanding of theinfluence exercised by these different forms of work. If the nativessupport them generously then they have obviously been impressed by themfavourably. And perhaps the extent of native support may suggest themeasure to which our work as medical and educational missionaries isapproaching a successful end. 

We therefore include a table identical for medical and educationalworkers:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Total | Total | Total Native | Volunteers | Expense | Foreign | Contribution | for | of Work in | Contribution. | Fees and | Training. | Station | | Donations. | | Area. | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Medical | ---- | ---- | ---- | ----------------|------------|---------------|--------------|------------Educational | ---- | ---- | ---- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER VII. 

CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS IN THE MISSION. 

We have now surveyed the evangelistic, medical, and educational work inthe station district, viewed separately. It remains to unify theresults, that we may get, if possible, a definite conception of thewhole. The effectiveness of the mission machinery largely depends uponthe relation of these parts to one another. The mission ought not to bethree separate things but one thing; for the impression produced uponthe non-Christian population is the result of the combination of all thevarious forms in which the one missionary spirit expresses itself. Thespirit which produces them all is one, and it is that one spirit whichinfluences and converts the heathen. 

Now we already know the proportion in which workers and funds aredivided between the three branches (p. 68). We already know somethingof the work done by evangelists in hospitals (p. 83), and by doctors inevangelistic tours (p. 84); and of the extent to which the work in thehospitals opens up the way for evangelists (p. 85). We already knowsomething of the work done by evangelists in schools (p. 99), and of theevangelistic influence of the educational work (p. 102, 103), and of theextent to which educationalists assist in evangelistic tours (p. 101). 

If then we now add tables to show the help given by the medicals in theschools and the work done by the educationalists in the hospitals weshall be able to gain a fairly complete idea of the co-operation betweenthe three branches. 

But it is just at this point, the relation between the medical andeducational work, that we shall probably find most difficulty. Thisrelationship has not been carefully thought out in the past, andco-operation between medicals and educationalists is, we fancy, somewhatrare. Few men could tell us exactly what policy is followed, or ought tobe followed. This is partly due to that confusion of purpose of which wespoke in the first chapter, a confusion which obscures and confoundsour medical and educational missions. If both medical and educationalmissions had had one common dominant purpose, the relation between themwould have been more easily seen; but since they were separated inthought, each having its own particular and separate objects to pursue, they naturally worked along parallel lines and consequently did notmeet. If they had had one common dominant object they would have met. But generally speaking there is no clear understanding whether themedical mission has any definite relation to the educational mission, orthe educational mission to the medical. 

On the medical side, it is not clearly understood whether it is thefirst duty, or the last duty, of medicals to attend to the children whomwe gather together in such large numbers, whether the medicals ought toinspect all the children, whether they ought to be at hand to treatchildren who are obviously sick, whether these considerations ought toinfluence the location of the hospital, or of the place of residence ofthe medical missionaries, or whether this work, if they really gave muchtime to it, should be considered as withdrawing them from their _proper_work. Consequently, the health of the children in mission schools hasoften suffered, and the work of the school been hindered. In one schoolsomething approaching to a revolution was produced by the constant careand attention of a doctor. Phthisis, which had been a continual sourceof trouble and weakness, was reduced considerably, and the whole workand tone of the school improved enormously. If medical missionaries andeducational missionaries always realised that they were engaged in acommon work, this experience would be almost universal. 

In our tables we cannot possibly enter into any details. The work ofmedicals in schools cannot be exactly stated, it varies greatly inextent and character; but it would, we suppose, always include attentionto the health of the children and consultation with the teachers, bothabout the welfare of the school as a whole and of the care of individualpupils. It might also include lectures in hygiene and kindred topics, sanitation of buildings, and other assistance too varied to specify. 

The table can only include visits and inspection of pupils. 

----------------------------------------------------------------- Total | Number | Total | Number | Remarks Number | Regularly | Number | Regularly | and of Schools. | Visited by | of | Inspected. | Conclusions. | Medicals. | Scholars. | |----------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | |-----------------------------------------------------------------

The relation of the educational mission to the medical has not beenthought out any more carefully. There is in hospitals an opportunity ofextraordinary importance, a field of great fruitfulness which is largelyneglected. If the hospital is a missionary hospital, founded to heal thesouls as well as the bodies of men, ought not the patients in them to betaught as well as medically treated? Have they any claim upon the careof educational missionaries? Have the educational missionaries any dutyin hospitals? Very few, we think, have given much attention to thesequestions: no society, so far as we know, has followed any definitepolicy in regard to them. A single instance will reveal how importantthey may be. A doctor who was deeply interested in the teaching ofChinese illiterates took steps to have the illiterate convalescents inhis hospital taught to read. The average time which these patients spentin the hospital was three weeks, and in that time they could learn toread the Gospels in simplified script fluently. They thus left thehospital not only healed in body, but with a new interest in life, and aconsiderable knowledge of Christian truth, and a power to advance in it, and a power also to instruct others. In a hospital for Chinese cooliesin France this doctor taught one patient to read the Gospel. The patientwas then removed to another hospital where he taught no less than fortyof his fellow-patients to read. If such results can be obtained, itwould be well to consider whether we are making full use of theopportunities afforded by the gathering of large numbers of patientsinto hospitals all over the world. Illiterates are not the only peoplewho might profit by Christian teaching, classes for literates might beequally valuable. Large numbers might leave our hospitals with aconsiderable knowledge of Christian truth, and a new interest in life, with power to advance and to teach others, if they were systematicallytaught. In one missionary hospital regular courses were given onChristian Evidences, and courses on the education of children might wellbe given to parents in hospitals. 

Here again a table cannot reveal the type and character of the workdone: it can only tabulate visits. The work would include the teachingof illiterates to read, and instructing convalescents of highereducation either in classes or individually. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Total | Number | Total | Number | Remarks Number of | Regularly | Number of | of | and Hospitals. | Visited by | Patients. | Scholars | Conclusions. | Educationalists. | | Taught. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | | | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

We might now sum up this branch of our inquiry thus:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Foreign | Native |Assisting|Assisting|Assisting|Remarks | Mission | Assist | in |in |in | and | -aries. | ants. | Evangel-|Hosp- |Schools. |Conclusions. | | | istic |itals. | | | | | Tours. | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Evange-| | | | | |listic | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------Medical| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------Educa | | | | | |-tional| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then we shall surely have some idea of the extent to which the wholeforce works together towards one end. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE NATIVE CHURCH. 

In the Introduction we pointed out that the end for which the worksurveyed is undertaken ought to govern the survey of the work. Now weare constantly told that the end for which the station is founded is theestablishment of a Christian Church in the district so strongly that ifthe station with its foreign staff disappeared, the Church would remainand bring up each generation in the Christian Faith. 

This proposal sets before us a real end for the mission station. Itsuggests a point at which the station will have done its work; themission would then have no more place in those parts. The station hasthus an end, not only in the sense that it has an object at which itaims, but a point at which it ceases. But this end is not simply a pointin the far distant future; it is a condition, or state of the Church inthe district, into which it must be growing. Then the growth of thenative Church is more important than the growth of the mission, and allthings should be directed primarily to that end, so that as the nativeChurch waxed the mission should wane, and thus the end should be reachednaturally and easily and not by a catastrophe. If that is the end, thenthe survey of the station and its district cannot fail to take the formof an inquiry how far progress in this direction has been made. 

Since our ideas of missionary work are wrapped up with the establishmentof mission stations and consequently with the purchase of land andbuildings, since we rely almost wholly upon paid workers for theprosecution of the work, since we employ most expensive methods ofpropaganda, such as the establishment of great medical and educationalinstitutions, since our societies at home are almost wholly absorbed inthe effort to procure funds to pay for all these things, it is notsurprising that money takes a supremely important position in ourthought of all missionary work. Consequently, when we think of thegrowth of the native Church in power to carry on the work which we havebegun we naturally think first of self-support. 

Self-support is now one of the most common missionary catchwords. Wehear it on every platform at home; we hear it in the mouths of largenumbers of our converts abroad. There exist in the mission field largenumbers of what are called "self-supporting churches". Our missionariesoften set this self-support before their converts as a status of honour, and offer them encouragements of various kinds to induce them to becomeself-supporting as soon as possible. At home, if we ask concerning theprogress of the native Church, they often answer us by telling us thenumbers of these self-supporting churches. 

What then is meant by a self-supporting Church? We might naturallysuppose that a self-supporting Church was a Church which was independentof external support; we might suppose that it could maintain itselfwithout any assistance from mission funds; we might suppose that, when aChurch became self-supporting, the mission, so far as finance wasconcerned, could withdraw and move to some fresh place. That issometimes the case, but very rarely. We know, for instance, a case wherefourteen Christians in a small town provided their own chapel and itsfurnishing and upkeep, and all subsidiary expenses without anyassistance. They had no paid ministers and therefore no salaries topay. They were from the very beginning entirely self-supporting, and themissionary could, and did, leave them and go to others who needed himmore. But in this case there was no mission compound, no elaboratesystem of mission education, and no mission fund from which the chapelcould be built and a pastor provided, before the converts were ready toprovide these things for themselves. 

Most commonly the mission does all these things, and then self-supportdoes not necessarily imply independence of foreign support. We have metnative Christians who assured us in one breath that they were members ofa self-supporting Church and that their Church did not receive its fairshare of mission funds. Self-support does not necessarily meanindependence of external pecuniary aid. 

What then does the status of a self-supporting Church imply? Nothingcertain, but just what the society, or the missionary, chooses. Take acase. In a newly opened outstation the converts subscribed $5 Mexican, ahead, per annum. The missionary in charge of the district estimated that$500 per annum would pay the rent and upkeep of the chapel, and thesalary of the pastor. Therefore he calculated that when the membershipof the chapel reached 100, the congregation would be self-supporting. But if a school were founded and fees paid, then the day of self-supportwould be very far off. 

Hence it is obvious that self-support is an arbitrary standard fixed onno certain grounds; and progress towards self-support is simply aprogress towards a line which the foreigner prescribes. Just as eachfather among us here in England, according to his class and standard ofliving, fixes a standard for his son, saying, "When he earns so much hewill be able to maintain himself, " so the society, or the individualmissionary, fixes the standard for converts. In this case, the foreignerinsisted on the salary for the pastor, he created the building, itsornaments and expenses; and where this is done the day of self-supportmust be more or less delayed. More or less, for what one man considersabundant another thinks hardly decent, simply because each has learnt ina different school different ideas of what is necessary or desirable. Consequently one man makes the day of self-support easy of attainment, another loudly proclaims that his people are so poor that they cannotpossibly be expected to provide for themselves. 

Furthermore, we must observe that in the first case the convertsarrived speedily at self-support because the foreign missionary neverfor a moment allowed them to be anything else, whilst in the second themissionary provided what he thought necessary until such time as theChurch was sufficiently wealthy to pay for it. The one Church decidedfor itself what it needed, and what it needed it took the necessarysteps to supply: the other accepted what was given to it and was askedto subscribe more and more to pay for it. But when the provision isfirst made largely from some more or less mysterious foreign source, theconverts will never subscribe to a fund so organised as they will to afund which they raise and administer themselves to supply what theythemselves want, and cannot have unless they provide the necessary moneyto get it. Self-support then, as the word is most commonly used, meansanything but genuine self-support, and does not represent the power ofthe people to supply their needs. It means only the subscription ofmoney sufficient to pay for certain things which are more or lessarbitrarily fixed by the missionary or his society. 

Neither is it any sure evidence of the zeal and liberality of the Churchwhich is called self-supporting. The existence of self-supportingchurches is indeed sometimes used as an argument to show that the Churchis growing in this Christian virtue. But this is largely deceptive. Theexistence of self-supporting churches does not necessarily proveChristian liberality. Take the case which we quoted above where theChristians subscribed $5 a head. It was said that when they numbered 100members they would be self-supporting. But, if they still subscribed $5a head, there would be no more liberality in the Church of 100, whichwas self-supporting, than in the Church of ten, which was notself-supporting. There might be more, if the ninety members added werevery poor; there might be less if one wealthy man joined the Church. Since the status of a self-supporting Church is one of honour andprivilege, the members might even be tempted to admit an unworthy memberwho was well off in the hope that his subscriptions might aid them toattain that glorious position without much self-denial or effort ontheir own part. 

Moreover, the collection of money is a highly developed art. It isextraordinary what pressure men can bring to bear upon converts toinduce them to subscribe, so that the contribution is in many caseslittle different from the payment of a tax. It is truly amazing to readhow many forms of appeals and fees can be invented to collect money frommore or less unwilling givers. [1] We cannot then accept the existence ofself-supporting churches as an evidence of liberality, nor base ourcalculation on the sum subscribed for the upkeep of such churches. 

[Footnote 1: This is a list of the means employed to raise money by onemissionary in order to assist the people in his district to arrive atself-support:--

(1) Sunday collections. (2) Share of first fruits (crop seasons). (3)Monthly membership family assessment. (4) Special missionary or harvestthanksgiving (twice a year). (5) Pinch of rice at every meal asthanksgiving (women's share). (6) Box in houses for prayer meetings, etc. (7) Church box. (8) Dedication of special pepper or cocoa-nut treesfor church repair. (9) Bible society collections. (10) Hospitalcollection. (11) Baptism offerings. (12) Marriage offerings. (13) Lord'sSupper offerings. (14) Special gifts for church building or equipment. 

It is not surprising that he adds that he is told that some of the newconverts have gone back because they see the regularity and frequency ofgiving. ]

Nevertheless, seeing that self-supporting churches are widelyrecognised, let us begin with these and seek to find out whatinformation a table of inquiry might supply. We should ask first forthe number of self-supporting churches in relation to (_a_) the numberof communicants (or full members) in the district, and (_b_) the numberof Christian Churches organised, but not self-supporting. By anorganised Church we understand a body of Christians in any place whohold regular religious services, and may send delegates to any councilwhich may exist for the whole station district. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------Communicants. |Proportion of |Organised|Proportion of |Remarks |Communicants |Churches. |Organised |and |connected with | |Churches |Conclusions. |Self-supporting| |Self-supporting. | |Churches. | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |_____________|_______________|_________|________________|____________

From this we should learn briefly, and as a starting-point, theproportion of the self-supporting churches, and that might help us tounderstand the progress made towards self-support as it is understood inthe district, and enable us to compare it with that of other districts. But this by itself would not be of any great value in assisting us tounderstand what progress had been made towards the establishment of aChurch which could stand alone, if the station with its foreign staffwere withdrawn. No Church which does not advance can stand, and the mereattainment of this arbitrary standard does not necessarily provecapacity to advance or to stand. The effort to attain it sometimes leadsthe converts to concentrate their attention upon themselves. They setself-support before their eyes as an end to be attained for their ownsake. It has consequently sometimes happened that native churches, established on this self-supporting basis, have become self-absorbed, self-seeking. They have so looked on their own things that they havetended to lose sight of the things of others. They have become, likemany little Christian communities at home, so entangled in the effort tomaintain their own dignity, their own services, their own progress inoutward prosperity, that they have forgotten the real purpose of theirexistence, and, instead of becoming centres of light and attraction andactive zeal for the spread of the gospel, have degenerated intoself-contained units indulging a self-satisfied pride in the gloriousposition to which they have attained as self-supporting churches. Thehistory of some churches on the West Coast of Africa and in South Indiasuggests the need for such a warning, and urges us to pursue theinquiry further. 

We should inquire, then, what number of inquirers, adherents, hearers, catechumens, etc. , are seeking entrance into the Church in connectionwith the self-supporting churches as compared with the total number ofsuch inquirers, adherents, etc. , in the district and compared with thenumber of communicants in connection with those churches. 

---------------------------------------------------------|-----|In District (excluding Self-supporting Churches). |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Inquirers and Adherents. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Proportion of Inquirers to Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|In Self-supporting Churches. |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Inquirers and Adherents. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Proportion of Inquirers to Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Remarks and Conclusions. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|

Such a table should, we think, prove illuminating as revealing theinfluence and zeal of the members of the self-supporting churches. 

A further light on this subject might be gained by comparing the numberof unpaid workers connected with the self-supporting churches with thenumber of such workers in the whole district, excluding theself-supporting churches. 

---------------------------------------------------------|-----|In District (excluding Self-supporting Churches). |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Unpaid Workers. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Proportion of Unpaid Workers to Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|In Self-supporting Churches. |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Unpaid Workers. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----| Proportion of Unpaid Workers to Communicants. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Remarks and Conclusions. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|

This would supplement the previous table and tend to correct anymistakes to which it might give rise. 

Thus far of the missions which recognise self-supporting churches. Asfor the mission districts in which no such distinctions have been made, all that I think we need to do is to recall the tables which we madewhen considering the native force (p. 54 _sqq_. ), and to supplement themwith tables designed to reveal (1) the power of the Christians toconduct their own religious services independently of the foreigner; (2)their power to direct their own Church government; (3) their power tosupply the material needs of their organisation according to the ideaswhich they have received and hold. 

With regard to the first question, all that we need to know is whatproportion of the Christians are in a position to carry on their ownreligious life independently of foreign help. In the Anglican Communionthat involves the presence of a duly ordained priest: in some societieswhich deny the necessity of ordination, yet give a position not unlikethat of the priest to their ordained men, it would involve the presenceof a pastor. Others deny the necessity or advantage of any ordainedministers. Under these circumstances we cannot use acceptedecclesiastical terms; but by capacity for conducting their own religiousservices we must certainly at least mean capacity to perform allnecessary religious rites, and that, for Anglicans at any rate, mustinclude Baptism and Holy Communion. Suppose then that we accepted the"organised churches" as a basis and inquired what proportion of theseorganised churches could, and did, perform _all_ necessary religiousrites, we should indeed omit the floating and isolated members of theunorganised Christian community which in some districts might be verylarge, but we should nevertheless, we hope, get a definite and commonbasis which would really give us some light on this difficult butimportant problem, and if we added a question as to the proportion ofthe Christian constituency connected with these organised churches weshould have some check upon a serious misunderstanding. 

---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Number of Organised Churches. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Proportion of Christian Constituency | |Connected with these. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Number of Churches Capable of Performing _all_ | |Necessary Religious Rites without External Assistance. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Proportion of these to Number of Organised Churches. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Remarks and Conclusions. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|

The second question is, How far the Church in the district can directits own life and order its own government. The difficulty here arisesfrom the very diverse forms of Church government which have been taughtto the natives by their foreign teachers, some of them late anddifficult representative systems, not easily grasped even by educatedmen. Is there then any general question which will suffice to throwlight on this problem, where the people are in the midst of the processof learning an unfamiliar form of government?

Were very simple and almost universal ideas always followed, as forinstance in episcopacy, which naturally adapts itself to the simplestand most common conceptions and experiences of men, in that the bishopis closely related in idea to the father of the family, or the head manof a village, or the governor of a province, or a chief of a tribe, oran autocratic emperor, or a constitutional monarch, according to thenotions and experience of the people--so that a bishop is as easilyunderstood by a nomad family, or a village community, as by a democraticnation, according to its stage of development, and if native bishopswere universal, as they are not, the problem would be comparativelysimple. Indeed then we need scarcely ask the question at all. Eitherpatriarchal episcopacy, or monarchical episcopacy, or constitutionalepiscopacy all men can understand, whether the bishop is elected by hispeople, or appointed by his predecessor, or by his fellows, or bothelected by his people and confirmed by his fellows--such things all mencan understand and maintain, each the form suited to their own stage. But constitutional episcopacy when the people are at the patriarchalstage of development, or republicanism when the people are at themonarchical stage, they cannot understand, until they have learnt tounderstand it by long and slow experience. But many of the systemsintroduced by us are the latest and most advanced systems. How then canwe discover to what extent the Christians have mastered them? We canfind no question which solves this problem. We can only suggest the barequestions, what proportion of the people take a proper and active partin the system of Church government under which they live; and whatproportion of the congregations take an active part as congregations inthat system of Church government. 

---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Number of Christians who take any part in Church | |Government by Vote or Voice. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Proportion of Total Christian Constituency | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Number of Congregations who take a share as | |Congregations in Church Government. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Proportion of Christian Congregations. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Remarks and Conclusions. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|

By the first question we understand the number of Christians who vote orspeak or act in any way, either personally or by electingrepresentatives, in the direction of the common action of the wholeChristian community viewed as a unity; by the second question weunderstand the number of congregations which are represented at anycouncil higher than the council of their own congregation. 

We think these questions most unsatisfactory, but we can devise noothers. We have no doubt that, if all the foreigners disappearedsuddenly, the native Christians would either perish or would speedilyadopt a form of Church government which they understood. The wholenecessity for these questions arises from the fact that we have foistedupon them foreign systems and are uncertain to what extent they havereally grasped them. The consequence is that when we think of a Churchcapable of standing alone we are in doubt. We do not feel certain thatthe converts could carry on their government; and some of us think achange in the form of Church government as serious a matter as thechange from Paganism to Christianity: it is an excommunicating matter. Inevitably then in an inquiry such as ours we must try to discover howfar the people are advanced in the understanding of the organisationwhich they have been taught. Until they are quite sound in this faithand fully trained in this system, whether it is a circuit or apresbytery or a democratic episcopacy, or a papacy, they cannot possiblystand alone. Who would dare to suggest such a revolutionary idea! Why, they might adopt a native governmental system--something which theyunderstood at once, quite easily, and then where should we be? We knowhow to administer the system in which we were brought up: it is betterthat they should learn that. 

Finally we make an inquiry concerning the power of the Christians tosupply the material needs of their religious organisation. We want toknow to what extent they are really dependent on foreign funds, and towhat extent they can stand alone financially. 

It is tempting to imagine that we can discover this by a merecalculation of the total expenditure on all work carried on in thedistrict and comparing this either with the number of Christians andtheir relative wealth or poverty, or simply with the contribution whichthey actually make, concluding that the difference between theircontribution, or their estimated power to give, and the cost of the workcarried on in the area is the difference between their power to supplytheir needs and their real needs. But foreign funds are largely spentupon things which, however excellent they may be in themselves, are notreally _necessary_ for the religious life of the Christians, such asmissionaries' salaries, high schools, colleges, medical institutions, and expensive buildings. Consequently to know the total expenditure inthe area is not to know the necessary expenditure. The native Churchmight maintain its life and conquer the whole district without spendingin actual money a tithe of that which we spend on providing the peoplewith medicine and education and buildings and foreign missionaries. 

Yet the question cannot be avoided. Missionaries all over the worldcarefully count every penny which the converts subscribe, and searchdiligently for some new method of doubling it, in order to lead theirconverts towards the goal of self-support. What that goal is we do notknow. We cannot tell how far the Christians can supply their own needs, if we do not know what the needs really are. And that we do not know. Ina certain very real sense Christians can always provide what isnecessary for their religious life. They could all always beself-supporting, if we did not invent needs and insist upon them; andwhat we insist upon depends entirely upon the school in which we werebrought up. The standard set, as we have already explained, is purelyarbitrary. 

Under these circumstances how can we express the position of the nativeChurch with any approximation to truth? We can only suggest that thesearbitrary standards should be accepted, and ask that they should bedefined in every case. We should ask the missionaries, or the societies, to estimate the amount required to supply that minimum upon which theyinsist. If we did that, remembering always that the estimate made mustbe doubtful and arbitrary, and that the native contribution, whilstcomparatively large funds are regularly supplied from a foreign source, will never represent the power of the Christian community to supply itsown needs, we should at least have some standard by which we mightestimate the position of the Christian Church in the country, and itsprogress. We suggest then that three items should be included in thetable: (1) the total expense of carrying on all the work in the stationdistrict, whether the funds were provided from foreign or nativesources; (2) the amount estimated to cover the necessary expenses of thenative Christian Church; and (3) the amount subscribed by the nativeChristian community. We think these three items taken together wouldhelp us to understand the situation. 

---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Total Expense of Church and Mission in the Area | |per Head of Christian Constituency. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Amount Estimated to Cover all Necessary Expenses of the | |Native Christian Constituency per Head. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Amount Subscribed for all Purposes by the Native | |Christian Constituency per Head. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|Remarks and Conclusions. | |---------------------------------------------------------|-----|

We have now, we hope, some light on the question how far we are reallysucceeding in attaining a purpose which we hear constantly proclaimed, as if it were indeed a governing object of our work, the creation of anindependent native Church. 

CHAPTER IX. 

SURVEY OF DISTRICTS WHERE TWO OR MORE SOCIETIES ARE AT WORK AND SURVEYOF MISSIONS WITH NO DEFINED DISTRICTS. 

I. Districts in which Two or more Societies are at Work. 

Hitherto we have taken for granted that only one missionary society isat work in the district and that the survey is therefore simple; but inmany mission station districts some other society is also at work. Occasionally the district of one station overlaps part of the districtof a station of another society. In many districts Roman Catholics areat work, and certain forms of their work cannot be ignored, and no formof their work ought to be ignored in surveying the district. 

If two missions sent by different societies are at work in the _same_district then, it would be an immense advantage if the survey of thedistrict could be made a joint production. Union for study is oftenpossible, when union in work is impossible, and the common understandingof the situation is most useful. 

But if that is impossible, then each society must survey the wholedistrict, and, what an immense amount of labour would be wasted in thepreliminary survey, the physical toil of travelling over the country tosee the villages and towns, which must be seen to be known, and must beknown to reveal the secret of the task which the mission is founded tofulfil, that labour is known only to one who has undertaken such a task, and will soon be known to anyone who starts out conscientiously tosurvey any district. But it is helpful and illuminating labour, and itwould be far better that the heads of two missions should survey thewhole of the same district separately than that neither should surveyany of it. If both feel that in any real sense that is "_theirdistrict_, " then they ought both to survey it all; for to call adistrict _mine_ which I have not even surveyed and do not know even bysight is absurd; but it would lighten their labour and help their mutualunderstanding if they surveyed it together. 

If a part of the district overlaps part of another mission district, that part should be surveyed together if possible, or if that is notpossible, by each separately. 

In this survey the work of no Christian society, however remoteecclesiastically or theologically from the surveyor's point of view, should be omitted. Ignorance of the work done by others is the worstpossible form of separation. There is a sense in which it is true thatthe more remote the ecclesiastical position of another is from our own, the more near we are to definite opposition, the more important it isthat we should know what his work is. We may find in it so much toadmire that our annoyance at what seem to us his ecclesiasticalabsurdities may be softened. If we survey the district together we shallperhaps find there is room for both, even if we each start with thepersuasion that there is no room for the other anywhere in the world. 

On no account must we fail to consider another's work. In educational ormedical work we must recognise that a school or a hospital which exists, by whomsoever created, in the district makes a difference to thesituation. To deal with the district as if that school or hospital didnot exist is to deal with an imaginary district, not with the real one;and no one supposes that there is any advantage in dealing with thingsthat are what they are as if they were something else. 

We have observed a certain tendency to recognise this truth in thematter of education and medicine, and to introduce into survey proposalsa note, when the educational and medical tables were reached, to remindthe surveyor that the educational and medical work of some society ofwhich he is afraid, or from which he thinks himself widely separated, asextreme Protestants from Roman Catholics, must not be ignored; but inthe evangelistic and Church tables no such note is inserted. This is, wesuppose, a tacit acceptance of the idea that the opposite party'sevangelical and church building work can be ignored with triflingloss--that to ignore it does not much matter. But if a man is surveyingwhat he calls habitually "his" district, he is surveying it presumablyto get at the facts, and one of the most important facts which he needsto know is how far the preaching of Christ has extended and whereChristian churches have been established. Unless then he is prepared todeny the name of Christ to the opposite party (and that is a veryserious thing to do), he cannot ignore their churches. The people claimto be Christians and declare that they believe in Christ. If thesurveyor without further inquiry rejects them because they belong to asociety which he does not like, that may be an exhibition ofecclesiastical zeal, but it is not the science of surveying. 

Whatever he may think of them, as a surveyor he has no right to ignorethem. He is surveying "his district". There are in it so many persons ofvarious religious belief, amongst them his own converts and theseChristians of the opposite party. He perhaps refuses to recognise thelatter as Christians; but they are undoubtedly neither Moslems norConfucianists, nor Buddhists, nor Hindoos, nor do they belong to any ofthe non-Christian religions. He cannot ignore them. He must take countof them. Therefore if in a district the Protestant and the RomanCatholic cannot survey together, the Protestant who does survey mustcarefully consider the facts before his face, and endeavour to find outwhat the facts really are as well as he possibly can. The facts are thatRoman Catholics are working in what he calls "his district"; the factsare that there are churches here, and here, and here, and people whocall themselves Christians so many, and that the heathen population isby so many less. And there are so many mission priests, and they winconverts, and the converts won by them cease to be heathen, for they aresometimes persecuted by their heathen neighbours, even as his ownconverts are persecuted. 

Happily all leading surveyors are realising these obvious facts and arenow taking these things into serious account; but it is still necessaryto insist on their importance. 

In these tables, when other missions are at work in the district, allthat is necessary is to add one column of the work of the other missionsso far as it is known, or can be ascertained. We are well aware thatthat easy phrase covers in many cases great practical difficulty. Hereis one of the places where estimates may be inevitable. If they areinevitable, they should be estimates, not guesses, and a note should bemade of the process by which they were reached. The difference betweenan estimate and a guess is that an estimate is the result of a definitetrain of reasoned calculation and a guess is not. For an estimatereasons can be given, for a guess none other than--it occurred to me. 

II. The Mission which has no Defined District. 

We believe that the vast majority of missions accept a territorialdistrict; but there are missions where the station district has not andcannot be defined. 

The idea of the mission is not territorial. The object proposed is notto cover any area with mission stations, nor to establish in every townand village a church or chapel, but to create at a centre a Church ofliving sons trained and educated by many years, perhaps generations, ofcare to become the centre of a movement which may cover the wholecountry; or it may be to influence movements which arise in thereligious, political, or social life of the people, and to direct theseinto Christian channels. In such cases a territorial foundation isimpossible. The mission exists in the midst of a people and influencesthe people; it makes converts, it establishes them in the faith, itcares for them in mind and body, it prepares them to set the moral andreligious standard for any Church of the future. It is not concerneddirectly with the widest possible preaching of the Gospel. When thenative Christians whom it is painfully and slowly educating and trainingcome to maturity they will spread the Gospel throughout the length andbreadth of the land. It is not, we are told, the business of the ForeignMission to preach the Gospel in every village of a defined area nor tomake itself responsible for such preaching directly: it should give toconverts in every country the highest and best and fullest teaching ofChristian civilisation, in order that by so doing it may show to all thepeople of the country an example, by which they may be attracted andinfluenced. If we take the widest expression of such mission activity wefind that to estimate the true value of such work we should be compelledto survey not only the mission and its activities but the social, moral, material, and spiritual state of the people among whom the mission wasplanted, and seek for signs of a change which we could trace with somecertainty to the influence of the mission. That would be a stupendousand most intricate undertaking. Where innumerable forces are at worksuch as are implied in the impact of western civilisation upon thepeoples of the East, or of Africa, it would be extremely difficult tostate the exact impression made by the mission, even if we could surveythe whole state of the people at regular and definite periods. We donot for a moment doubt that all Christian missions do exercise aninfluence of this wide and far-reaching character, and from time to timewe can see results which clearly spring from it, but we cannot think itwise to set out this vague influence as the primary purpose of amission. We believe that the Christian missions which aim directly andprimarily at the conversion of men and the establishment of a livingnative Church produce this fruit by the way. 

If, however, we take the narrower expressions in the statement of aimwhich we have set out above, we find in it the purpose of establishing aChurch, but the establishment is viewed as the result of a long andelaborate training and cultivation of a comparatively small body ofChristians, rather than as the immediate result of widespread work. Insuch a case we ought to be able to trace progress and to place thesemissions in a common scheme. 

The early tables of work to be done and of the force in relation to thatwork on a territorial basis certainly fail. The leaders of the missionhave not the information and do not want it, but they could almostcertainly provide the facts concerning the force at work contained inthe tables without the proportions for the district, and they wouldperhaps be able to fill up most of the other tables omitting proportionsto area and population. 

Now if they did that we should be able to see the force at work and thetype of work in which the mission was strongest and weakest, and therelation of the different types of work to each other, though it isprobable that the tables dealing with the native Church as distinct fromthe Mission would not be filled up. With that information we couldalmost certainly define more or less exactly the place of the mission ina large area such as the province, or the country; for in dealing withthe province or the country we must necessarily mass figures, and wehave there a known, or estimated, area and population, to use as a basisfor calculation of proportions and comparison, and we are aiming atplacing each mission in a larger whole and trying to see what part eachtakes in the performance of a great work which is world wide in itsscope. If the missions then which decline a territorial basis for theirwork would fill up those tables which reveal the nature of their workand the force engaged in it we should be able to advance to the nextstage. This is what we meant when at an earlier stage we remarked thatwe had drawn our tables to serve a definite purpose, but that we had notignored the case of the man whose idea of the purpose of a missiondiffered from our own. 

CHAPTER X. 

SURVEY OF THE WORK IN A PROVINCE. 

In few parts of the world is a mission station really an isolated unit. In most of the countries to which we go there are many stations of manydifferent missions, all aiming more or less definitely at theestablishment of a native Church, whatever their conception of theChurch may be. In the vast majority of cases these stations have somerelationship to one another. The definition of districts for the missionstations is commonly recognised, and in planning new work directors ofmissions frequently allow themselves to be influenced, in some way andin some degree, by the position of existing mission stations. There arealso in some parts of the world bodies composed of leading members ofmany of the missions that work in the country, who meet to consider theprogress of the Christian faith in the province or the country as awhole, and deliberately plan their work with some consideration of theposition and character of the work done by the others. Now in all thisthere is a manifest approach to the idea that mission work in thecountry or province is a common work, and that the various missionsengaged in it are not antagonists, but allies. It is certainly true thatwe are far from having reached the stage of a common direction and areal unification of work Rivalry and antagonism are still rampant, butthe recognition of the fact that we must consider the position andcharacter of other missions in directing our own is a most importantadvance; and it implies that we ought, in some measure at least, to beable to express the work of any mission station in relation to all themission work done in the province or country, and to understand, at anyrate in some degree, what place it takes in the mission work in theprovince viewed as a whole. It is true that a great many missionarieswould refuse to admit that the recognition of other stations in theplanting of our own is an acknowledgment of the unity of our work; butwhether they acknowledge it, or whether they do not, it is so, and wefor our part recognise it with thankfulness and look forward to a daywhen missions will not only recognise others by avoiding them, but byplanning missions deliberately to assist each other. For that seems tous the necessary conclusion. The moment we recognise a station as aChristian mission station which we must not disturb, we have gone a longway towards recognising it as a mission station which our own must notonly not disturb, but must complement; and when we know that one missionmust complement another we are really not far removed from establishingour missions with common consultation each to supply what is lacking tothe other. 

Holding this view, we desire to discover what place each mission stationoccupies when we take a wider view and survey the province or country. Here we shall be able to adjust many apparent inequalities in themission stations viewed by themselves. From our previous survey of themission stations one by one we may have got the impression that some ofthem as mission stations designed for work in a district were veryill-balanced. The medical work, or institutional work of some kind, mayhave seemed to be out of all proportion to the other forms of the work, and this impression may remain when we view the province. But on theother hand it may be seriously modified; because when we review thework of the province as a whole, we may find that the institutional workof the province as a whole is out of proportion to the evangelisticwork, and in that case we should think the disproportion at the stationmore serious. On the other hand we might find the institutional work inthe province inadequate, and in that case the emphasis which seemedundue in the one place, and may really be improper in that one place, nevertheless, in view of the situation in the whole province, may beshown to be reasonable in relation to the whole province. How then canwe gather together the returns from all the stations so as to present aview of the work in the province? For that is the first thing. We cannotput the station into its proper place in the province until we have aview of the work in the province treated as a unity. 

In provinces, large cities and towns, which are not reckoned as part ofany mission station district, have to be taken into account. These largecities, capitals of provinces, countries, or empires, need specialconsideration, and must often be surveyed separately. They are centresin which many societies have their head-quarters, and many missionarieslive, yet the work done in them is not always so impressive orextensive as the numbers of missionaries might suggest: occasionally themissionaries are all congregated in one quarter of the city, and largeportions are practically untouched. In them, too, are sometimes largecity congregations, self-supporting indeed and self-governing, butsucking into themselves all the more vigorous elements of the Christiancommunity and employing them within a somewhat narrow circle. Theproblem of the evangelisation of these cities is a very serious one. 

We suggest that these great cities might be treated either as onedistrict or as several, and that they ought to be surveyedsystematically by a body representative of all the missions in eachcity. If a proper survey were made and the facts tabulated, thestatistical tables would be similar to those for the station district, and we could use them to complete a survey of the work done in theprovince treated as a unity. 

But to view the work in the province as a unity we do not need all thedetail of the station districts, indeed we should only find themultiplication of detail confusing. To gain a general view of work in alarge area such as a province or a small country we must first of allselect those features which are common to all the parts and vitallyimportant. We venture to suggest that the important features to berepresented are five. (1) The work to be done in the whole area. (2) Thestrength of the whole force at work in relation to the work to be done. (3) The extent to which emphasis is laid on various forms of work. (4)The extent to which different classes, races, and religions in the areaare reached. (5) The extent to which the Church has attained toself-support. 

1. If the mission stations and their allotted districts covered thewhole country, we should need to do no more than add together thereturns obtained from the station statistics which we have already drawnup. But in most countries there are large unoccupied areas of the sizeand population of which we are more or less ignorant. What we have is, either a census return for the whole province, or an estimate of itsarea and population. In dealing with the whole province then we musttreat the station returns of towns and villages occupied and of thenumbers of the Christian constituency as work done; and then we mustfind out the relation of these to the whole area and population. Thiswould have to be done probably first on a large scale map which wouldshow the density of the population in different parts of the area, andwould show the stations and the strength of the Christian constituencyin relation to the area and population. These facts could then beexpressed in a table, and we should gain at once an idea of the extentto which the missions were in a position to reach the population. Thetable would be exceedingly simple and give us no more than the barestidea of the work to be done in its vaguest expression. 

------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | Christian Con- | Non-ChristianProvince. | Area. | Population. | stituency. | Population. ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | |__________|________|______________|________________|____________

If, in addition to this, there was either a census return or a credibleestimate of the cities, towns, and villages, in the area, a table couldbe drawn of the cities, towns, and villages occupied, in the sense thatthere were Christians resident in them, and the work could be expressedin that form also, which would greatly assist the understanding of theother. 

________________________________________________________________ | | | Occupied. | Unoccupied. Province. |__________________________|___________________________ | | | | | | |Cities. | Towns. | Villages. | Cities. | Towns. | Villages. _________|_______|_______|__________|________|_______|__________ | | | | | |_________|_______|_______|__________|________|_______|__________

We ought here to repeat that we do not imagine for a moment that theForeign Missions are to occupy all the villages or even all the citiesand towns. We believe that a careful statement of work to be done inthis form would very speedily force us to realise, with a clearness andpower never before experienced, the truth which we often repeat, thatthe conversion of the country must be the work of native Christians. 

2. The force at work in relation to the work to be done. Here again itwould not be sufficient to add together the figures returned from thestations, because in a large area like a province or a small countrythere are often many missionaries not at mission stations but at somelarge centre engaged in work for the whole province rather than for anyparticular mission district; as, for instance, translators orjournalists; men engaged in hostels or Y. M. C. A. Work; or in largeinstitutions, such as training colleges, medical or educational orindustrial; or in some special form of Christian philanthropy, such aswork amongst lepers, blind, deaf and dumb, and other infirm or defectivepersons; or men engaged in assisting the missionaries all over thecountry as directors, or forwarding agents; and all these must be takeninto account in considering the foreign force in the province. Includingall these we should get a table for the foreign force similar to thatwhich we had for the station, and that force we could relate directly tothe work to be done. 

____________________________________________________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Re- | | | | | | | |marksPopu- | Total |Propor-| |Propor-| |Single|Propor-| andlation. |Foreign|tion to| Men. |tion to| Wives. |Women. |tion to| Con- | Force. | Popu- | | Popu- | | | Popu- | clu- | |lation. | |lation. | | |lation. |sions. _______|_______|_______|______|_______|_______|______|_______|______ | | | | | | | |_______|_______|_______|______|_______|_______|______|_______|______

We cannot sacrifice the proportions, because the life is in them. Comparison of conditions in different areas can only be made onproportions. The mere statement of the figures with the suggestion thatanyone can work out the proportions would reveal a singular ignorance ofhuman nature. 

For the native force all that we need for the present purpose is atable that will show us the Christian constituency, communicants, andworkers in the whole province in proportion to one another. Here also wemust include many workers and some congregations in large towns whichthe station district survey may have omitted. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total. | Proportion| Proportion |Proportion |Remarks | |of |of Christian |of |and | |Population. | Constituency. |Communicants. |Conclu- | | | | | sions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------Christian | | | | |constituency| ---- | ---- | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Communicants| ---- | ---- | ---- | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Paid workers| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |---------------------------------------------------------------------Unpaid | | | | | Workers | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |---------------------------------------------------------------------

3. It is important to consider carefully the proportions in which theforce is engaged in different forms of work since, as we have alreadyexplained, these different forms are often, if not generally, treated asdistinct and separate methods of propaganda, and men want to know whatis the effectiveness of each. They ask, what are the fruits of medicaland educational work, and they expect an answer in terms of additions tothe Church. If the dominant object of missions is the establishment of anative Church this is indeed not unnatural; but, as we have alreadysaid, many educational and medical missionaries might resent thisdemand, for they have other ideas of the nature and purpose of theirwork. Nevertheless, since this native Church is constantly presented tous as the dominant purpose of all our efforts, it is only right that weshould make the inquiry here, as we did in the earlier chapters, and askhow the force in the field is divided. It seems almost absurd that weshould have no idea in what proportion medicals, educationalists, andevangelists should be employed in any field. In some countries medicalwork is by far the most effective, if not the only possible form ofpropaganda; in some fields the evangelists can work effectively almostalone, and medical institutions are not the same necessity, and theirestablishment does not produce great results in the building of theChurch when compared with the work of evangelists and educationalists. In some places their aid was at first apparently necessary to success, but as time went on that first desperate importance ceased. We have notso large a medical force that we can afford to use it for any but themost important and necessary purposes; yet, if the establishment of anative Church is the dominant purpose, large numbers of medicals aredoing work which is (from this point of view only) of second-rateimportance, whilst work which only they could do is left undone, andcries aloud for their assistance. Similarly, if the establishment of anative Church is really the dominant object, educationalists are oftenwrongly directed and placed. They are not producing fruit in this regard(of course in this regard only) in anything like the abundance whichthey might produce if they were free to attack the real questions of theeducation of the native Church. In many centres they are doing splendidwork for the enlightenment of the people, but close beside them arelarge bodies of Christians who from the point of view of theestablishment of a native Church need their help much more. 

We ought then to know in each province how the force is divided and whatis the fruit of the labours of each class of missionaries viewed fromthe standpoint of the building up of the native Church. 

Now if we know the proportions of the workers in each class in eachcountry, and if we could have a table which told us with any degree ofaccuracy the numbers of the inquirers, communicants, and places openedby the labours of each class, we should surely have some facts fromwhich we might gain light on this most practical question, in whatproportion the work of each class of workers was most effective in eachcountry as an evangelistic and church-building agency. We propose thentwo tables (see opposite page). 

(i)

_____________________________________________________________________ | | Paid |Amount of| Amount of | Remarks | Mission-| Native | Foreign | Native | and Con- | aries | Workers. | Funds. |Contributions. | clusions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------Evangelistic| -- | -- | -- | -- |---------------------------------------------------------------------Medical | -- | -- | -- | -- |---------------------------------------------------------------------Educational | -- | -- | -- | -- |---------------------------------------------------------------------Other forms | | | | | of work. | -- | -- | -- | -- |_____________________________________________________________________

(ii)

_____________________________________________________________________ | Inquirers | | Places Opened | Remarks | Derived | Communicants | Directly Through | and Con- | From | Derived from | Influence of | clusions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------Evangelistic| -- | -- | -- |---------------------------------------------------------------------Medical | -- | -- | -- |---------------------------------------------------------------------Educational | -- | -- | -- |_____________________________________________________________________

If we desire to know the influence of our medical and educational workupon the native Church we ought certainly to have a table which, for theschools at least, would show us what proportion of the pupils who passedthrough the schools became valuable members of the Church. But every onewho has had any scholastic experience, and has tried to follow theafter-history of his pupils, knows that that is not easy, even inexternal and material affairs, and when the inquiry is concerned withinternal convictions and religious influence that difficulty isinsuperable. A few specially endowed and devoted educationalists couldindeed tell the after-history of a considerable number of their pupils, and ideally all schools ought to have a record of the history of pupilsfor at least a few years after leaving the school; but there wouldalways be a percentage of loss; in many cases that percentage would bevery high, and we doubt whether many schools have any record at all. Under these circumstances to put into an inquiry such as that which wepropose a question concerning the after-life of scholars or patientsseems almost impossible. Yet we cannot be content. There are missionschools which go on year after year educating boys for a businesscareer, and generation after generation of boys pass through the school, large sums of mission money are expended on them, and the results _froma missionary point of view_ are shrouded in Cimmerian gloom; or thegeneral darkness is relieved by one or two exceptional pupils who, because they do very well, appear to justify the existence of theinstitution in which they were educated, though they would probably havebeen as valuable Christians if they had been educated in any otherschool. In this way a very low average is often concealed. If a schoolis judged by a few exceptionally good scholars, it should also be judgedby a few exceptionally bad ones. It is indeed of serious importance thatthe missionary value of some of our medical and educational, especiallythe educational, institutions should be carefully examined and tested byan appeal to indisputable facts. It is generally supposed that educationin mission schools must necessarily produce a strong, enlightened, andzealous Christian community. That it produces a large number ofChristians intellectually enlightened is certain: that they are zealousevangelists is not as certain. We want a statistical table to reveal themissionary value, not the commercial value, of the education given. Butwhat table can we draw? The preceding table which sets forth inquirersand communicants is clearly insufficient though it is better thannothing. Until every school keeps a careful record of the after-historyof at least a large number of its pupils it seems impossible to get anyclear light on the question. 

4. With regard to the extent to which different races and classes arereached by the missions, we may safely assume that the Christianmissions ought to extend their benefits to all classes and races in thearea, and that there ought to be some proportion between the effortsmade in each case. If, and when, the responsible leaders of the missionsdecided that the time had come to concentrate on one particular kind ofwork for one particular class, we may be perfectly certain that theywould have no difficulty in justifying their action. But in any caseaction should not be taken without consideration of proportions, and, therefore, it is important that the proportions should be known. 

But in dealing with work in the province or small country we cannotsimply repeat the table prepared for the mission district. In theprovince or country there are often missionaries at work who givethemselves up wholly to one class. It is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish every possible form of work; but seeing that veryconsiderable work is done amongst students, we have thought it well toadd one column in which the proportion of the children of differentclasses who are attending Christian schools or living in Christianhostels is set forth:--

_____________________________________________________________________ | | Agri- | | | |RemarksPercentage Stud-|Offi- |cultural|Traders. |Labourers. | Crafts-|and of: ents. |cials. |Small- | | | men. |Conclu- | |Holders. | | | |sions. ________________|______|________|________|__________|________|_______InPopulation -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |________________|______|________|________|___________________________In Christian -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |Constituency | | | | | |________________|______|________|________|__________|________|_______In Christian | | | | | |schools and | | | | | |hostels, -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |percentage | | | | | |of children | | | | | |of | | | | | |________________|______|________|________|__________|________|_______

With respect to work among different races, castes, etc. , no addition tothe table prepared for the district seems necessary, and we thereforerepeat it:--

--------------|-----------------------------------------|------------ | Races, Religious Castes, etc. , whatever| Remarks | they may be. | And | |Conclusions. --------------|-----------------------------------------|------------In Population | ---- |--------------|-----------------------------------------|------------In Christian | ---- |Constituency | |--------------|-----------------------------------------|------------

5. Concerning self-support, one table should, we think, suffice. Wecannot possibly adopt any estimated necessary expenditure such as weproposed in the table for the station district because in the provincethat estimate would be almost impossible to make. Different missionshave different ideas, and their estimates have for themselves somereality; but they have no reality for others, and a mere average of theestimates given for all the missions of the province would have stillless reality. It would be an absurd guess, meaning nothing. If we wantto judge progress in self-support we must have some definite key figureby which to judge it. What figure then can we use? The total cost of allthe work carried on in the province is an impossible figure. [1] The merecontribution of the native Christians by itself means nothing. That isthe figure generally given. The native Christian subscribed $6000 lastyear, $7000 this year. Here is progress. The progress is an addition of$1000. But does that tell us their progress towards self-support unlesswe know what self-support implies? In the year the Church ought to haveincreased in numbers, and the $7000 may represent exactly the sameposition as the $6000 represented last year. Expenses may haveincreased: the $7000 may be actually further removed from self-supportthan the $6000 last year. We must have a proportion of which we cantrace the variation if we want to see progress. But is there any expensewhich we can use to strike the proportion? Suppose then we suggest thepay of all evangelistic and pastoral workers and provision and upkeep ofchurches, chapels, and preaching rooms. That would at least give ussomething to work by. But it might be difficult to calculate. We wouldpropose then, as a secondary item, some easily calculable and knownexpense, something which every missionary accountant knows, such as thepay of all native pastors and evangelistic workers, and then comparewith these the contributions of the Christians for Church andevangelistic work only, excluding all fees for education and medicine. That would, we think, give us a standard which we could apply withouthaving to consider complications introduced by such things as Governmentgrants to schools or hospitals. We propose then to judge progress inself-support thus:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Total Cost | Total | Total | | of all | Salaries of | Native | | Evangelistic | all Paid | Contribution, |Province. | and | Native | excluding | Remarks and | Pastoral | Evangelistic | School or | Conclusions. | Work, Men | Workers, | Hospital | | and Material. | including | Fees or | | | Pastors. | Donations. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------

[Footnote 1: In Dr. Eugene Stock's "History of the C. M. S. , " vol. Ii. , p. 420, we are told that "In 1863, . . . 400 families raised 1371 rupees, equal then to £137. These families consisted mainly of labourers earning(say) 2s. A week; so that a corresponding sum for 400 families ofEnglish labourers earning 12s. A week would be £137 x 6 = £822, or over£2 a year from each family. A few years later, taking the whole of theC. M. S. Districts in Tinnevelly and reckoning catechumens as well asbaptised Christians, their contributions were such that, supposing thewhole thirty millions of people in England were poor labourers earning12s. A week, and there were no other source of wealth, theircorresponding contributions should amount to £6, 000, 000 per annum. " Yethe says on the very next page that "It was not possible for the nativeChurch, liberal as its contributions were, to maintain its pastors andmeet its other expenses (he does not say what the _other expenses_ were)entirely. The society must necessarily help for a while. . . . This grant, in the first instance, had to be large enough to cover much more thanhalf the expenditure. "

If this was the case in one part of a province, what would happen if wetook the whole expense of all work carried on in a whole province orcountry and used that as a standard by which to test progress inself-support?]

Turning now from the force at work we must consider the force intraining, for this is prophetic. Let us then take first a table whichshows the proportion in which students are being trained for pastoraland evangelistic work, for medical mission work, and for educationalmission work, in the province or country, regardless of the place atwhich they are being trained, whether that place is inside or outsidethe area under consideration. This ought to show us on what lines we mayexpect the work to develop in the near future. 

_____________________________________________________________________Total |For Evangel- | | | | |Students |istic Work, |Propor- |For |Propor-|For Educa-|Remarksin |including the |tion of|Medical|tion of|tional |andTraining. |Pastorate. |Total. |Work. |Total. |Work. |Conclu- | | | | | |sions_________|______________|________|_______|_______|__________|________ | | | | | |_________|______________|________|_______|_______|__________|________

Then we must examine more closely, if we can;--and first of the_evangelistic_ workers. The difficulty is to classify, becauseecclesiastical nomenclature is so confused that it is almost impossibleto use any terms which would be widely recognised. The best we can do isto distinguish grades of training, beginning from the top thus:--

 1st grade, college or university. 2nd " high school. 3rd " regular Bible school. 4th " intermittent, irregular Bible instruction. 

It will probably be found that the first grade is commonly prepared for, and looks forward to, the charge of a settled congregation, or of anorganised church, and the lower grades do the pioneer work, and it maywell suggest itself to thoughtful men whether this is rightly so. 

Then, _educationalists_ in training: again we divide by gradesroughly:--

 1st grade, college or university. 2nd " normal school. 3rd " high school. 4th " teachers of illiterates. 

The college students presumably look forward to work in the highschools, or colleges, or normal schools; the normal school pupils towork in normal schools, high schools, and large primary schools; thehigh school pupils to work in village schools; and the teachers ofilliterates to village work, or work among the poor in the towns. Of_medicals_ the generally recognised distinctions seem to be, qualifiedpractitioners, assistants, and nurses. 

Following these lines we should obtain simple prophetic tables for eachof the three branches of work. 

(i) Students in Training for _Evangelistic_ Work. 

---------------------------------------------------------- 1st Grade. | 2nd. | 3rd. | 4th. College. | High School. | Regular | Intermittent. | Bible School | Teaching |------------------------------------------- -------------- | | | | | |----------------------------------------------------------

(ii) For _Educational_ Work. 

---------------------------------------------------------- 1st Grade. | 2nd. | 3rd. | Teachers of College. | Normal. | High School. | Illiterates. ------------------------------------------- -------------- | | | | | |----------------------------------------------------------

(iii) For _Medical_ Work. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st Grade. | 2nd. | 3rd. To be Qualified Doctors. | Assistants, including Dispensers, |Nurses. | etc. |---------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | |----------------------------------------------------------------------

If we had those tables for _men and women_ we should see fairly plainlyhow the work might be expected to develop. 

But here we ought to remember the difficulty which we set forth earlierin discussing the missionary influence of our various activities, medical and educational, from a Church building point of view. A greatmany boys are educated and trained at mission expense to be evangelists, medicals, and teachers in mission employ, who serve indeed for a periodaccording to their contract and then disappear into Government serviceor private practice. It is a serious question whether missionaries canbe raised up successfully in this way. "I will give you training if youwill promise to serve the mission, " is not a very certain way ofsecuring ready, wholehearted, zealous service of Christ. We have foundout its uncertainty in many cases at home; we have found it out instill more frequent cases in the mission field. Unless we keep a verycareful record of the after-life of those whom we train, and a veryhonest one, we are apt to ignore the failure, a failure which we cannotproperly afford, and consequently we cannot know what we are reallydoing by our training. We ought to know the truth in this matter, bothfor our encouragement and our admonition. Happily here, we think, we canfind an easy and a valuable test. If we ask what proportion of thosewhom we train continue in their missionary work after the end of theirfirst term of service, we shall certainly have some enlightenment; forit is true of medicals and educationalists, and of evangelists, thoughin a much less degree, that if any man continues in missionary workafter he has fulfilled the letter of his contract, it will generally bebecause he has his heart in the work; for missionary work seldom, ifever, offers the emoluments of Government service, or of privatepractice. We ask then--

SURVEY OF WORK IN A PROVINCE

--------------------------------------------------------------------- |Evangelistic | Medical | Educational--------------------------------+-------------+---------+------------Total Students | | |--------------------------------+-------------+---------+------------Trained at Mission Expense, | | |Wholly or in Part. | | |--------------------------------+-------------+---------+------------Number who Continue in | | |Mission Work after the end | | |of the Term of their Contract. | | |--------------------------------+-------------+---------+------------Proportion of Total Students | | |who so Continue. | | |--------------------------------+-------------+---------+------------Remarks and Conclusions. | | |--------------------------------+-------------+---------+------------

If the institutions in which the training is actually carried on liewithin the province, then we ought to have tables such as we have forthe schools in the station area for these institutions. We need noelaborate statistics in this place, because the work of theseinstitutions should be specially treated in departmental surveys. Here, all that we need is to relate the work of the schools or hospitals whichwere omitted in the station district survey, because they served alarger area than the station area, to the work done in the province orcountry. The educational returns from each station area must be addedtogether and the returns of these larger institutions added to the totaleducational statistics; that will give us the work done in the largerarea in proportion to population. 

But in the province it is important to consider the relation in whichthe different grade schools stand to one another; because if the aim ofthe missionary educational system is the education of the Christiancommunity, and the higher schools are designed primarily for Christianpupils from the lower schools, this relation is of importance. It ispossible to build an organisation too narrow at the base and too heavyat the top, and then to fill the higher schools with non-Christianpupils without any definite understanding of the way in which thatpractice is to serve the main purpose of the mission. Then these schoolsstand on a distinct and separate basis from the rest of the missionactivities, and the work of Christian missions in the country is split, part aiming directly at the establishment of a native Christian Church, and part "aiming at the general improvement of morals, and social, religious, and political enlightenment. Thus we arrive at that chaoticstate in which the mission as a whole is not subordinate to any dominantidea of the purpose for which it exists, which alone can unify the workof all its members. But if the colleges and schools are designed formutual support, and if the higher have any relation to the lower grades, then there must be some proportion between the base and thesuperstructure, and that proportion must be known and expressed in anysurvey worthy of the name. We include, therefore, the following table:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Mission | Proportion | Proportion | Remarks | Schools, | to | to | and | Number | Population. | High | Conclusions. | of. | | Schools. |---------------------------------------------------------------------Primary | | | |Schools | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------High | | | |Schools | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Normal | | | |Schools | | | |---------------------------------------------------------------------Colleges| | | |--------+-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------------

In the province also we must know the educational facilities afforded bynon-missionary agencies, if we are to have any true conception of thework of the educational missions. We must therefore add a table forthese schools. 

------------------------------------------------------------ | Non- | Proportion | Remarks. | | Missionary | to | | | Schools, | Population. | | | Number of. | | |-------------------------------------------------------------Primary Schools | | | |-------------------------------------------------------------High Schools. | | | |-------------------------------------------------------------Normal School | | | |-------------------------------------------------------------Colleges. | | | |-------------------------------------------------------------

Here it is not necessary for us to find the proportion between thehigher and lower grade schools, because we are not surveying thenon-missionary educational work, and their scheme of proportions is notour business. 

A comparatively slight addition to the tables for medical work in thevarious station districts will suffice to give an adequate impression ofthe medical work done in the whole area. We need not go into details, for the medical work should be, and generally is, reviewed by MedicalBoards in their reports. For us now, all that is needed is the additionof tables, similar to those which we used for hospitals in the stationarea, for hospitals excluded from any station survey. 

Two other subjects ought to be included in this provincial survey, namely, literature and industrial work. First, we must try to find atable which will express the work done by those important missionarieswho are engaged in providing Christian literature, both for theChristian community and the heathen outside. Here we find once more thedifficulty that, whilst a few missionaries are wholly engaged in thisform of missionary work, much is produced by missionaries who havealready been included in the tables as either evangelistic oreducational or medical missionaries, and we also touch bookselling andother kindred commercial questions. With the commercial aspect of thiswork we cannot deal. The following tables will throw light on the extentto which Christian literature is being produced and read:--

(i)

---------------------------------------------------------------------Number of Missionaries wholly Engaged | Proportion of Total in Literary Work. | Missionaries. ---------------------------------------+----------------------------- |---------------------------------------+-----------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------Number of Vernacular | Number of | Proportion of SalesChristian Books Produced | Christian Books | to Population. In the Year. | Sold in the Year. |--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Bibles or | | Bibles or | | Scripture | Other | Scripture | Other | Portions. | Books. | Portions. | Books. -------------------------+-----------+--------+------------+--------- | | | |-------------------------+-----------+--------+------------+---------

If the business side of literary work is difficult, the whole positionof industrial missions is still more difficult. In some countriesindustrial missions seem to be trading ventures with a Christianintention, in others industrial missions are really almost entirelyeducational establishments. The best tables which we have ever seendealing with this subject were those drawn by Mr. Sidney Clark in one ofhis papers, "From a Layman to a Layman". [1] All that we can do is tosuggest that industrial missions which are in the main clearly andunmistakably educational should be included in the educational work, andthat the missions with large commercial interests, even if they aredoing a valuable educational work for the community, should be treatedseparately, thus:--

[Footnote 1: Printed for private distribution by Mr. S. J. W. Clark, 3Tudor Street, Blackfriars, London, E. C. 4. ]

_Industrial Missions_, (a)

---------------------------------------------------------------------Province. | Number of | Amount of Mission | Proportion of | Industrial | Funds Allotted to | Total Mission | Missions. | such Work. | Funds. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |__________|______________|_____________________|_____________________

(b)

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Number of | Number of Missionaries | Proportion ofProvince. | Industrial | Engaged in such | Total | Institutions. | Institutions. | Missionaries--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |__________|________________|________________________|________________

(c)

------------------------------------------------------------- | Number of | Number of | Proportion ofProvince. | Industrial | Native Agents | Native Christian | Missions. | Employed. | Workers Employed. ------------------------------------------------------------- | | |__________|_____________|________________|___________________

In some missions the proportion of missionaries and native workers soemployed would be very small; in others they would be very considerable. There is now a tendency to hand over some of the industrial work as itdevelops along commercial lines to Boards of Christian men who areinterested in the social and spiritual aspect of the work. 

In the province we must also consider union work, work done in common bytwo or more societies, [1] sometimes evangelistic, sometimes medical oreducational training, sometimes the establishment, or enlargement of aneducational or medical institution; or sometimes, as in Kwangtung inSouth China, several societies unite in a "Board of Co-operation". Thisunion of societies for the better and more efficient performance oftheir work is a most important development of the last few years:important both to the workers on the field and to us at home. We ought, therefore, to have a short table to show what is being done. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Number of Societies | |Number | Co-operating in |Number of |of |--------------------------------| Societies |RemarksSocieties|Evangelistic|Medical|Educational| Co-operating| andat Work. | Work. | Work. | Work. | in all Work. |Conclusions. ---------+------------+-------+-----------+-------------+------------ | | | | |---------+------------+-------+-----------+-------------+------------

[Footnote 1: The larger and more important movements towards corporateunion, such as those now taking place in S. India, China, and E. Africa, lie outside the scope of this survey until their completion affectstheir statistical returns. Then the importance of them will speedilyappear. ]

CHAPTER XI. 

THE RELATION OF THE STATION TO THE WORLD. 

We have now dealt with the survey of the station and of the province orsmall country, but the final end of missionary work is the attainment ofa world-wide purpose. The Gospel is for the whole world, not for afragment of it, however big. Missionary work cannot properly be carriedon in any place except by means and methods designed with a view to thewhole, and missions can never be properly presented to us at home solong as we are taught to fix our eyes on small areas; because the greatcharacteristic of missions is their vastness. This is what is souplifting and ennobling in the work. Every little piece of mission workought to be directed on principles capable of bearing the weight of thewhole. We ought to be able to say, "The whole world can be converted bythese means and on these principles which we are here employing in thislittle village". If the methods and the principles are so narrow that wecan build no great world-wide structure on them, we can take little moreinterest in them than we do in the petty politics of some little parishat home. 

We have then yet to demand that we shall be able to put every littlestation into its proper place in this larger whole, and to see how itsprinciples and methods are illumined by the vision of the whole, beingestablished with the design of accomplishing the whole task. We turnthen now to this larger view of mission work. The tables which we havedrawn for a province or small country would enable us to compare thework in each area with another such area in the larger whole, and tojudge whether we were unduly neglecting any; where the Church wasstrongest and where it was least established; where it was more capableand where it was less capable of taking over that work which rightlybelongs to it, of extending its own boundaries, and of maintaining itsown life. We should not send hasty missions here or there because someinteresting political event attracts the eyes of men to this or thatparticular country, but on definite missionary principles, acting on aclear and reasonable understanding of the missionary situation in theworld. 

The commission of Christ is world-wide, the claim of Christ isworld-wide, the work of Christ, the Spirit of Christ are all-embracing;and the work which missionaries do in His name should be all-embracingto. We should conduct all our work, and plan all our work, at home andabroad, with our eyes fixed on the final goal, which is for us, so longas we are on this earth, coterminous only with the limits of thehabitable globe. We cannot be content to approach even the largest areasas though our action was limited by them. All our policy in every partshould be part of a policy designed for the whole. If it is not designedto accomplish the whole it is not adequate for any part. 

How then could we gain a vision of the whole, a whole composed of suchvast and diverse parts? Obviously we must have for every country inwhich any missionary work is carried on some common returns, eitherthose which we venture to suggest or others which some abler minds mightsuggest; but that they must be common to all, and fundamental incharacter, is obvious; and they must be reduced to proportions on acommon basis, or comparison and combination will be impossible; andthey must be as few as possible in order to avoid confusion. 

We suggest, then, that if we had the four tables which follow we shouldpossess a reasonable basis, sufficient for our present needs, especiallysince we suppose they would be supported by the tables for the differentprovinces, countries, and stations which we have already suggested, andthey ought to be supplemented by surveys made by each society of its ownwork and by departmental surveys of medical, educational, industrial, and literary work made for the special direction of each of thesebranches. But for a first general view of the whole we propose:--

(1) A table showing the force at work in the area in relation to thepopulation:--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Proportion to Population. --------------------------------------------------------------------Province| Popula-| Total | Chris- | Com- | | or | tion. | Foreign | tian | municants | Paid | Unpaid Country| | Mission-| Constitu-| or Full |Workers. | Workers. Area. | | aries. | ents. | Members | |--------|--------|---------|----------|-----------|--------|--------- | | | | | |________|________|_________|__________|___________|________|_________---------------------------------------------------------------------

That would give us a general view of the force at work in relation tothe work to be done and of the proportions between its constituentparts. Then (2):--

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | Proportion of Paid | Proportion of | Workers | Unpaid Workers-------------------|------------------------|------------------------ Propor- | |Christian tion |-----------|------------|-------------|----------Constitu- of | | To | |To ency. Liter- | To | Christian | To |Christian ates. | Com- | Constitu- | Com- |Constitu- | municants. | ency |municants. |ency. -------------------|-----------|------------|-------------|---------- | | | |-------------------+-----------+------------+-------------+----------

That would give us an idea of the character and power of the force. (3)

--------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Percentage | Percentage | | Paid | of Total | of Total | Missionaries. | Native | Foreign Funds| Native | | Workers. | Employed in. | Contributions | | | | Employed in. -------------+--------------+---------+--------------+---------------Evangelistic | -- | -- | -- | ------------------------------+---------+--------------+---------------Medical | -- | -- | -- | ------------------------------+---------+--------------+---------------Educational | -- | -- | -- | ------------------------------+---------+--------------+---------------Other forms | -- | -- | -- | --of work | -- | -- | -- | ---------------+--------------+---------+--------------+---------------

That would give us relative emphasis on different forms of work. 

(4)

-------------+---------------------+--------------+------------------ | Total Amount Paid | |Relation of NativeChristian | to Native Evangel- | Total Native | Contribution toConstituency. | istic Workers In- | Contribution. | Pay of Workers. | cluding all Pastors. | |-------------+---------------------+--------------+------------------ | | |_____________|_____________________|______________|__________________

That would give us some idea of the extent to which the nativeChristians support the existing work. 

Now if we could form some idea of the force at work in relation to thecountry in which it is working; and some idea of the character of theforce; and some idea of the relative emphasis laid on different forms ofwork, and some idea of the extent to which the native Christians supportthe work, we should, we hope, be able to form a reasonable estimate ofthe extent and progress of our efforts in the world. The whole number offorms would not be very large, for there would only be about 150 areasfrom which such forms would be required, and these could be combined soas to give us a view of the situation in the world such as the mindcould grasp. 

This is, we admit, rather a hasty and tentative expression of the wayin which we might satisfy the present need; but it seems to us that thetime is ripe for the consideration of this great subject, and we canthink of no better plan than to propose tables, and then to leave othersto criticise and amend them, or to suggest better ones, or bettermethods of attaining an object which few would deny to be desirable. 

With proper tables, these or others, we should then be able to trace themeaning and results of each station which we founded and to put it intoits place in a reasoned scheme of things, and that is the crying need.