THE EMPHASIS LAID UPON DIFFERENT TYPES OF WORK.
When we know the area and the force at work in it, we must next consider
how this force is applied. We need to know in what proportion it works
amongst men and women, how far different classes of the population are
reached by it, and what emphasis is placed upon different forms of work,
evangelistic, medical, and educational. We propose then four tables
which will help us to understand these things.
First, we inquire into the relative strength of the force in relation to
work among men and women. In the foreign missionary force we distinguish
men, wives, and single women; in the native force we distinguish only
men and women; because marriage generally affects the character of the
foreigner's work more than it affects the character of the work done by
the native Christians who live in their own homes among their own
people.
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| | | Single |
| | | Women and | Remarks and
| Men | Wives| Widows | Conclusions
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Foreign missionaries. | | | |
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| Women
Christian constituency | | |
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Communicants. | | |
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Native workers (paid) | | |
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Since it is generally agreed that men in the main appeal to men, and
women to women, that table should tell us roughly what is the force at
work in relation to men and women; and any mistake in that supposition
will be checked by the statistics for the Christian constituency, which
serve a double purpose. The statistics of the Christian constituency
show us not only an important part of the Christian force at work in
relation to the men and women of the non-Christian population; but in
relation to the foreigners and the native workers they also help us to
see how far the idea that men appeal to men and women to women, is in
fact a good working rule.
Next it is desirable to know to what classes the mission especially
appeals. Here we shall probably have to accept estimates, sometimes
rough estimates, for part at least of the information desirable; in some
cases the table may be impossible; in some it may be most useful. The
table which we suggest is:--
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In the Population of Station District--
_____________________________________________________________________
Per Cent.|Per Cent.|Per Cent. |Per Cent.| Per Cent.| Remarks
Students.|Officials|Agricultural |Traders. |Labourers,| and
| |Small Holders.| |Craftsmen.| Conclusions.
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| | | | |
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In the Christian Constituency--
_____________________________________________________________________
Per Cent.|Per Cent.|Per Cent. |Per Cent.| Per Cent.| Remarks
Students.|Officials|Agricultural |Traders. |Labourers,| and
| |Small Holders.| |Craftsmen.| Conclusions.
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| | | | |
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If that table could be filled up it would show at a glance what class of
the people was reached most easily and fully, and whether any were
unduly neglected.
Then, in many station areas there are divergencies of race and
religion, and it is important to know how far the mission is reaching
each of these. In some areas, for instance, large numbers of converts
are made from the pagan population whilst a Moslem population in the
area is practically untouched; in some nearly all the converts are made
from one caste out of many. That is no reason for adverse criticism of
the mission: it may be, and often is, a reason for striking harder at
the point on which the work is now most successful; but it is a fact
which throws great light on the nature of the work done and upon the
character of the Church which is rising in the area, and therefore
cannot be ignored. We append then a table to reveal this:--
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| Area of Races, Castes, | Remarks and
| Religions, etc. | Conclusions
| |
Proportion of Population | |
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Proportion of Christian | |
Constituency derived from| |
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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 only
facts useful to illustrate the progress of the Christian faith, but also
to show the progress of aggressive non-Christian religions such as
Mohammedanism.
Then we want to know what is the emphasis put on different forms of
missionary work, evangelistic, medical, educational. Here we come to a
difficulty. Medical missionaries, thank God, do evangelistic work, and
so do educational missionaries, and one day we shall learn that the
evangelistic missionary, technically so called, is doing a most
important educational work, and often truly medical, healing work. The
division is a technical one and missionary-hearted men begin to resent
it; they are all evangelic in their work, if not technically
evangelistic, and the division seems unreal, unnatural, untrue. It would
be a sad day for our missions if medical and educational missionaries
ceased to be at heart evangelists, and were content to leave
evangelistic work to others. Nevertheless, the technical distinction is
a real one and must be expressed. Some men express their evangelistic
fervour naturally and providentially in medical form, others in
scholastic, others in teaching, preaching, and organising of the
converts and the hearers. But how shall we divide them? The best plan
seems to be to put each man into that category in which he spends most
of his time, and in cases of doubt to use fractions, e.g. a doctor may
be as keen an evangelist and may preach and strive to convert his
patients as eagerly as his colleague who is called an evangelistic
missionary. An evangelistic missionary is perhaps a doctor by training
or experience, and heals the sick as eagerly as his colleague who is
called a medical missionary. Each is unwilling to be catalogued in one
column only. He feels, and feels rightly, that that single figure belies
the facts. The evangelistic missionary may be the only doctor in the
whole area who really understands the use of western drugs and
implements, the doctor may be the only evangelist in the whole area who
really knows how to preach the Gospel in language which the people can
understand. Clearly, in such cases the only possible thing to do is to
use a fraction, though the inner truth might be more easily expressed by
figures which represented that one man as two or three.
The table then is as follows:--
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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. |
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Evangelistic | | | | |
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Medical. | | | | |
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Educational | | | | |
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Other Forms | | | | |
of Work. | | | | |
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[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, to
serve primarily one single purpose. Since that purpose is to show the
relative weight thrown by the mission and the Christians into different
forms of evangelistic expression, all missionaries, all native workers,
all funds mainly occupied in each form are lumped together. There is no
need at this stage to distinguish doctors from nurses, or Bible-women
from pastors or priests.
From these tables we should hope to gain a general idea of the direction
of the force at work.
We thrust in here an inquiry concerning a form of work upon which many
missions lay great stress. It is exceedingly difficult to classify. It
is not certainly evangelistic work, though it is commonly organised by
evangelistic workers; it is not educational in the sense that
educational missionaries accept it as a definitely recognised part of
their work, though educational methods are employed and it often has a
distinctly educational purpose. It is sometimes a form of Sunday service
almost akin to a Church service. It is often a form of children's school
where the religious teaching given, or neglected, during the week in the
day school is supplemented: it is sometimes a form of elementary school
for adults, Christian, or inquirers: it is a form of Bible school for
adult Christian workers. It is a method of propaganda for the conversion
of heathen children or adults. It is a form of work where untrained
Christian voluntary workers find opportunity for expressing their
religious zeal; it is a form of work in which experts in certain types
of elementary religious teaching revel. It is educational work carried
on by those who are not technically educationalists: it is evangelistic
work carried on by those who are not technically evangelists.
What sort of information then are we to seek concerning it? It is so
important that it cannot be omitted; it is so widespread that it almost
demands special consideration; it is so protean that tables designed to
reveal all its aspects and values would be with difficulty designed, and
tediously minute. From the point of view of this survey it would be
futile to ask, as most of the societies ask, simply for the number of
Sunday schools, the number of teachers, and the number of scholars. From
those bare numbers we can gain no information which really enlightens
us. We want to know what the Sunday schools exist for, and whether they
are accomplishing the object of their existence. But we cannot define,
nor even enumerate all the objects. We therefore arbitrarily select
three which are directly related to the establishment of a native
Church, and make one table serve. We inquire: (1) How they are related
to the Christian constituency; from this we hope to learn the extent to
which Sunday schools are a part of the Church life. (2) How the teachers
are related to the communicants (or full members); from this we hope to
learn the extent to which the voluntary effort of the communicants finds
expression in this work. (3) How the scholars are related to baptisms
and confirmations (or admission as full members); from this we hope to
learn to what extent the Sunday-schools are a recruiting ground for the
Church.
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. | |
+-------------------------------------------------------+-----+