Missionary Survey As An Aid To Intelligent Co-Operation In Foreign MissionsAllen, Roland
Religion
Missionary Survey As An Aid To Intelligent Co-Operation In Foreign Missions
Allen, Roland
Missions
THE RELATION OF THE STATION TO THE WORLD.
A world-wide work can only be conducted on world-wide principles
These world-wide principles must govern the work in every part,
however small
No country, however large, can be an isolated unit from missionary
point of view
How 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 the
character 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 an
expression of energy should be an intellectual appeal. Emotional appeals
are of course made, and made with tremendous force, but, with the
emotional appeal, an emphasis is laid to-day upon the intellectual
apprehension of the meaning of the effort demanded which is something
quite new to us. Soldiers in the ranks have the objective of their
attack explained to them, and this explanation has a great influence
over the character and quality of the effort which they put forth.
Labourers demand and expect every day a larger and fuller understanding
of the meaning of the work which they are asked to perform. They need to
enjoy the intellectual apprehension of the larger aspects of the work,
and the relation of their own detailed operations to those larger
aspects; and it is commonly recognised that the understanding of the
meaning and purpose of the detail upon which each operative may be
engaged is a most powerful incentive to good work. In the past leaders
relied more upon implicit, unreasoning obedience, supported often by
affection for the leader's own character, and profound trust in his
wisdom, and a general hope of advantage for each individual who carried
out orders unhesitatingly and exactly; but they did not think it
necessary, or even desirable, that the common workers should understand
their 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.
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