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

In Short

This book is a technical guide designed to professionalize the administration of foreign missions. By proposing a series of standardized statistical tables, the authors argue that mission societies must move beyond anecdotal reporting to a rigorous, territorial survey of their work. It challenges the common lack of coordination in mission fields, urging leaders to measure their activities—from evangelism to medical and educational outreach—against the actual needs of the populations they serve. It has lasted as a foundational text for those interested in the history of organizational management and the logistics of early 20th-century global expansion.

The Story

The argument begins with a diagnosis of a crisis in organizational focus. The authors observe that missionary efforts are often haphazard, characterized by extreme disparities in staffing—some regions are heavily saturated with personnel, while vast, populated areas remain essentially ignored. The authors argue that this imbalance persists because mission societies typically operate without a unified strategy or a shared understanding of their own data. They contend that without a "survey"—a systematic, quantitative account of the work—leaders are flying blind, unable to discern whether their resources are being used effectively or if they are drifting away from their primary objectives.

The narrative arc of the book moves from the specific to the universal. It starts at the level of the individual "mission station," which the authors insist must be defined by a clear, geographical district. By establishing a territorial basis for every station, administrators can create a "terminus ad quem"—a measurable goal—that allows them to track progress over time. Once the station is defined, the book introduces a series of analytical tables. These tools are designed to force missionaries to report on the "force" they possess: the number of staff, the literacy rates of the converts, and the ratio of indigenous workers to foreign missionaries.

As the scope expands from the single station to the provincial and national level, the authors confront the "confusion of aim" that plagues many mission societies. They note that missions often drift into tangential activities—like running banks, asylums, or schools—because they lack a "dominant purpose" to keep their efforts centered. They warn that great educational institutions, while prestigious, can inadvertently consume the best personnel and budget, eventually starving the evangelistic work they were originally intended to support.

The concluding stages of the book propose a method for aggregating data across entire countries. The authors envision a global report built from roughly 150 regional districts, providing a comprehensive view of the entire missionary effort. They acknowledge that their proposed statistics are merely a "hasty and tentative" starting point, but they insist that the methodology itself is indispensable. They conclude that the path to an independent, self-sustaining native Church requires this level of transparency. By understanding the "position" of the work—what is being achieved versus what remains to be done—societies can stop reacting to the "loudest shout" of influential voices and begin to act with rational, deliberate, and intelligent foresight.

How It Unfolds

The problem of distribution The authors highlight the glaring lack of method in the deployment of missionaries, noting that some regions are over-staffed while others remain largely untouched. They argue that this disparity is evidence of a failure to collect basic, comparative facts.

Defining the district The book insists that every mission station must have a defined, territorial boundary to function effectively. This definition provides the necessary framework to measure whether a station is actually succeeding in its stated mission.

The anatomy of the survey The authors detail specific statistical tables designed to measure the "native force," literacy, and the proportion of foreign funds versus indigenous contributions. These tools are intended to move the conversation from vague impressions to concrete, quantifiable reality.

The trap of institutionalization The narrative examines how secondary goals, such as education and medicine, often overtake the primary evangelistic purpose of a mission. It warns that without a governing, dominant objective, missions inevitably lose their way as they become entangled in administrative and institutional growth.

Aggregating for the whole The final chapters demonstrate how data from individual stations can be synthesized into a provincial or national overview. This allows leaders to adjust their strategies by seeing the "whole" rather than just the parts, correcting for local imbalances in the process.

The People

The authors, Roland Allen and Thomas Cochrane, are the primary voices, though they explicitly credit the "business experience" and "acute mind" of an associate, S.J.W. Clark, for much of the conceptual work. Allen and Cochrane act as the voices of administrative reason; they are frustrated by the inefficiency and emotionalism they perceive in the mission field. They want to see missions transformed from loosely managed outposts into a rational, goal-oriented system.

They are critical of the "senior workers" in the field who, due to modesty or a lack of broader perspective, fail to realize the inadequacy of their own staffing. They are also wary of the "native churches" themselves, which they fear can become self-absorbed and "self-seeking" once they achieve a degree of independence. The people they describe are not just missionaries, but also the "heathen" populations and "inquirers," whom the authors treat as the primary subjects of the survey. The reader sees these figures through the lens of the authors’ desire for objective data; they are not characters in a drama, but rather components of a massive, global puzzle that requires a uniform, statistical solution to be resolved.

In Its Own Voice

"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 the district could be made a joint production."

This observation addresses the authors' desire for collaboration between independent societies to better understand the true state of a geographic area.

"Many of them started with the intention of relating their educational work very closely to their evangelistic work; but because the evangelistic idea was not dominant, a government grant sometimes led the educational mission far from its first objective."

This highlights the core tension in the book regarding how secondary missions, like education, often distract from the central, intended purpose of the organization.

What It's Really About

The book is an argument for organizational self-awareness. It addresses the fundamental question of how an international movement can survive and thrive when its local components operate in total isolation from one another. It probes the tension between the "evangelistic" heart of a mission and the "institutional" machinery (schools, hospitals, banks) that it creates to sustain itself. The authors argue that objective, standardized data is the only reliable cure for the "confusion of aim" that causes missions to drift. Ultimately, it is about the necessity of aligning daily operational tactics with a long-term, coherent, and measurable strategy.

Why Read It Today

This book will appeal to readers interested in the history of institutional management, global logistics, and the administrative side of religious history. It provides a fascinating look at the period's obsession with "scientific" management and the belief that any complex global problem can be solved through the right set of data tables.

Reading it today feels like stepping into the mind of an early 20th-century strategist. The prose is precise, methodical, and occasionally clinical, reflecting the authors’ desire to strip away sentimentality and get to the facts. It is not an easy or "light" read; it is a technical, repetitive, and demanding manual. Readers must be prepared for the period-specific language and the authors’ rigid, sometimes patronizing, attitude toward the indigenous cultures they are surveying. The book’s value lies in its candid, unvarnished look at how institutions attempt to measure their own success. It leaves the reader with a stark reminder of the tension between an organization’s original, idealistic purpose and the bureaucratic machinery that eventually dictates its reality. For anyone who has ever wondered how a global organization attempts to keep its disparate parts moving in the same direction, this book offers a clear, unapologetic view of the mechanics of control.