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

The authors argue that foreign missionary effort suffers from uneven distribution, lack of a shared dominant purpose, and inadequate information, producing misdirected resources and overlapping work. They recommend defining clear aims for societies and instituting systematic missionary surveys that collect selected, comparable facts across all organizations, distinct from medical or educational studies. Surveys should shape policy, guide staff allocation, foster cooperation between missions, and be maintained as an ongoing, world-level process. Practical methods and checks are proposed to make survey results reliable and to enable more rational, effective planning and co‑operative action.