(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 work upon the native Church we ought certainly to have a table which, for the schools at least, would show us what proportion of the pupils who passed through the schools became valuable members of the Church. But every one who has had any scholastic experience, and has tried to follow the after-history of his pupils, knows that that is not easy, even in external and material affairs, and when the inquiry is concerned with internal convictions and religious influence that difficulty is insuperable. A few specially endowed and devoted educationalists could indeed tell the after-history of a considerable number of their pupils, and ideally all schools ought to have a record of the history of pupils for at least a few years after leaving the school; but there would always be a percentage of loss; in many cases that percentage would be very high, and we doubt whether many schools have any record at all. Under these circumstances to put into an inquiry such as that which we propose a question concerning the after-life of scholars or patients seems almost impossible. Yet we cannot be content. There are mission schools which go on year after year educating boys for a business career, and generation after generation of boys pass through the school, large sums of mission money are expended on them, and the results from a missionary point of view are shrouded in Cimmerian gloom; or the general darkness is relieved by one or two exceptional pupils who, because they do very well, appear to justify the existence of the institution in which they were educated, though they would probably have been as valuable Christians if they had been educated in any other school. In this way a very low average is often concealed. If a school is judged by a few exceptionally good scholars, it should also be judged by a few exceptionally bad ones. It is indeed of serious importance that the missionary value of some of our medical and educational, especially the educational, institutions should be carefully examined and tested by an appeal to indisputable facts. It is generally supposed that education in mission schools must necessarily produce a strong, enlightened, and zealous Christian community. That it produces a large number of Christians intellectually enlightened is certain: that they are zealous evangelists is not as certain. We want a statistical table to reveal the missionary value, not the commercial value, of the education given. But what table can we draw? The preceding table which sets forth inquirers and communicants is clearly insufficient though it is better than nothing. Until every school keeps a careful record of the after-history of at least a large number of its pupils it seems impossible to get any clear light on the question.
4. With regard to the extent to which different races and classes are reached by the missions, we may safely assume that the Christian missions ought to extend their benefits to all classes and races in the area, and that there ought to be some proportion between the efforts made in each case. If, and when, the responsible leaders of the missions decided that the time had come to concentrate on one particular kind of work for one particular class, we may be perfectly certain that they would have no difficulty in justifying their action. But in any case action 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 cannot simply repeat the table prepared for the mission district. In the province or country there are often missionaries at work who give themselves up wholly to one class. It is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish every possible form of work; but seeing that very considerable work is done amongst students, we have thought it well to add one column in which the proportion of the children of different classes who are attending Christian schools or living in Christian hostels is set forth:—
_____________________________________________________________________ | | Agri- | | | |Remarks Percentage Stud-|Offi- |cultural|Traders.|Labourers.| Crafts-|and of: ents.|cials.|Small- | | | men. |Conclu- | |Holders.| | | |sions. ________________|______|________|________|__________|________|_______ In Population — | — | — | — | — | — | ________________|______|________|________|___________________________ In Christian — | — | — | — | — | — | Constituency | | | | | | ________________|______|________|________|__________|________|_______ In Christian | | | | | | schools and | | | | | | hostels, — | — | — | — | — | — | percentage | | | | | | of children | | | | | | of | | | | | | ________________|______|________|________|__________|________|_______
With respect to work among different races, castes, etc., no addition to the table prepared for the district seems necessary, and we therefore repeat it:—
———————|————————————————————-|—————— | Races, Religious Castes, etc., whatever| Remarks | they may be. | And | |Conclusions. ———————|————————————————————-|—————— In Population | —— | ———————|————————————————————-|—————— In Christian | —— | Constituency | | ———————|————————————————————-|——————