\ a.Tri. rfUse,- / Interchurch World Movement The Work of the Foreign Division of the Survey Department AS IT RELATES TO THE MISSIONARY AGENCIES The Foreign Survey Division of the Interchurch World Movement will make a study of the situation and the need in the foreign mission fields; It will supply the results of its survey to the mission¬ ary agencies of the United States and Canada; It will assist these agencies in preparing plans com¬ mensurate with their responsibilities for the evangeliza¬ tion of the world; It will formulate a imited statement of those plans for the financial campaign of the Interchurch Movement; It will furnish the Editorial Department of the Move¬ ment with material for the publicity of this campaign. INTERCHURCH WORLD MOVEMENT of NORTH AMERICA 111 Fifth Avenue - New York City i The Missionary Agencies and the Foreign Division of the Survey Department I. Services which the Foreign Division desires to render to the Missionary Agencies 1. The chief service of the Foreign Survey Division will be the preparation of a statement of the united program of the missionary agencies for the purposes of the Interchurch campaign. It is this statement which will set before the entire Christian community of North America what the missionary agencies need, in men, money, and moral support, to fulfill their present responsibility for Christianizing the world. 2. The Foreign Survey Division will furnish to each mis¬ sionary agency, as may be desired, the best information it can secure as to geographic, religious, and social conditions, in each field. 3. The Foreign Survey Division will furnish data which will be of assistance to the missionary agencies in co-ordinat¬ ing their plans for advance with the plans of other missionary agencies for the same fields by serving as a clearing house for: (1) Information concerning evangelistic, educa¬ tional, medical, and other types of missionary work useful in perfecting a unified program for each type of work in a given area; (2) Information as to racial, language, and other areas in which the mission problem is a distinct unit, so as to enable each Board more effectively to determine the extent of its denominational responsibility and the direc¬ tion of its advance; (3) Geographic and supplementary data indicating the location of the mission stations of all other agencies in adjacent areas; 3 (4) Services of specialists expert in the problems of each of the great mission fields and in languages, literature, education, geography, non-Christian religions, and other subjects; (5) Conferences of agencies desiring to coordinate their work more closely with the work of other agencies. 4. The Foreign Survey Division will furnish to each mis¬ sionary agency a suggested form of program statement, in order that they may prepare their statements in a unified man¬ ner for the purposes of the campaign. 5. The Foreign Survey Division will furnish, for all agencies desiring them, basic maps in order that the repre¬ sentation of field conditions may be unified; it will also be glad to serve as the map-making agency of such agencies as do not have these facilities. It is believed that the economy resulting from this special¬ ization and centralization will make available to the mission boards information and facilities which would be difficult or impracticable for them to provide for themselves. II. How the Foreign Survey Division does its work The information which the Foreign Survey Division re¬ quires is to be secured from the following sources : (1) Libraries, reference bureaus, etc., for general facts concerning the areas studied. (2) Surveys, reports and other information in the possession of mission boards and other agencies. (3) Interviews with missionaries and other authori¬ ties residing in the United States. (4) Investigations made by such deputations as may go to the field. (5) Direct inquiry by letter or questionnaire to mis¬ sionaries on the field. 4 For the proper collection and classification of this mate¬ rial, the Foreign Survey Division is organized into three branches: 1. The Mission Agencies Branch will coordinate and direct all correspondence on survey matters with mission agencies. No representatives of the Foreign Division except the head of the Mission Agencies Branch and such persons as he introduces will correspond with, or visit, the offices of the missionary agencies. 2. The Mission Fields Branch will be responsible for con¬ ducting the survey and formulating program statements by mission fields. 3. The Coordination Branch will be responsible for co¬ ordinating the study of field conditions, and of evangelistic, educational, medical and other types of missionary work as they apply to all fields. The Foreign Division of the Survey Department will be assisted in its work by three divisions, the Research, the Edi¬ torial, and the Statistical Divisions, which will serve all divi¬ sions of the Department. While it would be desirable to have complete statements of field conditions and complete descriptions of all institutions and work upon the fields, it is manifestly impossible to provide such information before the Interchurch campaign. For this reason it is planned that the surveys will cover all fields for a limited range of facts and that certain institutions, fields, and portions of fields shall be treated intensively as samples of missionary achievement or of field conditions which can be featured in the publicity program. The Foreign Survey Divi¬ sion has already selected a number of these special cases and will add to the list as the interests of the participating agencies may require. The final step in the survey process will be the preparation of program statements for the campaign. A “program state- ment” is an authoritative, analytical statement of the objectives of a missionary agency in a given enterprise, and of the re- 5 sources in men and money needed to attain those objectives. Such program statements may be made for a single mission station, for a single institution, for work of a given type, for the work of a given denomination, for a given field, or for the entire foreign missionary enterprise represented by the Inter¬ church Movement. The authoritative character of such a state¬ ment will be derived from the approval of it by the missionary agencies concerned. III. What the Foreign Division wishes to avoid 1. Any interference with the natural authority of the various mission agencies and any impression that such inter¬ ference is intended. The Foreign Survey Division will exercise no responsi¬ bility for approving or modifying the content of the programs of any of the missionary agencies. It nevertheless hopes to be of service to all the participating agencies in insuring more effective coordination of all programs, so that the result to the mission field itself may be the best possible. The test of a united program is the actual benefit it will render to the field which it covers. Accordingly the Foreign Survey Division will make report to the Executive Committee of the Movement concerning the program of each participating agency and the relation of that program to other programs for the field concerned. Where- ever for the sake of the best interests of the field, modifica¬ tions seem desirable, the Foreign Survey Division will put the situation before the agencies concerned for their judg¬ ment and will make recommendation to the Executive Com¬ mittee as to the desirable course to pursue. The decision upon such course and upon any modifications of the program will be determined by the Executive Committee in conference with the agencies concerned. 2. The Foreign Survey Division is most anxious to avoid all duplication of effort and all confusion which might be caused by a variety of approaches to missionary agencies and 6 missionary personnel. For that reason it is conducting the bulk of its correspondence with the missionary agencies through a single branch of the Division. It also proposes to make use so far as possible of all the information available in this country, sending no inquiry to the fields except in so far as may be found necessary. All the information gathered by the Foreign Division, whether for program making or for publicity purposes, will be made available to the participating agencies, thus using the same information-gathering process to serve the needs of all the participating agencies. Duplication will also be avoided by the preparation of the basic maps and charts necessary for illustrating or demon¬ strating field conditions and proposals for advance. IV. Cooperation desired from the Missionary Agencies The success of the efforts of the Foreign Survey Division to assist the missionary agencies connected with the Inter¬ church World Movement will be greatly increased by the hearty support which it is in their power to give the Division. Cooperation is desired from each board or agency at the following points: 1. The designation at once of one of their staff to whom all inquiries from the Foreign Survey office may be sent and who will be constantly in active association with the work of the Division. 2. The selection of men at home or on the fields who will be helpful in supplying information needed by the Survey. 3. Lists of missionaries, of mission stations, of mission¬ ary institutions and agencies. (Some boards have already supplied this information.) 4. Information as to how far plans for the expansion of work on the field have already been developed, what these plans are, and the early coordination of these plans with the program of the Interchurch World Movement. 7 5. Making accessible to the Foreign Survey Division such information concerning present work and general field con¬ ditions as may be available in files, records, and reports. This will be arranged on the basis of understanding between the Mission Agencies Branch and the secretary designated by the agency concerned. 6. Such use of the maps and chart making facilities of the Division as will make the presentation of facts uniformly clear and accurate for all the agencies participating. 7. The complete program statement on the basis of the suggested form to be prepared by the Foreign Survey Division. 8. The development among personnel at home and abroad of a spirit of friendly cooperation with the Foreign Survey Division. Correspondence with participating missionary agencies on each of these items will be inaugurated in due time by the Mission Agencies Branch of the Foreign Survey Division. In the meanwhile inquiry and suggestion by the mission¬ ary agencies is earnestly desired. No. 93 I. 2. Aug. 1919. 8