THE HOME BASE OF

MISSIONS

INTRODUCTION

THE foreign missionary enterprise, as its name implies, aims at carrying the Christian Gospel to foreign lands. In order to accomplish this, there must be an organisation at home which will secure the formation of a constituency upon which dependence for support can be placed; the creation and circulation of a literature that shall keep interest alive and at the same time broaden and deepen it; the training of the young people in the Church, that reinforcements may not be lacking; and above all else, the creation and perpetuation of such a spiritual atmosphere throughout the Church and among all classes, that the very temper and spirit of Jesus Christ shall live anew in the hearts of all His followers, and that through them His life may flow forth to the world lying in darkness.

Without this HOME BASE there could be no permanent foreign missions. The Home Base is the widely extending organisation in Christendom through which foreign missions are supported and directed, and this statement must stand as true until the foreign missions of the Church in Christian lands are absorbed into home missions in the countries at present non-Christian.

We have, therefore, for our consideration the organisation of Missionary Societies with their Boards of Directors,

COM. VI.-I

secretaries, treasurers, and editors; agencies both denominational and inter-denominational, auxiliary to the work of these Missionary Societies; and the problem of bringing the whole of the home Church to give the cause of foreign missions a central place in its life and work.

SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

It was early manifest that this Commission, in the time at its disposal and the space allotted, would not be able to investigate all of the principal questions of methods, policies, and problems of administration which almost daily confront the executive officers of Missionary Societies. Neither was it possible, even if desirable, to endeavour to make this Report a handbook upon home administration. There is, no doubt, a place for such a handbook which would be of great value to administrators of missionary organisations, but while much valuable material for such a work has been collected by this Commission, it must be largely excluded from the final Report.

The Commission, after careful deliberation, decided to pursue its investigations primarily along the line of fundamental principles and policies. In order to accomplish this with thoroughness the investigation necessarily covered a vast area and produced a large amount of material which was not used in the Report; in some cases because it belonged to what might be called methods of administration, in others because it was too exceptional to be of general value, and yet in many others because the limits set for the Report made the elimination even of some most valuable matter imperative. Let no one expect, therefore, to find all questions and problems connected with the Home Base of Missions considered in the following pages. At the same time, the great home questions that lie at the centre and foundation of the missionary enterprise of the Christian Church have been extensively pursued, and are here fundamentally and practically treated.

The amount of correspondence involved in the collection of data for this Report will be apparent when it is remembered that the entire ground covered by the subject of this Commission has necessarily been gone over many times-once each for Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland, Scotland, England, and North America. Nine languages have been involved. The Commission naturally divided itself into two principal parts, the European and the American sections. The former, under the general direction of the three vice-chairmen, undertook the collection of the material from Europe, while the latter gave its attention to North America.

This Commission, compelled to deal with its subject in relation to the very different conditions prevailing in America and the countries of Europe, has been beset with peculiar difficulties. At first it seemed necessary that there should be separate Reports for America, Great Britain, and the Continent of Europe, but it was seen that in spite of the different conditions there was a great deal that was common to the work in all countries, and that to offer three separate Reports would involve a large amount of repetition, and would greatly increase the total length of the Report. The decision to aim at producing one common Report, however, was attended with great and almost insuperable difficulties, especially in view of the shortness of time for the preparation of the Report. It was found to be impossible for the different sections of the Commission so to keep in close touch with one another that equally full data upon all topics could be obtained from Europe and America, although much was gained from a visit paid to Great Britain by the Chairman of the Commission in December 1909. Inasmuch as the Executive Committee of the Commission was in America, and the initiative lay with the American members, it was almost inevitable that the investigations should have been more thorough upon that side of the Atlantic, and that the dominant tone and standpoint of the Report should be American. While the European

members of the Commission regret that more information regarding the operations of the Missionary Societies in the countries which they represent was not provided, they desire it to be stated that in their judgment the predominance of data from America and the American point of view in the Report is not without compensating advantages, inasmuch as the Missionary Societies in Europe have much to learn from some of the methods which have been so successfully developed by the Mission Boards in America.

Since it was impossible for the twenty members of the Commission to cover personally all departments of these wide investigations in all these countries, experts in the various departments under consideration were drafted into the service. These have given themselves to the task with an enthusiasm, and have taken up the work with a thoroughness, that is beyond all praise. Some of these specialists have each sent out hundreds of enquiries to those who, in turn, were specialists in a narrower sphere, and have obtained, in many instances, data and opinions of exceptional worth. These returns, after careful comparison and selection, have been compressed into reports rendered by these corresponding members to the Commission as a whole. Not a few of the lines of research have never before been attempted, and the. returns obtained, which, in many instances, reveal conditions and situations that are most surprising, cannot fail to be of permanent value to Missionary Societies and Boards. This is the only Commission which has not been largely dependent for accurate information upon returns from missionaries and experts in the mission fields. In only a few instances have we been able to appeal to missionaries for aid in our work. The information to be secured was so completely connected with the home offices, and had to deal so exclusively with home constituencies, that the sources from which data must be sought were at home and not abroad.

There is another phase of this Report which needs to be explained and safeguarded, that is the large

amount of space given to material ways and means of extending information, securing candidates, raising up effective leaders in the Churches, and administering the Societies at home, as contrasted with the comparatively brief references to the Holy Spirit and His perpetual guidance and aid, without which all the plans and devices of men must come to nought. It is taken for granted by the Commission that everything must depend upon Divine guidance, wisdom, and power. Whoever neglects to grasp this truth, and to act in accordance therewith, must fail. In the preparation of missionary literature, in the promotion of missionary study, in all endeavour to enlist the hearts of young people in the cause of personal service, in the details of administration. of the Societies and Boards, and in the appeal to the wide constituencies for financial support, every plan must be made, and every step taken as the Holy Spirit shall direct. All, in order to succeed, must begin, continue, and end in waiting upon God, and everything must be bound to the throne by that golden chain of prayer and intercession, which makes us partners with the Father, Son, and Spirit in the Divine task of redeeming the world.