[Footnote 1: It does not follow that we approve the policy implied.]

We may well acknowledge that the aim which above all others has appealed
to us is the aim of the establishment in the world of a Christian
Church, native, indigenous, living, self-supporting, self-governing,
self-extending, independent of foreign aid. That has no doubt coloured
our work and will perhaps render it less acceptable to some; for the
facts which must be included in a survey which accepts that aim are
precisely the facts which societies do not now tabulate and are often
estimated with some difficulty.

But though this thought has inevitably governed our conception of survey
and we have made no attempt to conceal it, we have nevertheless tried to
avoid the danger of selecting for survey only those facts which might
serve to support a theory of the method by which that aim is to be
attained; and we have kept in our minds constantly the needs of men
whose idea of the aim of foreign missions differs from our own.

5. Missionary survey must justify itself by assisting definitely and
clearly those who make it and those who have to direct and support
missionary work in all parts of the world. The first question which we
ought to answer in every case where our help is asked is this: "What do
we want to do? What is our purpose in doing anything at all here?" The
second question is: "What must we know to enable us to act discreetly
and wisely in this case? What facts are properly to be taken into
account in this matter?" The first question is the question of aim, the
second is the question of relation. Suppose we say that we want to send
our missionaries where they are most needed, what information must we
have to direct us? First we must know what we mean by need, what kind of