Should we be more realistic in reporting church and missionary news?
I assume you mean a tendency to ‘talk up’ what is happening – so many converts welcomed (but no mention when some fall away), so many churches planted (but nothing about the fact that they all have a membership of three, and four folded in the last 12 months), so many preachers trained, so many missionaries sent or supported, and so on.
Do bear in mind that different men with different characters are naturally going to see things more brightly or more gloomily. That said, one problem behind your concern may be impatience. Our modern age demands instant results. We can feel as if not much is happening if we do not have conversions and baptisms and additions to report.
For the worker in a distant or difficult place, there can be a temptation to massage the figures because that is the measure of validation demanded by home supporters, or – more dangerously – may express an unmortified narcissism that needs to appear successful. Such validation is often seen as the way to keep resources flowing.
