correct phrasing

To forge ahead with our near objective of achieving five thousand descendants of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in Singapore in the year 2009 ... ( Is 'near' the correct word? )

I think the sentence is trying to indicate that the objective has almost been reached. that is to say most of the work has been done.

I find "near objective" ungainly but struggle to find a suitable replacemnt short of rephrasing the whole Paragraph.


To fulfil the mission of achieving lasting peace and security... ( Is 'lasting' necessary or redundant? )
Yes it is necessary.

To make an unceasing effort to transmit the faith to the next generation, by maintaining, protecting and prospering our temple as its affiliated believers. ( Is 'an' necessary and is 'prospering' the correct word? )

"An" indicates a sustained and constant effort rather than a series of efforts.
Prospering is ... not great. meaning of prospering in this case: to grow

Hi Dadpad

To forge ahead with our near objective of achieving five thousand descendants of the Bodhisattvas of the Earth in Singapore in the year 2009 ... ( Is 'near' the correct word? )

I think the sentence is trying to indicate that the objective has almost been reached. that is to say most of the work has been done.

I find "near objective" ungainly but struggle to find a suitable replacemnt short of rephrasing the whole Paragraph.

Could you please rephrase the paragraph so that it is an improvement over my version? Many thanks.

To make an unceasing effort to transmit the faith to the next generation, by maintaining, protecting and prospering our temple as its affiliated believers. " (The part is bold means that we as believers should make the membership expand, the more converts the merrier. And perhaps to build anohter temple.)

Prospering is ... not great. meaning of prospering in this case: to grow (Do you mean that 'prospering' is the correct word? I've explained above what I mean by 'prospering'. )

I deeply appreciate your guidance.

Best regards

goal and mission statements are deserving of input from others yoong. I would welcome other input

To forge ahead with our tangible objective of achieving five thousand descendants.

If indeed this is a mission statement or goal setting exercise you should probably just go with objective, keep it as simple as possible. It is possible that membership may fall at some time in the future then the objective will not be as near.

by maintaining, protecting and assisting our temple and growing/increasing its affiliated membership.

I feel that the temple and its followers should be treated as separate subjects. Assisting membership to prosper may be mistaken as helping members to grow financially or materially.

additional information
A Christian Church refers to its members as a congregation.

Hi Dadpad

As suggested by you, I'll wait for the response from other members.