Why Missionaries Fail Part 9

Who do missionaries actually answer to?

By definition, most missionaries start small. They have to speak in a variety of churches, and they usually get a small amount (often $50/month) from those churches that support them. Many of these churches will have a Women's Missinary Society that reads the missionaries' letters, prays for them, and even gives them extra money. And some churches have a Missions Director.

Sometimes given the job to placate him after the congregation had rejected him as a leader, the MD oversees the missionaries who are getting $50/month. He has almost absolute power to have the church drop a missionary. And so missionaries have to send this man monthly reports, answer his questions, and not do anything that he objects to. In other words, they have to obey him. Since most missionaries have to answer to several MDs, problems easily develop.