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When my interest in Christian mission first awakened, I was too old to be acceptable to my denomination as a candidate. But for the past 40 years I have worked behind-the-scenes in mission, helping people deal with the problems of language and culture learning. I have observed missionaries, nationals, some Christians and some not, on all continents and in many countries. From these observations I have concluded that there is often a wide gap in the missionary’s conception of his or her role and how it is viewed by those of his or her adopted community. The purpose of this paper is to examine this gap and propose ways and means of closing it.