14.2 Mission Administration

"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success"

--- Babe Ruth (Professional Baseball Player; 1895 - 1948)

Due to the fact that this blog deals with many missionary-related topics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, some of which may include terminology that is unfamiliar to those who don't know the church, I felt like a post dedicated to explaining a bit about what a "Mission" is and how missions are coordinated was in order.

WHAT "MISSION" DID YOU SERVE IN?

I imagine that this kind of question would appear grammatically incorrect to someone who doesn't know what we mean by "Mission". At first glance, the word "Mission" is usually synonymous with "a goal". So asking something like, "What Mission did you serve in?" or "Where did you serve your Mission?" might seem odd. So adding another meaning to the word "Mission" seems necessary in order to understand the context of such questions.

A "Mission" of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of a Mission, whether or not any of the Church's missionaries live or proselytize in the area. As of July 2020, there were 407 missions of the Church.

Geographically, a Mission may be a part of a city if it's large enough, multiple cities or towns, a state or province, or perhaps an entire country or even span multiple countries. If there is a lot of success in missionary work in a particular part of the world, the tendency is to send more missionaries there, each with less ground to cover. In other places where there isn't yet as urgent a demand, such as in less populated places, there are typically fewer missionaries or they cover more ground.

Typically, the name of the Mission is the name of the country (or State in the United States), and then the name of the city where the Mission headquarters office is located, simply called the "Mission Office". For example, if someone got a Mission Call to serve in the city of Anaheim in California, it would be called the "California, Anaheim Mission". In my case, I served in "the Mexico, Reynosa Mission".

Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are all non-paid volunteers. They can choose if and when they want to go be a missionary, typically between the ages of 18 and 26. If they do want to be a missionary, they go through a process to be recommended as a missionary and await assignment. New missionaries receive a formal mission call, which is a letter from the Prophet and other leaders of the Church, assigning them by divine inspiration to a particular mission for the duration of service, usually between eighteen months to two years (See "Mission Call -- Mexico, Reynosa"). Each mission has, on average, about 150 missionaries serving there at any given time, some more and some less depending on the needs of the people.

MISSION PRESIDENTS

All missionaries serve in a Mission under the direction of a Mission President, who, like individual missionaries, is assigned by the prophet (See "Prophets and Callings" and "Church Organization"). The Mission President must be a married man who has the Melchizedek Priesthood (See "Priesthood"); his wife is asked to serve alongside him. Mission presidents are typically in their forties or older, and usually have the financial means to devote themselves full-time to the responsibility for three consecutive years. The Church provides Mission Presidents with a minimal living allowance but it normally requires them to supplement it with their own funds. Often, the Mission President must learn the local language spoken in the mission, as the missionaries do (although many Mission Presidents today have either previously served a Mission in the mission language or speak the mission language as their native language).

The Mission President has at least two counselors, who are members of the Church usually from the local area who keep their regular employment. The role of the counselors varies by Mission, but they typically serve as liaisons between the Mission and the local membership of the Church. In some areas where the Church is newer senior men who are serving full-time missions along with their wives may be called as counselors in the mission presidency.

MISSION LEADERSHIP

Let's start with the person overseeing the whole mission and funnel it down.

NOTE: The leadership title correlates to how the Mission is organized.

The Mission President assigns missionaries to be leaders to help him direct the work. Among the leadership assignments in the mission are assistants to the president (sometimes called "APs"), zone leaders, and district leaders. In general, only single male missionaries serve as assistants, zone leaders, and district leaders, except in non-proselyting missions which only contain single female missionaries or missionary couples. Female missionaries may serve as Sister Training Leaders and Senior Companions.

A Mission's ecclesiastical line of authority is from the Mission President down to the missionaries. The missionaries answer to the Mission President directly, as opposed to the local branch president, bishop, or stake president (See "Church Organization").

Every night, a progress report is given, typically over the phone, through a chain of command from individual companionships down to the Mission President. Companionships report to their District Leaders who communicate them to their Zone Leaders who communicate them to the APs who ultimately communicate them to the Mission President. This is the quickest way for mission leaders to get the information they need from large numbers of missionaries. And vice-versa, the reverse is the fastest way for leaders to disperse information to large numbers of missionaries.

The general responsibilities of mission leaders are outlined in the missionary handbook here.

APs (Assistants to the President):

There are two or more missionaries who serve as assistants to the president (not to be confused with the counselors in the mission presidency). The assistants or "APs" carry out the direction of the Mission President in organizing the mission; assigning companionships and proselyting areas, and overseeing the welfare and training of the missionaries.

APs communicate information between the Mission President and the Zone Leaders.

ZONE LEADERS:

The missionaries are assigned into zones, a geographical area specified by the mission president, each led by one or more missionaries appointed as zone leaders. In many missions, a companionship of Elders constitutes the zone leaders. However, there are also missions where only one elder is designated the zone leader and his companion holds no special designation. The zones may be geographically large or small, depending on the mission. The number of missionaries in a zone also varies widely.

Zone Leaders communicate information from the APs to the District Leaders and information from the District Leaders to the APs.

DISTRICT LEADERS:

The zones are divided into districts, each being led by a missionary assigned as a district leader. A district usually has two to four missionary companionships. The zone leaders and district leaders train the missionaries, see after their welfare, conduct interviews, proselyte together, and share successes.

SENIOR COMPANIONS:

Missionaries generally work in pairs of two called a "companionship". Companionships are the basic unit of a mission.

In companionships, one missionary, usually the younger or less experienced one, is the junior companion, and the other is the senior companion. The unofficial duties of the Senior companion are to lead by example, to train and teach their junior companion, and to head the work of the companionship in carrying out the goals they set together. As with all leadership positions, they strive to be hard workers, kind, patient, cooperative, and responsible. They seek to bring out the best in their companion, to help them develop leadership skills of their own, and to keep them safe.

GEOGRAPHICS

Imagine we have a massive pizza that's the size of a small country. We're going to call this pizza our "Mission". We're going to call the kitchen the "Mission Office" which is where all the cooks (Office Elders) work. The chef in charge of the kitchen is the "Mission President". The sous-chefs are the "APs" or his "Assistants". They choose which toppings go where and how big each slice will be. We're going to call each slice of the pizza a "District". The District slice is so big that it's the size of a couple of neighborhoods. The missionaries are the toppings. The chef (Mission President), wants to cover as much of the pizza as possible but has a limited amount of toppings. So each slice (District) gets a couple of toppings (missionaries) each. The spot where the chef puts the toppings is called an "Area" of the pizza.

When the pizza is cooked and sliced, the toppings are confined to their place. They can't move unless the chef (Mission President) moves them. The toppings (missionaries) occupy specific places (Areas) on their slice (District).

There happens to be a group of business executives (Mission Leaders) in our pizza restaurant sitting at a massive round table. Instead of fighting over the pizza, they split it by having one person (Zone Leader) in each quadrant of the table divvy it up to their quadrant (Zone) of the table. The other people within their quadrant (Zone) is a "District Leader" who each gets a slice (District) of the pizza (Mission). Each quadrant (Zone) collectively has multiple slices (Districts).

And so the chef (Mission President and his assistants) design the pizza (Mission), the quadrant leaders (Zone Leaders) divvy up the Mission among the remaining customers (District Leaders), so each person at the table gets a slice (District) with toppings on each (missionaries) scattered over different "Areas" of the pizza.

AREAS:

Each companionship is assigned by their Mission President to a geographical Area which may include all or part of one Ward or Branch or even several Wards or Branches (See "Set Apart and Setting Out"). Think of it like a town or collection of neighborhoods fenced off by an invisible barrier. Mission companions are responsible for preaching to the people in their designated Area or referring people over to the other missionaries if they reside outside of that area.

The boundaries of an Area, in other words --- the assigned boundaries wherein a missionary is allowed to work, is usually determined based on the predetermined Ward Boundaries. We'll recall from my blog post "Church Organization" that a Ward is basically synonymous to a local congregation which is lead by a Bishop. A Stake is a collection a couple of Wards and is overseen by a Stake President. The Stake President and his counselors have the capacity to change Ward boundaries depending on the size and needs in the area. If you live on one side of the boundary line, you belong to and attend this Ward with this group of residents, and a different Ward if on the other side.

NOTE: In this blog, I sort my stories by Area for your convenience. My first assigned area was in what was called the "Monterreal" Branch which was in the city of Rio Bravo. As such, I label my post "Monterreal, Rio Bravo". Technically, some areas have numbers assigned to each companionship for reporting and organizational purposes but anytime I refer to the Area, just know that I'm referencing the Ward or Branch that I was assigned to at that time.

And so, understanding how Ward Boundaries work, Mission Areas are very similar, which makes sense. If a missionary meets someone and goes to Church with them, you want them to go to Church with their neighbors, not people on the other side of the city. Mission Areas are highly correlated with whatever the Ward Boundaries are. Sometimes missionaries are assigned to more than one Ward but there's an order to it when that happens, you don't pick and choose your area or Ward. In the Mexico, Reynosa Mission, we were only ever assigned to a single Ward at a time. If someone lives on the other side of your boundary, it's the responsibility of the missionaries over there.

ZONES:

As mentioned above, Zones are comprised of those Areas in which the missionaries who make up the Zone work. Generally speaking, a Zone is comprised of two Districts. That is to say that you might expect between 8 to 16 missionaries per Zone.

THE MISSION OFFICE

I also decided to mention the Mission Office which has the most relevance for mission leaders, although all missionaries will likely visit their Mission Office from time to time. I will speak from my experience with the Mission Office in my Mission, but I imagine things may vary from Mission to Mission. I don't claim that the way things worked in our Mission Office is the same worldwide.

The Mission Office is where the administrative affairs of the Mission are managed. The Mission President runs errands throughout the Mission in our case, traveling throughout various cities, attending meetings with missionaries and local residents alike, but the Mission Office could be called his "base of operations" or "headquarters".

It may vary from Mission to Mission, but where I served in Reynosa, Mexico, it was a small outbuilding that was built next to one of the main chapel buildings in the central city. In fact, it was recently constructed around the time our Mission was created from its parent Mission of "Mexico, Monterrey East" sometime near 2015. This building included a private office for the Mission President to conduct interviews and hold meetings, a sitting area for missionaries to wait, and office space for managerial affairs to be conducted which included computers, whiteboards, printers, corkboards, and so forth. Additionally, it was the main hub where missionary supplies were received and then distributed throughout the Mission, whether that was lesson pamphlets, copies of the Book of Mormon, kitchenware, and more. In general, supplies were requested and delivered by the Zone Leaders to the respective missionaries whenever they went to Reynosa for training meetings and picked them up to take back.

As you'd expect, missionary companions aided the Mission President in various administrative duties in the Mission Office. In our mission, there were roughly 10 missionaries who helped out in the Mission Office at a time, including the 2 APs. These missionaries are usually referred to as "Office Elders". The Mission President temporarily assigns missionaries from his Mission to serve in the Mission Office as companions, and as with all companionships, he can rotate assignments from time to time. This means that as needed, President could assign a person to be an Office Elder for a couple months and then go back to their normal routine and assign someone in their stead. These companions typically help carry out administrative affairs for part of the day and then continue doing regular mission work for the rest of the day. Like all other missionaries, they teach and work in their designated areas in their Districts in their Zone.

As mentioned in another blog post, all the Office Elders live together within a reasonable distance from the Mission Offices. Where they live is large enough for other missionaries who need a place to sleep overnight passing through the city can stay. Where they live is called the "Mission Home".

The administrative duties of the Office Elders are various. This included organizing travel documents for missionaries such as VISAs, green cards, and plane tickets. Another missionary oversaw the financial activity of the mission and made appropriate reimbursements to missionaries for things such as rent, inter-city travel, electricity, and other necessary living expenses. And as aforementioned, there had to be someone in charge of ordering and managing the appropriate supplies for the Mission. These are just a few of the things that Office Elders do. You can watch a video below that our Mission made some years ago, but it's in Spanish, but at least you can see a little bit of the inside of the Mission Office. All in all, there are surprisingly many administrative things involved in making a Mission operate smoothly.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, everyone plays a part and every part matters. Our part in the puzzle isn't a metric of our worth. Heavenly Father loves everyone equally. It's the same in the Mission. An Assistant to the President isn't loved more than a Junior Companion. Missionaries should never feel bad if they aren't assigned in a certain leadership position. Leadership positions aren't the only way we can serve either. In whatever position we're in, we should give a hundred percent effort. In the end, missionary leadership is a fleeting thing anyway, but service in the Church and in the world is a lifelong endeavor irrespective of a title.