Strategic Placement of Missionaries
excerpt from Loving the Church: Blessing the Nations
In war, the generals make the decisions, not the privates. When faced with the decision to send tens of thousands of soldiers to the beaches of Normandy in June 1944, General Eisenhower did not ask the privates where they wanted to go. If he had, they probably would have chosen North Africa where the victory had already been won. It would have been much easier! No, in war, the generals take responsibility for making the decisions, and they base their decisions on the strategic imperatives that confront them.
In missions, we have grown accustomed to allowing the privates to make decisions, even though they often decide to go to places where the missiological victory has already been won.