The Missionary and the Concept of Scope

Abstract

One of the major problems facing missionaries is interpersonal clashes. The author suggests borrowing Etzioni's concept of “scope” to explain one reason for this situation. This is defined as “the number of activities carried out jointly by the same set of participants.” Missionaries, both because of their common religious orientation and because of their foreignness, tend to cluster together and to have broad scope. But studies have shown that broad scope exacerbates interpersonal irritations and does not allow their dissipation in neutral activities. The author suggests that missionaries should therefore increase participation in activities off the mission station and with other persons than their fellow missionaries. One effect of such an approach might be to increase their impact on the surrounding society.