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Sabra’s horrifying story of spiritual abuse is eye-opening. A mission president has the ability to impact the rest of a missionaries life, but what happens when that impact is really negative? Do mission presidents have any oversight? If a mission president behaves inappropriately, who can you go to? Listen to Sabra’s story with these questions in mind.
Links mentioned in the episode:
Unrighteous Dominion
Redeeming My Soul
Leah Marie
Leah Marie earned a BA in Political Science, and a Masters in Public Administration. She is currently working towards her PhD in Public Policy. She is wife to an English professor, and mother to 3 beautiful boys.
All posts by Leah Marie
An African American colleague worked up in Eastern Washington and Western Montana for a while.
He told me two things about that experience:
1. If he wanted to see another black man, he had to go look in the mirror, because he was the only one.
2. His comment about living there was, “People talk about blacks and especially Black Men all the time, but after working up there, I can honestly tell you that there is nothing scarier that ‘Poor White People’.”
For a church that prides itself on placing missionaries well and through inspiration, to send a POC to Western Montana was thoughtless and uninspired. That area has earned its reputation as the Skinhead Capital of the US. This sister knew that. Her valid pre-mission concerns should have been addressed.
It is concerning to me that so many mission presidents have corporate sales training but little background in how to take real care of individual people.
This is a great point. Does the church take into account these aspects of racial discrimination when sending a missionary to any particular areas?
If not, they should. They also need cultural and ethnic competency training especially in areas that may be problematic.