Roland Allen has some great thoughts on how missionary has to *step back and let the leaders God has raised up take over*: He can take longer missionary trips, leaving the station to run without any foreign direction for a month or two. He can do this openly and with purpose, because he trusts his people. Over time, he can extend his travels further. He can find reasons to be away more often. Eventually, he can build a situation where he can take an extended furlough without harming the work at all. At first, this will be difficult, and things may go wrong. But the people will understand his intention. Though they may miss him, they will see that his absence is actually his way of strengthening them. This kind of planned, intentional retirement is very different from being away due to pressure or obligation. Only by stepping back in this way can the missionary truly prepare the Church for lasting independence. The missionary’s visits will then be received not as necessary for survival but as welcome visits from a friend who brings help and encouragement. They will still seek his advice and value his presence. But everything they have learned, they will have learned in a way that enables them to live it out—even if he never returns. It is far better to teach a few people how to truly call on the name of the Lord for themselves than to fill a church with people who have abandoned idols only outwardly and now sit passively, believing that the convert’s duty is to be taught and to listen to prayers read for them by a paid church worker.