A Mission station is a location for missionary work. Historically, Christian missions would bring people into the 'fold', to teach 'natives' Western culture. Modern missionaries by contrast try to integrate themselves into local communities.

In some colonies, mission stations became a focus of settlement for displaced or formerly nomadic people. Missions were a useful tool in the colonial acquisition of land, the suppression of local culture, and the training of servants. Christian missionaries were complicit or co-opted in this role. Conditions on some mission stations could be likened to concentration camps, despite the possible good intentions of missionaries.

In rural Australia, many missions have become remote localities or ghettoes on the edges of towns which are home to local Aborigines.

The word may be seen as derogatory when used in a derogatory or racist way.