Colonial Christian missions were at the forefront of expanding formal education to native populations, and thereby facilitated the emergence of democracy across the colonial world. However, the political legacies of these missions vary considerably, in both degree and kind, yet the reasons for this variation are not well understood. We conceptualize missions as state-builders that extended the institutional capacity and reach of colonial powers, and argue that the relationship between the mission and the colonial state was a major factor in determining the dynamics of missionary state-building, and hence long-run political development. In particular, we argue that aligned missions--originating from the colonial metropole and supported by the colonial state--had closer ties and expanded education, and hence democratic ideas, more than non-aligned missions, which were not supported by the colonial state. This increased support for democracy, but paradoxically also lowered political participation, as democratic ideals clashed with non-democratic reality. We combine new data on the national origin and geographic location of Protestant missions in British Africa with contemporary survey data: Places with aligned missions have higher levels of support for democracy but lower levels of political participation than areas with non-aligned missions, especially where democracy continues to be weak. Our analyses add further nuance to our understanding of missions as state-builders and their paradoxical political legacy.