While leadership and management of the Mission was a full-time job in itself, Hetherwick's attention was never confined to its internal affairs but extended to all aspects of the life of the Protectorate. Across five decades he was among Nyasaland's most prominent public figures. To some extent he occupied a special position, having been closely involved in the events that led to the creation of the Protectorate. As time went on there were fewer and fewer people who could match his longevity and historical knowledge. This gave him a certain moral high ground when it came to assessment of public issues. Besides his personal stature, Blantyre Mission was uniquely placed as it predated the British Administration and was embedded in local community life. Its geographical proximity meant that it was in more contact with the government, the settlers and the emerging colonial society than were missions based elsewhere in the Protectorate.

Especially in the 1890s when the Administration was just establishing itself, it was much more engaged with the south of the country, the Blantyre Mission sphere, than elsewhere. This gave Blantyre Mission something of a representative role where it could advocate not only its own interests but also those of the other missions based further north, which had less opportunity to be frequently in contact with the emerging public life of the Protectorate. As W. H. Murray, Head of the Dutch Reformed Mission, observed regarding Hetherwick in 1924: ‘His ability, his determination, his fearlessness made him the trusted champion of mission interests. He belonged to us all and not merely to Blantyre Mission. If he was feared by government officials we knew the reason why – he knew too much of Nyasaland's history. In any case, they could not but respect him.’

Another strategic advantage enjoyed by Blantyre Mission was that it published the first newspaper or magazine to be established in the Protectorate. It was published monthly from 1888 as Life and Work in British Central Africa until it changed its name to Life and Work in Nyasaland in 1907. It finally ceased publication in 1919 when it was felt that newspaper demand was being satisfied by the bi-weekly Nyasaland Times. For more than thirty years Life and Work enabled the Mission to address its prophetic critique to the literate community as a whole.