How
To Be An Effective Everyday Missionary
By
Steven J. Hiatt
Ward Mission Leader, Northglenn Ward, Colorado
I want to start with a quote from a talk President Hinkley gave in the April 1999 General Conference:
“Last year there were approximately 300,000 convert baptisms throughout the Church. This is tremendously significant. This is the equivalent of 120 new stakes of 2,500 members each. Think of that: 120 new stakes in a single year! It is wonderful. But it is not enough. I am not being unrealistic when I say that with concerted effort, with recognition of the duty which falls upon each of us as members of the Church, and with sincere prayer to the Lord for help, we could double that number.” (Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, “Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep,” Ensign, May 1999, 104)
Think of that challenge: to double the number of baptisms in the church! This is a tremendous task that won’t happen on it’s own. But when President Hinkley announced his vision of having over 100 operating temples in the church by the year 2000, it was a tremendous task as well. But we all know that the church accomplished that goal and now has well over 100 temples. We can meet this challenge to double our baptisms as well. It will take, as Pres. Hinkley said, “a concerted effort, with recognition of the duty which falls upon each of us as members of the Church, and with sincere prayer to the Lord for help.” Let’s look first at how our baptisms are currently being brought to pass.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in the March 2003 Ensign, shared some statistics from a study that the church had done on missionary work (see Dallin H. Oaks, “The Role of Members in Conversion,” Ensign, Mar. 2003, 52). They first looked at how investigators are currently being found. The study revealed that the majority of investigators who are taught first discussions by the missionaries are found through the missionaries’ own efforts. The next most productive finding tool is media campaigns (which are very costly in dollar expenditures). Only about 10 percent of investigators taught a first discussion were initially found through members.
The study then looked at how many of these investigators are eventually baptized. The study found that:
1. Of investigators found through media campaigns, about 1 to 2 percent are baptized.
2. Of investigators found through the missionaries’ efforts, about 2 to 3 percent are baptized.
3. Of investigators found through the members, 20 to 30 percent are baptized.
In other words, an investigator who is brought to the missionaries through the members is 10 times more likely to be baptized than one the missionaries have found through their own contacting efforts.
Elder Oaks noted, however, that of those that were baptized, about 60 percent of adults were favorably influenced by church media, showing that the media efforts are valuable in supporting the missionary efforts.
Referring to Pres. Hinkley’s challenge, Elder Oaks asked how much we would need to increase our finding efforts in each of the different areas noted in order to double our overall number of baptisms. They found the following efforts could double our baptisms:
1. Increase the number of investigators found through media campaigns by 13.5 times. (That would require an extremely large increase in our media budget.)
2. Increase the number of investigators found directly by missionaries by 6 times. (That would require an enormous increase in the number or the effectiveness of our missionaries.)
3. Increase the number of investigators found through the members by 2.7 times.
The following table summarizes these findings:
|
|
How Are Investigators Found? |
How Many Of These Are Baptized? |
How Much Increase To Double Our Baptisms? |
|
Missionaries |
|
2-3% |
6 x |
|
Media |
|
1-2% |
13.5 x |
|
Members |
10% |
20-30% |
2.7 x |
Looking at these numbers it becomes obvious that in order to meet Pres. Hinkley’s challenge, we must involve the members more in missionary work.
I want to share some of my ideas on member missionary work. I have seen many different programs or strategies to try to get members involved in missionary work. However effective these programs may be, the problem I have with many of them is they restrict either the time or scope of the member’s missionary efforts. Some programs set a date by which the member will have someone prepared to be taught by the missionaries. During the time leading up to the chosen date, the member will be active in missionary activities. But once the date has passed (or in many cases, forgotten) the member will stop their missionary efforts. Other programs try to focus on one individual or family which the member focuses all their missionary efforts towards. If this person or family accepts the invitation the member rejoices in the success of their efforts. But if the person or family rejects the offer to be taught, then the member becomes discouraged and once again stops their missionary efforts.
To me, missionary work is a principle of the gospel that should be lived everyday, just like other principles of the gospel. None of us wake up in the morning and say we will live the Word of Wisdom for the next 90 days. We live the Word of Wisdom everyday. When we are in a situation where we are offered or are tempted to partake of a substance forbidden by the Word of Wisdom, we remember the covenants we have made and choose not to partake. Missionary work should be the same way. It should be built into our understanding so whenever we are in a situation where we could share the gospel with others we choose to do so. We should be missionaries everyday. Here are five points on missionary work that we could remember and apply everyday.
1.
Be An Example
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt 5:16)
We should first and foremost be living the gospel in our everyday lives. We should “let our light shine” so that others will know of the joy that the gospel brings to our life. Many who have joined the church have said that the positive examples that church members have shown was one of the influences that encouraged them to learn more about the church. Those who see us living the principles that we believe and see the joy it brings will want to know more about us, giving us opportunities to share the gospel with them.
As we live the gospel we will be worthy of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The spirit is essential for effective missionary work, both in finding people to teach and in the actual teaching itself. It is not what we teach that converts but rather the spirit that the individual feels as we teach the truths of the gospel to them. By having the spirit with us through living as an example, we will be better able to help others feel and recognize that spirit.
In our efforts to be an example and live worthy of the spirit we should continually be strengthening our testimony of Jesus Christ. The stronger our testimony becomes, the greater desires we will have to share our testimony with others. In strengthening our testimonies we should study the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith described the Book of Mormon as “the keystone of our religion.” It is through this foundation of our faith that we deepen our testimony of the Savior, the restoration, and the latter-day work we are now engaged in.
2.
Let Others Know You Are A Member Of The Church
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…” (Romans 1:16)
How many of your neighbors, non-member friends, coworkers and associates know that you are a member of the church? This is an area I feel many of us could improve in. We should not be ashamed of our membership, nor should we hide, as it were, “our candle under a bushel.” As I mentioned earlier, many who have joined the church were positively influenced by the example of members they have known. We can’t have this kind of righteous influence if people do not know what church we belong to. As others know what church we belong to they will begin to associate our actions with our membership. They will know of the standards we live and the happiness the gospel brings us. Moreover, they will know to come to us when they have questions about the church. It is often much better for someone to ask a member about questions they have regarding the church than for them to get their questions answered elsewhere or not at all. Sometimes we can speed up the process by asking our non-member friend, “What do you know about our church? Would you like to know more?”
3.
Teach Informally
"…and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh
you a reason of the hope that is in you…” (1 Peter 3:15)
We have a vast army of full-time missionaries who have been called and set apart to teach the gospel to all who will listen. As member missionaries, we are not required to teach formal discussions but we can and should teach informally. This should not be very hard but to many of us it is. Pres. M. Russell Ballard told the missionaries in my mission, “All missionary work is is talking to people.” There’s nothing easier than that! We talk to people every day. We just need to find ways to fit gospel topics into our conversations.
When people visit our home we can show them the pictures of our family on the wall share with them our beliefs about the importance of families and talk about our family home evenings. At work, if someone offers us a cup of coffee we can tell them about the word of wisdom. When we make discoveries in our family histories we can share these stories with our neighbors and tell about the importance of genealogies and temple work.
Whenever people come to us with questions about the church we should answer as best we can. There may be questions asked of us that we are not sure of the answer to. In this case, we should let the person know we will look it up for them or refer them to the missionaries or someone else who can answer there question. We should always be willing to share our testimony of the truths we know. As we do, others will know of our faith and sincerity. We will have the spirit with us and that spirit will touch the heart of those we are teaching.
4.
Invite
"…he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his
goodness, and he denieth none that come unto him…” (2 Nephi 26:33)
I strongly believe that there are many people who would respond favorably to invitations to learn more about the church if they were just asked. We do not need to do a lot of preparatory steps in order to invite our friend to a fun church activity. It is easy to invite our neighbors over to our home for dinner or for Family Home Evening. We can always invite someone we know over to watch a spiritual church video such as the new “Finding Faith in Christ” video. We can give people a Book of Mormon or other church literature, hand them a pass-along card, or even invite them to attend church with us. Eventually our goal is to invite our friend to be taught by the full-time missionaries, preferably in our home. There are countless ways in which we can invite others to partake of the spirit and come to know more of the gospel. We should follow the guidance of the spirit to let us know what will best help our friend or neighbor come closer to Christ and His church.
5.
Continue in Faith
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ,
having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. ” (2
Nephi 31:20)
Sometimes, despite our best efforts to share the gospel with others, our invitations are declined. We should not get discouraged and stop our involvement in missionary work. We should continue our friendshipping efforts with those that have said no. For those that do accept our invitations and are brought into the church through baptism we should help them feel welcomed and loved. We have shown how much member’s involvement positively influences investigators before they join the church, that same involvement is just as needed after their baptism. As Pres. Hinkley has said on many occasions every new convert needs a friend, a responsibility and nourishment by the good word of God.
In addition to helping with investigators and new converts, there are many other things we can do to assist the missionary efforts in our ward. We should strengthen other members’ desires to do missionary work by sharing success stories, encouraging missionary activities, and participating in missionary splits. We should teach our children the joys of missionary work and prepare them to serve full-time missions. Children often make great missionaries because they know so many nonmembers and have fewer inhibitions to talking to others about the church.
Missionary work requires faith. It requires work and effort. It is often hard and many times progress comes slowly. But missionary work is our duty and the blessings that come from diligent efforts are great. Ask anyone who has seen a friend baptized and they will tell you that the joy of seeing that friend enter the waters of baptism far outweighs the difficulties encountered getting there. This is the work of bringing salvation to the sons and daughters of God on the earth. There is no greater work that we could be involved in.
We need to be missionaries everyday. We need to pray for missionary experiences and for the Lord to direct us to those who will receive our message. We need to look for opportunities to share the gospel and take advantage of the opportunities that we have. When each of us was baptized we made a covenant that we would “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in” (Mosiah 18:9). May we daily do so is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.