Leaders

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Service Missions- Serving Others As the Savior Would
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A Service Mission Is a Call from the Prophet to Serve Download: Small (360p), Medium (720p), Large (1080p)

• Service Missions: A Guide for Bishops
• Service Missions: A Guide for Stake and District Presidents
• Service Missions: A Guide for Area Seventies
• Service Missions: A Guide for Parents or Guardians and Families
• Helpful Suggestions for Priesthood Leaders

Priesthood leaders can have a positive, lasting influence on the lives of missionary candidates, parents, and ward members as they teach these key principles:

• Each mission call and assignment, or a later reassignment, is the result of revelation through the Lord’s servants.
• A call to the work as either a teaching or service missionary comes from God through the President of the Church.
• The spiritual gifts of prophecy and revelation attend all mission calls and assignments.

Local leaders should:

• Remember that there are no disabilities or handicaps in the eyes of the Lord. Each of Heavenly Father’s children is blessed with unique spiritual gifts.
• Choose their words carefully when speaking to members and parents about service missions. They set the standard in the way mission calls and experiences are perceived.
• Emphasize that both teaching missions and service missions are acceptable offerings to the Lord and should avoid using terms “real mission,” “normal mission,” or “traditional mission” when referring to a teaching mission. All missionaries represent the Lord and are His agents in the work of salvation.
• Teach that all missionaries represent the Lord and are His agents in the work of salvation.

All young men and young women who have a desire to serve a mission and are worthy to do so fill out an online recommendation that is processed by the stake president. Based on the information contained in the application, including the evaluation of the bishop, the stake president, and medical professionals, a service missionary assignment may be made. The Quorum of the Twelve and General Authority Seventies oversee the mission recommendation process, and the missionary call is issued from the Lord through His prophet.

A missionary candidate does not choose which kind of mission he or she will serve. All applicants are considered first for teaching missions. Young men and women whose circumstances are best suited for service missions are called as service missionaries. If an applicant is called as a service missionary, the applicant’s service is tailored to his or her unique talents, skills, and gifts and to the local environment.

Service missionaries serve at approved community charitable organizations (such as food banks, refugee services, or shelters), Church operations (such as storehouses, canneries, temples, or seminaries and institutes), or in assignments from their stake president or bishop. JustServe.org may be a helpful resource for identifying charitable service opportunities.

Service missionaries living in remote locations may need to rely more heavily on a variety of community charitable organizations and stake-assigned service, such as hospitals and local service activities.

After a young man or young woman has been called to serve as a service missionary, the stake president counsels with the missionary, his or her parents, and the service mission leaders to create a customized mission to match the missionary’s capabilities. Under the direction of the stake president and with the recommendation of the service mission leaders, assignments may be adjusted during the course of the mission.

Service missionaries live at home and serve locally. In some rare cases, service missionaries may receive permission to serve away from home while living with relatives. Specific arrangements should be made in counsel with the stake president, the missionary’s parents, and the Service Mission Office. If the service missionary lives with relatives in a different stake, the membership records are transferred, and the relatives’ stake president assumes ecclesiastical responsibility for the service missionary. In no circumstance do service missionaries live alone.

Service missionaries always wear the service missionary name badge at their service assignment, during service mission meetings, and at Sunday Church meetings. They do not wear the name badge at other times.

No. Dating is not permitted for service missionaries during their missions. Service missionaries can participate in ward, stake, and young single adult activities.

Service missionaries and their families are responsible for the expenses related to their missionary service. These expenses include but are not limited to transportation, food, clothing, and medical, dental, and auto insurance. Service missionaries are responsible for transportation to and from their service locations. Service missionaries receive no financial support from the General Missionary Fund.

Although service missionaries do not have companions like teaching missionaries do, their safety and well-being are paramount. The stake president and parents ensure that there is appropriate support, supervision, and protection during the service missionary’s daily service schedule. Where applicable, service mission leaders may create companionships for missionaries while serving at the same location or for purposes of gospel study and special service activities.

Yes. Service mission leaders provide appropriate leadership development opportunities to missionaries as part of their mission experience. Missionary leader roles are available to both sisters and elders.

Yes. It is recorded the same way as a teaching mission.

A stake president may honorably excuse any young man or young woman who he is confident is incapable of serving either a teaching or a service mission. However, a stake president does not determine whether an applicant is called to a teaching mission or a service mission. Stake presidents continue to provide input in the online recommendation form for young adult men or women to be called as either teaching missionaries or service missionaries.

No. However, most male service missionaries hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. If priesthood leaders do not feel that a young man is ready to hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, he should hold the Aaronic Priesthood.

Service missionaries must be temple worthy. In general, service missionaries should receive their endowment. However, bishops and stake presidents offer counsel to service missionaries to determine if they are ready and capable to receive the endowment.

Service mission leaders, where called, fulfill the role of mission leaders for service missionaries. They work in partnership with each service missionary’s stake president, who holds the ecclesiastical keys for the missionary.

The stake president responds to belated confessions and serious transgressions as directed by the Holy Ghost, as he would with any member of his stake. If he is unclear about what to do, he may confer with his counselors, the Area Seventy who chairs his coordinating council, or a member of the Area Presidency. If the repentance process can be completed during continued service as a service missionary, the service missionary may continue his or her service mission. If formal Church discipline is administered, the service missionary should be released, and the Service Mission Office at Church headquarters should be notified.

If a service mission leader or an external operations manager is made aware of a belated confession or any transgression, the service missionary should be immediately directed to his or her stake president.

A service missionary who is released before completing the service mission for worthiness reasons is generally not reinstated. In rare circumstances, individuals who desire to be reinstated as a service missionary after being released early for worthiness reasons should work through their stake president. If the stake president feels that an exception should be considered, he may submit a request to the Missionary Department. These reinstatement requests are reviewed by General Authorities assigned to the Missionary Department.

After being assigned to a service mission, a service missionary is, in general, not reassigned to become a teaching missionary. If the circumstances that precluded service as a teaching missionary are substantially and materially altered, reconsideration may be requested through the Missionary Department.

Safety and risk considerations are a vital priority to the interests of the missionary, the Church, and community charitable organizations. All charitable organization assignments require a prior written agreement that protects the missionary’s and the Church’s interests. This must be coordinated through the Service Mission Office. Certain types of activities are prohibited or restricted because they may pose a higher risk to individuals and organizations. Service missionaries may not engage in the following types of activities under any circumstances:

• Unsupervised one-on-one interactions with children or vulnerable adults
• Bathing, babysitting, or providing other similar kinds of personal services
• Operating machinery, equipment, or vehicles without proper training or certification

Other higher-risk service opportunities carried out by service missionaries at charitable organizations are carefully managed through agreements. Similar higher-risk service opportunities at Church operations and at stake-assigned locations are managed through policy and training. These higher-risk activities include:

• Tutoring or mentoring in group settings.
• Handling or possessing any cash, securities, or other valuables.
• Rendering a professional opinion.
• Operating machinery, equipment, or vehicles without proper training or certification.

No. The service missionary should transition into employment or post–high school training or education.

Yes. The missionary may be reassigned to serve for a period sufficient to complete the balance of 18 or 24 months of service.

Please see the Early-Return Reassignments section of the Customized Experience page.

A teaching missionary who returns home for an extensive period of rehabilitation but plans to return to his or her teaching mission is not eligible. While the missionary may serve as a volunteer during this period, and the local service mission leader may assist in finding service opportunities, the rehabilitating missionary is not a service missionary. However, he or she may participate with service missionaries in appropriate activities, if desired.

If a teaching missionary returns from his or her mission early and is called to a service mission, he or she need not be set apart again. However, the stake president is encouraged to provide a priesthood blessing of comfort and counsel.

A key component of service missions focuses on providing service missionaries with ministering opportunities. In addition, service missionaries may continue to have ministering assignments within their ward under the direction of local priesthood and Relief Society leadership. Service missionaries may, on occasion, work with teaching missionaries as members.

Service missionaries speak in sacrament meeting before and after their missions, receive the same recognition as teaching missionaries (mission plaques, bulletins, newsletters, and so on), and report to the high council upon completion of their missions.

These materials are currently available in the following languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Cebuano, Tagalog, Samoan, and Tongan