“Missionary Work Made Easy,” Tambuli, Nov. 1977, 7
Missionary Work Made Easy
It’s a friendly way to show others what Mormon life is really like.
The Church has many exciting programs that make it simple for every member to be a missionary.
A strange thing happens to many of us whenever we hear the phrase “every member a missionary” (with the emphasis on every) and we are reminded that we should not only “lengthen our stride” in the missionary work but quicken that lengthened stride as well.
We sometimes form a mental picture of ourselves standing on a soap box above a sea of shouts and hostile faces, futilely trying to call a street meeting to order. Or we may imagine ourselves debating gospel principles alone and helpless against a panel of secular ministers, or being rudely rebuffed while going door to door with a handful of tracts, or perhaps approaching strangers on the street. Or we imagine ourselves offending our neighbors in some sort of activity that may make us seem strange or not so friendly to them.
Mental images like these have no doubt turned a lot of us away from missionary work many, many times. It’s not that we doubt that the work is true or think that the presidents of the Church, our prophets, have asked something unreasonable or impossible. It’s simply that sometimes we are timid and find it hard to see how we, individually, can do it. And when we feel uncomfortable about it, other activities expand in importance to fill up our hours and we let our moments of missionary opportunity slip away.
But that’s not the way it should be. And, best of all, that’s not the way it has to be.
It is true that everyone needs to be actively engaged in missionary work, but there may be as many different approaches to missionary work as there are individuals, personal styles, circumstances, and inspiration. Living the gospel and helping to spread it to others, should be a joyful activity. And when we find out what the Church really expects—that we don’t all have to be aggressive proselytizers—being a missionary will not seem such as scary. Suddenly, we may begin to see how we individually can be actively involved.
Following are some of the programs that have grown naturally out of the missionary efforts of the Church. These are a few of the things that any of us can do; they make it easy for every member to be a missionary. Study them. Maybe you’ll begin to form a different mental picture of you as a missionary—in the way most suited to you!
Hold a home evening for nonmembers.
Generally, if a person can be shown the possibility of greater happiness for him in a particular lifestyle, he’s much more likely to listen than if he is approached directly with preachy exhortations.
And that’s exactly the strength of family home evening used as a missionary tool. Without undue forwardness, you make it possible for your good friends and neighbors to draw near for an unhurried look at how the gospel works in your home with no uncomfortable strings attached. You show rather than preach.
But the family home evening for nonmember guests is seldom effective when it is an unprepared event—one where you are obviously and hastily trying to discharge your duty to be a missionary. It takes a little wise preparation. The idea of having a nonmember family over for a special home evening should arise naturally out of a more complete friendship and teaching approach. Perhaps an outline for such an approach would look like this:
1. Decide which family or families among your friends and acquaintances you’d like to try to friendship.
2. Get to know them better through shared activities: family outings, hobbies or talents—whatever enjoyable things you have in common.
3. When the time is right (and if you’re sensitive to the situation, you’ll know the right moment), invite them to your home on an evening other than Monday for a special family home evening.
4. Other activities together may well follow; and in time, their inquisitiveness about the things that underlie your family’s happiness may well lead to many opportunities to introduce them to the gospel.
This kind of plan calls for nothing more than honest friendship and a desire to share that which is most precious to you. This is important. For if your motives are not genuine in every way, you cannot succeed; your efforts will take on the character of conniving tactics. Facades, phoniness, and “hard-sell” will almost always fail in family missionary work. Be yourselves and enjoy every minute of it.
What kinds of activities are best for your special home evenings with nonmembers? That would depend strictly upon your interests and the interests and lifestyle of your prospective family. You must be prayerful, sensitive and inventive—but never unnatural. You might have just a get-to-know-you-better kind of social activity. You might have an evening of barbecue and backyard fun. An entertaining film or filmstrip might be just the right thing at first; a more gospel-oriented one might comfortably fit in later.
Some structure is usually desirable, so that it becomes clear to your guests that there is a difference between a planned family night in your home and an evening of simply lounging around the living room in front of the TV. One way of programming the evening would be the following:
1. Opening prayer
2. Fun singing
3. A brief lesson presentation on a topic like honesty or service to others; or perhaps a talent show or discussion
4. Games
5. Closing prayer
6. Refreshments
One important thing to focus on is the family togetherness of family home evening; it is a time to get together in a congenial atmosphere and discuss family relationships, family responsibilities, family problems, family projects, and so on.
Through this special family home evening, it should become obvious to your guests that the gospel has a unique effect on families, that your family is happy in a way that would not be possible without it. Perhaps then you could give the nonmember family a copy of the home evening manual to give them some ideas about how they might start having family home evening on their own.
Who might you begin to prepare for an invitation to a special family home evening in your home? Here’s where the prospects are exciting. There are more possibilities than just the people who live in the house next to yours. Think about these:
Relatives who are nonmembers
Professional acquaintances—people you work with
Families your children are good friends with
Someone who has asked you questions about the Church
Families who have just moved into your neighborhood
Someone who has visited your church meetings
Old friends
People who visit your home often
The possibilities are almost unlimited. Your family can do it: your whole family can “go on a mission” by beginning to friendship others in preparation for a special home evening where you can share yourselves, your joy, and happiness, and the peace and security that come from living the gospel.
Take Them to Their Sunday School Class
The Gospel Essentials class is tailor-made to be a friendly introduction to gospel discussions.
In your relationships with interested nonmembers, there often comes a time when inviting them to come to church with you seems like the natural and logical thing to do next.
When that happens, probably the first meeting you will invite them to on that first Sunday morning is Sunday School, because the Sunday School has a course designed especially for those who are just beginning to learn about the gospel—the Gospel Essentials class.
This class is the Sunday School’s counterpart to the organized missionary effort in that it helps start the “teaching” part of missionary work where the “finding” part stops.
One new member of the Church tells how effective a part of the missionary effort the Gospel Essentials course can be:
“I used to talk about religion with a member of the Church who worked at the desk right next to mine, and it came to the point where I was asking him questions every time we had a break. He was very patient, and if he didn’t know the answer, he’d bring a book or magazine.
“I learned a lot of different things on different subjects, but I didn’t know how to put it all together. He was glad to talk to me anytime, but after a while, it was like I was running out of things to ask at the same time when I felt like I had so many things to ask. It was frustrating.
“Then one day, he said to me, ‘Listen, why don’t you come to church with me next Sunday? There’s a Sunday School class there that will give you a pretty good overview of what we believe—better than I can. Why not go a few times, and if you can tie in all these ideas together, great; if you can’t, you’ll at least know you tried. Okay?’
“I went, and it was really educational for me. I know I made a spectacle of myself during the first two classes, because I kept saying things like ‘Ohhh, yeah, I see!’ and ‘That’s right; sure it is!’ over and over. I started to see a plan in the whole thing, and it was beautiful. I think I was three or four jumps ahead of the missionaries when they started teaching me.”
As well as being an introductory course for new members of the Church and a refresher course for newly reactivated members, Gospel Essentials is the course for investigators—those who are being taught by missionaries and those who are simply interested in learning about the Church.
It is a Sunday School class; however, it is coordinated with the seventies in the ward or branch, which gives it a further link with the organized missionary work. It is taught by a seventy whenever that is possible.
Probably, the best way to tell your friends about the Gospel Essentials class is to explain just what kind of class it is in comparison with the other Sunday School classes for adults. Explain that the usual curriculum for adults in the Church, the Gospel Doctrine course, covers all the scriptures in an eight-year cycle. This year, for example, we will be finishing the second half of the Book of Mormon. Then will come two years of the Doctrine and Covenants and Church history; then the Pearl of Great Price and Old Testament; then the New Testament; then the Book of Mormon again. It’s a continual cycle of learning the gospel through the scriptures.
The Gospel Essentials class differs, however, in that it is a basic overview of the whole gospel presented in 12 lessons. It is designed to let a person get his bearings before he enters the mainstream of gospel study. The lessons are prepared in such a way that it doesn’t matter at what point the investigator enters the cycle. For example, he can take lessons seven through 12 and then continue on and take one through six—whatever sequence is most convenient without feeling lost.
Woven into the lessons is a presentation of the plan of salvation. The investigator will learn about the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith; something about temples and priesthood ordinances; a great deal about the eternal nature of the family; and also about the blessings of obedience. He will also learn about testimony and about the way the Church is organized to care for the needs of its members.
Equally important to the prospective member’s smooth transition to Latter-day Saint living, he will learn many things that can save him a great deal of confusion and possible embarrassment. For instance, he will learn many terms that are everyday words to the long-time member but can easily be puzzling to the newcomer—terms like “bishop” and “high councilor” and phrases like “administering to the sick” and “fast offerings.”
He’ll learn how the family fits into the Church organization, and how fundamental a unit it is. And he’ll learn some things about the structure of the priesthood and auxiliary organizations.
If you introduce the Gospel Essentials class to your friend as a sort of guided tour to the gospel that will help him “get a handle” on a huge subject, he’ll probably be glad to attend! Those who go can expect fine teaching, simplicity, testimony, and friendship.
When you do get the chance to invite your nonmember friends to Sunday School, check first to make sure the Gospel Essentials class is currently being held. Most wards and branches hold the class continually, but occasionally there will be a break of a week or two between the 12-week cycles. You will want to go with your friends to their first class session to introduce them to the teacher and to the other members of the class. Whether or not you continue to go will depend entirely on the circumstances. You’ll have to be very sensitive here. Occasionally, your presence might inhibit a friend’s desire to ask questions freely. In that case, go your own way for a time and let him take a look at the Church quietly, without any kind of pressure.
Chances are, however, that he’ll feel more at ease with you there, in which case you should try to attend all the classes with him.
One man told of an interesting coincidence that happened the first time he attended the Gospel Essentials class with a neighbor. “I had mixed emotions about going at first,” he said. “I was mildly interested in finding out what the Mormons believe, but I was afraid someone would say something about me smelling like tobacco. I knew the Mormons didn’t believe in smoking. But when I got there, who should I see but my other next-door neighbor. I knew he had smoked for years, and he looked pretty sheepish, too. But when he spotted me, he opened up with a wide grin, and we were a pair throughout the classes. We got along great with everybody.”
And a woman said this of her experience in the class: “I think I was a real frustration to my neighbor, even though she didn’t say so. I sat through eight lessons without feeling like there was anything there that I could or should really commit myself to. But I kept going back with her. One Sunday when I got home, though, I sat down and thought for a while, and I suddenly realized that I had learned a lot more than I had thought. I was surprised at how much my views about life had changed little by little, and how hopeful things now seemed. She was really surprised when I called and said, ‘Well, what do I do now?’” Her member friend introduced her to the missionaries, and she was baptized in just a few weeks.
When you do attend with your nonmember friends, you might be expected to participate and bear your testimony. But it is very important that you do not dominate the discussions and get carried away talking about obscure questions that the lessons are not designed to cover. Too much chatter on your part makes it very hard for your guests to learn any of the simpler things. As Elder Boyd K. Packer once said, it’s like “trying to put two hoses together when the water in one of them is running full blast.” (Address to Sunday School administrators, 7 October 1972.)
When the opportunities arise to invite your friends to church, the ideal place to take them is usually the Gospel Essentials class. It is designed to provide that special link between curiosity about the gospel and the beginning of clear understanding about what the Church has for its members. It’s one of the bridges that the prospective member can cross on his journey to a fuller understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.