This Wed, I've got an assignment I need some help with. I have been asked to speak at a missionary conference (why I'm still not sure...). They have asked me if I could speak for 10 min then have an answer/question portion for 20 min. Hmmm. Here's the topic I've been given: How to get members of our wards to trust the missionaries.
I think the missionaries in this area are having a difficult time getting members to trust them enough to want to work with them. They never get referrals or even people willing to go on splits. They utilize the ward mission leaders heavily, and they need to spread out the work within our wards so investigators will meet others and have a chance to feel the spirit in member's homes. So, I ask you all that question.
How do you get members in your ward to want to work with the missionaries? Are there certain things the missionaries could do to encourage involvement? Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
Chels
14 comments:
How fun for you.
Our current ward is more missionary minded than any ward I have ever been in. I think that is for two reasons. First, we have a ward missionary that is soley responsible for scheduling missionary meals. Our missionaries have been taught to be brief in member's homes. They come in, we have a pleasant meal, they present a spiritual message, and they leave. This not only brings the spirit of missionary work into my home but their obvious respect for my schedule makes me more comfortable with them. We have also been blessed with a great crop of missionaries who deeply care for the gospel and are not afraid to challenge us to make invitations. Secondly, and probably most importantly, we have stake and ward leadership that makes missionary work a priority. The bulk of our ward council meetings seem to revolve around the ward mission. Our stake president and our bishop expects us to find people for the missionaries to teach and those expectations have paid off. We have had more convert baptisms in the last 12 months in our ward than in the previous 3 years combined.
Good luck with your talk. I am sure you will knock it out of the park.
If missionaries would go into the homes of members and teach them prepared lessons that bring the spirit into their homes followed by a strong commitment to act then there is no question that members would trust those missionaries. Take it to another level and if the missionaries actually follow up and teach that family again with another spirit/commitment filled lesson then you have member missionaries, not just trust. Too often missionaries go into the homes of members just to eat and hang out with a cute little scripture at the end (or maybe not even that) Missionaries should treat member lessons just like a lesson they would teach an investigator. Elder Bednar gave a great talk about this very thing.
Also, does your ward have a ward mission plan? Each family in our ward has been asked to establish a family mission plan and share it with the Ward Mission Leader. These goals are then combined and the ward council establishes a ward mission plan. My HP group also made one so that we as a group can focus on missionary work. We also have a HP group activity that will involve posting our testimonies on mormon.org.
It really isn't so much about the missionaries as it is about us, the members.
You nailed it right on the head there Jason. It's really not about the missionaries. It's more about the ward members. Honestly, I don't think my ward in particular really cares. There's a few that go the extra mile and always go out with the missionaries, feed them, etc. The majority of the ward is really lacking in commitment on MANY different levels. So how do you inspire members to take a chance and do missionary work when the work needs to be done in their own homes?
We're doing the Perry Push program (Elder Perry) in our ward and identifying inactive members/new members/returning members to serve. Each organization has a list of 5-6 families that we'd like the missionaries to visit and teach lessons to. Even if it's just to get into the home, that's a success. we're trying to reestablish relationships with those families. Unfortunately, it's always the same leadership doing the work and no one else really cares.
And honestly, we have pretty good missionaries here. They're good about making you commit to finding friends and neighbors and follow through with you. I think they're a little frustrated because they're really trying and the wards aren't.
Maybe you should reread my comment. If the missionaries taught members prepared lessons that ended with actual commitments then members would do more. I don't know about you but when our missionaries come they just share one scripture and never ask us to do a thing... not one challenge. Members need to be challenged outside of their comfort zone and they need people like missionaries to do the challenging.
No, that's just it Dave. The missionaries here ARE challenging members. I've never had a set of missionaries come over to our home (here in Jersey) and have dinner then NOT leave us with a specific challenge. And then, 9 out of 10 times, they follow up with a question about our challenge the following Sunday. And it certainly makes me uncomfortable if I haven't followed thru. Last time they visited, they specifically asked us to write down a name of a family and tell them who it was. I think they asked us about it over and over!
I think our ward members just aren't willing to take the challenge. Did Elder Bednar's talk mention that aspect of it? I should go back and reread it.
How is your ward leadership handling the issue? They have to be setting the example.
Then obviously the members in your ward lack faith. The missionaries should teach more member lessons and focus on faith building lessons. In some areas where members where lacking faith/missionary fire we would focus more on teaching members than actual investigators. The lord will send prepared people to prepared wards and that is how missionaries should approach it. I remember teaching 20 member lessons a week sometimes.
I think you're right. There probably ought to be more member lessons being taught. If they find new converts, that's great, but they'd better be pretty dang strong in their newly found testimonies because there's not a whole lot of committed, faithful members. It's really sad and difficult to inspire people to see what they're missing!
I think I agree with Dave on this one. It sounds like the members in your ward need the missionaries and rather than finding new members to bring into the ward, they ought to work with the members to strengthen them because how can you expect to strengthen a new convert if you aren't faithful yourself. So maybe the lessons they should be teaching the members when they visit should focus more on teaching the actual members that are already struggling.
One thing, kind of not related to finding converts, but about strengthening the actual members, is that every time Mike visits his families for Home Teaching he flat out asks them if they are reading scriptures, praying, having family home evening, etc. He asks them every month and challenges them to do those things. We started reading as a family because Mike felt that it was not fair to ask the members he looked over to do those things if we weren't already doing them in our home.
Also, I know when Mike was in the bishopric, they often prayed and asked Heavenly Father to send members to the ward that could help strengthen the ward. I think that is how we got there and probably how you ended up in your ward.
I agree with Dave that the missionaries need to be more visible in the homes of the members - as long as those visits are focused. I also whole-heartedly agree with Dave that the Lord will send people who are ready for the gospel to people who are ready to share it.
I know that when I was a missionary, I so badly wanted to stand up sometimes and call the ward to repentance for their lack of faith. However, that call needs to come from the appropriate leaders not from a missionary. As missionaries, we simply had to focus on reminding the members of the joy that comes from finding the gospel and the sweetness of the atonement.
We have had a lot of good missionaries come through our home. And we had a few really poor missionaries come through. We stopped having them come for dinner when we lived in California because all this one set wanted to do was to play with the kids. And then there was that one when we lived in Indiana that was from Las Vegas - he was a bad missionary in every sense of the word. If the missionaries aren't there for the right reason, you can really pick up on that. If they are sincerely trying, that comes through, too.
I love having them come because of the special spirit they leave with us. Unfortunately for us, we never see the missionaries that are in our stake or area. I miss that.
I think one of the best missionaries we ever met was one that was serving in our area in Elk Ridge. His spirit was so powerful - and he and his companions baptized like crazy.
I hope you are able to find the right words to convey to the missionaries the need to develop that great spirit and then to share it with everyone that is around them. I think your ward needs to have the missionaries re-teach them and re-commit them. And then maybe they will get that spirit and enthusiasm and pass it along.
Good luck.
I can't comment on people in your ward, but I can comment on missionaries. As the ward mission leader for two years recently, I saw a lot of them come around as well. I will just say this: humility goes a long way if you're a missionary. I don't care how bold you are, or how smart you are, or how well you know your scriptures; if you come to me as a member showing humility, I'll do all I can as a member to initiate work.
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