Missionary Work: The Traditional Approach

You receive a special missionary lesson during the third hour at church.

The lesson emphasizes the importance of warning your neighbor that the gospel has been restored.

Here is your take away and scenario:

• Get the neighbor to agree that your church is right and that their church is wrong.
• You run into your neighbor and ask about their church.
• You explain that you’re a Mormon and that the gospel has been restored.
• They have no idea what you are talking about.
• You explain that their church is apostate and yours is the only true church.
• Your neighbor has been a member of his faith for generations. He is put off at the pomposity of the Mormon living door.
• He tells his family and friends about you.
• You don’t know how he feels except that he declined your invitation to talk with the missionaries.
• He is nice enough after that, but prefers not to dialogue with you for fear religion will surface.

Don’t try harder, try different:

The lesson emphasizes how to do missionary work by being a good neighbor and learning to dialogue. Here is your experience:

• You run into your neighbor getting the mail.
• You ask about their well being.
• He tells you about their new baby’s baptism
• You inquire about their religion and continue to ask questions about their faith.
• You are not concerned about telling him the gospel has been restored.
• The moment will happen in the right time.
• You take over a present to your neighbor after the baptism.

You have just had a missionary experience and created a foundation of trust and respect that allows for a comfortable space in which to talk religion and family.

FACT: Americans have a 5 to 1 unfavorable opinion of Mormons. Why? Is it because we have been trying to force feed the world that we are right?

We’ve been doing missionary work for 180 years. We baptize thousands each year because of what we are doing. Imagine how many we will baptize when we collectively learn how to do missionary work?