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I remember what one woman said to me once, “I’m not going to get a bunch of twenty year olds teaching me about theology.” She must have been in her forties/fifties, but I do wonder, is sending twenty something missionaries in suits out with identikit lessons really the way to go?
Yes. There is no better educational opportunity about life in the world – at least not that I’ve found. Plus – I don’t think sending 25-40 year old men out is an option. They are needed at home to raise kids. Lots of things I would change abut the missionary program but the age of the missionaries is not necessarily one of them ok – cwald, Cadence and Ray all agree. Is that a sign of the times? 
A bit off topic but I wonder why they don’t send young married couples any more like Gene England and his wife Charlotte. They could be hard to find as opposed the the supply of young men but would likely be effective and make for a good teaching alternative. I think it’s also the suits as well. In some poor areas, it’s tantamount to making yourself a target if you’re wearing a suit. Like many of us, I have served a mission and had missionaries in my home many times. I think the missionaries are perfect FOR SOME INVESTIGATORS. There are others that know a great deal about the Church and need something more than the standard lessons or at least need to be taught by someone who understands the doctrinal and historical concerns they may have. Some need more than the standard TBM response to these concerns. They need an empathetic response that I think is rare in the Church in general not just with our young missionaries. Most missionaries are not equiped to teach someone who is well educated in the many concerns discussed on this board. In other words, some investigators need to be taught through a combination of the spirit, common sense,and empathy. I fear that not many 19-21 year olds have the life experiences, insight and knowledge to do that. The practice of missionary splits with older more experienced members may provide that balance but there are probably few older members equiped to provide this to a certain type of investigator.
No question that a mission is a wonderful learning opportunity for the missionary. I wonder if the actual results of the missionary program denote success? The Church is in reality growing slowly and the activity/retention rate is quite low. If you look at it from “the worth of one soul” perspective then the missionary program is a smashing success. If you look at it more from a corporate standpoint – I’m not so sure.
I think the missionary program is “a smashing success” because of the impact it has on the individual missionary. I don’t really care about the “converting” aspect, or the actual “missionary” aspect of the missionary program. Yes, missionaries, for the most part are pimplly punk kids who don’t know much about anything. That, IMO, is the beauty of the program — in fact, the LDS missionary program is one of the FEW aspects of the church that I DON’T have a problem with. I felt that way even when I was serving one. That is just my opinion. I will have no problem if my two boys decide to go. Like I said earlier – I don’t think one can find a better “life education” opportunity anywhere for any price. SamBee wrote:I remember what one woman said to me once, “I’m not going to get a bunch of twenty year olds teaching me about theology.”
She must have been in her forties/fifties, but I do wonder, is sending twenty something missionaries in suits out with identikit lessons really the way to go?
In my opinion what is really wrong with the missionary program more than who does the bulk of missionary work is the actual theology they are still selling with so much emphasis on things like tithing, the WoW, and the idea of nearly infallible prophets starting with Joseph Smith. This overall message probably worked much better before there was so much anti-Mormon propaganda on the internet.
Sure it would be great if more experienced and knowledgeable members wanted to spend more of their free time doing missionary work but I’m not so sure that very many active members would be thrilled with this idea. Personally, I don’t really have any regrets about going on a mission but there is no way I would have gone if I had known some of the things I do now that really raise serious doubts about some of the truthiness claims the Church likes to make.
To me it seems like it would be much less of an uphill battle to recruit and retain new members if we could just focus on basic Christian principles and invite people to church and have it be a somewhat positive experience for visitors without having to try to explain away all these apparent problems with the Church and its history and then top it off by insisting that people should obey all these rules. Nowadays people are going to ask questions about these doctrines and I’m not so sure that “because the prophets said so” is going to work very well as a long-term answer anymore. My prediction is that as time goes on fewer members will be willing to do this kind of full-time missionary work and even fewer outsiders will ever accept this same old message at face value.
I have some respect for the missionaries in that I say what they do as being incredibly tough. fwiw I took two of the local ones out for lunch at the local burger chain today. Coincidentally, I bumped into three of the sister missionaries at the bus stop later on, dressed in “civilian” clothing, so I didn’t recognize them at first. They stopped and spoke to me. One of them looked very pretty with her hair braided. 😳 I probably shouldn’t say that. I think that they suffer from some of the same problems as the males although their dress code is less rigid.I agree it works in some circumstances, but for some other people, I think it might be a turn off as are the overly standardized lessons.
You can’t really expect a 20 year old to appreciate what it’s like to deal with wayward teenage children (as one single mother we came across did) or to answer certain “intellectual” points.
Some people in society find it strange to talk to someone half their age about this subject matter.
Hi, DA, I think the problem is that many of us have a lot of trouble trying to explain what we think and feel to non-members, especially friends. I can do it with interested parties, but even so, there are a lot of surprises… as well as some more pleasant moments. Shyness is a killer for me, as are both the misconceptions about the LDS and some of the image which is put out by the church itself. I think sometimes it tries to hard to be “straight” in compensation for its apparent “weirdness”.
SamBee wrote:I agree it works in some circumstances, but for some other people, I think it might be a turn off as are the overly standardized lessons.
You can’t really expect a 20 year old to appreciate what it’s like to deal with wayward teenage children (as one single mother we came across did) or to answer certain “intellectual” points.
Some people in society find it strange to talk to someone half their age about this subject matter.
Yeah, absolutely – but that is kind of my point i made – I dont think the missionary goal of converting folks is really the point, IMO. It’s about training YM how to deal with life and prepare for the spiritual storms that are inevitable (in my case – fowler stage 4
I think it is a MIRACLE that anyone listens and believes and changes their life style because of a couple of 19-21 year old boys. An absolute miracle. I give credit to those people especially, and the pimply kid missionaries, and the spirit of god that works on the souls of men. An absolute miracle.
But yeah, MOST missionaries, IMO, go out as immature kids, and return as men. A mission is great “boot camp” for life. At least that was my case – those two years I spent in the ghettos of Brooklyn and the Bronx were BRUTAL – but extremely valuable. I have NO regrets about the time I served. None at all – and this is coming from from an unbeliever – agnostic existentialist!
😈 To the opening post where the lady investigator expressed concern about being taught by 20 year olds, I say — the majority of the people with that attitude aren’t going to join anyway. There needs to be humility to receive the Spirit, and if that means being taught by our 19 year olds then so be it…..
If there are deep doctrinal issues, the missionaries can draw on some of the grey panthers from the HP group.
You served in Brooklyn and the Bronx? 😯 Actually I wonder if young black missionaries get mistaken for the Nation of Islam in the States too!I think my point is that there’s a large section of society which is probably not reached by the current program.
But that’s not to say there is no range. We’ve one guy here who’s struggled with heroin addiction and is very much working class. Another guy is well off, has a flash car, and two immaculately turned out children.
SamBee wrote:Hi, DA, I think the problem is that many of us have a lot of trouble trying to explain what we think and feel to non-members, especially friends. I can do it with interested parties, but even so, there are a lot of surprises… as well as some more pleasant moments. Shyness is a killer for me, as are both the misconceptions about the LDS…
One of the most important attributes of LDS missionaries is not their age, knowledge, training, etc. as much as simply their willingness to do the grunt work that no one else really wants to do. I think the Church basically stumbled onto this formula for success and it still works to some extent because full-time missions are seen as an expected rite of passage and almost a “tour of duty.” Because members look at it as a one-time and temporary commitment it makes missionary work more bearable than it would be otherwise. You probably can’t realistically expect many working adults with bills to pay and families to support to devote nearly this much time and effort to missionary work; it’s hard enough to try to get them to do their home teaching.
Maybe the current missionary efforts are not very cost effective compared to the results achieved by the Adventists or Assemblies of God but I doubt that the LDS Church could just stop sending out these young full-time missionaries and expect much of anything other than a drastic decrease in overall conversions. Without enough new conversions the Church is likely to shrink because not everyone raised in the Church will stick around and support it long enough to pass this tradition on to their children. This is why I think the Church should pay more attention to some of the main reasons that so many members end up leaving the Church or becoming inactive and consider whether this is really necessary to the extent this is currently happening or whether they could do more to retain existing members.
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