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Frankly, I wonder if they are looking at trying to start formal missions in China and need a lot more missionaries than just the young men can provide. I have no clue, really.
So will they start telling the girls that all are now expected to serve mission like they have been saying to the young men for years? I was also wondering about that extra year after HS were the young people whose parents wouldn’t or couldn’t pay for the missions are suppose to pay for their missions. That is what I had to do when I went 35 years ago. I have had three sons go on missions and they didn’t pay for any of it. I’m not sure they would have gone had they had to pay for it. I liked that I saved my own money to pay for my mission but I really do think it was easier to do that back then. Now that girls can go at an earlier age will that mean more will go and now parents have to start saving more so that they can pay for missions, college, and a wedding. I thought that having daughters I could count on them to get married and not necessarily going on a mission too. Wow, a bad economy, new mission payments, college, weddings, tithing etc, I hope that between the church and my kids I will have some one to take care of me in my old age. How do the parents in 3rd world countries do it? Just a thought but it seems to me tht a policy change requires unanimous support from the Q12 based on a debate, but revelation is the prerogative of the top leader to cut through that bureaucracy and effect change without the tortuous debating. hawkgrrrl wrote:Just a thought but it seems to me tht a policy change requires unanimous support from the Q12 based on a debate, but revelation is the prerogative of the top leader to cut through that bureaucracy and effect change without the tortuous debating.
Theoretically that’s true, but I’m not sure it’s ever happened, at least not since JS and BY.
CNN just posted an article covering the change. It is pretty positive and does not slight the church in the least. It gives about equal time to Pres. Monson and Joanna Brooks. Read for yourself: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/09/surprise-mormon-announcement-could-open-doors-for-more-women-missionaries/?hpt=hp_t3 ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/09/surprise-mormon-announcement-could-open-doors-for-more-women-missionaries/?hpt=hp_t3 I’m excited for the changes both for the young men and the young women in the church. I wanted to go on a mission as soon as I could. If this was the policy when I was young I would have gone right after high school and skipped those 6 or 8 odd months of working and waiting for my birthday.
I think this change will help combat the perpetual adolesence that our society promotes. These young men can leave their childhood home and enter the adulthood of missionary service instead of the extended adolesence of college. The younger missionaries will have less life experience, but they’ll also have fewer all night Halo parties. When they get to college after their mission they will be more focused and will get more out of the experience. I know that the point of serving a mission isn’t to participate in a right of passage, but it’s a good side effect.
I’m especially hopeful for the young women of the church. I realized yesterday that my new born daughter will likely serve a mission. Last week I would have thought that it was only a remote possibillity. I’m eternally grateful that my wife served a mission, even though I once swore I would never even date an RM!
johnh asked about this new policy, so I am bumping up this thread. China. Sometimes I wonder if this is part of the puzzle of me staying LDS. I imagine that the impact of the church in China could equal the impact of the Chinese on the church. ??? Ann wrote:China. Sometimes I wonder if this is part of the puzzle of me staying LDS. I imagine that the impact of the church in China could equal the impact of the Chinese on the church. ???
Did some of your post get cut? I wondered if you could elaborate a bit more. It sounded like an interesting train of thought.
On Own Now wrote:I’m not really excited about the 18 year mark… I think it’s too young… especially in this age when YM seem more interested in leisure pursuits than in establishing themselves as independent men.
One of the complaints I hear from non-members is that they think that the missionaries are ridiculously young already.
As if a teenager whose voice had barely broken is going to come across better than a 22 year old…
China is still a dictatorship (not to mention what they do to Tibet and Uighurstan), and can’t see it happening in the near future.
I think they need to work harder on retaining converts than boosting missionary numbers.mackay11 wrote:Ann wrote:China. Sometimes I wonder if this is part of the puzzle of me staying LDS. I imagine that the impact of the church in China could equal the impact of the Chinese on the church. ???
Did some of your post get cut? I wondered if you could elaborate a bit more. It sounded like an interesting train of thought.
No other thoughts. I know there are missionaries darn near everywhere, but I picture China forcing us to travel lighter. Essentials only.
I heard a GA (who is now an apostle) say in a stake leadership mtg a few years back that the church is concerned about the dwindling number of missionaries in comparison to population or church population, not sure which. I came away feeling that church leaders felt like they needed to do something to increase the the number of missionaries, which I thought was the reason for the relatively recent push for more seniors missionaries, and of course this very recent change in missionary ages for YW. I also think the change relates to concerns keeping or retaining members because once you go through the missionary experience, you’re certainly more fully vested in the church, and more likely to stay TBM. They could increase the number of missionaries in the long term, by retaining more of the converts!!! Hmm this seems a bit like daylight saving time to me. Cut an hour off one end of the day, stick it in the other end, and think you are somehow getting more. In a year or so the extra number of missionaries who flooded the market due to the age reduction will level out to the similar numbers it was with 19 year olds. It isn’t like there are twice as many 18 year olds or something. Personally I’d like to see opportunity for service missions, building wells, schools, and hospitals. Not every prospective missionary wants to knock on doors.
My girls are excited about the change. They and I have thought the age difference was unfair and promoted girls to marry right out of high school. I think the average marriage age of lds girls will increase slightly and the marriage age of lds boys will remain about the same. Most boys will probably still go around 18.5 to 19 I’m guessing. This will probably affect church members in other ways two. My local mission already announced an increase from 180 to 250 missionaries next year and that each ward will have its own missionaries. That means housing, meals, transportation, etc for ward members.
Our bishop also said missionaries are cutting into the church’s tithing more and more. Look for an increase in the $400 mission contribution and or an increased emphasis on a full tithe.
All things considered, I believe this change is a good thing. If nothing else, women are treated slightly more equally.
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