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Visited a small rural branch in another country, not known for its Mormonism… there is a telephone number listed on the notice outside which doesn’t work. No sign of anyone around. I presume it is stake conference, but how am I to know that? The next branch is about a hundred miles away. The LDS coverage is extremely poor round here. This is not the first time this has happened to me visiting other stakes. Isn’t this just another way we shoot ourselves in the foot? I’m a tourist and an active member. What about investigators, new members etc who don’t know what’s going on?
I wonder how many times this has happened across the world and how often. It must run into the hundreds. I’m sure the church loses people because of this.
I find it interesting that for a missionary minded church we have such poor communication outreach. Meaning if you are not present for the announcement portion of SM and EQ you will likely not get the info. Our congregations do not have a website to help less active or non-member know what activities or events are upcoming. The flier handed out before SM also does not include this type of information.
Our buildings are also not well lighted at night. Our Stake had a local Pastor come to speak at the adult Stake Conference. The poor man was nearly late because we did not have much light on the building nor a light up sign with the churches name like other churches in our community have. Not very welcoming. Nor safe. Roy wrote:
I find it interesting that for a missionary minded church we have such poor communication outreach. Meaning if you are not present for the announcement portion of SM and EQ you will likely not get the info.Our congregations do not have a website to help less active or non-member know what activities or events are upcoming. The flier handed out before SM also does not include this type of information.
I agree — when I was HPGL I had all these ideas for “outreach’ and they were all shot down because they “weren’t the program of the church”. Well, guess what, I’m not the program of the church now. It seems we rely on harping at people to get what we need, rather than allowing for the engagement that comes from empowerment.
I don’t suffer from the Stake Conference problem as we meet at a stake center. However, when I visit elsewhere I’m acutely aware of the issue. How am I to know when another stake holds its conference? What if I was semi-active? This is all apart from the dead phone number up on the window. And the fact I took a taxi.
Given that I’m in a country where Mormons are very thin on the ground (even thinner than my home country), you’d think they would make an effort to communicate. If I was a non-member, I would think the branch was dead or kist a name plate (it meets in a small office block.) The reality doesn’t chime with the “visitors welcome” sign in this case.
I suspect the problem is that we don’t even think of these things because as long term members we are part of a system.
Roy wrote:
I find it interesting that for a missionary minded church we have such poor communication outreach. Meaning if you are not present for the announcement portion of SM and EQ you will likely not get the info.Our congregations do not have a website to help less active or non-member know what activities or events are upcoming. The flier handed out before SM also does not include this type of information.
Our ward does have an online calendar. No idea about this branch though… and I wouldn’t have been around to receive such a missive anyway.
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