Rumor: US Missionaries No Longer Tracting

[RC Vikings]

Some of the guys in my mission started this policy over thirty years ago. They were ground breakers or not.

[wuapinmon]

This is a great idea if you don't believe in the foundational principals of the Mormon church and missionary work.

Yes, because King Benjamin clearly said that the foundational principals of the church are knocking on people's doors, and Ammon clearly was tracting when he offered to watch Lamoni's flocks.

Consider your audience, please.

[Jacob]

Yes, because King Benjamin clearly said that the foundational principals of the church are knocking on people's doors, and Ammon clearly was tracting when he offered to watch Lamoni's flocks.

Consider your audience, please.

The church wasn't founded by King Benjamin, it was founded by Joseph Smith. I don't have a problem with moving away from missionary work altogether, but turning it into a competitor to peace corps seems like a terrible idea to me.

[Pheidippides]

This is a great idea if you don't believe in the foundational principals of the Mormon church and missionary work.

I'll ignore the silliness of that particular argument and just say I don't so believe to save time. So we're agreed!

But I do agree with BBB's conclusion.

[wuapinmon]

The church wasn't founded by King Benjamin, it was founded by Joseph Smith. I don't have a problem with moving away from missionary work altogether, but turning it into a competitor to peace corps seems like a terrible idea to me.

Who said anything about competition? King Benjamin's speech about service has been quoted since the foundation of the church for why we help each other. Why would a corps to bring that life not be an amazing missionary tool?

[Jacob]

I'll ignore the silliness of that particular argument and just say I don't so believe to save time. So we're agreed!

But I do agree with BBB's conclusion.

No need to quibble when we agree.

But I disagree with BBB. i think the brethren who are in charge of the missionary program honestly believe that they are performing a vital services to save the souls of the people the missionaries preach to and that is their motivation, not a program to essentially brain-wash the missionaries into being future active members of the church.

I suppose there could be an argument made that a Mormon Corps program would be more successful in saving souls through baptism than the missionary program. But i find that silly.

[RC Vikings]

I like the idea of the missionaries doing service work during the day. I'm not sure about other missions but the mornings and afternoons were brutal in ours. Work at home moms or old ladies are the only ones home during these times.

[thesaint258]

I hardly ever went tracting on my mission. People were hardly ever home, but they were always on the street. We'd just walk around Vienna aimlessly talking to people. As we'd walk, one of us would stop someone and start a conversation. The other would walk down the street thirty or forty feet and start another conversation. We'd just leapfrog down the street talking to people. If we got sick of doing that, we'd hop on some kind of public transportation, sit in different places, and talk to whomever had the misfortune opportunity of sitting next to us. That system worked pretty well for us as far as finding contacts went.

[Donuthole]

I like the idea of the missionaries doing service work during the day. I'm not sure about other missions but the mornings and afternoons were brutal in ours. Work at home moms or old ladies are the only ones home during these times.

We sought out service projects just about every morning in my mission for this exact reason. Sometimes it was really meaningful stuff like helping someone build a retaining wall to keep their house from sliding down a hill (one of the Elders even purchased all the supplies for the lady--probably about 200 USD worth) or helping a family put a new tin roof on their shack. Unfortunately, many times it was stuff like helping a member family paint their house or "mow" (con machete) their "lawn". Still service, but not exactly the stuff that is changing lives.

[wuapinmon]

member family paint their house or "mow" (con machete) their "lawn".

It only took me about 10 seconds to realize what the stick was for.

[TheAzzuri]

Change it to 1 year, let BYU athletes opt in, and you've got a deal!

Tim Tebow would approve!

[Majo]

A year or so into my mission I pitched the idea to my mission prez to let me enroll in spanish classes at the local university and get a job as an English TA. It certainly couldn't have hurt our numbers (can't go much lower than 0), and it would have been much more fun than street contacting. Needless to say, I didn't get to enroll in the university.

Later on, however, I did get to participate in a sort of experimental area where we limited our door-knocking and street contacts, tried to learn a local language, and focused on service. People there certainly had a better opinion of mormons (those who realized we weren't JWs anyway). We weren't really any more successful in converting people, though.

Anyway, if they de-emphasize tracting and focus on service, I don't know if conversions would go up or down, but it would be more enjoyable for the missionaries IMO. Although, like Beelzebabette said above, the preaching, rejection, etc that seems to come with tracting did seem to endear some people to the cause.

[Rosebud]

John Dehlin posted on facebook that he had

Anyone else know if this is accurate or an isolated thing?

Accurate.... except that the plan is for tracting to be discontinued in the near future. It's not a past tense thing.

Also, that church headquarters gets a lot of ideas from message boards..... so keep brainstorming boys.

[wuapinmon]

Accurate.... except that the plan is for tracting to be discontinued in the near future. It's not a past tense thing.

Also, that church headquarters gets a lot of ideas from message boards..... so keep brainstorming boys.

I wish we had a system for encoding tone into our written language. Hola, sledgirl.

[Rosebud]

I wish we had a system for encoding tone into our written language. Hola, sledgirl.

Hola. You invent the system; I'll follow it. I was serious (yet smiling and winking) about the message board thing.