Why do missionaries tract?

[SoonerCoug]

A few months ago, I was at a bar with a hematologist friend of mine. He ordered a beer, and I asked for a diet coke. I mentioned that I'm a Mormon and don't drink, but that I'm pretty secular. His response was: "Yeah, I already knew you weren't a very religious Mormon. You know how I knew? You never came and knocked on my door at 3 in the morning."

Tracting is generally destructive to the Church and its image. And it pisses people off.

[TripletDaddy]

Sure, but I know the missionaries around here still usually have to resort to tracting during the day. I'm saying it shouldn't be done at all and seems counterproductive.

If the missionaries were free to substitute something that actually helps people in place of something that just pisses people off, it seems like it would be a good thing.

I agree that tracting doesnt seem very effective. I was lucky. In my mission, we almost never had to tract. In fact, I really have no clue how to do a door approach. And my MP did not require us to walk around knocking doors. I think it is a mission by mission thing, as opposed to the Church missionary program requiring missionaries to tract.

Some potential benefits to tracting (while still acknowledging that it is the least effective way of finding):

1. Exposure: the is a reason the world knows the LDS Church by the white shirts and ties. And it isn't from working off referrals.
2. Baptizing: you still get these from time to time
3. Productivity for the unproductive: tracting is a "lowest common denominator" behavior. Regardless of how effective or obedient you are, you always know whether you are tracting or not. You either are or you are not. If missions got rid of this altogether, you would have loads of missionaries that would be screwing around even more than they are now. "Service" would morph into playing basketball all day with investigators and things of the like. I would think that self-starting missionaries that could be left to their own devices to find acts of service and missionary opportunities are probably in the minority, not the majority.
4. Testimony: hard work can build character and testimony. Nothing wrong with going old school every now and then. Even if you don't baptize anyone, you can still strengthen your own testimony. And ultimately, a big part of the mission is doing just that.

Just some thoughts.

[SoonerCoug]

I thought my door approach in Russia was extremely effective, but my companions had a problem with it. Here it is:

"Hi! My name is SoonerCoug (I never used the word "elder"). This is my companion Spencer. We are from America. We came to Russia for two years to study the language. We also give people free books about some people who supposedly lived on the South American continent. We just ask for 30 minutes of your time to explain the book to you first. We are not selling anything, and we aren't asking for any money [until the 4th discussion]."

My companions preferred to say things like: "We are representatives of Jesus Christ." That line didn't go over too well. My companions also loved to interrupt my door approach to try to make us sound more religious. It would inevitably get the door slammed on us.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I loved tracting. It really prepared me for a post mission job of telemarketing.

[wuapinmon]

Yeah, "Todd & Lisa R". Like that's not totally made up.

I wasn't saying you're wrong, just that I'm guessing there are members like me (who don't have anyone waiting in the wings, or the ones in the wings are on the 10-year plan) than members like you.

Get this, the Bishopric gave each presidency member a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked us to write our testimony inside. I did mine on a Saturday, and that night the Rs came over. I felt prompted to give them the book; I did.

The next day, the bishopric was visibly annoyed that I didn't have mine because they were making a big to do about giving them to the elders to give out to people. I explained why I didn't have mine; didn't matter. I had to do another one right then.

[ERCougar]

Todd & Lisa R. + their two kids

I've given them a Book of Mormon with my testimony written inside. I talk to them about the Church whenever we hang out. I'm taking it slowly until I feel that push to have an elder talk to them. I'm their friend first and foremost, and I've told them if they ever want to talk about my Church, there are no forbidden questions. They attended our 3rd child's blessing.

Yeah, "Todd & Lisa R". Like that's not totally made up.

I wasn't saying you're wrong, just that I'm guessing there are members like me (who don't have anyone waiting in the wings, or the ones in the wings are on the 10-year plan) than members like you.

[wuapinmon]

That's a good point. However, how many of these potential referrals are you holding back on, just waiting for the right missionary whom you know well to come along? My answer's none.

Todd & Lisa R. + their two kids

I've given them a Book of Mormon with my testimony written inside. I talk to them about the Church whenever we hang out. I'm taking it slowly until I feel that push to have an elder talk to them. I'm their friend first and foremost, and I've told them if they ever want to talk about my Church, there are no forbidden questions. They attended our 3rd child's blessing. If they never want to know about the Gospel, I'm not going to insist that they take the discussions; but, the option's always there should they want to know more. Our friendship is too important. In fact, there the only friends we really have in this small town....most of our ward is too insular to let us in, or we don't have anything, at all, in common with the people who've made overtures......I can only take so much racism, gay-bashing, Obama-hating conversation before Church friendships become a drudgery rather than uplifting. Todd & Lisa are great folks, they'd make great Mormons, but I'm not pressing the issue, because it's all about faith and truly being their friend. We're not friends just so we can make them Mormons. The friendship is genuine.

I think I'm writing all this more for me than for anyone else.

[ERCougar]

The missionaries in our ward are not allowed to use the bathroom in a member's or an investigator's house. They cannot do service for Church members. They cannot participate in EQ service project unless they benefit investigators. They cannot come over for any meal or snack unless there is an investigator present or we are in the actual process of developing a family mission plan. They cannot have a cellphone that can call long distance (our ward has two area codes) because, from the MP's mouth "They might be weak and call home." They are not allowed to listen to any music with words. They must knock doors all day, unless they have set appointments. They cannot help clean the chapel. If they have no investigators at Church they are expected to take the Sacrament and leave to go knock doors. They've knocked my street once every other month since I've lived here (2 years).

After Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, the Baton Rouge mission sent home all missionaries with less than four months remaining.

If I were a missionary in Costa Rica today, knowing what I know, I think I would keep the law of chastity, the WOW; I wouldn't go swimming, and the rest of the time, I would be working doing something other than knocking doors. Not a single person I baptized that I met while knocking doors is still active. I'm not a door-knock convert. I know precious few who are.

I feel like I don't know our elders.....I feel like they move them through too quickly, that we can't BRT with them, so I'm reluctant to refer any of my friends or colleagues to them because I don't know if they're going to be some arrogant little "bold" bastard who thinks the Spirit's telling him to dust his feet off of my friends, or if he's going to be a humble righteous elder, capable of helping other people gain faith in the Gospel. My colleagues, most of the faculty, regularly tell me that the missionaries tracted them out. The standard line I've told them all to say, if the elders persist, is, "If I want to know more about your church, I'll ask Mac Williams about it."

That's a good point. However, how many of these potential referrals are you holding back on, just waiting for the right missionary whom you know well to come along? My answer's none.

[wuapinmon]

The missionaries in our ward are not allowed to use the bathroom in a member's or an investigator's house. They cannot do service for Church members. They cannot participate in EQ service project unless they benefit investigators. They cannot come over for any meal or snack unless there is an investigator present or we are in the actual process of developing a family mission plan. They cannot have a cellphone that can call long distance (our ward has two area codes) because, from the MP's mouth "They might be weak and call home." They are not allowed to listen to any music with words. They must knock doors all day, unless they have set appointments. They cannot help clean the chapel. If they have no investigators at Church they are expected to take the Sacrament and leave to go knock doors. They've knocked my street once every other month since I've lived here (2 years).

After Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, the Baton Rouge mission sent home all missionaries with less than four months remaining.

If I were a missionary in Costa Rica today, knowing what I know, I think I would keep the law of chastity, the WOW; I wouldn't go swimming, and the rest of the time, I would be working doing something other than knocking doors. Not a single person I baptized that I met while knocking doors is still active. I'm not a door-knock convert. I know precious few who are.

I feel like I don't know our elders.....I feel like they move them through too quickly, that we can't BRT with them, so I'm reluctant to refer any of my friends or colleagues to them because I don't know if they're going to be some arrogant little "bold" bastard who thinks the Spirit's telling him to dust his feet off of my friends, or if he's going to be a humble righteous elder, capable of helping other people gain faith in the Gospel. My colleagues, most of the faculty, regularly tell me that the missionaries tracted them out. The standard line I've told them all to say, if the elders persist, is, "If I want to know more about your church, I'll ask Mac Williams about it."

[ERCougar]

Sure, but I know the missionaries around here still usually have to resort to tracting during the day. I'm saying it shouldn't be done at all and seems counterproductive.

If the missionaries were free to substitute something that actually helps people in place of something that just pisses people off, it seems like it would be a good thing.

I read through the chapter on finding methods and I somewhat agree with the guy that it is a numbers game to an extent--that is, there are relatively few sane people who are willing to totally uproot and reorder their lives and join a religion like ours, and to find those people necessarily takes a certain amount of contacting (I think he mentioned 100/day as a reasonable goal). I also agree with him that spending time with members is a little overrated as a finding tool, and usually used by missionaries to avoid contacting. You simply have to tract or contact if you want to grow the church.

However, I also agree with you that tracting can be counterproductive to our PR image and that service would work much better in that regard. I think it's possible to fulfill both goals--the need to contact new people without hurting our image. The obvious way would be contacting through community service efforts. The problem with this is that we either a) lose our growth mission and adopt the profile of the Catholic church, minus the size, or b) have service efforts that are looked on with suspicion (our English classes have this problem). Another solution might be to eliminate "pushy" tracting. That is, knock on a door (or make a street contact), gently offer to share a message with them, and if they say no, tell them to have a great day and move on. Keep it very D&C 121. It's not a failure to not get in a door; it's a success to have actually offered.

[CardiacCoug]

I thought the White Bible states that tracting is the least effective form of missionary work? We were taught that somewhere. It isn't like the Church is that wild about tracting, either. I think everyone would be thrilled to work solely off referrals.

Sure, but I know the missionaries around here still usually have to resort to tracting during the day. I'm saying it shouldn't be done at all and seems counterproductive.

If the missionaries were free to substitute something that actually helps people in place of something that just pisses people off, it seems like it would be a good thing.

[TripletDaddy]

I thought the White Bible states that tracting is the least effective form of missionary work? We were taught that somewhere. It isn't like the Church is that wild about tracting, either. I think everyone would be thrilled to work solely off referrals.

[Surfah]

I hardly tracted on my mission. I spent most of my efforts tracking down less active families and part member families. I'd comb ward lists looking for the 30 year old deacon. Or the guy that is still listed as a Seventy. Wards loved us for doing this too.

Most of the time we tracted were times when we received a referral, particularly media referrals. I'd knock the entire block when we got one usually explaining that their neighbor so-and-so ordered this video/dvd, bible, or BoM and ask them if they'd like a copy free of charge as well. This worked really well. I didn't mind tracting Hispanic neighborhoods though. I could teach first discussions all day. Tracting though was always a last resort type thing.

[CardiacCoug]

If I served a mission today, and did so in the same place I did when I was nineteen, I wouldn't tract at all.

It would be great if you would have that option.

It's interesting that the Church doesn't ever tell senior missionaries to go around knocking on doors. Speaks volumes.

[ERCougar]

I've thought this for a long time. My advice to my BIL (who's now serving in San Francisco) on his way out was to ditch the white handbook pressure to limit service and focus on service. I don't think my MIL liked that advice but like SIEQ, that's what I'd do if I were in the field today.