"The Historic Announcement" speculation.

[Topper]

If people wanted Mormons to knock on their doors, they would invite them over.

It isn't hard to request a visit from Mormon missionaries.

Even in the 1990s, we were taught that tracting was the LEAST effective activity. (I was taught this 15 years ago and all missionaries were even required to listen to a talk explaining this in 1998 or 1999.)

Advocates of tracting are totally clueless. The damage far outweighs any benefit. You are not winning hearts and minds by waking people up with a knock on the door at 9:30 on a Saturday morning.

You are knocking down straw men. Who is an advocate of tracting? Nobody.

You will not find a person who has served as a missionary who will promote it as an effective means in terms of hours and energies spent. But you take it one further by stating it is universally abhorrent and should be avoided at all costs. That is a far different take.

It is almost a Mormon rite of passage to do something which draws scorn and disdain. It was not fun, and you could not pay me to do it again, but there were moments which I also enjoyed having the privilege to speak with people who engaged me nonetheless. It taught me about myself.

I am uncertain of your point. Are you asking if anybody believes it to be effective? No. The little white book even said it was not.

However, in some countries, and for some of us unimaginative dolts, we could find no other way to meet people. What is your point with which you believe others disagree?

[myboynoah]

Sooner doesn't deserve all the vitriol. I know how I feel when JWs, Vivint guys, pest control salesmen, and Girl Scouts come to my door.

Me too. I don't mind that much.

[SoonerCoug]

However, in some countries, and for some of us unimaginative dolts, we could find no other way to meet people.

Hogwash. There is always another way.

[SoonerCoug]

We believe that a man born 2,000 years ago rose from the dead, speaks to living men, told one man where to find a gold book, had him translate it into English, and then had us go door to door to try to give the book away. Pray tell, at what point did we lose you?

You don't really believe all that. I know you don't.

[Bo Diddley]

I served in the England London South Mission. While knocking doors was not the most effective means of finding people, it was still effective. I found many good people to teach this way, and baptized a couple of them as well.

[Topper]

Hogwash. There is always another way.

You served in one country. What makes you a know-it-all about all other countries?

[The_Douger]

You are thinking in terms of how you think you were perceived, which I'm sure is different from how you were actually perceived.

Why don't you go poll some non-Mormons about tracting and see how they feel about it? It doesn't matter how nice you are--knocking on someone's door to talk to them about God is a stupid, rude thing to do.

Some of the best people I met on my mission were people I met from randomly knocking on their door. Many of these people are still active in the church. A few of them ended up getting sealed in the temple.

Overall is it a waste of time? Probably. It wasn't for those people, though.

[clackamascoug]

Service versus tracting is not the point. The point is missionary work. Hard, unadulterated missionary work. Mind numbing, boring, sacrificial time and effort missionary work. Feel good service will feel good, and will probably be as effective as tracting, but it won't melt the steel core of a missionary and cast him anew as a hardened Disciple of Christ like hard corp missionary work would. There's a lot to be said for paying your dues in the trenches, and the benefits received, that can't be attained spreading barkdust for the Widow Miller.

[myboynoah]

Some of the best people I met on my mission were people I met from randomly knocking on their door. Many of these people are still active in the church. A few of them ended up getting sealed in the temple.

Overall is it a waste of time? Probably. It wasn't for those people, though.

Then it doesn't sound like it's a waste of time. It's certainly not efficient, but I assume you had few other options.

[Topper]

Service versus tracting is not the point. The point is missionary work. Hard, unadulterated missionary work. Mind numbing, boring, sacrificial time and effort missionary work. Feel good service will feel good, and will probably be as effective as tracting, but it won't melt the steel core of a missionary and cast him anew as a hardened Disciple of Christ like hard corp missionary work would. There's a lot to be said for paying your dues in the trenches, and the benefits received, that can't be attained spreading barkdust for the Widow Miller.

Nothing wrong with hard work, but if you are advocating inefficiency just because it's hard work, then I disagree with this principle. Somebody once explained, perhaps incorrectly, that Catholics would spend a billion dollars to save one soul; whereas Mormons would spend ten dollars per soul to save a million. The latter philosophy makes more sense.

Hence, if no obvious alternatives exist to tracting, then I can see why missionaries might pursue it. But if there are viable alternatives, no reason to do it. A sports analogy. Years ago in soccer, coaches made players run 120s, because it was hard work and would toughen you. Physiologists discovered it didn't prepare them for what was necessary. You don't need the speed for 120ms on a regular basis. You need to be able to sprint and turn on a dime for 10, 20 or 30 meters, again and again. So more specific training was involved.

Thus, just do it the damn marine way because it makes tough, hard men is also stupid and short-sighted. I hated tracting but some good moments along the way. I once tracted for forty consecutive hours during week, taught no discussions and was not let in. If anybody knows how futile tracting is, I do. We simply had or couldn't think of any alternatives. Plus I know as Sooner intimates how much I hate door-to-door salesman, JWs or any other uninvited guests at my front door. Seen in that light, it's a really stupid idea.

[All-American]

You don't really believe all that. I know you don't.

So "clueless" = "doesn't think like me." If so, I stand convicted.

[jay santos]

So I was reading this article on KSL the other day. "One church analyst" predicts that there will be over 100,000 missionaries in the near future. As has been discussed on here before, surely such a number is unsustainable, but even if for only a few years, that's a lot of white shirts and and unflattering jumpers. Anyway, in the article, it references an organization called the Cumorah Foundation. I never had heard about it and with a little help from Google, discovered that cumorah.com is like an actuary's wet dream (no offense Indy). Turns out the guy in charge, David Stewart, isn't even an accountant but some kind of doctor here in Vegas who seems to get really excited about the finding processes of missionary work. So excited that he's written a 500 page book about tracting. Essentially. You can download it straight from the website.

Anyway. Not all that interesting, but given the discussion of this thread and hoping that missionaries become more service oriented, and then that this guy's opinion that the best strategy is to knock on every door and try and press every person you ever meet into a gospel discussion, just seemed really different paradigms.

Why?

[LA Ute]

Then it doesn't sound like it's a waste of time. It's certainly not efficient, but I assume you had few other options.

Agreed. I don't think "waste of time" is the right expression, if one believes that bit about "if you should labor all our days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul" to the Lord.

[The_Douger]

Agreed. I don't think "waste of time" is the right expression, if one believes that bit about "if you should labor all our days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul" to the Lord.

I think you guys get what I mean. Many days when we did it, it was a waste of time. The days we found amazing people, it wasn't. You usually have to put the time in doing it to find the golden investigators.

[UtahDan]

Apparently the revelation/miracle is that missionaries will now carry iPads.