Hello, everyone! I am sure by now you have all heard the news, but I still feel it is worthy of a blog post. Church leaders today announced changes that will affect the efforts and labors of missionaries worldwide. These changes were alluded to by Elder Dallin H. Oaks in his opening address at the Seminar for New Mission Presidents. As some of you may remember my mentioning when I first posted about that address, Elder Oaks is the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles serving on the Missionary Executive Council.
While these changes were not specifically spelled out at that time, it appears that the Church's plan in this regard consists of three parts: issuing a list of standard questions (along with a cover letter signed by the First Presidency) detailing specific interview questions prospective missionaries will answer in interviews; the tablets many missionaries now use will be replaced with smart phones, and the Church will also, over time (the extent of which has not yet been specified) be consolidating missions. In the meantime, the Church is also expanding the outreach of missionaries by enabling them to use social media to find and communicate with people who are genuinely interested in the Church and to answer any questions they might have.
As most of you are aware, the original result of the missionary age change was an upsurge of missionaries, from around 58,000 to 88,000. According to recent reports, there are around 70,000 missionaries, not as high as it was when the age change was announced, but still considerably higher than it was prior to the age change.
With this announcement, it is clear that the Church is determined to move missionary efforts into the 21st century. These changes will also deal with the concerns our missionaries have expressed as a result of the survey the Church had them do. The intent is to allow greater numbers of missionaries in each mission, which in turn provides an opportunity for modern-day technology to play its proper role in advancing the gospel. And what this will do is allow the missionaries who have access to technology to teach those who are genuinely interested in the Church: the focus can then be more about reaching those with a genuine interest in the Church, rather than trying to find such people through door-to-door tracting.
And all of these changes make sense. We have been in the 21st century for the last 17 years. The Church has long evaluated how to enable missionaries to be effective in their ministry, and these changes will allow that to happen in much greater abundance than ever before,
Sorry for the long post. But this is wonderful news that is well worth the amount of detail given. It will be interesting to see what happens in missionary efforts worldwide as a result. That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.
Friday, October 20, 2017
Church Announces Upcoming Changes in Missionary Efforts Worldwide/Missions will be streamlined and consolidated
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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