I heard that missionaries in an area conference got this non-PC but cut-to-the-chase directive: “do NOT go into the ghetto and baptize anything with a pulse”.
There’s a new push these days to make missionary work more ward based and ward initiated…as opposed to missionary based and missionary initiated. The new “Preach My Gospel” guidelines make this clear. What happens when missionaries in an urban setting make their most frequent contacts with people with serious and chronic social, medical and/or mental issues?
At a recent correlation meeting the elders told us what they do in our ward. They have been instructed that if an investigator repents and expresses a sincere desire to be baptized (as determined by the Spirit through the missionaries – not the bishop or ward mission leader) “Don’t wait. Hurry and get them baptized and confirmed so they can have the Gift of the Holy Ghost to help them face the difficult adjustments to their new lifestyle.”
Our ward straddles both gang-infested urban stretches and some of the most hoity-toity suburban communities in America. In a twisted way, one of the things I love most about our ward is that everyone worships outside their social comfort zones. It keeps us on our toes. But, hey, what happens when the “difficult adjustments to their new lifestyle” happen to these new investigators most intensely at church? I’ve been asking myself that question for over 30 years now.
We’ve been told that missionaries are to be our resources in helping teach our ward mission pool. Shouldn’t that include thorough teaching that membership in the church is more than just the personal covenant of baptism but the ongoing, determined work of bearing burdens, mourning, comforting and all the other communal components of being part of the fold? Is it fair to them not to expose them – at least a smidgen – before they commit?
In a different urban ward, a friend analyzed the statistics and learned that of the 100 convert baptisms in our ward in one year, at the end of that year only 2 of those people remained active. After that, the mission and the bishop worked together on a system of expecting investigators to attend church for four weeks before they were allowed to be baptized. How reasonable for everyone! Surely a new testimony can bear that much of a maturing process, can’t it?
How can it really be the ward’s mission pool if the ward’s resources are not taken into account should this fresh convert (or lonely enthusiast) promptly bow out? Welfare needs? Transportation to and from church meetings and activities? High maintenance home and visiting teaching? Some wards become gaping black holes of service because these issues of readiness and awareness are inadequately (or never) addressed. There has to be a balance somewhere, right? WWJD?
There’s always a vague cloud of shame emanating from some nameless hyper-orthodox hobgoblin when this topic comes up. Of course there is no “one size fits all” measure of acclimation and readiness. Of course people come in (and go out) for all sorts of reasons. Of course this does NOT mean we don’t want poor folks with issues to join the church. Regardless of income level, if we’re really honest, we are ALL poor folk with issues.
Yes, of course, the Spirit should guide. But let’s make sure that includes doing the right kind of right by the investigators and by the ward.
“In a different urban ward, a friend analyzed the statistics and learned that of the 100 convert baptisms in our ward in one year, at the end of that year only 2 of those people remained active. After that, the mission and the bishop worked together on a system of expecting investigators to attend church for four weeks before they were allowed to be baptized. How reasonable for everyone! Surely a new testimony can bear that much of a maturing process, can’t it?”
My experience in a large inner-city urban ward was the same. The missionaries kept baptizing but our ward could not assimilate the new members let alone keep things together ourselves. The missionaries seemed to operate in their own world without any insight into the real needs and problems of the ward. As primary president, I often had no idea when children were going to be baptized. After constantly bugging the missionaries, I was occasionally invited to child convert baptisms. In one that I went to, I had never seen the child before, and never saw her since. She was baptized but never once came to primary. What’s wrong with this picture?
I was really angry when in ward council meetings the missionaries complained that not enough members were going on splits with them. We couldn’t keep up with the people they baptized in the first place. Did they have any idea what people’s lives were like in our ward? Am I wrong in thinking that they should have been there to help us, not us to help them? In that particular ward, missionary work would have been much more useful in helping and strengthening the ward rather than bringing more people that we would be unable to assimilate.
Thanks for this post. So many good questions raised. This issue is a struggle in many places, and there’s just no easy solution. Yet, I know that some bishops have attempted to use the missionaries more in helping to nurture new members.
My husband was a Ward Mission leader in San Francisco and his calling taught me so much about the work. As missionaries you give the message, but you cannot be the message for all people. We found ourselves stretched as we were the transportation, reasoning, and errand runners for some investigators. We too could not keep up with the missionaries, but the missionaries could not keep up with the converts. We realized all we were doing was running circles, so we reconnected with the investigators who were ready to branch out on their own and the sad reality was that these people were few in numbers, but they stayed and grew.
I remember when I was taking the discussions and I overheard the missionaries say to one another “,we really need to get her baptized.” I felt sorry for the missionaries as I heard their comment because they were not responsible for my conversion. We all play a part in missionary work, but every individual is responsible for their conversion.
During my mission (’88-’89), we missionaries were strongly encouraged to quit wasting time on the deadwood. If the investigator needed more than 3 weeks to get wet, then drop ’em for someone else the Lord has provided. It wasn’t *our* problem/fault if the ward couldn’t care for them–any problems were due to the ward not “catching the vision.” It is easy as a 39 y.o. adult woman for me to see how damaging that mentality is, but as an impressionable youth (yes, even 21-23 y.o. sister missionaries are impressionable), we believed everything our mission president said was from God. And if we didn’t get ’em baptized, we were bad. So there is/was a *lot* of pressure (institutional/cultural/ religious/self-esteem/self- identity) to produce.
janescott:
Where did you serve your mission?
Hiya Bookslinger–I was in the New Mexico Albuquerque mission. (Sorry to respond so late–hope you’re still out there!)
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