Principles

On this page is a list of principles you can use in your Member Missionary work. These are all things that have been used and are taught to members by many missionaries. They work! (A lot of this is taken from the book, "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" written by Clayton M. Christensen.)

Living The Gospel

We all have some desire to share what we know, or what interests us. When our leaders ask us to share the Gospel, we ask questions like "How do I start?" "How do I bring it up?" As we grow our testimonies and learn about the Gospel and how it applies, The Lord will give us the chance to share as we study the scriptures. An example could be: You have a friend who wants to get into something that he can have in common with others. Well, you tell him about the college football games. He likes that idea, and asks you about when the games are.... well if you don't watch the games... or even pay attention.... how can you help him? How can you tell him about your favorite team and why they are good and who is ahead so far if you don't watch? You can't. Neither can you expect to help others in their search for the Gospel if you yourself do not live it. Do you have to be perfect? No. You must try tho. You must do your best. If you do, then the Lord will bless you with the ability to share and the opportunity to do so.


We Succeed When We Invite

One of the most important things to remember is that when we invite others to do something in missionary work, that is when we succeed. Our success with inviting does not come from their answer. When we think "I don't want to invite them and say no." or "They wouldn't accept it anyway." we are not giving ourselves the chance to succeed. The Lord does not care what their answer is, He cares about whether you invite or not. Do not beat yourself up because they say no, it is their agency if they say yes or no.


Use Mormon Words

A great way to strike up a conversation about the gospel is to use Mormon words. What are Mormon words? Things like FHE, Temples, Mutual, Relief Society, Primary, etc. These are all words that people don't here very often outside of the church. So the trick is when they ask, "What is that?" are we ready to answer? All it takes is a simple explanation and that's it. If that leads to another question, even better! If not, that is ok. The important thing is that we leave it open for questions. Using other words like


How To Invite Without Putting Stress On The Relationship

One of the greatest fears of member missionaries is rejection and event the end of a friendship because of an invite. This fear is common, but with simple wording can be avoided. There is a tool you can use called Decoupling, and it a way to invite a close friend and not risk the friendship.
Example: "Hey John, I wanted to ask you a question, but first I want to establish that if you are not interested that this will not hurt our relationship."
This is a way to show your friend that they can answer honestly and you not be offended if they say no. Remember, you succeed when you invite, not if they say yes.


We Cannot Judge Who Will Accept The Gospel

Many people run into this. We think we know who will accept the gospel, or accept an invite. The thing is... we don't know. The Lord has prepared those who are ready to hear the gospel and accept it, we cannot pick and choose who we want to share it with. There may be your best friend who goes to church every Sunday, who lives the Word of Wisdom, who is married and has 5 kids. But when you invite him, he says no. Then the missionaries come know on the door and they ask for referrals and you aren't sure who to see. But you give them Mr. Bob down the street, but he drinks and is divorced. The missionaries go over and he lets them in and 4 weeks later he is baptized. Who would have thought!? That why we cant pick and choose. Invite everyone!


They Aren't Interested in What We Think They Are

When someone says, "Can you tell be about your church?" We automatically think about the doctrine. But studies show that only 9% of converts where interested in the doctrine at the beginning. Many of them are looking for ways to get closer to God, or how they can be happier. One way to get around this is by saying, "What do you want to know?" That will open them up to some better questions that you can answer.


Everyone Needs To Feel Needed

 This is a great principle to get people to really see what we are all about. In the church, we are all about service. That is a subject we talk about in every Auxiliary and organization of the church. We are always looking for ways to serve our members, neighbors and community. The principle that we can use is to involve others! Simple yet powerful!!! If you are going to help someone down the road move, call up Joe(non-member, less active, struggling member) and tell him whats going on and ask for help! Whenever we help others we can feel the spirit tell us that we are doing good! Inviting Joe to help out gives him the opportunity to experience that as well!

Getting God To Trust Us

Remember the parable of talents, the Lord gave them each talents and only 2 of them used their talents and increased where as 1 did not. He soundly rebuke the latter and gave his talent to the ones who would take care of it. It is the same with missionary work. The Lord has given us responsibility to take care of our members, both active and less active. If we don't do our home/visiting teaching or fellowshipping, etc... HOW can the Lord trust us with new members? If we don't take care of those whom He has placed in our path, He will not be pleased and will put someone else in your place who will do what He asks.