From the beginning of time missionary work has prospered when circumstances compelled people to be humble. Converting them to the cause of God typically becomes difficult when prosperity becomes pervasive. The Book of Mormon repeatedly chronicles how poverty causes humility, which motivates people to turn to God for help. Their consequent obedience to God's commandments leads to prosperity, which typically prompts pride and wickedness. This results in poverty, initiating the cycle again in a tragic refrain.
We have seen the same pattern in the restored church. While we know the pioneers as industrious people who made the desert blossom as a rose, most of them came from the poorest tiers of society. In our day, many European and East Asian countries, which in the years of their poverty produced many thousands of converts, have seen the pace of missionary work slow substantially as they have prospered.
What does this mean for Latter-day Saints that live in prosperous places? Our prophets have not exempted us from missionary work. Should we emulate Elijah and unite in fasting for famine in order to humble our friends and neighbors? Will our efforts inevitably be unproductive? No. But moving forward as missionaries into the headwinds of prosperity requires a fundamental change in our approach to the work.
When given an opportunity to invite others to investigate the restored gospel, most of us instinctively have pitched the potential of the church to help them become better, happier people. We do this instinctively because the church has made us better, happier people. When those we invite are dissatisfied with their lot in life, such promises of help have always been an attractive proposition. This is the reason why the roots of righteousness so often have been set in poverty. But for those who are happy with how life is treating them, asserting that the gospel will help them become better, happier people rarely hits the target. The phrases, "No thanks," "I'm all set," and "I'm not interested" are the bane of existence for full-time and member missionaries, because the "We can help you" approach offers something that most prosperous people don't feel they need.
What many people in comfortable circumstances do need, however, is to help others. Because our church surrounds us with daily chances to do this, we don't realize how unique the LDS Church is as an infrastructure for Christian living. Life amongst similarly prosperous people isolates many of our friends of other faiths from opportunities to serve others. One of the most compelling things our church can offer the prosperous and comfortable is the chance to serve — and to feel the Spirit of the Lord as they do so.
We saw this while moving an old, heavy refrigerator from the basement of an elderly sister Clayton home taught. He had tried to find another ward member to help but failed. Desperate, Clayton asked Jim, a nonmember neighbor, who happily agreed to help. It was a hot, horribly humid summer day, and soon their clothes were soaked with perspiration. When they reached the first turn in the staircase and had balanced the fridge on the landing, Jim said, "So tell me about the Mormon Church."
Mopping his brow, Clayton responded, "Frankly, this is it." He then explained how home teaching works and noted how much this sister needed him. Clayton also told him that because graduate students and their families were moving in and out of our area all the time, our family was helping someone load or unload a rental truck once or twice a month.
Jim was incredulous. "At our church we just listen to the sermon and go home. I have no idea who might need my help. They never ask, and there's no way for me to offer. Will you ask for my help again when you need an extra pair of hands? I like this kind of thing." Although Clayton had tried unsuccessfully to engage Jim in discussions about religion in the past, he was uninterested. But Jim was interested in opportunities to help others. By helping us do God's will, Jim learned far more about what the Church feels like than he ever could have through a conversation or from attending a ward social. As a result, Jim subsequently accepted our invitation to take the missionary discussions. The Light of Christ creates in most people this desire to help. When we involve them with us in serving others, they often find that the Church addresses an important need. Most importantly, they can feel the Spirit as they serve, just as we can feel the spirit as we serve — and they can then see that something vital has been missing from their lives.
Our experience with Jim isn't unique. Another friend who regularly attended our meetings had deflected every attempt we made to convince him to become a member. Then our bishop asked him to take responsibility for overseeing the cleaning and repairing of our meetinghouse so that it could serve fitfully as an overflow location for the dedicatory sessions of the Boston Temple. He accepted and magnified that calling; felt the Spirit of the Lord as he did so; and was baptized three months later.
A third example: Several times Clayton had asked a teammate, Paul, to come to our home to meet with the missionaries, each time explaining why he felt Paul would find our church to be interesting. Paul declined each invitation. Then a new missionary who needed to learn to teach the missionary lessons came into our ward. Rather than arranging for this elder to practice teaching the lessons to members, Clayton asked Paul if he would let this missionary practice teaching the lessons to him. "Sure," Paul responded. "I'd be happy to." Clayton urged Paul to be obstreperous, and told the missionaries that Paul had signed up simply to help them become better teachers and had no interest in the church.
Clayton went to the first practice session to be sure things went as planned. At the end of the lesson the missionary finished the rehearsal by handing Paul and his wife a copy of the Book of Mormon and asking, "Will you read this book?" To our great surprise they accepted it and said they would. They did, and were baptized. When Clayton's invitation centered on how the church would interest them, Paul wasn't interested. But Paul said "Sure" when Clayton asked him for help.
Inviting others to help us with our work in the Church helps them feel needed and helps them feel the Spirit. When these feelings come, many people then realize that something has been missing from their lives. Indeed, the Savior promised it would be so: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it," He said. "But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." (Mark 8:35) This promise wasn't restricted only to current members of the church. It pertains to all of God's children.
When Clayton served as a Priests Quorum adviser he set aside one Tuesday each month to explore different careers. Finding a different member to host the Priests at his or her place of employment each month was difficult. Then Clayton realized he could ask his non-member friends to help. One, a scientist, taught them the Priests how to use the electron microscope in his laboratory. They then spent an extraordinary hour using this microscope to examine the eye of a housefly. Another friend who runs a welding shop asked two of his workers to return in the evening to help him assist the boys as they each welded a steel stool for their mothers. Neither of these friends has yet joined the church. But their interest in and understanding of the church has become deep and enduring.
In each of these instances those friends learned far more about the church than they ever would have learned had they simply listened to a lesson or attended an activity — because they saw the church from the inside out. Opportunities such as these to transform our own service to the Lord into missionary experiences lie all around us. A Primary teacher, for instance, could call a non-member friend with a request: "I have a child in my class who is so full of worms that it is all I can do to get through class intact. I have an important lesson this Sunday on the Good Samaritan. Is there any way you could help me teach this lesson? You're the best Samaritan I know." Relief Society sisters engaged in compassionate service can readily ask a friend to join with them when preparing and delivering meals to someone in need.
An instinct for involving non-members transforms things we already are doing into missionary opportunities — which should be great news for busy Latter-day Saints. These opportunities are not limited to moving refrigerators or teaching lessons, either. A request for support can have a similarly powerful impact. A couple in a nearby ward whose daughter Annie was shortly to be baptized printed invitations to the service, which they asked the missionaries to hand-deliver to the families of ten of her school friends. Eight of the families attended to signal their support of Annie, and the missionaries were there to greet them. Annie gave a magnificent talk about her own baptism — explaining that baptism isn't a rite to cleanse her of Adam's transgression, but rather is a covenant she was making to become a witness of God and to obey his commandments. She testified that it was so important that even Christ had to make these promises to our Heavenly Father. Then Annie's friends and their parents saw her father baptize her, and then lay his hands on her head to confirm her and give her a beautiful father's blessing. It was a profound and personal spiritual experience, in contrast to the religious rituals that most of them had known.
Annie's parents then penned thank-you notes to each of these families for the support they had shown Annie. As the missionaries delivered them they asked, "Are there any questions about what you saw or heard in the baptismal service that we could answer?" Two of the families invited the missionaries in, and one of them asked to study the gospel with the missionaries.
Another family in the same ward that had attended Annie's baptismal service realized that their son Douglas shortly was going to be ordained a priest. With their bishop's permission rather than ordaining him in the usual brief, private session in the bishop's office or quorum meeting, they decided to hold a Sunday evening ordination service. The missionaries delivered invitations to the families of Doug's friends, and welcomed those friends to the service. Doug gave a masterful talk about the standards of worthiness he had to meet to be ordained. After describing the responsibilities he was taking upon himself as a priest, he testified of his resolve to fulfill those responsibilities. His friends and their parents then heard Doug's mother talk about the blessings of having priesthood holders in their home, and saw his father ordain him and give a father's blessing. For the parents of Doug's friends who worried daily about their sons' vulnerabilities to alcohol, drugs and immorality, this service was a powerful introduction to the system of support that can surround youth in the LDS Church.
There would in fact be a broad benefit to the church if we would systematically invite our friends to serve with us as we serve the Lord, transforming what we already are doing into opportunities to share Christ's gospel with others. Members of the LDS Church often become so busy serving each other that we inadvertently wall ourselves off from those not of our faith. We think we are setting good examples. But when we become single-mindedly absorbed in service to each other, we are hiding our examples from those outside the church who could be deeply touched if only they could see what we do as they do it with us. This is a core reason why many view our church with antipathy, as strange and secretive. We hide many of the most wonderful things about it from those who would love to join us as we help others.
We close with our testimonies that the headwinds of prosperity slow missionary work down only when we cling to approaches that were honed during times when circumstances compelled many people to humbly welcome help. There are people all around us who will feel the Spirit and realize that something has been missing in their lives. This is true for friends of other faiths or of no faith — and of less-active members of our church. It simply requires that we take seriously the Savior's promise that these friends will find eternal life if we will but give them the chance to lose their lives for His sake.