SUGGESTED LESSON DEVELOPMENT
Summary
This lesson focuses on practical concerns in member missionary work. The instructor will begin by presenting the classic set-a-date approach, with particular emphasis on clarifying that we are intended to select a date rather than a person. The instructor will then introduce Principle 5 and the “101 Ways to Do Member Missionary Work” resource list. The instructor will focus in particular on inviting others to serve with us in the Church as one of the most effective ways to acquaint someone with the gospel, also Principle 6 of member missionary work. Finally, the instructor will present Principle 7, which offers guidelines in responding to questions about the Church. The instructor will end class by reviewing Principles 1-7, summarizing the concerns that have been addressed in the lessons and extending a challenge to class members to actively participate in sharing the gospel with others according to the principles that have been taught.
Outline
How can I get started? (5-7 minutes)
Set-a-date
Get active! (5 minutes)
Principle 5: There are many different ways to participate in member missionary work
“101 Ways to do Member Missionary Work” resource list
Sharing the gospel through invitations to serve (10 minutes)
Principle 6: We can share the gospel by inviting people to serve with us in the Church
What should we say about the Church when someone asks? (10 minutes)
Principle 7: Seek guidance from the Spirit in responding to questions about the Church
Gauge situation
Gauge listener
Understand what initially draws people to the Church
Review of Member Missionary Principles (3-5 minutes)
Instructor’s Objectives
Help class members understand how Elder Ballard’s set-a-date approach can guide them in their member missionary efforts
Give class members an expanded view of the many ways they can be actively engaged in member missionary work by teaching Principles 5 and 6.
Remind class members of the important role of the Holy Spirit in responding to others’ questions about the Church by teaching Principle 7.
Preparation and Materials
Make copies of excerpt from Elder Ballard’s talk on set-a-date to hand out.
Make copies of “101 Ways to Do Member Missionary Work” to hand out.
Reflect on and prepare to share any personal experiences that illustrate the points in the lesson.
Consult list of concerns from Lesson 1 and determine which concerns relate to and are resolved by Principles 5-7; touch upon them at appropriate points in the lesson.
Arrange for a room with a chalkboard; have chalk/eraser on hand.
LESSON
1. How can I get started?
One of the most effective ways to guide your member missionary efforts is to prayerfully select a date by which you will find someone who is prepared to receive the missionary lessons. Otherwise known as “Set-a-Date,” this approach was originally given as a challenge to Church members by Elder M. Russell Ballard in a conference address in 1984 and again in 1986.
Find out to what extent class members are familiar with this approach.
Set-a-date is simple and straightforward, although different understandings of the approach have arisen since it was first introduced. An important clarification is that the approach does not require that we prayerfully select a person and prepare him or her to receive the gospel by a certain date. Rather, Elder Ballard asked us to select a date as a goal, and then to pray fervently that God will help us intersect with someone, somewhere, who would accept an invitation to study with the missionaries if invited.
Give class members a handout with the following excerpt from Elder Ballard about setting a date. Have a class member read the excerpt aloud:
May I suggest a simple way in which each one of us can exercise our faith and start our personal missionary service. Write down a date in the near future on which you will have someone ready to be taught the gospel. Do not worry that you do not have someone already in mind. Let the Lord help you as you pray diligently for guidance. Fast and pray, seeking guidance and direction from our Heavenly Father.
You will have special spiritual experiences as the Lord inspires you. I know from my own experience that the Lord will enlighten your mind. He will sharpen your vision of this work by bringing names of nonmembers to your mind that you have never before regarded as potential members of the Church. As you continue, you will be blessed to know what you should say and how you should approach each person.
Brothers and sisters, you will notice that I did not suggest that you write down a name, but rather that you write down a specific date. The key to our success will be to ask for divine guidance that we might be directed to those who will accept the gospel.
Because living the gospel is essential to the remission of sins, and because giving missionary service is essential to living the gospel, I believe each one of us must set a definite date at least once each year to have an individual or a family ready to be taught the gospel. We should expect to have wonderful success. No joy equals that of bringing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the life of one of Heavenly Father’s children. Missionary experiences can bring to every member of the Church the calm reassurance that his sins are in very deed being forgiven (“Name of Talk,” Ensign, May or November 1984).
Ask class members for comments/reactions to Elder Ballard’s challenge. If there are class members who have followed through with set-a-date, request that they share their experiences with the class.
Invite class members to set a date, if they have not already, and bear testimony of the blessings that come from following the inspired directives of the Lord’s chosen apostles.
2. Get active!
Committing to being actively engaged in member missionary work takes faith. Members of all ages, stages and circumstances have been successful in following through with Elder Ballard’s set-a-date challenge. In addition to faith and prayer, it is essential to constantly seek out missionary opportunities and invite many people to learn about the Church. This task may seem overwhelming to some; however, there are numerous creative ways to go about maximizing missionary opportunities that are adapted to different comfort levels and personal circumstances.
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Principle 5: We can actively participate in member missionary work in many different ways |
In fact, there are at least 101 different ways to do member missionary work.
Present the 101 Ways to Do Member Missionary Work resource list to the class. Explain that the intent of the list is to serve as a resource for the apprehensive or enthusiastic beginner, as well as the experienced member missionary, with suggestions that work for an array of comfort levels and personal circumstances.
Allow class members to make comments or ask questions about the list.
Invite class members to select at least one item from the list to do in the coming week.
3. Sharing the gospel through invitations to serve
A very effective way to help people kindle interest in the gospel is by inviting them to serve with us in the church. The Savior addressed this principle in John 7:17: “If any man will do my will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
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Principle 6: We can effectively share the gospel by inviting people to serve with us in the Church, rather than simply benefit from our service. |
What lies behind this principle are the basic human needs to feel needed and to help others. We tend to develop the deepest commitment and love for those institutions or causes for which we work and sacrifice the most. Our love and commitment is proportional to what we put in, not what we take out.
This in fact is one reason the LDS church as an organization has been so successful in developing committed, faithful members. We don’t hire professional ministers to take care of us, but we work to care for each other. Most of us feel needed in the church and see within its structure a way to help others – to make a difference. Members who don't feel needed, in fact, typically struggle to remain active.
In member missionary work, we tend to say: “Come to this social – you’ll have fun.” “Here’s a plate of cookies.” “Look at what the church can do for you.” However, many people actually have far deeper needs to give service than to receive service. This is particularly true among people whose life situation is comfortable and who themselves may not see a need to learn about the Church. Many people would spend far more time serving others than they presently do, if they had ready access to an infrastructure that facilitated giving service. When people are given an opportunity to feel the Spirit by serving the Lord, they often come to realize that something has been missing from their lives and want to learn more.
Have a class member read one or more of the following three accounts of how members involved others in service in the church. Explain that these stories were gathered in an ongoing project to write a history of the church in New England.
Alternatively, share a personal experience you have had with this principle or paraphrase the accounts for the class.
Account 1
I was serving as a home teacher to a widowed woman who needed an old refrigerator removed from her basement. I initially tried to call several members of the Elders Quorum, but as none were available, I asked my neighbor Don to help me. In the car driving to her home, I explained what home teaching was about, and told Don about the difficulty this sister had experienced. The fridge was old, heavy and smelly, and it was a hot, humid July evening. The basement staircase was windy and steep, and it took two hours of backbreaking work, taking the doors and handles off of everything, to get that awful fridge out of her basement. All the time I was thinking, ‘Boy, Don’s really going to resent this.’ When we finally finished, the sister thanked us with some cookies, and we started walking back to the car. Don put his hand on my shoulder and thanked me for asking him. ‘Do you do this sort of thing very often? If you ever need me to help with someone else, just call. I love doing this sort of thing.”
As we drove home, Don asked all sorts of questions about home teaching and about the church. I thought, as I dropped him off, that Don had learned far more about the Church of Jesus Christ that night than he ever could have in missionary discussions. His questions continued, and he eventually took the discussions in our home.
Account 2
Some years ago there was a family in the Cambridge I Ward, where the wife was a member of about 10 years, but the husband was not. He attended church quite often, but resisted any efforts to take the missionary discussions and be baptized. One day Bishop Bowen felt impressed to call Hank to serve in the Sunday School presidency. This was back when sacrament meeting was in the evening, and we had a 20-minute Sunday School opening exercise. Hank accepted the assignment, and soon was conducting our meetings, recommending people to serve as teachers, and working with them to be better teachers. He started coming every Sunday because he needed to be there. He began learning about the gospel. And although he had resisted baptism for years, he was baptized within three months of accepting this calling.
Account 3
I’ve served a number of years as Priests Quorum adviser. We decided with our boys that we would devote one activity night each month to exploring possible careers – asking men with jobs in various professions to show the boys what they did. We sustained this effort for a few months by tapping ward members, but soon had exhausted the supply of people in professions that interested the boys. So I then started asking my friends outside the church to help. The result was amazing. One was a scientist, who showed the boys how to operate an electron microscope. We examined the eye of a housefly. Another ran a welding shop. He helped the boys cut bars of steel with an acetylene torch, and then helped them weld it into a useful structure for one of his customers. Another was a policeman who took them through the process for arresting drivers suspected of being intoxicated…Without exception, these activities that my friends managed were of higher quality than ones led by our ward members – I think because they had never been asked to do this sort of thing before, and were complimented that they boys were interested in their professions.
What was most amazing was that of the 20 or so friends of other faiths whom I asked to help us with various Young Men’s activities, I was never once refused. And in every instance, my friends finished the project having learned a lot about of church. They learned about our mutual program. They saw the quality of young people that are raised in LDS families. And they felt great about themselves. They had helped someone else, and found that others were interested in them. What more could you want?
Allow class members to comment on or react to the stories and to the principle of inviting others to serve in the church as a way to introduce them to the gospel.
Generate a discussion on ways to implement this principle. Have class members turn to section 8 on service in the church in the “101 Ways…” handout and use the ideas listed there as starting points.
After this discussion, ask class members to think of someone they know, whom they would like to introduce to the Church, and ask the following rhetorical question:
How could you find a way for this friend to share an opportunity to serve with you in the church?
Challenge class members to involve non-member friends and acquaintances with them in church service as often as possible.
4. What should we say about the Church when someone asks?
In member missionary work we look forward to those golden moments when someone asks us to tell them about our church. However, between excitement about the opportunity and feeling pressure to give “just the right answer,” these situations can be somewhat overwhelming.
Ask class members the following question:
What advice would you offer to a beginning member missionary about how to respond when someone asks about the Church?
In the ensuing discussion, class members will make different points about how to best respond to a general question about the Church. Write the following points on the board, acknowledge if class members touched upon them, and explain that you would like to talk about these points in greater depth.
Follow the promptings of the Spirit
Gauge the situation
Gauge the listener
Understand what initially interests people in the Church
I. Follow the promptings of the Spirit
We have been promised that if we open our mouths to share the gospel, it will be filled (D&C 33:8). When we respond to questions or inquiries about the Church, we are essentially being given an opportunity to bear our testimony. When we speak of truth, the Spirit touches hearts and confirms that what we are saying is, in fact, true (D&C 50:14). Just as the Spirit guides and inspires us when we face important life decisions, the Spirit will enlighten your mind so that you can talk about the Church in a way that is effective and appropriate for the situation and listener.
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Principle 7: We must seek guidance from the Spirit in responding to questions about the Church. |
II. Gauge the situation
People ask us to tell them about our church in many different situations, some of which are more conducive to gospel conversations than others. We may be sitting on an airplane or bus, at a youth sporting event, walking in between classes, at a park with young children or on a break at work. We need to consider the constraints of the situation, such as frequent interruptions, distracting background noise, a limited time frame, etc. In less than ideal situations, we can share a brief, simple testimony with those who inquired and invite them to continue the conversation at a specified time later in a more suitable environment.
III. Gauge the listener
A good starting point in determining what to say when someone asks about the Church is with the listener him or herself. Begin by building on common ground. Is this person a mother? Talk about the Church’s focus on families or the Relief Society. Is this person a young man in college? Talk about our belief in the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the eternal perspective that the plan of salvation imparts. Is this person an elderly person? Talk about eternal families and family history. Is this person of a non-Christian religion? Talk about our reverence for our ancestors, our health practices or temples as appropriate. Even when people are interested in knowing what is different about us, starting on common ground creates a rapport that sets the stage for a positive discussion.
IV. Understand what initially interests people in the Church
In 1975 and again in 1993, the church did an extensive survey of new converts to determine what it was about the church that initially interested them. These were the results, in order of frequency of mention:
The feeling of closeness to God that they wanted to experience, because they could see this closeness in the lives of Mormons they knew.
Happiness and a sense of peace, which they wanted and which they saw in the lives of Mormons they knew.
They wanted a better sense of purposefulness and direction in their lives. They tended to see this in Mormons they knew.
Generate a brief discussion with the class about how these survey results relate to our question of what to say when someone asks about the Church.
Ultimately these survey results underline the importance of not only what we say about the Church, but how we personally exemplify the closeness with God and the sense of peace, happiness and direction that others seek.
Close this portion of the lesson by reiterating the importance of following the promptings of the Spirit when responding to a person’s inquiry about the Church.
5. Review of principles and conclusion
Briefly review principles 1-7 with class along with the related concerns that each principle addresses. You may use the chart “The Principles of Member Missionary Work” to guide the review.
Conclude the lesson by bearing testimony of the joy and responsibility of doing member missionary work. Strongly urge class members to apply the principles from these lessons in their efforts to share the gospel.