The Lord has promised great blessings to those who faithfully engage in missionary service. This document examines the remarkable number of promises the Lord has made in the Doctrine and Covenants: He has promised forgiveness of sins, personal health, protection for families, and the presence of His spirit, to name just a few!

When we compartmentalize our church responsibilities, we naturally think in terms of tradeoffs: we may think, for example, that to be better at hometeaching, we have less time for geneaology, or to work harder as a teacher, we have less time to spend with our family. The remarkable promises made by the Lord to those who share the gospel, however, do not convey a sense of tradeoffs. If ward and stake leaders will focus on leading their members to share the gospel, many of the other problems that fester in our hearts and homes, and in our wards and stakes, will resolve themselves through blessings that come from accepting the call that God has given each of us to be missionaries.

Seven Lessons challenges some of our assumptions about how sharing the gospel ought to work. This piece discusses how we can share the gospel with everyone, why people need to be needed, the importance of deadlines, and the blessings that result from missionary service.

How can the gospel message resonate with people who are prosperous, happy, and comfortable with their current beliefs? Moving forward as missionaries into the headwinds of prosperity requires a fundamental change in our approach to the work. 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. What many people in comfortable circumstances do need, however, is to help 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.

This case study examines, in a frank way, some of the ways we can fail in our efforts to be member missionaries if our efforts are insincere.

Teaching notes for the Quinn case study. Highlights key principles in the case study, and suggests a teaching outline suitable for a sunday school class, zone conference, or district study.

When a new ward mission leader is called, he is often able to inspire the ward to assemble a reasonable ward mission plan and to start sharing the gospel. If, as is common, success does not come easily, members can become discouraged and the work can stagnate. This case study examines this, and shows an example of how one ward mission leader began again to move the work forward.

Member missionary work is different than full-time missionary work, and requires that we learn a new set of skills. The key to success is patience, humility, and a willingness to simply engage: to keep trying, to keep learning, and to keep progressing in order to develop both deeper love and greater skill.

A true story illustrating the importance of persistence, hard work, and faith when setting a date. As we demonstrate our willingness to invite others to hear the gospel, the Lord is able to trust us and will put people in our path who need to hear the message.

Ideas about how to share the gospel with others: ways to use the Book of Mormon, the Internet, the full-time missionaries, church activities, church media, etc.

Also available in Spanish.

A two-page handout with more ideas for sharing the gospel, principles for sharing the gospel, and ideas for how to invite others in a sincere and non-threatening way.

Nearly 650 young- to mid-single adults from across the east coast came together for a biennial education conference held in Boston, Massachusetts. After learning about how innovation works within organizations, principles for good member missionary work and innovative missionary ideas, participants were assigned into small groups and commissioned to generate fresh ideas to improve missionary work Church-wide, as well as on a ward level and a personal level. Each group put its plan into a presentation form for an ideas-fair competition and the best ideas were collected and are listed here.

This is a set of lesson plans which summarizes many of the principles found in Seven Lessons and the Quinn Case Study.

• Week 1 discusses the joy of sharing the gospel, why missionary work is sometimes daunting, and the definition of success in missionary work.
• Week 2 discusses the importance of being honest in our relationships before and after making invitations, and how we can sincerely invite all to come unto Christ, regardless of how well we know them.
• Week 3 discusses ideas for getting started and the importance of setting a date.

We also have one-page class handouts available for week 1, week 2, and week 3.

Also available in Spanish as Ense��ando los Principios de la Obra Misional de los Miembros. (Leccion 1, leccion 2, leccion 3). An older translation is also available.

Another three-week Sunday School course on sharing the gospel. These lessons present some specific ideas and techniques for sharing the gospel (but we encourage students and instructors to always focus first on the principles of good member missionary work, as taught [for example] in the previous set of lessons above).

• Week 1 discusses pitfalls for sharing the gospel, the Lord's way of doing missionary work, and how to engage in gospel conversations.
• Week 2 discusses making covenants with the Lord to share the gospel, and how to answer questions about the gospel.
• Week 3 reviews conversations and answering questions, and discusses how to invite and bear testimony.