I attended a ward in Oregon last weekend - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

SteelBlue · 04-15-2008, 07:16 PM

It is a decent sized ward, probably close to 250 in attendance that day. They called a new ward mission leader and then announced that they would be calling 26 new ward missionaries. The Bishop stood up and said that he wanted to get very serious about member missionary work and that the only way they would ever get it done the way it needs to be done was if the whole ward was involved.

They also called all the YM/YW as youth missionaries even issuing them youth missionary tags and companions. They received duties such as ushering and greeting visitors etc... They will be teaching with the missionaries and with the ward missionaries for the next month.

I'm very curious to see what kind of a difference, if any, such a radical move might make. Twenty six ward missionaries (the youth missionaries are not included in that number) will mean that nearly every family in the ward will now have at least one member with official ward missionary duties. The full time missionaries were beaming.

DrumNFeather · 04-15-2008, 07:18 PM

In my previous ward, the bishop divided the ward into fourths and called 25% of the ward to be ward missionaries for 4 months...then the next 25%...and he called entire families, kids and all.

It was an interesting strategy, because I think that you can get a person energized for missionary work for about 4 months, but beyond that, there seems to be a serious decline in interest.

SteelBlue · 04-15-2008, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrumNFeather

In my previous ward, the bishop divided the ward into fourths and called 25% of the ward to be ward missionaries for 4 months...then the next 25%...and he called entire families, kids and all.

It was an interesting strategy, because I think that you can get a person energized for missionary work for about 4 months, but beyond that, there seems to be a serious decline in interest.

I've never been in a ward where we had more than 6 ward missionaries at any one time.

Indy Coug · 04-15-2008, 07:37 PM

While not formally calling members as "ward missionaries", the missionaries in our branch are currently assessing the less-active members to find who are most easily reactivated and/or newer converts and getting the active members to become "surrogate families" to them.

The missionaries present a list of names and the active members decide for themselves who they think would be a good match for them to try to fellowship and reactivate.

This goes well beyond home teaching or visiting teaching and leverages the ability of the full-time missionaries to do a lot of the groundwork necessary to get the ball rolling.

The process involves (at least initially) having FHE together once a month, attending a lesson with the family that is taught by the missionaries and coming up with whatever additional approaches will help build friendships and strengthen the family.

Meanwhile, the full-time missionaries here are no longer proselyting non-members; they are 100% involved with reactivation and the integration of active, but newer converts.

This is the result of a new mission president coming in and trying to clean up the mess left behind by the previous mission president.

In less than a month, the dividends of this new program are already becoming evident.

MikeWaters · 04-15-2008, 07:43 PM

In my ward, if they called 20 ward missionaries, they would be 2nd, 3rd, and 4th callings for those individuals.

FMCoug · 04-15-2008, 07:43 PM

When the ward mission first came out (change from stake mission I mean) our Bishop decided to have a sacrmanet meeting on missionary work. To make a point, he had the counselor conducting the meeting call and sustain ward missionaries during ward business. He went alphabetically through the entire ward list until everyone was standing.

Pretty interesting ... not sure how orthodox though.

Sleeping in EQ · 04-15-2008, 07:44 PM

Is there accountability in place? If there isn't, there's nothing like big numbers to dull a sense of responsibility.

MikeWaters · 04-15-2008, 07:47 PM

I had 4 people that said they would come to gladys knight. None of them came.

If I can't get them to come for Knight, I'm not sure I can get them there for anything else. Well, maybe.

MikeWaters · 04-15-2008, 07:51 PM

another good story is my Mom's. She was a bang-up missionary supposedly. She was bringing a lot of members to church. But she thought the Sunday School teacher sucked. So she met with the Branch President and requested that he be released. The BP obliged. After that, she was even more successful.

I guess one point from that is that it does no good to invite people if your product isn't attractive..

SteelBlue · 04-15-2008, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ

Is there accountability in place? If there isn't, there's nothing like big numbers to dull a sense of responsibility.

That was my question. I have no way of knowing right nowas it isn't my ward. But I do know that bishop and I believe he's going to really try and make this meaningful. I agree that if it's just a calling in name only then nothing would change.

04-15-2008, 07:16 PM	#1
SteelBlue Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Norcal Posts: 5,821	I attended a ward in Oregon last weekend It is a decent sized ward, probably close to 250 in attendance that day. They called a new ward mission leader and then announced that they would be calling 26 new ward missionaries. The Bishop stood up and said that he wanted to get very serious about member missionary work and that the only way they would ever get it done the way it needs to be done was if the whole ward was involved. They also called all the YM/YW as youth missionaries even issuing them youth missionary tags and companions. They received duties such as ushering and greeting visitors etc... They will be teaching with the missionaries and with the ward missionaries for the next month. I'm very curious to see what kind of a difference, if any, such a radical move might make. Twenty six ward missionaries (the youth missionaries are not included in that number) will mean that nearly every family in the ward will now have at least one member with official ward missionary duties. The full time missionaries were beaming.

04-15-2008, 07:43 PM	#6
FMCoug Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Kaysville, UT Posts: 3,151	When the ward mission first came out (change from stake mission I mean) our Bishop decided to have a sacrmanet meeting on missionary work. To make a point, he had the counselor conducting the meeting call and sustain ward missionaries during ward business. He went alphabetically through the entire ward list until everyone was standing. Pretty interesting ... not sure how orthodox though. __________________ Still fat ...

04-15-2008, 07:44 PM	#7
Sleeping in EQ Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: The People's Republic of Monsanto Posts: 3,085	Is there accountability in place? If there isn't, there's nothing like big numbers to dull a sense of responsibility. __________________ "Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; " 1 Thess. 5:21 (NRSV) We all trust our own unorthodoxies.

04-15-2008, 07:18 PM	#2
DrumNFeather Active LDS Ute Fan Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Nantucket : ) Posts: 2,566	In my previous ward, the bishop divided the ward into fourths and called 25% of the ward to be ward missionaries for 4 months...then the next 25%...and he called entire families, kids and all. It was an interesting strategy, because I think that you can get a person energized for missionary work for about 4 months, but beyond that, there seems to be a serious decline in interest.

04-15-2008, 07:37 PM	#4
Indy Coug Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Between Iraq and a hard place Posts: 7,569	While not formally calling members as "ward missionaries", the missionaries in our branch are currently assessing the less-active members to find who are most easily reactivated and/or newer converts and getting the active members to become "surrogate families" to them. The missionaries present a list of names and the active members decide for themselves who they think would be a good match for them to try to fellowship and reactivate. This goes well beyond home teaching or visiting teaching and leverages the ability of the full-time missionaries to do a lot of the groundwork necessary to get the ball rolling. The process involves (at least initially) having FHE together once a month, attending a lesson with the family that is taught by the missionaries and coming up with whatever additional approaches will help build friendships and strengthen the family. Meanwhile, the full-time missionaries here are no longer proselyting non-members; they are 100% involved with reactivation and the integration of active, but newer converts. This is the result of a new mission president coming in and trying to clean up the mess left behind by the previous mission president. In less than a month, the dividends of this new program are already becoming evident.

04-15-2008, 07:43 PM	#5
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	In my ward, if they called 20 ward missionaries, they would be 2nd, 3rd, and 4th callings for those individuals.

04-15-2008, 07:47 PM	#8
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	I had 4 people that said they would come to gladys knight. None of them came. If I can't get them to come for Knight, I'm not sure I can get them there for anything else. Well, maybe.

04-15-2008, 07:51 PM	#9
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	another good story is my Mom's. She was a bang-up missionary supposedly. She was bringing a lot of members to church. But she thought the Sunday School teacher sucked. So she met with the Branch President and requested that he be released. The BP obliged. After that, she was even more successful. I guess one point from that is that it does no good to invite people if your product isn't attractive..