Excellent Articles to Improve our Missionary Efforts

I recently came across a couple of great articles with great ideas and encouragement for missionary work.

The first is a blog post from J. Max Wilson in 2009 with a simple idea that I'd love to see adopted by all members. When you give a talk in Sacrament Meeting - invite a friend to watch! This is an especially great idea for youth who are still learning how to give talks.

https://www.sixteensmallstones.org/a-simple-proposal-to-completely-revolutionize-the-lds-missionary-effort/

The sub-title of the second article is "Being authentic, loving, and humble is the most effective way to communicate - and live - the gospel." I could not agree more.

https://magazine.byu.edu/article/both-feet-forward/

I particularly liked the exchange that Brother Swofford describes about bringing up religion on a plane flight:

The most authentic way to enter a gospel discussion is to first seek to understand. I have experimented with the following approach when seated on a plane: “Good morning. I like those shoes.” The dialogue is now underway on a positive note.

Eventually it gets us to “Is this flight outbound or returning home for you?”

Inevitably they will ask me where home is, and I am lucky in that admitting I’m from Utah is like setting a timer on a predictable response. Three, two, one: “Are you Mormon?”

Now, I could launch into my memorized first discussion, but it is in Japanese, so instead I usually reply, “Yes. And you?” I then pay genuine attention to a lot of information about these new friends—their thoughts on faith, their struggles, and their current frame of mind. Then I am ready for the Spirit to direct the next move.

What a wonderful way to start a sincere discussion on religion! Members of the LDS Church (myself included) need to begin our religious conversations by first showing a sincere interest in what others believe. That not only avoids a natural tendency to keep religious discussions superficial, it also invites your new acquaintance to ask about your beliefs. If we made this a typical habit in our conversations, I guarantee it would result in both more people investigating the Church and a shift in public perceptions about Mormons being too insular.