What aspects of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint’s student missionary experience can be transferred into evangelical training of student influencers?
It’s no secret that our LDS counterparts get results. Roughly 40% of their 18-22 year olds commit to 18-24 months of missionary service. Each Wednesday, 500 new missionaries show up at the Missionary Training Center on BYU’s Provo campus.(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week449/cover.html)
Where the secret may be is the longitudinal effects of this intensely demanding time of learning about their faith, its history, and how to convince others to follow their footsteps. While a few walk away from their mission disillusioned, many more return solidly committed to this man-made religion.
What is interesting to me is not the numbers of students they get to commit to going on the mission, which is astounding, but what they do with these students over the period of two years. These two years are highly strategic in the development of Mormon disciples. There must be some areas of research and study that would be transferable to evangelical efforts to develop student influencers. If the LDS can get students to commit to and complete such incredible actions for a lie, how much more could we do for the truth?
My interest in studying the Mormon mission has been sparked, then kindled, then cooled several times over the past few years. It all started as a college student in Chicago when I would regularly run into the same Mormon missionaries on the bus to work. I would strike up a conversation with the companion couple and chit-chat until one of us had to get off. Generally, I discovered intense students who caught between a desire to succeed in the mission and being lonely for home. It was clear to me that they were struggling with the faith they were trying to proselytize. Repeatedly, I challenged them to question their mission’s rules and contact their parents on my cell phone. Politely they would take my phone and stare at it as I tempted them with, “Doesn’t it seem odd that for your whole life, your faith has been tied to your family and now you aren’t allowed to talk to them?” “Why don’t you call your mom? I’m sure she’d like to know you are OK.”
This question has been re-sparked in me as I’ve learned more about student leadership techniques in the church [which largely seem to fail] as well as some recent films. An independent (non-Mormon) filmmaker, Nancy du Plessis, spent more than 2 years following 3 missionaries from training, to Munich, and through completion. Her film, Get the Fire! provides incredible insight into the nuts and bolts of the mission. Another film The Best Two Years, by Mormon film company Harvest Films provides even more insight into the leadership development elements of the mission experience.
Some angles for this research would be: What are the effects of literature distribution? Does repeated rejection and failure weaken or strengthen their faith in the message? Why are the students not directly supervised by adults but based in small groups with one student in charge of day-to-day activity? Does social pressure keep them on the mission field? Does a work-based salvation contribute to their desire to share their faith? Why is the mission two full years without interruption? What happens to students who leave the field early? Is this merely a rite of passage and not about discipleship? Does the mission make them more influential in their peer groups back home? Does the disillusionment stage make the missionary more productive? What role does accountability play? Does the hierarchical leadership motivate students to succeed?
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