Missionary (LDS Church)

Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the LDS Church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and community service. Mormon missionaries may serve on a full- or part-time basis depending on the assignment, and are organized geographically into missions. The mission assignment could be to any one of the 418 missions organized worldwide. The LDS Church is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, reporting that it had over 80,000 full-time missionaries worldwide in October 2013 (as well as over 22,000 part-time church-service missionaries at the end of 2012). Most full-time Mormon missionaries are single young men and women in their late teens and early twenties and older couples no longer with children in the home. Missionaries are often assigned to serve far from their homes, including in other countries. Many missionaries learn a new language at a missionary training center as part of their assignment. Missions typically last two years for males, 18 months for females, and 6 to 18 months for older couples. The LDS Church strongly encourages, but does not require, missionary service for young men. All Mormon missionaries serve voluntarily and do not receive a salary for their work; they typically finance missions themselves or with assistance from family or other church members. Many Latter-day Saints save money during their teenage years to cover their mission expenses. Throughout the history of the church, over one million missionaries have been sent on missions. Types of missionaries: Proselyting: The most visible and most common type of missionaries are typically those who proselyte door-to-door and ride bicycles for transportation. For many years, Mormon missionaries used structured lessons called "missionary discussions" (formally called "The Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel") to teach interested non-members and recent converts about the doctrines of the LDS Church and to commit them on the steps to take to become a member of the church. Missionaries were often instructed to adhere very closely to the six lessons, and they frequently quoted segments word-for-word (an especially helpful practice when learning a foreign language). The training materials also instructed missionaries to freely change the order of the lessons segments according to the needs and questions of the learners. The missionary discussions were replaced beginning in October 2004 by a guide called Preach My Gospel which places emphasis on "teaching by the Spirit". According to Mormons, "teaching by the Spirit" means seeking guidance from the Holy Ghost to teach; the idea is that the teachings will be catered to each person who is seeking the truth through divine guidance. According to Preach My Gospel, God knows each of His children and can guide His servants to say and teach what is best for each individual.:89–90 Despite the latitude given to missionaries, the guide still contains material which should be actively taught. Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel concisely describes all of the doctrine that the missionaries are to teach to those learning about the church. The missionaries are responsible for knowing the doctrine and continually preparing to teach it. They can choose the order that this material is taught to serve the needs of each individual. This is a change from the missionary discussions which were usually taught in order to each investigator. The book, now published in many languages, is meant to be used by the general church membership. This sets it apart from the previous missionary discussions, which were used primarily by full-time missionaries, members with church callings related to missionary work, and those preparing to serve missions. Online: According to The Huffington Post, the church now has online missionaries, who work at a Referral Center Mission in Provo, Utah. This missionaries use the "Chat with a Mormon" homepage to talk with potential converts. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that these missionaries are more successful than traditional proselytizers. Furthermore, The Huffington Post also reported that it is now permissible for missionaries to use SMS, blogs and even Facebook.