The importance of Church activities for investigators

We make an effort to make sure that our newer members attend Church activities as often as possible. Being a member of the Church is more than just attending meetings on the Sabbath - the gospel and the Kingdom of God on Earth (the Church) becomes part of our daily lives. For new members, attending social activities outside of Sunday services/classes is an important part of integrating into Church culture and feeling part of the Ward/Stake family.

In a slightly different way, the same concepts apply to our non-member investigator friends. When they come to activities (like Ward parties, for example) they meet more Ward members (including Ward leaders) and can develop relationships with people they have already met.

In addition, they may be able to overcome any previous misconceptions that they've had about what Church members are like. When investigators only have contact with the missionaries outside of Church and then only see Church members when they're dressed up for Sunday meetings, they may wonder - Do members of our Church always dress up? Are women are expected to wear dresses all the time? Activities are a great way to show that we do wear jeans and we're generally pretty fun people!

Ward missionaries, Ward leaders, and other Ward members can encourage investigators to attend activities by #1- making sure they know about upcoming activities (when, where, etc) #2 offering a ride (if appropriate) #3- offering follow-up reminders (fliers or verbal reminders) in classes or personal phone calls.

July/August Newsletter Ideas

Last month I did a post on sending out a "New Member News" newsletter specifically for new converts and investigators preparing for baptism. Basically, I try to include any information they might need to know for the upcoming month or so. For example, in March and September I include information about the upcoming General Conferences (what is Conference, where/when you can view it, what to expect, etc).

For July/August newsletters, I recommend the following topics:

• Pioneers (brief history of the Pioneers - we have a lot lessons/talks/hymns about Pioneers during this time of year, so I try to explain why)
• Pioneer Day (why we celebrate it and info about any related Ward/Stake activities)
• Other Ward/Stake Activities (be sure to give all possible information about time, date, location, appropriate dress, anything they need to bring, etc)
• Gospel Essentials (Sunday School) Lesson Schedule
• Welcome to New Members &/or Info About Upcoming Baptisms
  
• Ward Missionary/Ward Mission Leader Contact Information
  

Even if you don't go with a formal newsletter format, it is great to make this type of information available to all of your new members.... by handout, Sunday School announcements, phone calls, etc. Most activities will be announced in one way or another at Church, but it doesn't hurt to give a little extra effort to make sure that our new members have all of the information they need.

Fellowshipping New Converts - 13 Easy Ideas That Any Member Can Use!

President Gordon B. Hinckley placed a heavy emphasis on convert retention for many years. He repeatedly taught that the involvement of ward members is vitally important to helping a converts remain active in the Church after baptism. Full-time missionaries come and go, but ward members (especially ward missionaries) are a constant that converts should be able to rely on for continuing encouragement, support, and friendship.

"I am hopeful that a great effort will go forward throughout the Church, throughout the world, to retain every convert who comes into the Church. This is serious business. There is no point in doing missionary work unless we hold on to the fruits of that effort. The two must be inseparable. You have people in your wards who can be friends to every convert. They can listen to them, guide them, answer their questions, and be there to help in all circumstances and in all conditions" (Gordon B. Hinckley, "Some Thoughts on Temples, Retention of Converts, and Missionar Service," Ensign, Nov 1997)

We know that we should be doing something to help our new converts remain active, but what exactly are we supposed to do?

Imagine learning that a long-time friend from your high school (who you haven't seen in many years) will soon be moving into your town. Think of the ways that you might offer to help and how you could help make your friend's family feel welcome. What would you do for your friend? Help them move into their new house? Bring them dinner or treats? Maybe you could show them around town - take them to the school their children will be attending, tell them which grocery stores are best, or help them find the nearest branch of the bank they will use? Would you be willing to introduce them to people in the neighborhood or maybe host a "welcome" BBQ for them? Even after the initial move-in, you would probably continue to check on them from time to time, to see how they were handling unpacking and offering additional help, if needed. None of these things would seem out of the ordinary for one friend to do for another.

The same principles can be applied when member missionaries help new converts make their transition into active membership in the ward. Similar to the scenario of having a high school friend move into the area, we can help the new member get "settled" in their Church "home" by showing kindness, helping them learn the ropes, and introducing them to other members in the ward. Like any friend, we simply want to help them "get settled."

Here are 13 examples of low-stress ways that any member can help a convert feel welcome in the "Ward Family":

• Attend convert baptisms and congratulate the new member(s)
  
• Offer a ride to a Church activity
  
• Ask them to help with planning a Church project or activity
  
• Make sure that they know about upcoming ward/stake meetings & activities
  
• Invite them over for dinner and/or Family Home Evening
  
• Make sure they understand a unique term/concept that comes up in announcements or during a class (like "Girls Camp" or "Food Storage")
  
• Learn the names of everyone in their family and greet them by name
  
• If they miss Church, give them a call to see if everything is okay
  
• Send them a birthday card
  
• Contact the ward missionaries or full-time missionaries and ask if you can come with them when they have a "new member discussion"
  
• Say hello to them at Church
  
• Sit with them in class or at an activity
  
• Take them a loaf of bread or cookies to say, "welcome to the ward"
  

Entertaining visiting children / Sacrament meeting

It is always a good thing when investigators to bring their children to Church. However, many kids aren't used to sitting quietly for that long, especially without entertainment! I've found that most parents who just beginning to attend Church are usually unprepared to keep them in their seat for over an hour.

We can help make attending Church a pleasant experience for new families, but one thing that is never pleasant is having half the ward staring at you because your children are racing each other up and down the aisles. I've been caught under-prepared for this situation a few times. I always wish that I could help in some way, but there is only so much doodling a child can do on the back of one Sacrament program, then things start to get ugly again!

There are small things that any of us can do to help in a situation like this by coming to Church armed with a few extra items that are low-cost and easy to obtain (you may already have some of these around the house). The following ideas probably won't work with every age group (like infants or pre-teens), but should definitely help keep the 2-10 age crowd occupied for a little while without distracting too much from the spirit of the meeting.

Bring one (or more) of the following:

• Coloring book (preferably gender-neutral, or a variety)
• Pad of plain paper
• Activity pages and/or coloring pages from the Friend magazine*
• Crayons or colored pencils
• Stickers

You don't need to haul in a ton of supplies in every week - I usually just keep a few coloring/activity pages and some crayons on hand in my bag or notebook. I also have an extra stash in my car (just in case it looks like I'm going to need it - I definitely won't have time to run home if a new investigator family shows up with five kids!). This is just a small thing, but it can make a big difference in making Sacrament meeting more peaceful for our investigator families.

*I prefer to use Church/gospel-related pages (like the one shown above) that support the purpose of Sacrament meeting (instead of something like a "Transformers" coloring book). You can print these pages at home for FREE from the Church website's Friend magazine printable "activity archive" section (click here to link to the page) or a non-official church site like ldscoloringpages.net - both have pages arranged by topic, so you can choose a variety of pictures and activities that you think would be appropriate. I usually choose general topics like "Service," "Family," or "Christ" instead of more in-depth subjects like "The Word of Wisdom" or "Joseph Smith receives the Priesthood" (which may be less familiar to a new family).

New Member News(letter)

OK, so its not really a formal "newsletter", but last year I started sending out the Sunday School lesson schedule once a month (or so) to our Ward's recent converts. I wanted to make sure that they knew which lesson we were on, in case they missed a Sunday or wanted to study the topic before class). If they had missed a Sunday and I had leftover handouts from class, I would include one of those handouts as well. Eventually, I also started adding information about upcoming activities and things like that. I wondered if people would think it was strange that I was sending them random things, so I started calling it the "New Member News". Its really just a one-page printout with information that might be useful to new members*, but I thought calling it a newsletter seemed less "random". I also added a list of the Ward Missionaries (names and phone numbers) in case they have any questions.

Finally, if I have any space left on the page (which I usually do), I try to include a quote from the Ensign, or a short article that explains a term of "Latter-day Saint Lingo". This month I included a little article about Family Home Evening - what it is, how to do it, resources to help, etc. I figure that while I'm at it, the more information I can provide, the better.

Like I said, my initial intent was just to provide information about Sunday School lessons, but now I feel like its a valuable tool that allows me to make another "contact" with each person/family outside of Church.

*In addition to new converts, I also sometimes send the newsletter to investigators as well, depending on the circumstances.

Encouraging Sunday School Attendance

As part of our callings, the Ward Missionaries in our Ward take turns teaching the Gospel Essentials Sunday School class. I always try to make sure that new members know that they need to attend the class for at least one year, and normally we have a pretty good attendance (we have 13+ new members and usually a handful of investigators). Lately (the last few months), I've noticed that quite a few people have gotten into the habit of coming to Sacrament meeting and then not staying for the rest of the meetings. I've been pondering how we can encourage people to stay for the 2nd two hours (especially Sunday School), and here are a few ideas I've come up with:

• Send out an upcoming lesson schedule (I put this in the monthly new member newsletter), just to keep it on their minds during the week
  
• Call on Saturdays and ask members (who should be attending the class) to give prayers or do some other sort of simple assignment
• Greet new members at the door (before Sacrament) and give them a "Today in Sunday School" handout

I'm trying the "Today in Sunday School" handout for the first time this Sunday - I've just made a little printed handout that says, "Today's lesson in Gospel Essentials Sunday School class is 'The Sacrament' - Here are some of the topics we will cover: What are the 2 main purposes of the Sacrament? Does it matter which hand you use to take the Sacrament? What steps should I take to prepare before taking the Sacrament? Do young children take the Sacrament?"

The thinking behind this is that the handout will #1- remind the person about the class (making it less convenient to feel casual about "skipping out" early) #2- provide some interesting questions that might peak their interest about the topic (like if a person had never considered the significance of using their right hand or whether or not young children should take the Sacrament, they might be more inclined to attend out of curiousity).

Hopefully these ideas will help! If you have any tips to share, please let us know!

Dividing our time - Pie Chart Planning

We had an excellent quarterly training meeting the other day and it got me thinking about how I balance my time in this calling. I know I spend a lot more time on it than many (including my husband), since I'm a stay-at-home mom and have more time for planning lessons and phone calls. It doesn't seem like much, but the little things add up. I was curious to see how my time is usually spent, to see if I should make adjustments. I made a (free) pie chart at Math Warehouse (click on the underlined words to be taken to the site) - it was really easy.

I figured out (approximately) how much time I spend on each aspect of Ward Missionary work (for example, since my husband has a strange work schedule, I usually only end up going to teach a discussion with the full-time missionaries only about once every other week, so I entered an average of 1/2 hour per week in that category).

Here's my break down:
Teaching New Member Discussions (2 hrs/wk)
Teaching with the F/T Missionaries (.5 hrs/wk)
Teaching/Preparing Gospel Essentials Class (2 hrs/wk)
Extra contact (calls, visits) with New Members / Less-Active / Investigators (2 hrs/wk)
Fellowshipping (activities outside of Church) (1 hr/wk)
Planning Meetings (1 hr/wk)

My husband's break down would look more like this:
Teaching New Member Discussions (1 hr/wk)
Teaching with the F/T Missionaries (.5 hr/wk)
Extra contact (calls, visits) with New Members/Less-Active / Investigators (1 hr/wk)
Fellowshipping (outside of Church) (2 hrs/wk)
Planning Meetings (1 hr/wk)

I think a pie chart could a helpful tool for a Ward Missionary (or in any calling) because it gives you a visual that shows where you are spending your time and how that relates to your goals.... If your goal is to focus on fellowshipping, but you spend 90% of your time in planning meetings, your might want to make an adjustment to your schedule!