Christmas Cards = Gospel Sharing

Merry Christmas everyone! We came up with an idea to encourage our ward members to keep sharing the gospel this Christmas season. I am in contact with many of our ward members on facebook and through an email group, so I sent this email (below) out last week. It outlines our plan for using Joy to the World "Pass-Along Cards" in Christmas cards being sent to non-member friends or relatives:

"Ward members- This Christmas season, we have come up with an idea for inviting friends and relatives to learn more about our beliefs in a very easy way. Most of you are probably familiar with the Church’s “pass along cards” (small index-size cards with a picture on one side and Church info on the other side)...


Our idea is to offer the “Joy to the World” theme pass-along cards to any ward members who would like to include them in Christmas cards they will be sending to non-members (either local or in other areas). The card would easily fit inside any Christmas card. It has a picture of Mary and baby Jesus on the front, with the words, “Joy to the World”. On the back of the card, it says, “Bring the spirit of Christmas into your home with the story of the Saviour’s birth and His life, featuring music by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir” (there is a picture of the FREE “Joy to the World” DVD that is being offered, and the 800 number to call).


Please note, when people call for the DVD they are asked if they would like to learn more about the gospel, but meeting with the full-time missionaries is not required and they are trained to be very polite.

Including a “pass-along” card in with a Christmas card is a simple, easy way to offer a church-related gift and a non-aggressive opportunity for them to learn about our beliefs if they wish. You never know - there may be people on your Christmas card list who may jump at the chance for a free DVD and may be very interested in learning more about our beliefs!

I have ordered 200 “Joy to the World” pass-along cards and they will be available soon for anyone who would like to include them in some of their Christmas cards. We are providing the pass-along cards to our ward members at no charge. If you have any questions or are interested in having some of these pass-along cards to send out, please let me know (and how many you would like).

PS- The free “Joy to the World” DVDs are meant as a missionary tool for non-members, so church members are asked not to call for free DVDs. The “Joy to the World” DVD is available to purchase for $1.50 from Church Distribution if you would like to buy a copy of the movie for yourself"


Many Christmas cards that would be sent by our ward members would probably be to members in other areas/missions, but thats okay. Sharing the gospel is always a good thing, even if we don't directly see the results in our own ward. Also, even being presented with this idea gets ward members thinking - who are their non-member friends and relatives and would they be receptive to something like this?


To order pass-along cards, go to the online store at www.lds.org. They are $2.00 for a pack of 100 cards (there is no charge for shipping). Please note, it may be too late for you to order 'pass-along cards', as many people are sending out their cards in early December. Another option would be to check with your Bishopric to see if your ward has a stockpile of pass-along cards somewhere that you could have. Or, your ward's full-time missionaries might have some of these cards as well. If you do order pass-along cards and they arrive late in the month, you can always encourage members to give them to people personally (or include them in gift-baskets, etc).

I personally prefer the Joy to the World cards to the other pass-along cards that are available (because they are Christmas-themed), but you could probably use any variety of pass-along card if the Joy to the World cards aren't available to you.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Teaching ward members to be member missionaries

As outlined in the new handbook, one of the responsibilities of ward missionaries is to teach the members of the ward to do member missionary work. One way we do this is by example, but I've been feeling lately that example isn't enough. We need to teach and encourage them as well. We've been talking about how specifically to do that, and we've mostly come up with a lot of things we don't want to do or aren't able to do at this time.

Our full-time missionaries need people to teach, and all of our ward convert baptisms over the past 2 years have been the result of tracting or baptisms from part-member families. NO regular member referrals. We need to work on that, and I'm sure most wards have similar needs.

The handbook mentions visiting the home of members to encourage them, so I've been thinking a lot about how we can do that and what we would say when we got there.

Here is what I came up with last night. I haven't had our ward mission leader (my husband, currently at work) approve this yet, but this was the idea I had and some of you might find it helpful, even if we don't end up using it.

I want to add that many people find it useful to use the 'set a date' program, and that is definitely something that has been popular and used frequently for many years. I personally prefer to avoid that program, or at the very least using the term "set a date program" because I feel that when people hear that phrase they instantly start thinking up excuses why they can't or won't "set a date" to have someone prepared to be baptized. Personally, as soon as I hear the words "set a..." coming out of someone's mouth, I immediately think, "Oh no, here we go again". I realize that this is probably not the best attitude to have, but I have heard it so many times and I personally have never seen anything come of it over the years, as a member or a full-time missionary. I have always found being naturally gospel-sharing to be more effective than a program. Programs like this always seem to be forced and number-focused, and that feels very unnatural to me. That said, if I am asked by a leader to "set a date,:" I do, but it is definitely not my preferred method and it isn't what I prefer to teach others to do, if I have my choice. That is my personal opinion.
But I digress...

I would like to visit the homes of 10 ward members (prayerfully selected) before the end of the month and challenge them to do at least 1 minute of member missionary work during the following month. I've created a handout that explains what we are asking, and lists 5 simple ideas for things that they can do to help with new convert retention and missionary work. I've purposely selected 5 things that require very little time or effort and are fairly "non-scary" to most (some are 'easier' than others). I've also included the approximate time-commitment required, sort of tongue-in-cheek because people always say they "don't have time" to do missionary work. Here is the handout:

If every member of our ward spends just

1 minute on missionary work this month, it will go a long way toward helping

new converts stay active and finding new people for the full-time missionaries to teach!

Will YOU commit to help? Here are some great ideas of simple (& non-scary)

things you can do that require no more than

1 extra minute of your time...

__ As you do your visiting teaching/home teaching visits this month, make a special effort to befriend any less-active or new-convert members on your route. Extra time commitment required: 0 (you're already going to visit teach/home teach anyhow!)

__ Introduce yourself to at least one new visitor, investigator, or new convert at church (or at an activity) every week. Bonus awesomeness points for sitting with them! Extra time commitment required: 1 minute per week

__ Invite a new convert (and their family, if applicable) over for a family dinner or family home evening this month. Extra time commitment required: less than 1 minute to invite (you're already having dinner or FHE anyhow!)

__ Invite a non-member (friend or relative) to the next church activity that they would be interested in. Extra time commitment required: less than 1 minute to invite (you're already going to the activity anyhow!)

__ Invite a non-member (friend or relative) to your home for a special family home evening with the full-time missionaries. Explain that as part of your family night, the Elders will be teaching everyone a short gospel lesson (please give the full-time missionaries plenty of notice so that they can prepare and arrange their schedule). Extra time commitment required: less than 1 minute to invite (you're already having FHE anyhow!)

If you can commit to doing at least one of these simple actions this month, post this sheet where you will see it as a reminder!

If you need contact info for a new convert, or if we can help you in any way,

please give us a call-

(insert names and phone numbers of ward mission leader and/or ward-missionaries here)

You may have noticed that I didn't ask people to give away a Book of Mormon or a pass-along card, engage in a gospel conversation, invite a friend to Church, etc. These are the usual things that we would normally ask ward members to do, but they are also much more intimidating. I wanted to start by asking people to commit to do things that they would actually feel comfortable doing, and therefore more likely to actually DO. Once they start having their own positive missionary experiences, they will be more likely to want to do more in the future. You have to start somewhere!

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.

Invitation Sunday Pass-Along Cards

Our Ward Mission Leader and the full-time missionaries asked me to help prepare 200 invitations to pass out this Sunday, in preparation for our "Invitation Sunday" next week.

Their idea is to print information on a larger sized (1" x 2 5/8") address label, then stick it to the blank area on the back of pass-along cards. The missionaries brought over 200 pass-along cards last night and I picked up a pack of 300 white stick-on address labels for about $4.50 at Walmart.

I printed this text on each label:

Please join us for Church services this
Sunday, featuring a special presentation
about the importance of families
Sunday, September 27th, 1:00pm
(I also included the address of our chapel here)

They turned out really nice. We're going to be handing them out after Sacrament meeting and in auxillaries this Sunday.

I think its helpful to have something to give when you're inviting someone...it really makes it seem less awkward...

If you fail to plan...

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail"

That was a motto that the AP's and Zone leaders used a lot during my mission. It got a little redundant after a while, but the concept is very true and I still think of it often.

This is the first in a series of posts that will be adapted from an article called, "Planning to Belong" by Tana Johnson, Ensign, October 1994. This article is geared toward members who have moved to a new ward, but I think a lot of the same principles can apply to member missionary work.

This first idea relates to getting out there and meeting new people in the neighborhood, community, workplace, school/classes, etc.

Idea #1- Planning in advance to meet people and setting goals
Do "some advance preparation. Before (introducing yourself to)...neighbors, co-workers, (etc), think of two or three questions to ask or several topics of general interest to discuss. Have a short, interesting self-introduction in mind so that...you can give more than just your name. Advance preparation helps us overcome stage fright by making us feel more confident and at ease—and this helps others feel the same way.

Set some specific goals, such as introducing yourself to two or three new people a week or sitting in the (front row) rather than on the back row. (Family) home evening could be devoted to learning ways to get acquainted. Role playing specific situations helps both children and parents overcome their fears of meeting new people"

Garden gifts

Just a suggestion for those who have vegetable gardens (you do have a garden, right? LOL):

Sharing a bumper crop of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, etc is a great way to serve your neighbors! When I run down my mental list of people who I can pawn yellow squash onto, I think of my friends and family first, even though they may live across town. Surely there must be people in the neighborhood who would appreciate some extra green peppers! An especially good thing about sharing homegrown produce is that it doesn't require a reciprocal gift or a thank you card (its not like you're taking them something expensive/fancy so they'll feel like they have to get you something, too). Its just sharing.

If you don't garden, or if you haven't produced anything worthy of sharing this year, you might find opportunities to share in other ways (like when your aunt gives you 17 giant squash, or you pick 3 buckets of blackberries behind the elementary school)

Missionary Sunday

Our Stake is having a "missionary Sunday" in about a month, the theme is "Families can be Together Forever"

This is a special Sunday that is designated especially for inviting friends/relatives to attend church. The talks, etc, will be geared towards beginners, so it will be the perfect opportunity for inviting people to attend.

I'm working on my in-person invitations, but I've also been thinking how to invite our non-responsive home/visiting teaching families (the ones who don't answer the door or return calls). Since its a special presentation, it seems a little less awkward to tell people about it, since it's more likely to come across as "We'd love to have you come to a special presentation" and less likely to come across as "How come you don't ever come to church?"

I put together a little handout that I'm sending out to our non-responsive home/visiting teaching families, and I think I will make copies available for people at church if there isn't something like it already planned. I scanned a copy of the handout I've made (above) to give you can idea of what it looks like, but the address was cut off, so if you decide to make something similar, be sure to include the Church name & address!

Home / Visiting Teaching Newsletter

My husband and I both have several families on our routes that don't allow visits (and/or just don't ever return calls or answer the door). I send my visiting teaching sisters (who don't want visits) a simple little newsletter that I make up every month with a message, upcoming activities, etc. I feel like a photocopy of the lesson from the Ensign isn't enough. I want them to feel included and know that I genuinely care.

Trying to be helpful, I offered to print out the monthly First Presidency lesson and mail it to the people on my husband's route who don't have visits. I didn't have any way to know whether or not the recipients would read them or throw them in the trash, but I started thinking- what if they do read them? What else would we say to them if we could? What might I include that could spark interest, so that they might actually read subsequent letters? So, patterning after my visiting teaching newsletter, I started making a home teaching newsletter. John and I discuss what to put in it (always including an appropriate portion of the home teaching message as part of the newsletter, instead of just printing off the whole thing) and I do the leg-work.

My number one rule is to always be positive. I try not to include anything unnecessarily condemning-sounding (no out-right calls to repentance, or anything like that). I try to be sensitive, thinking about how a long-time less-active/inactive member or a non-member spouse might react to what I have sent. I don't want to water-down doctrine, but at the same time, outright offending someone by mail isn't going to benefit anyone. I also try to include things that might be interesting to the particular person/family. Since there are different family/individual circumstances and ages in the different families that we serve, there are sometimes several different versions of the newsletter every month. For example, for an older couple I might include information about genealogy, but for a young family I might include information about an upcoming Primary activity.

This month's newsletter included a portion of the First Presidency message from the Ensign, a summary of an article (found on providentliving.org) about improving family finances, list of upcoming ward/stake activities, information about church (meeting times, location, etc), and information about using the family history library (hours, location, general info, mentioned that its free, etc) and using online resources for family history. I try to have a balance of spiritual message and other items that might be helpful to any person/family.

There is also always a note at the end from my husband, which always says something to the effect that he is their home teacher (in case they're wondering why they're getting this newsletter all of a sudden) and that he looks forward to getting to know them, etc. and also includes his phone number.

Casually "putting yourself out there"

I believe that sharing the gospel should be natural. As natural as talking about your kids and as normal as recommending a good movie. I think the fear of coming across as pushy zealot is what prevents many members from saying anything to their friends. Nobody wants to be a target, and if you've ever been on the wrong end of a pyramid scheme pitch you know how uncomfortable it can be to try to get out of that kind of situation. We don't want to be the ones putting our friends and family in an awkward situation. Will they think of us differently afterward? Will we be able to look them in the eye again if they aren't interested? The very thought is unpleasant. How can we bring up the gospel in a natural way?

If the gospel is part of your everyday life, you will naturally talk about it. We have a relative who has repeatedly complained to other relatives that we "talk about church stuff too much". Knowing this, we have tried not to mention anything even remotely related to doctrine or beliefs in front of this person, since it seems to make him uncomfortable and we go out of our way to respect that. Even so, its almost impossible not to say things like, "Oh, thats our friend Pete, from church" or "We're going camping with our Ward this weekend". To our shock, the complaints continued, even after we were making a conscious effort not to say anything our beliefs. We stopped feeling guilty about it when we realized that completely cutting out all references to the church would be pretty much impossible and an unrealistic thing to expect. We wouldn't ask this relative to stop talking about sports or his job, because those things are part of his life. Pretending that we don't go to church, have friends at church, and attend church activities is ridiculous. The church is part of our lives, a big part. So, while we're still careful not to discuss doctrine in front of this person, out of courtesy, we're not ashamed to talk about our lives and the church that is such a big part of it. Thats just who we are.

I think its possible to put yourself out there without being obnoxious. Here are a few absolutely painless, casual ways to make yourself available for questions (and maybe even put yourself in a position to talk about gospel topics in a non-threatening way, if appropriate). Anyone can do these things, and none of these ideas will make you come across as a pushy fanatic!:

• When you send Christmas cards and/or family newsletters, include an appropriate quote from a General Authority or a scripture)
• Put a picture of the temple up in your home
• Keep a copy of the Book of Mormon somewhere where friends can see it
• Read the Book of Mormon in public places (on lunch break, on the bus, at the doctor's office)
• Include the Church's website addresses (www.mormon.org or www.lds.org) on your facebook page or as part of your email signature (put something like, "Interested in learning about what Mormons believe?," then list the address or a link)
• Wear your CTR ring or other church-themed items/clothing (BYU t-shirt, YW necklace, etc)
• When someone asks what you did last weekend, mention that you went to church!
• Give applicable Book of Mormon names to pets and animals (often starts a gospel conversation - people want to know where you came up with a name like Abish or The Brother of Jared!)

Have we met? PAIN FREE introductions

We moved quite a bit when I was young, so I went to a lot of different schools. To make things worse, I was painfully shy. If you've ever been new in a ward, you know a little about that awkward, unsure feeling. Even if you've been a long-time member, there's always the unknown when you're new. Maybe you're not sure where the Gospel Doctrine class meets, or what the Relief Society President's name is, or what day the Cub Scouts meet... Its unpleasant at first, but you usually pick up the details of your new ward in a short time.

Imagine, if you will, how much more awkward being "the new kid" would be as a non-member visitor, returning less-active member, or new member in your ward. If you're lucky, you're in the kind of ward where people are falling over themselves to meet newcomers and want to become lifelong friends with everyone. Unfortunately, that just isn't happening in most wards. I really don't think its ever intentional. Some people are reserved/shy. Many are so preoccupied that they don't even realize that there is a new person at church. Worst of all, many members assume that "someone else" is taking care of it. (Oh, that unreliable "someone else"...they never seem to follow through!)

I've been in a lot of wards. I've been in wards where nobody seemed to care that our family was there. It probably wasn't true, everyone probably assumed that "someone else" was greeting us, showing us around, and befriending us. One particularly large ward we briefly attended had just been created from combining two smaller wards, so most people didn't even realize that we were new to the area. Half of the ward were strangers to the other half anyhow. Everyone seemed to have friends already (from their prior ward) and for us it was an extremely lonely 9 months (and we are active members!). I remember that I burst into tears when our home teachers called us for the first time, asking for appointment to visit us. They called the week we were moving away. We could have really used some friends during the previous 9 months, but by then it was too little, too late.

So let's all resolve right now to never let that happen to another one of our brothers or sisters. Everyone should feel welcome, ESPECIALLY newcomers, who probably feel especially conspicuous and vulnerable. If you see someone you don't know, they're probably new. There is always a possibility that they aren't new, which could potentially be embarrassing. And we want to avoid embarrassing.
Imagine this scenario:
"Hi, are you new?"
"NO. I've been in the ward for 5 years. I think you're my home teacher"
Yikes. Awkward.

Well, I try to avoid awkwardness and embarrassment in general, so here is my approach to this situation. When I see someone I don't know (sitting near me in class or in the chapel, standing out in the lobby before church, sitting alone at an activity), I say something like, "Hi, I don't think we've met. My name is....." Thats step 1. After that, without fail, they always introduce themselves to me. Usually they just tell me their name and don't really offer any additional information. So I move on to step 2. I ask, "Are you a member of the ward?" which I quickly follow with "I'm fairly new in the ward, so I don't know everyone yet". This keeps things from getting awkward in pretty much every situation. If the person is new, they may be relieved to hear that you don't know everyone either. If the person is a long-time member of the ward, they won't feel embarrassed that you don't know them because you're "fairly new". If the person is less-active, they usually are quick to say so.

I used this approach a few months ago when I saw a young mother (who I'd never seen before) trying to keep her child occupied in the hallway during Sacrament meeting. When I had introduced myself and mentioned that I was new, she said, "Well, we haven't been very active lately". Its hard to know what to say to that, so I tried to change the subject slightly. In my most cheerful voice, I said something like, "I haven't been to church very much lately either because I was on bed-rest with my pregnancy. How old is your baby?".

Now, I AM "fairly new" (less than 1 year) in my current ward, so that "excuse" works fine for me right now. There are probably dozens of other reasons you could use. "I have a calling in Young Womens, so I don't know all of the adults", "We've been doing a lot of traveling, so there are a lot of new people I don't know", "I'm usually away visiting other wards for Stake Primary, so I don't get a chance to meet many people in our ward", you get the idea!

If it helps you, you can also play out several of these "Have we met?" scenarios in your head to get practice. You don't need to memorize anything, just get the general idea.

So there you have it, a painless approach to introducing yourself to a stranger in any church-related setting. I don't mean these "lines" and "excuses" as trickery at all, so please don't take it that way. I've read several books about communication and presenting yourself in a positive way. To me, these are methods aren't meant to deceive anyone, but rather to help me to be more outgoing without worrying so much about being embarrassed by saying the "wrong" thing. Its a stepping stone to help you start a conversation.

Even the simplest conversation can make the difference between a good first day in a new ward and a bad one. Don't wait for "someone else" to do it!

Who should you approach FIRST?

Every once in a while, missionary work comes up in a Sacrament meeting talk or a Sunday School lesson. Now if you're like me, the first thing you think is, "Well, I would help, but I can't think of anyone to talk to" Now, for me, that is usually true. We've moved pretty frequently, I don't work outside the home, I have a newborn baby, I homeschool, and I've never had the greatest luck in moving next to amiable neighbors. So, aside from relatives, do I know anyone in the area outside the church? Not really. Its not that I'm trying to be exclusive, its just that I'm kind of a home-body at this stage in my life.

Even if you do work outside the home, or volunteer, its not always appropriate to directly speak to people in those situations about our beliefs. Or maybe you feel uncomfortable doing so. Or maybe you've already tried and didn't receive what you'd consider a warm response! According to the Church Handbook of Instructions, one of the responsibilities of a ward missionary is finding people to teach. Seriously- don't panic! It will be okay - I've got a very, VERY EASY idea for you...

Are a visiting teacher or home teacher? I'm guessing you probably are. (If you aren't, call your RS President or EQ President RIGHT NOW and tell them that you want to be! There are never enough visiting/home teachers to go around and there are so many families that could really use a visit!). If you have a visiting/home teaching route, you're most likely assigned at least one less-active or part-member family. Am I right?

Did you know that the full-time missionaries often contact less-active members and part-member families? These members are some of the best resources for finding people to teach. Why do you suppose that is? These families are almost always a source of new investigators because they usually have non-member family members who are already somewhat familiar with the church and probably know other members. Because of their previous contact with the church, they are much more likely to be receptive to learning more or taking the next step (attending church, baptism, receiving the priesthood, temple ordinances, etc)

This same concept can work in a similar way for ward missionaries. I typically have had 2 or 3 sisters on my visiting teaching route that are less-active. For me, contacting these sisters is less intimidating than approaching a non-member neighbor or co-worker, since I know that they already have a history with the church. Their involvement may range from "hasn't been to church in 40 years because she was offended" to "wants to come to church but needs ride." At least I know (I tell myself as I'm dialing the number of a sister I don't know) they haven't requested that their name be removed from the church records, so thats a "positive"! Don't be scared to contact these less-active sisters / families. Everyone needs a friend in the church and you may be the only one who's ever been willing to reach out and try.

Everyone needs a friend. Being a friend is a really big part of missionary work. When we have something incredible in our lives, we naturally want to share that with others. Christ is the ultimate example of friendship. He is an unconditional friend to us and He invites us to follow Him. Lets follow His example - Contacting your visiting / home teaching families is a great (and easy!) way to start!