The mission president seminars' which have run from 1961 until the present include instructions by the general authorities on how mission presidents are to handle the responsibility of baptizing new members. There are a few general members who feel that our message should not be vigorously proselyted but this is not what our church leaders have said the last thirty years on the subject to mission presidents. Mission presidents are taught to take the message to all and to baptize who ever desires it and is ready. The readiness part is the area that is hotly debated by some.
Here is what the brethren have said on the subject:
Your work will not be judged by how many baptisms you put on the records of the Church, but by how many converts you have—how many are still active after a few years. No one is thoroughly converted until he sees the power of God resting upon this church, until he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the present leadership of the Church is directed by the Lord. The new member must do his spiritual housekeeping and be prepared to receive the witness of the Spirit. After that he must work to keep his testimony alive, because it is as fragile as an orchid: it will die if he departs from gospel principles and activity in the Church.
You are being sent out to teach your missionaries to convert the world. Teach them the simple principles of the gospel. And what is the gospel? The answer is found in the scriptures:
“And this is my gospel—repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom” (D&C 39:6). (Harold B. Lee, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1973).
Your work will not be judged by how many baptisms you put on the records of the Church, but by how many converts you have—how many are still active after a few years. No one is thoroughly converted until he sees the power of God resting upon this church, until he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the present leadership of the Church is directed by the Lord. The new member must do his spiritual housekeeping and be prepared to receive the witness of the Spirit. After that he must work to keep his testimony alive, because it is as fragile as an orchid: it will die if he departs from gospel principles and activity in the Church.
You are being sent out to teach your missionaries to convert the world. Teach them the simple principles of the gospel. And what is the gospel? The answer is found in the scriptures: ‘And this is my gospel—repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom.’ (D&C 39:6.)" (Harold B. Lee, Mission Leaders Challenged, Ensign, [September 1973]: 90-91).
Evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of man and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is crucial; every generation is strategic. We may not be responsible for past generations, but we cannot escape full responsibility for this one, and we have our time and our generation and our missionaries and our great potential. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1974).
As a Church, we have not yet caught that vision. Members are not bringing several hundred thousand members into the Church each year. We have not yet met this challenge of a living prophet. We are still on some of these same plateaus. As far as convert baptisms are concerned, we have only been converting some 200,000 people a year for the last six years. What has President Kimball’s response been to our “low rate” of convert baptisms? I quote again, “We must have more converts. They must be well converted. No gimmicks to get baptisms. They must be real converts, and we emphasize that to you brethren, but we do want more converts. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1974.)
The great missionary goal for the Church has been set for us by the Lord. He said, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15). This goal should govern all our decisions and our plans. However, if we are to achieve this long-range goal, we must learn to set up and accomplish short-range goals that will move us along the way. If we do not consciously select our goals, we may be controlled by goals not of our own choosing--goals imposed by outside pressures (such as the expectations of others) or by our habits (such as procrastination) or by our desire for the approval of the world. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
We are called to labor in the fields. We are the Lord's agents. He has sent us forth to reap while the day lasts. He does not fail, nor does his word. If we do the things he expects of us, and which it is in our power to do, we shall reap the promised harvest. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps to More and Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Now, how many converts should we make each year? How many people should come into the Church?
In principle--we should baptize as many people as the Church can assimilate and fellowship without causing the wild olive branches which are grafted in to overpower the tame branches and thus cause the apostasy of the whole Church as was the case in the Meridian of time. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps to More and Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
What has been done up to this point is relatively slight compared to what must yet be. We have the promise that the Church is going to be upon all the face of the earth when the Lord comes. This has not yet come to pass. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps to More and Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
We are not getting the results that we ought to get. We are not getting the number of baptisms that in my judgment the Lord expects us to get. To a degree, at least, we are grinding our wheels without going forward. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps to More and Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
To preach repentance to the world, to say nothing but repentance unto this generation, is in fact an instruction to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified; it is an invitation to have faith in the Lord and to receive a remission of sins by baptism and the Holy Ghost. That is the only way that repentance operates. Repentance is not just reformation. It follows faith. It includes turning to the Lord and keeping his commandments so as to gain a remission of sins by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps to More and Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
President Kimball said yesterday: "As the number of missionaries’ increases and the baptisms decrease, it would suggest that something is basically wrong with our policy and our program."
Perhaps what is wrong is that we have not desired in faith with all our hearts to bring souls into the kingdom. Perhaps we have not made up our minds that we can and will bring people into the Church. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps to More and Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Baptizing is a matter of attitude, and desire, and feeling. We want converts, and we never say to a missionary, "Don't baptize unless." We always say: "You can baptize; there are choice, wonderful people out there; and here is how you do it." We give them an intelligent, affirmative approach; we instruct them in how to do it; and we motivate them. Then somehow or other the Lord does the rest and they get people into the Church. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps to More and Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
If you will ponder it in your mind, you will come up, in my judgment, with the conclusion that we could bring immeasurably more people into the Church than we are now doing. We could fellowship more than we are now fellowshipping; in practice this could be five or ten or twenty times as many as we are now baptizing. Perhaps in due course it should be 24 times or 100 times as many as at present. (Bruce R. McConkie, Mission Presidents' Seminar, 21 June 1975).
I want to talk to mission Presidents for a moment. Some years ago there grew an error in the method of proselyting, and thousands of people were baptized who were not converted. This raised the eyebrows of the Brethren in Salt Lake. We asked them, the mission Presidents at that time, not to do that anymore. We want people to have a testimony. We want them to understand something about the gospel. But when we showed concern about these numerous improper baptisms, the pendulum swung all the way across, and there were many of the mission Presidents that felt they shouldn't discuss the possibilities and the goals for the future. That's the trouble with pendulums; they nearly always swing all the way or the other direction.
We expect that every year there will be a great increase in the conversions and baptisms, and we hope you mission Presidents will take that into account. We do believe in goals. Why, we live by goals. When we are in athletics we always have a goal. When we go to school, we have the goal of graduation and degrees. Why, our total existence is a goal. You're going to eternal life. That's the greatest goal in the world. We are not against goals, but we don't want you mission Presidents to set up quotas for your missionaries. Inspire them to set up their own goals and to make them high enough to challenge their very best efforts. (Spencer W. Kimball, Buenos Aires Area Conference, 9 March 1975, p. 53).
Wilford Woodruff, later to become a President of the Church, went down from the Potteries and baptized a whole community numbering six hundred and more and about 60 ministers. He did not know it could not be done. He did not know that there was any limit. He did not know that two or three or four or five people, converts, was satisfactory. He only knew the word, "all." (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 11).
In greatly increasing our missionary force, there are two things that we must always remember. A missionary must be worthy to represent his Lord and Master, and he must be indoctrinated and inspired to teach the gospel to many people the right way, but never baptize people for records' sake or to glory in numbers. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 10).
Our full-time missionaries are having increasing success in all parts of the world in bringing souls into the waters of baptism. But their success could be multiplied many times if they had the enthusiastic cooperation of the members of the Church. It would seem most members of the Church have a built-in reluctance to share the gospel with their friends and neighbors. Many of us take pride in referring to the growth of the Church or the success of the worldwide missionary effort but have never fellowshipped an acquaintance or a neighbor. When returning mission Presidents” are asked, "How could you have had more conversions in you mission," We hear the same reply: "If only we could get the members to assist the missionaries by preparing their friends and neighbors to receive the elders."
Have we forgotten our obligation? Have we forgotten what the Lord said?
"Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor. Therefore, they are left without excuse." (D&C 88:81-82).
"I give unto you a commandment, that every man, both elder, priest, teacher, and also member, go to with his might....to prepare and accomplish the things which I have commanded.
"And let your preaching be the warning voice, every man to his neighbor." (D&C 38:40-41).
Your missionary sons and daughters are trained to teach the gospel, to teach in an orderly, inspired manner, which hopefully leads to baptism. To a missionary, every hour is precious and must be productive. Do you realize missionaries baptize about one person for every 1,000 homes they tract? These same missionaries will baptize 600 people for every 1,000 who are taught in the homes of members--600 times more converts when members participate with conviction. (David B. Haight, CR O'76, Ensign, [November 1976]: 20).
One day in Uruguay, I went to visit a ward up in the north. The mission president said to a young lady we met on the street, "Sister Maria, tell Brother Kimball how many people have come into the Church through you." She said, "Oh, I don't want to tell him. I haven't done very much. I've only brought thirty-two people into the Church." What if every woman and girl in the whole area were to bring in thirty people each?
We came into another settlement and there was an older woman. The mission president said, "Senora, tell Brother Kimball how many people you have brought into the Church." She said, "I haven't done very much. Eighty-two people are in the Church because I brought the missionaries to them." Is there any man or woman in this area who could not do something of that order?
You remember that it was the Lord who said, "They who have been warned must warn their neighbor" (see D&C 88:81). If you found the pearl of great price, would you just hold it in your pocket and not divide it with anyone? Far more than all the money or the jewels of the earth are the gospel of Jesus Christ, so we divide it with our neighbors and our friends and our relatives. Now, we all have relatives who are precious, wonderful people. May sometimes they think we are eccentric, but if we live righteously that they cannot help but respect us, that will make a lot of difference.
As to our relatives, we will not push or force them. We try to live our lives so that we will show them that we are extremely happy.
Now, we had about eight thousand people at the conference yesterday. Think of what six or eight thousand people could do if they exerted themselves to bring the gospel into other homes. (Spencer W. Kimball, Santiago Chile Area Conference, 1 March 1977, p. 33).
Let us all press on confidently in this work as we look forward to the glorious promises ahead. Through our faithfulness all that God has promised will be fulfilled! (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1980).
Through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Lord proclaimed to John and Peter Whitmer, "The thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people that you may bring souls unto me (D&C 15:6)." Your greatest desire, as newly called mission Presidents, should be to bring souls unto him, converted souls taught by excellent missionaries in your field of labor. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, 25 June 1986).
Let them know that it is a time of harvest in your mission and not a time of gleaning, and that if they are true and faithful, they will literally be instruments in the hands of the Lord in bringing souls unto Him. Remind them of the Apostle Paul's statement that in the conversion process some missionaries will plant, some will water, and some will baptize. Assure them that in your mission you are not concerned with who gets the credit for the baptisms because "God [gives] the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6). They need to know that all you are concerned about, as their mission president, is that they have a burning desire to bring souls unto Him. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
What would happen if we could actually understand that every member is a missionary and every missionary is a member? The concept in the minds of everyone is that the missionaries teach, and after they baptize converts, we, the members take over. [When this concept is followed, a wall has been built between members and missionaries that hinder the work.] This wall must be removed.
The way we retain converts and have real growth is to have no walls--to have stake missionaries and full-time missionaries working as one. The combination of stake and full-time missionaries bringing sheaves into the garner together is the picture we must have locked in our minds. After all, the temple is the great garner.
We prepare the converts for the great day when we can stand together with them in the kingdom of our Father and rejoice in their salvation. (M. Russell Ballard, [Mission Presidents’ Seminar], Church News, (30 June 1990): 4).
No mission will rise to its greatest potential unless the members and the missionaries work cooperatively together. Missionary problems almost vanish when every missionary is successful. (Thomas S. Monson, [Mission Presidents’ Seminar], Church News, (30 June 1990): 3).
No mission in the Church, in my view, will reach its exalted pinnacle of perfection without the help of members. Members are essential to our success—enlist their help.
What a beautiful declaration—those two words of missionary work, teach and baptize, that all whom we influence may be candidates for the kingdom of God and have their lives blessed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Thomas S. Monson, “New Mission Presidents Receive Instruction,” Ensign, [September 1992]: 74–75).
A great indicator of one’s personal conversion is the desire to share the gospel with others. For this reason, the Lord gave an obligation to every member of the Church to be a missionary. (Howard W. Hunter, “New Mission Presidents Receive Instruction,” Ensign, [September 1992]: 74–75).
Our challenge as missionaries is to declare the word of the Lord among all nations, kindred, tongues and people of the earth who are searching and hungering and yearning for the truth. "For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations who are . . . kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it". (Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
Missionary work is concerned with searching and winnowing and gleaning and teaching with love and kindness. Every missionary ought to come to realize that the world is full of beautiful, wonderful people.
Of course there are rascals. There are a lot of them around and they are meddlesome and nasty. But there are more of the good than the bad. Our mission is to find the good and make them better and teach the bad when we find them and make them good. (Gordon B. Hinckley, "Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
President Faust focused on the principles of conversion during his 21 June 1986 mission presidents' address. “Who should be baptized?” he asked, and then observed that while the answer might seem easy, it is not that simple. “It’s a great responsibility to bring someone into this Church … so that through baptism they may become a new person through repentance,” he said. He noted that some missionaries are so hungry for baptisms that they may urge people to be baptized before the people understand what they are baptized for. President Faust then talked about two “time-tested” principles of conversion: the powerful bearing of testimony and being guided by the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. (James E. Faust, “New Mission Presidents Instructed by Church Leaders,” Ensign, Sept. 1996, 78).
None of us should be like the fisherman who thinks he has been fishing all day when in reality he has spent most of his time getting to and from the water, eating lunch, and fussing with his equipment. Fishing success is related to how long you have your line in the water, not to how long you are away from the apartment. Some fishermen are away from home for twelve hours and have their line in the water for ten hours. Other fishermen are away from home for twelve hours and have their line in the water for only two hours. This last type may wonder why they do not have the same success as others.
The same principle applies to missionaries, whom the Master called “fishers of men.” A missionary’s line should drop into the fishing water the moment he or she leaves the apartment” (Dallin H. Oaks, New Mission Presidents Seminar, 20 June 2000).
If people are properly taught, they never will fall away: “And as sure as the Lord liveth [that is an oath], so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth [a second oath], as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away” (Alma 23:6; emphasis added).
Those who have been taught and who receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, the baptism of fire, will never fall away. They will be connected to the Almighty, who will guide them in their lives. (Boyd K. Packer, The Gift of the Holy Ghost: What Every Member Should Know,” Liahona [August 2006]:24; Mission Presidents’ Seminary, Provo, Utah, 24 June 2003).
The message you carry is a precious and wonderful message. There is no greater message in all the world than this of which you bear testimony. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents' Seminar, Church News, 3 July 1999).
Our message is so imperative, when you stop to think that the salvation, the eternal salvation of the world, rests upon the shoulders of this Church. When all is said and done, if the world is going to be saved, we have to do it. There is no escaping from that. No other people in the history of the world have received the kind of mandate that we have received. We are responsible for all who have lived upon the earth. That involves our family history and temple work. We are responsible for all who now live upon the earth, and that involves our missionary work. And we are going to be responsible for all who will yet live upon the earth. No one ever received a greater or more compelling mandate than we of this Church have received, and we'd better be getting at it. (Gordon B. Hinckley, New Mission Presidents' Seminar, Church News, 3 July 1999).
It is no wonder that mission presidents encourage their missionaries to teach to find new people to baptize when most general authorities encourage baptizing more people. That is the mandate the Lord gave that all would be given the chance to hear the gospel so they could be brought in to his fold which to us is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I also think it is interesting that none of the prophets have ever told mission presidents or missionaries to baptize unprepared people that is why we have mission plans like Preach My Gospel to better prepare converts.
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