Late last month leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a shift in missionary strategy. More specifically, the church will increasingly encourage missionaries to leverage social media rather than the traditional door-to-door approach. This change is significant for several reasons, including:
- the recent lowering of the minimum age for missionary work ( from 21 to 19 for women and from 19 to 18 for men),
- the old rules that limited missionaries to using the Internet once a week (only for communicating with friends and family back home or accessing official church sites), and
- the growing number of missionaries in the field.
So What?
Missionary religions have always sought to find ways to meet people where they are. In an earlier era, knocking on doors was an appropriate way to begin a conversation. In the early 21st century, the idea of a stranger knocking on the front door of home after home seeking to be invited in for an in-depth conversation strikes me as odd at best.
While we know that Mormon missionaries will increasingly trade in bicycles for tablets and smart phones, the exact details of this new missionary strategy are not yet available.
- Do you think this change in missionary strategy is wise? Explain.
- What are some examples of outreach, evangelism, or missionary tactics or strategies employed by leaders in your congregation that were designed for another era, and are not nearly as effective today?