Missionaries Urging Resignation?

[nate]

Got this recently from a missionary. Won't he get in trouble for this?

I'm really glad that I'm serving with (companion), because the first night that I met him, one of the things he said, without me ever bringing it up, is that he wants to work on trying to help reactivate members who've gone a different way. He's been very frustrated at seeing so many less-actives, and nobody doing their home teaching, or fellowshipping, or anything of the like.

So, right now the plan of action for my area is lots of tracting, and lots of visiting less-active members, to see if we can at least find out why they've stopped coming. If they still believe in the gospel, but they've got issues they need to work out, we can help them with that. If they no longer believe, and don't want to work with us, and don't want to be a part of the church anymore, we are asking them to request for their names to be removed from the church records.

Nate

[helemon]

Got this recently from a missionary. Won't he get in trouble for this?

Is this his own idea to ask them to have their names removed or from higher ups? I say more power to him! The more missionaries and members start honestly inquiring about why people are leaving the church the more they will realize that this is not just about a desire to sin.

[nate]

Is this his own idea to ask them to have their names removed or from higher ups? I say more power to him! The more missionaries and members start honestly inquiring about why people are leaving the church the more they will realize that this is not just about a desire to sin.

It is his own idea. He has previously expressed dismay that the zone leaders and mission president only want to see numbers, and want little to no focus on "less-actives", because that is "the responsibility of the ward".

[helemon]

It is his own idea. He has previously expressed dismay that the zone leaders and mission president only want to see numbers, and want little to no focus on "less-actives", because that is "the responsibility of the ward".

Ah, but the less actives often have unbaptized children over the age of 8! I agree that it really isn't the job of the missionaries to bring the inactive members to task and to quiz them about their testimony. That is the bishops job. Still I like his attitude.

[lynsie]

The last time we saw the missionaries (about two years ago). We told them we were not interested in the church anymore. They informed us that we could resign by talking to our bishop. I think they were hoping if we spoke to the bishop he could find a way to reactivate us...or maybe I'm just being cynical...no not me!!;)

Love this smiley by the way
:lftl: :lftl: :lftl:

[puff]

Got this recently from a missionary. Won't he get in trouble for this?



Nateover the years here , quite often a set of missionaries would get the idea that what was needed was to get rid of all the people that obviously did not believe any more , one even had a standard letter typed up so that when he met abusive former members he could just get them to sign the letter and hand it in to the Bishop , however this practice was soon stopped by the higher ups and the names were not removed anyway .
one missionary contact i had was with a nice young lady who exsplained that she had joined another church and wanted her name removed , so i got her to write the letter and handed it in to the clerke , exspecting ( rather stupidly ) that this would be carried out , some months later i found her name still on the lists , so asked why it was still there , i was told that these had to be sent to the sp with a special form , so wheres the form i asked , well there isn,t any , so some special form had to be ordered , eventually i sent the name off with the right form to the stake president being mindful that this person had asked me to get this done for her , two years later i was amazed to find her name still on the membership roll , when i asked about it i got glib answers .
another time i was in p.e.c meeting and as exec sec was browsing through all the minutes , i felt this deep depression come over me as i realized that every meeting was the same , looking back i realize that the real questions about why people leave are never discussed , the only discussion was about how can we get these lost souls back , not why did they leave , it could never be excepted that anybody had changed their mind about the church , it was aleays , the weak ones . another time quite recently two visiting sisters were talking to me and i mentioned a lady who had been baptised and then left straight after , never returning to church , i pointed out that she had been pushed into baptism with great pressure and that was why she had left as soon as , instead of commenting on my statement they just changed the subject to another baptism and started commenting on how spiritual and happy it was , it actually astonished me how they constantly used all manner mental manouvers not to face the reality of what was happening , i think this system runs right thru the church , it also works in insurance and car sales as well , to be a good saleman you have to believe in the product , no matter how bad it is , so obvoius detractions are not spoken about and eliminated from the thinking process , there must be a special term for this type of behaviour which allows all manner of unrealistic beliefs to preserve themselves

[nate]

to be a good saleman you have to believe in the product , no matter how bad it is , so obvoius detractions are not spoken about and eliminated from the thinking process , there must be a special term for this type of behaviour which allows all manner of unrealistic beliefs to preserve themselves

I believe you just accurately described cognitive dissonance.

This missionary has been noticing all of this too, and has stated that he has no desire to baptise anyone that doesn't really want it. He has noticed and commented on the fact that a large percentage of the less-actives in the areas that he has been in have been people just like the woman you talked about; people pressured into baptism who went to church 3 or 4 times and then just quit.

Of course, we'll have to see if all his comments and displeasure at seeing these things will actually make any difference, or if as soon as he gets an "investigator" that says "ok", it will all fly out the window at the giddy thought of saving that 1 soul.