Comments on: RS/MP Lesson 14: “How to Share the Gospel Effectively” (George Albert Smith Manual)

By: jacob

jacob — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 20:35:45 +0000

“as a place-holder for your own interests” – thank you Jim, I really needed to hear it put that way. You may have just saved my next HP lesson…

By: Jim F.

Jim F. — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:30:48 +0000

At one level, yes. You can know a good deal that you need to know by knowing what the person does for a living, where he or she lives, how they came to meet the missionaries, all the sorts of things that are likely to come out in an initial conversation. When I wrote the comment, I had more in mind doing missionary work within the body of the Church by teaching classes, where you can know more. But its a matter of not treating the person you are helping teach as a place-holder for your own interests, but as someone who has interests and needs that you are trying to address.

By: jacob

jacob — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:04:14 +0000

Jim,
Are you suggesting that if I’m on splits with the missionaries, it’s going to be critical for me to get to know the investigator well enough before I “open my mouth?”

By: Jim F.

Jim F. — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:50:49 +0000

There is an important sense in which it isn't difficult, which is not to say that we don't find it hard. It is difficult as long as we keep forgetting that when we preach the gospel or do missionary work we are not what is important. The gospel is important and the person to whom we are speaking is important. The question, therefore, is not how we can say what is on our minds, but how we can teach what Jesus tells us to teach (trust in God, change of heart, baptism, reception and life by the Holy Ghost--and, he says, nothing else, which precludes teaching most of what we red-pill types like to talk about) to the particular person who stands before us. That means knowing enough about them to know what they need to hear and to think about how to say it so they are most likely to hear it.

By: jacob

jacob — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 17:13:29 +0000

Referring to Jim F post: http://www.patheos.com/Mormon/Taking-the-Red-Pill-James-Faulconer-07-13-2012.html. What advice would you give someone who wants to do missionary work but feels very tongue-tied by his 20 year red-pill orientation?