PROVO, Utah — As the concluding speaker on the first day of the 2024 Seminar for New Mission Leaders, Elder W. Mark Bassett spoke about understanding why baptism is necessary and why some missionaries have trouble inviting those they teach to make this covenant.
“Why are missionaries fearful or apprehensive about this?” he asked. “Perhaps one reason is they don’t understand the doctrine of baptism. They don’t understand ‘the why’ behind all that we do.”
Elder Bassett, General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department, taught that the Savior gave His apostles the responsibility to both teach and baptize in Matthew 28:19.
“The doctrine of baptism isn’t something to be fearful of,” he said in his Thursday, June 20, message to 148 new mission leadership couples gathered at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.
Pointing to the sons of Mosiah as described in Mosiah 28:3, Elder Bassett said that missionaries who understand their purpose and who fearlessly invite those they teach to be baptized might feel “they could not bear that any human soul should perish.”
As missionaries and their leaders understand the blessings that can come to all of God’s children, teaching and inviting will come in more normal and natural ways, Elder Bassett explained.
“Understanding the covenant of baptism and confirmation transforms a missionary, because they begin to think of what this covenant with God means to them and what it can mean for their friends,” he said.
Elder Bassett shared five ways mission leaders can help their missionaries to both understand the doctrine pertaining to baptism and also be more willing to extend an invitation to those they are teaching to be baptized.
- Teach them the doctrine of baptism in group settings.
- Show them what it looks like to teach the importance and joy of the baptismal covenant.
- Teach with them and pray for opportunities to invite people to be baptized and confirmed.
- Attend baptismal services and rejoice with them and those they teach.
- Invite them to regularly report on their baptism goals and their work to help people progress to baptism and confirmation.
Elder Bassett told the mission leaders that these five helps mean they will lead by example with their missionaries, who may gain courage from seeing their leaders do what they are inviting the missionaries to do.
He also explained that the Church added a new measure that is recorded each week to ensure that new members of the Church are receiving the spiritual nourishment and fellowshipping they need following baptism.
This measurement of weekly sacrament meeting attendance for new converts is a natural segue from baptism and confirmation to the regular Sabbath observance of the sacrament, Elder Bassett said.
By their own increased understanding of how meaningful the sacrament is, the missionaries “will feel a desire to help all their new converts to experience the sacrament every week,” he said.
‘Save us now’
Elder Bassett taught from 3 Nephi 11:16-17, where those who witnessed the Savior appear to the Nephites cried out “Hosanna” to Him. That word translates to “Save us now,” Elder Bassett said. He showed that the Savior’s response to the people’s call for saving was met with His commandment and authorization that they be baptized.
“Help the missionaries imagine that the people they see on the street or on the bus or at the doorstep are crying out, ‘Save me,’” he said.
In 20 verses of 3 Nephi 11, baptism is mentioned 19 times, Elder Bassett said. And The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only place on earth where the authority to carry out baptism is found.
“You are the only ones who can truly teach and invite and help them to come to the Savior,” he said.
Teaching the gospel and inviting individuals to be baptized require humility to find those who don’t know where to find the fullness of God’s power.
“My hope today is that we will recognize that there is a world full of people who are desperate, who absolutely need what we have,” Elder Bassett said. “They need Him. They need His gospel.”
As the world continues to face challenges of every kind, the need for redemption and salvation that come through the Savior becomes increasingly important.
“The world desperately needs to access Christ’s redeeming power. People need the doctrine of Christ. They need baptism and confirmation and all that these ordinances can offer them. And what a blessing it is to be involved in this great and marvelous work, which allows us to offer exactly what God’s children need,” he said.
