PROVO, Utah — Building on what other leaders during the 2024 Seminar for New Mission Leaders taught about the missionary purpose, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke Friday, June 21, about how miracles follow as missionaries invite and help people to attend Sunday meetings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In beginning his remarks, he noted that this week marks 50 years since he received his call to serve as a young full-time missionary in the Japan Fukuoka Mission, and 20 years since he and his wife, Sister Lesa Stevenson, sat in the same chairs as the new mission leaders before heading the Japan Nagoya Mission.
It is also the 20th anniversary of “Preach My Gospel.”
“Nearly seven million print and digital copies of ‘Preach My Gospel’ have blessed the lives of over 780,000 missionaries and countless members since it was introduced in 2004,” Elder Stevenson said, adding that each of those missionaries had served with a clear understanding of their missionary purpose as outlined in “Preach My Gospel,” Chapter 1.
And the doctrine of Christ is embodied within the missionary purpose, which states: “Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.”
Elder Stevenson taught the mission leaders how helping others receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is done by inviting them and helping them to attend sacrament meeting.
The correlation between sacrament meeting attendance and baptism
Chapter 9 of “Preach My Gospel” explains that “One of the most valuable experiences you can help people have is attending a Church service.”
The doctrine of Christ — which is embodied in the missionary purpose — combined with the doctrine of keeping the Sabbath Day holy through sacrament meeting attendance fit together, taught Elder Stevenson.
He explained that social trends among the rising generation indicate they are more likely to explore other religions by attending their worship services. Simple invitations from missionaries to attend sacrament meeting are easy for friends of the Church to accept.
And, there is a high correlation between sacrament meeting attendance and convert baptisms — especially if a new friend attends sacrament meeting within their first week of being taught.
The Church has been exploring, studying and observing the doctrinal roots of inviting others to come unto Christ by attending sacrament meeting.
Elder Stevenson showed a video in which mission leaders and their missionaries in four missions around the world described their experiences putting these learnings into practice. Another video then demonstrated methods and practical applications and showed missionaries describing their joy and strengthened testimonies after working hard to bring those they taught to sacrament meetings.
These steps include having missionaries, Church members and the ward council all be involved in finding, inviting, reminding, planning, greeting, and helping friends of the Church and new converts have a Spirit-filled experience in every step on their path.
4 guiding principles
“Preach My Gospel,” Chapter 11 has four guiding principles that are a road map for missionaries put into practice.
First is to invite friends to come to Sunday meetings.
“Everything begins with extending an invitation,” Elder Stevenson said. “Inviting to come to church is inviting to come unto Christ.”
Second, following an invitation, missionaries must always promise blessings.
As listed in “Preach My Gospel,” Chapter 3, those are: “We will feel joy and peace. We will be spiritually nourished and physically refreshed. We will also feel closer to God and deepen our relationship with our Savior. We will more fully keep ourselves ‘unspotted from the world.’ The Sabbath will become ‘a delight.’”
Third, an invitation and a promised blessing are always followed by a testimony, which helps people feel the Holy Ghost confirm truth to them — and encourage them to accept the invitation to attend sacrament meeting.
Fourth and finally is the importance of following up. “We must do more than just invite and hope they will come,” Elder Stevenson said.
He promised the mission leaders that as they help their missionaries fulfill their missionary purpose and invite others to come to sacrament meeting, miracles will happen.
