PROVO, Utah — For new converts, joining the Church can be like walking through a complicated maze. With unfamiliar experiences to navigate, the new member might feel alone, disheartened and overwhelmed.
Conversely, when established Church members and missionaries are there to support and guide the new member, joining the Church is more like entering the house of the Lord. Whether a person is visiting the temple for the first time or for the hundredth, no one stays lost for long because someone lovingly guides them at every turn.
Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared these analogies on Saturday, June 22, during the 2024 Seminar for New Mission Leaders. The Church’s annual missionary leadership conference was held at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.
Elder Andersen focused his address on the importance of ministering to new converts. He recalled being in the Salt Lake Tabernacle during the February 1999 Conversion and Retention Broadcast, when the late President Gordon B. Hinckley, then the President of the Church, spoke about the charge of fellowshipping new members.
“Joining the Church is a very serious thing,” President Hinckley said at that time. “Each convert takes upon himself or herself the name of Christ with an implied promise to keep His commandments. … There is absolutely no point in doing missionary work unless we hold on to the fruits of that effort.”
Thankfully, in the years since that broadcast, the Church has done better at retaining new converts, Elder Andersen said.
To continue increasing this trend, Elder Andersen outlined seven important considerations for helping new members advance along the covenant path:
- Reaffirming spiritual feelings.
- Members providing assistance at every turn.
- Attending sacrament meetings.
- Teaching lessons a second time after baptism.
- Preparing family names for the temple.
- Engaging in weekly follow-up.
- Giving simple assignments.
Regarding the first point, Elder Andersen said newfound faith can be fragile, and it is either growing in confidence or subsiding in doubt. “The new member is eager for spiritual experiences and validation. ... And yet, his or her delicate spirit is a marked target for the adversary,” Elder Andersen said.
That’s why the other points, from member assistance to giving simple assignments, are so important for a new convert, he continued. But they must be adjusted to fit the needs and circumstances of the new Church member.
Elder Andersen spoke in more detail on two of his seven considerations: member assistance and preparing family names for the temple.
If possible, missionaries should include members in assisting with teaching and strengthening new converts, he said.
“The partnership that you help create between the missionaries and the members will mirror and reflect the partnership and brotherhood you share with the stake presidents and bishops,” Elder Andersen said.
When it comes to helping new members prepare family names for temple ordinances, Elder Andersen said the house of the Lord is a “vital step” and a “heavenly refuge on earth” for those who embrace the restored gospel.
This is true even if temples are geographically far away from a new member. Helping new members gather names for whenever they are able to enter the house of the Lord matters because the temple is central to the faithfulness of every Latter-day Saint, Elder Andersen said.
“The temple speaks to the immortality of the soul and the eternal importance of the Savior Jesus Christ. It reminds the new member that this earth life is a temporary but critical chapter that greatly impacts his or her eternal life,” he said. “Performing vicarious baptisms for beloved family members who have already moved through the veil brings a perspective few other experiences can duplicate.”
Elder Andersen promised mission leaders that as they and their missionaries minister to new members, many converts may become “eternal friends,” filling their lives with deep happiness on earth and beyond the veil.
“Let this be our united pledge to our precious new members: ‘Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God,’” Elder Andersen said, quoting Ephesians 2:19.
He added: “Our Savior’s incomparable love reaches out to those who seek to come unto Him. He will bless you with every gift you need to bless, to care for, to help those who courageously put their confidence in Him.”
