The impact of Christ-centered sacrament meeting worship and attendance — both for members of the Church and for people being taught by its missionaries — was illustrated at the 2026 Seminar for New Mission Leaders by Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt, General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department, and his wife, Sister Alexis Schmitt.
The Schmitts, who led the California San Diego Mission from 2014 to 2017, offered their counsel during the Thursday, June 18, session of the seminar at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.
Emphasizing the importance of the sacrament and sacrament meeting, the Schmitts extended the invitation to mission leaders and their missionaries to have meaningful experiences through the ordinance of the sacrament and encourage sacrament meeting attendance for the people they teach.
Referencing 3 Nephi 20:8, the Schmitts discussed how to teach in encouraging souls to be “filled” when partaking of the sacrament.
One Sunday, after listening to the sacrament prayer, the Schmitts’ Primary-age son asked, “Mom, the sacrament prayer said that I am willing to take the name of Jesus Christ. Does that mean that my last name is Schmitt and Christ?”
Sister Schmitt treasured this “sacred experience.” She realized her son had been “filled with the Spirit.”
She emphasized that the sacrament, emblematic of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, has the power to lead people to action. For those being taught by missionaries, it can increase their desire to be baptized. For new converts, it can give a stronger desire to stay on the covenant path. For missionaries, it can provide a renewal of purpose.
Elder Schmitt said that alongside those beginning to make covenants at baptism, “we as missionaries are equally bound to helping our friends keep their commitment.”
Both Elder and Sister Schmitt talked about passages from 3 Nephi 19, where a multitude of people gathered around the resurrected Savior and partook of the sacrament.
To have people gathered to participate in the sacred ordinance, missionaries must first find them, the Schmitts taught, pointing to Chapter 9 of “Preach My Gospel,” which details practical and effective ways to find individuals to teach.
“An important ‘line in the water,’” said Sister Schmitt, “is inviting people to worship Jesus Christ with us at church.”
Elder Schmitt said missionaries should use multiple methods to find individuals and continue to understand why they are serving.
“When missionaries deeply understand their purpose, exercise the faith to find and then bring people to sacrament meeting the week they are found and each week thereafter, we see miracles in the work,” he emphasized.
Through several missionary role-playing scenarios, the missionaries’ willingness to find helped determine their success.
One companionship passed an individual and decided not to turn around, concerned more with their personal comfort.
“Missionaries need to exercise their faith in the Savior by opening their mouths and talking with everyone, so they can find people to teach,” Sister Schmitt said.
The second companionship nearly turned back to their apartment but instead decided to talk to a man on their way. They invited him to come to church and then moved on.
Elder Schmitt then invited the missionaries to try one more time.
In their final attempt, the missionaries invited the man to attend sacrament meeting with them. He accepted, and the missionaries then started a discussion about Jesus Christ with him.
They also followed up with their new friend on the subsequent days leading to Sunday.
“We can’t just hope that people come to sacrament meeting. We need to help them come,” Elder Schmitt said.
That “help” looks like extending clear invitations, using the scriptures, promising blessings and sharing testimony, he said. It also includes working with local members, offering chapel tours and following up with daily contact to help individuals keep their commitments.
Sister Schmitt closed with two invitations for the new mission leaders.
The first was to help missionaries “have meaningful experiences with the sacrament, so they can grow closer to Jesus Christ and live their purpose each day.”
The second was to help missionaries “fulfill their purpose by finding people to teach and helping them attend sacrament meeting the week they are found and each week thereafter.”
In doing so, Sister Schmitt promised mission leaders that they would be “filled with the Spirit and have access to the Lord’s sustaining power” as their mission invites and helps friends of the Church come unto Christ.
Elder Schmitt concluded with his testimony of the ways individuals can be filled as they participate fully in sacrament meeting.
“As we partake of bread and water in remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are filled — filled with His redeeming love, filled with hope and filled with joy.”
