The Stake Missionary Work

The last message of Jesus the Son of God before His ascension into heaven was, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15.) Carrying out this great and important injunction proclaimed by Him who is the Prince of Peace, the King of kings and Lord of lords is the prime business of this, His Church, the Church of Jesus Christ. ¶

And while, because the whole world is at war, we cannot at present continue to carry our gospel message abroad, I am glad to report that the work at home in our stake missions is going forward with ever increasing efficiency and success. ¶

These missions, now a little more than six years old, were in good operating condition before our foreign missions had to be closed. This work is done under the direction of the First Council of the Seventy in accordance with the instructions of that modern revelation which says: The Seventy are to act in the name of the Lord, under the direction of the Twelve ... in building up the church and regulating all the affairs of the same. ... (D. & C. 107:34.) ¶

Two Tasks

Two tasks have been assigned to our stake missionaries: To bring into activity those Church members who are inactive, and to carry the gospel message to those who are not members of the Church. You Church officials will be glad to know that this stake missionary system, in these six years, has brought more than twenty-four thousand inactive Church members into Church activity. This means an average of four thousand per year, more than three hundred per month, or ten persons per day. And in addition it has brought into the Church by conversion and baptism more than thirteen thousand, an average of more than two thousand per year or nearly two hundred per month. ¶

And these happy results have not been accomplished without genuine missionary effort. About eight thousand missionaries have held more than fifty thousand cottage meetings, they have distributed thirty-nine thousand volumes of the standard works of the Church, and they have spent one and one-half million hours in this unselfish missionary labor. Thus you see our neighbors in the stakes and wards of the Church are opening their doors and their hearts to hear the gospel message we have to present. ¶

To Make Friends

Our aim is to make friends. Our missionaries are told that whenever they make an enemy they have made a mistake. Ours is a gospel of gentleness and love and peace. These workers are instructed not to argue, but with a humble and prayerful heart to discuss, with those only who are interested, the fundamentals of righteous living. By their efforts to teach others, these faithful workers strengthen and fortify themselves in their own high ideals and standards. The constant and earnest teaching of Christian virtues impresses upon them the importance and the value of living in conformity with the ideals and standards of the Church. The high degree of spirituality enjoyed in real missionary work brings into the hearts of the missionaries a reassuring knowledge, testimony, and certainty concerning the restored gospel message which only the light and inspiration of heaven can bestow. ¶

Our missionaries are humble men and women. Except in rare instances they are not trained theological scholars. Their conduct, their ideals, and their standards of living may in many instances be as effective as factors of conversion as are the words which they speak. ¶

Must Endure Forever

The simple, straightforward manner in which they live, teach and preach, you must admit, is the method of Christ Himself. And the gospel we teach today is also the same gospel that Christ Himself taught. The message has not changed. Being the truth, it cannot change; it will, it must, endure forever. ¶

However great the joy and the satisfaction which come into the souls of those who are converted, and into the souls of those who are brought into Church activity, these are not greater than is the joy that fills the hearts of the missionaries themselves, for, as the good book, the Bible, says, they have burning within themselves that "peace of God which passeth all understanding." (Philippians 4:7.) ¶

The aim of the missionaries is to teach their neighbors the great plan of salvation and the restored gospel, the sacredness of human personality, and the brotherhood of man. ¶

Appeal to Officials ¶

I appeal to you stake presidents and bishops and to your counselors also to select as stake missionaries men and women who have strong personalities, pleasant persistence, a thorough knowledge of the gospel, and the fire of a testimony burning in their souls. And I appeal to you not to take these strong characters out of the Seventies quorums or out of your stake missionary force without giving most careful consideration to the effect such changes will have on this the most important activity of the Church. ¶

Two examples will illustrate what I mean by selecting as missionaries those who are able, who are filled with faith, and who are intensely devoted to the work. ¶

A Great Missionary ¶

An extremely active and greatly loved patriarch told me that when as a young man he thought his time was too valuable and himself too busy to go into the mission field, at a time in his life when he did not have enough of the unselfish gospel spirit to make the necessary contribution of his time and his money in order to carry the gospel message to others, there came into his life a great missionary. ¶

While thus living a more or less selfish life, he said he was sitting on the porch of his mother's home in southern Utah when out of the dusk and the dust of those early pioneer days came a team and one-seated buggy and stopped in front of that home. Out of the buggy stepped a member of the Council of the Twelve. After instructing the driver to find feed for the horses and to be back at five a.m. to continue the journey, this member of the Council of the Twelve took a seat on that porch by the side of the young man and began to name reason after reason why this able young fellow should make the necessary sacrifices in time and in money in order to make it possible for him to go into the mission field. Reason after reason was given, appeal after appeal was made to the young man as the hours of the night sped on. Ten o'clock came and eleven, and the determined preacher of the gospel continued his labor. One o'clock came and two and three, and four, and finally five, and this mighty converter of men, without having removed his hat or his shoes, told the young man good-bye, walked out to his buggy, and drove away. The persistence, the faith, the testimony, and the pleading of this great missionary, in whose soul was a throbbing testimony of the divinity of the message he was presenting, and the "good-bye and God bless you" that accompanied his final handshake started the young man to thinking so seriously that soon the real gospel spirit entered into his heart and soul, and he went into the mission field. ¶

A Most Valuable Experience ¶

That missionary work, done in the days of his youth, said this gray-haired patriarch, was the greatest and most marvelous and valuable experience that ever came into his life. This patriarch, whose labors on earth were completed some years ago, has left a large family of devoted unselfish workers for righteousness, all of whom might have been indifferent and selfish but for the efforts, continuing all night long, of this intensely interested missionary. The fine and faithful family of this deceased patriarch is a rich reward for the sacrifice he made in time and money to preach the gospel, and to do his utmost to live in accordance with its high ideals. ¶

Poverty and Crime ¶

The other case: In a stake conference recently I quoted the words of the late President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard University to the effect that alcohol is the chief cause of poverty, the crime, and the misery of mankind. And at the close of the conference in which I had appealed to the people to come forward and render missionary service, especially to help those who unfortunately have the liquor habit, a man came forward and enthusiastically extended his hand exclaiming: "Give me the name of a man who has the liquor habit!" This good brother then explained that the gospel had come into his life only a few years before when he himself was a helpless drunkard. It was the gospel of the Master, he said, which so transformed him that he succeeded in overcoming the drinking habit. And with an outburst of enthusiasm he said, "Give me the name of a man who drinks. I'll meet him in the morning before he begins his day's work. I'll go to him at noon and with him I'll eat my lunch. And when his day's work is done, I'll take him by the hand, I'll lead him by the liquor store, and I will take him to his own home a sober man. Gladly will I do this," said he, "with the hope that I can be helpful in teaching the gospel to him, which gospel will enable him to overcome this habit. I stand ready to do my utmost to help to bring into his life the same joy that giving up the liquor habit has brought into mine." ¶

The Greatest Message

You who are here assembled, officers of the Church of Jesus Christ, know that nothing the Church has to do can transcend in importance the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Its great message is to be carried to all of the people of the world; it is to be preached to the rich as well as the poor, to the educated as well as to those who have had little opportunity to go to school, to all mankind everywhere in preparation for the coming again of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and this great work can be accomplished successfully only by a generation of unusual men and unusual women. I appeal to you, therefore, to call into this stake missionary service those who are best qualified to present the joyful message, those who can work effectively, those who are themselves genuinely converted and who have burning in their souls an unceasing testimony of this great work. ¶

You Are Called

And as a servant of the Lord, one whose duty it is to assist in this great major work, this mighty missionary undertaking, I say to you in the language of the revelation that came to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith, "You are called to cry repentance unto this people," and do not forget that "if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me," says Jesus, the Son of God, "how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of My Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" (D.&C. 18:14-16.) ¶

For these many reasons I appeal to you officials of the Church, therefore, to do your utmost to get into the stake missionary service and to retain in this missionary service those who are the most able and who are the most genuinely converted, that the preaching of the gospel of charity, of love, of forgiveness, of peace, and of the brotherhood of man may go forward effectively. May you and may we all aim to do this. I pray humbly in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. ¶