Why the Mormon Church Is Sending So Many Missionaries to Idaho
Last year, it lowered the minimum age for men and women to serve. Since then it’s had a nearly 30 percent increase in missionaries with more than 75,000 now serving missions worldwide. The church is sending a substantial number of those new missionaries to the western United States, where it has more members than anywhere else.
Matt Martinich with the nonprofit Cumorah Foundation, says there are a lot of logistical reasons for that. It’s just easier to accommodate the influx where the church has the most resources. But he also says it fits a long-used strategy.
“One of the things that seems counterintuitive about how the church assigns its missionary force is the church tends to allocate most of its resources to areas that have the most members,” Martinich says.
Which brings us back to going door-to-door. It turns out that’s not a very effective way to find new members. Here’s what’s supposed to happen: Ordinary church members find people in their daily lives who are interested in learning about the church. They arrange for those people to meet missionaries. The members are encouraged to have their friends meet the missionaries in the members’ home and then help their friends throughout the conversion process. In some parts of the world this ideal scenario is rare simply because there aren’t many church members. But in places like Idaho it works.
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