Faith, Family, Facts, and Fruits

Here are four subjects that will help someone today to gain a basic understanding of the Church. Try to imagine them being heard or read by a person who knows virtually nothing about us.

• Facts
1. “Mormon” is a nickname for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• saint is just a word for “member”
2. the Church was restored in 1830 in upstate New York with Joseph Smith as its first prophet and president. Today it is headquartered in Salt Lake City, with President Gordon B. Hinckley as the present prophet.
• okay
3. there are now over 13 million members – about 6 million of these are in the United States.
• bigger than expected. Why do they grow so fast
4. local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions.
• unpaid, no wonder they can build so much
5. Mormons are well represented in politics and government. (In the United States, for example, there are 16 members in Congress, from both political parties.)
• pretty normal
• Faith
• We believe in the eternity of the soul, that God is the Father of our spirits, and that we can return to Him after death.
• fine
• We believe that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, and we try to model our lives after Him and His teachings.
• good
• We accept as fellow Christians all who believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind.
• more inclusive than I had been lead to believe – is it really true?
• Joseph Smith taught that Jesus Christ is the core of our belief, and everything else is an appendage to it (see Elders’ Journal, July 1838, 44).
• That’s not what I heard
• We believe the original church that Jesus established was lost and has been restored again in our day. The priesthood has been restored as have all necessary ordinances of salvation.
• History says we have had Christians ever since Christ
• We believe in and we use the Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. We believe in the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture which support the Bible and testify of the ministry and divinity of Christ and of God’s ongoing revelation to man.
• Why have other books?
• Family
• Mormons place strong emphasis on family as the basic unit of the Church and of society. Polygamy was a limited practice in the early pioneer days and was discontinued 117 years ago.
• oh
• Families and individuals, whether members of our faith or not, can attend Sunday services in our chapels.
• maybe I can see what they really teach
• Latter-day Saint families are encouraged to hold family home evenings weekly, usually on Monday nights.
• Sounds fun
• The Church has auxiliary programs for women, youth, and children as a support to the family.
• most churches have this kind of thing
• There is also much focus on extended family, genealogy, and personal family history. The highest and most sacred ordinances of our faith relate to our families, and some of these ordinances take place in our temples.
• sounds busy
• Fruits
• Those who attend the church and the temple
1. One of the fruits is a longer life. Studies show that practicing Mormons are healthier and therefore live longer than the national average.
• How much longer?
2. those who are married in and attend the temple regularly have a divorce rate far below the national and world average.
• cool
3. we achieve an educational level that is higher than the national average.
• how high?
4. over 70,000 members volunteer at their own expense to serve for 18 to 24 months in humanitarian efforts, Church service assignments, and full-time missionary service.
• that explains the growth
5. we place strong emphasis on self-reliance and a solid work ethic.
• sounds good
6. We encourage active involvement in our communities and in providing service to others.
• we need more of that.

Keep pass along cards with the articles of Faith handy