Last Updated on November 23, 2017 8:32 pm by Steven
On October 20th, the LDS Church released a set of standard Interview questions to ask youth wanting to serve a mission.
Letter introducing LDS Standard Missionary Questions
Are Standard questions for missionaries needed or necessary?
One of the blessings of the Church is that we have a lay clergy. However; a lay clergy is also one of the Church’s biggest banes. There are many, many great Bishops in the Church that volunteer their time with little training and no professional education on how to do their calling. It is one of my small testimony builders that this Church functions as well as it does because of our lay clergy.
But this creates issues with inconsistency between wards, stakes, and areas of the church.
Our first child to serve a mission was easy for us to do the paperwork and get her call. We were living in Austin Texas at the time, our Bishop knew her very well, and knew us very well, as he was our Home Teacher. Everything went very smoothly. She completed her 18 months in North Carolina.
Our second child to serve we ran into a few small issues. We had just moved from Austin Texas to St George Utah. Our son had just graduated from High School, planned on one semester at Utah State University, then wanted to serve a mission. He went in to talk to our new Bishop in St George and was told he needed to wait a while because our new Bishop did not know him at all. No exact time was discussed, just that our new Bishop wanted to get to know him before he would start the mission paperwork. This was very frustrating for us and our son as our Bishop did not make any effort to get to know him other than once a month interviews. After a few months, our son moved to Logan to attend USU. He talked to his new Singles Ward Bishop and was told that he needed to hurry and get his paperwork in as we were already late in the process. If our home ward Bishop had had a standard that he could judge my son on – I think we would have started the process earlier with less frustration.
Our third child (another son) is where a standard was needed the most. This is our son that we brought from Guam. He does not look or talk like the Utah White Mormon Boy. My son is a typical islander (He was born on Guam, his lineage is from Chuuk). Our Bishop struggled with recommending him for a mission. We were asked questions like “do you realize the burden you will be placing on his companions?”
Had our Bishop and Stake President at the time had a defined standard they would have seen what we saw – that he does meet the standard and should be recommended for a mission.
How the standard helps Leaders
Having a standard to judge against (Bishops are judges in Israel) clearly helps the Bishops to understand if the candidate is ready and able to serve a mission.
We have many standards in the Church including:
- Adult Temple Recommend Questions
- Youth Temple Recommend Questions
- Melchizedek Priesthood Recommend Question
This is one more tool that the Bishops are given to help them do their job in the best way that they can. Bishop now just need to follow the Spirit in recommending the youth for missions. If you answer all of the questions correctly for a Temple Recommend, you are worthy for a Temple Recommend. If you answer all of these new Missionary Standard questions, you are ready to serve a mission.
How the standard helps missionaries
I have spent many years as a youth leader in the Church. I’m always talking to the Young Men and Young Women on preparing for missions. Up until this point, there was not any standard that anyone really could point to aside from the Temple Recommend Questions.
Now the Youth have a standard they can look at and decide if they are able to meet that standard. Far too many Youth go on missions too early, as this is a culture issue in the Church (I tend to see it more in Utah than outside of Utah). Have this set gives the Youth the understanding what they need to succeed. It also gives them an excuse if they feel they need to work on something in order to have a successful mission.
How the standard helps parents
There is this black hole of information when it comes to parents of Missionaries. Some Bishops do a good job of keeping the parents in the loop, while others assume that the parents know what is going on.
Starting the preparatory process of having a set of standards that the youth and parents can look and work towards helps everyone!
I’ve already shared the questions with my kids and asked them to read the questions and answer them. This is a great Sunday or Family Home Evening activity. Discuss the questions with your children. Make sure they understand the meanings of all of the words. Don’t gloss over anything! Our kids generally don’t tell us everything, so help them understand what it all means.
As you read through the questions, multiple questions focus on repentance. This is a great teaching opportunity to help them understand true repentance, so they can teach it to others on their mission!
I hope that everyone takes the time to read the questions as a family so that your youth can understand what will be required of them as they serve the Lord successfully.
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