Sharing Christ with Mormon Missionaries
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Photo by Peter Boccia on Unsplash [/caption]
A couple weeks ago, when I was miserably sick, there was a knock at the door, and two young men in ties were at the door wanting to talk about their faith. What do you do in that moment? I thought I would use this recent experience to give you some advice. I know some whose immediate reaction is to say, "no thank you" and promptly shut the door, but my heart goes out to these kids. They have suspended their lives for two years to walk around and share an empty religion with anyone who will listen. That said, in addition to the false prophecy they are trying to share, they also are carrying around a copy of God's Word with them. They are so close to the truth, yet are hopelessly lost.
My first response whenever I see Mormon missionaries is to make an appointment for another time. If someone asks to make an appointment with them, they must make the appointment and show up. Though I've had missionaries show up late, they've never missed an appointment. This gives you an opportunity to prepare and pray before meeting with them to talk about the Gospel.
When the appointment time comes, rule number one is super important. Don't be a jerk! Depending on how long they have been on their missions, they have run into lots of Christians who have either slammed the door in their faces, explained to them how they are heretics, or torn apart their religion and its founder, Joseph Smith. So, again, don't be a jerk. Now, to be clear, the Mormon religion is heresy, and Joseph Smith was a con artist (he actually was arrested and convicted as a con artist several years before founding the Mormon religion). Rather, I would just say that there will be others to point out these kinds of facts during their two years. Instead of focusing on the negatives of Mormonism, I prefer to focus on the glories of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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When the young men come for the appointment, invite them in, offer them something to drink like an ice water. They cannot drink any caffeine while on their mission, so it would not be kind to offer them coffee or tea. I've never had guys say no to a glass of ice water when offered. Chances are they've been walking around all day, and are thirsty.
The first thing I do when talking with these guys is to try to get to know them a little bit. Ask for their names if you didn't catch them when starting. Ask about where they're from and how long they have been on mission. Typically, they will be paired, one guy who has been on mission for over a year, and one just starting out. They have been taught and have memorized a script that they have said potentially hundreds of times. Get them out of that mindset by asking genuine questions. Did they grow up in the church, have they done any college before going on mission, or did they go straight in from high school. Not all Mormons go on mission, but those that do commit for two years, and I believe have self-funded those two years. They have made a significant sacrifice to go on mission. My sense is that many of these young men are burdened by sin (not that they will say it), and are trying to convince themselves of their faith.
After that, Jodie and I always share our testimony. Tell them about how you came to Jesus and how the Gospel has impacted your life. As a friend says often, tell them why Jesus is the most important thing in your life. After that, we go to Scripture.
Before I talk about where I go in Scripture with these young men (or women, although I've never had female missionaries come to my door), it might be helpful to lay out the most important theological differences between Mormonism and Christianity. Contrary to what you might think, Mormonism is not monolithic in belief, and so there are variations on many of these things. First, Mormon's don't see the Trinity the way we do. They are almost Arian in their understanding, believing that Jesus is a created being. You might have heard that Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are brothers. Some do, others don't, but either way, Mormons understand that Jesus is not eternal.
The other doctrine I focus on is the doctrine of salvation by grace alone. Mormonism has a little bit of grace with a lot of works mixed in for good measure. This is where I focus time, because at its heart, works-based salvation is more burdensome that even living as a heathen.
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Knowing those things, I spend the majority of time reading Scripture with them. You will want to ask them what they think about the Bible. Most Mormons will tell you that Scripture is from God as long as it's translated properly. In theory, there are Mormons that believe that the Bible we have has been irreversibly corrupted so that we don't know the true word of God, but I have never had a young man respond that way. Since they think Scripture is okay if translated properly, ask them what they think about the King James Version. Again, most will make a comment about it being important to their faith. In a way, their attitude about Scripture is probably very similar to nominal Christians you know. They will say the Bible is important, but they probably haven't actually read it a lot.
Remembering rule number one (don't be a jerk), this isn't the time to debate Bible translation philosophies. The King James, though a bit hard to understand sometimes, is still a fine translation for walking through the Gospel. I usually ask them if it'd be okay if we read some Scripture together. They have been trained to be polite, so I doubt they will refuse you. The other thing I do is to read chunks of Scripture, and have them do the reading, so ask them if they can each read 2-3 verses and then going around as the passage is read. You want to engage them and get them to participate. This is the Bible they already have and will likely have just claimed to hold in high esteem. Since you asked them to come back for an appointment, you had time to find a copy of the KJV to read with them. I will say that on this latest visit, I was shocked that they were using tablets to read the Bible instead of paper copies. This made me feel even better about using Logos Bible Software to help me navigate around as the conversation flowed. In other words, you don't need to go out and buy a copy of the King James, installing a Bible app on your phone or tablet will work just fine.
So, with all of that in mind, the first thing I want to do is establish a high understanding of who Christ is, so I almost always start in John 1. Read the whole passage together (some guys will be less comfortable reading than others so be patient). When it comes to your turn for reading, don't let the Old English get in the way, read with feeling and lots of inflection. After the passage is read, ask questions. Who is the Word? You may have to help by pointing to verses again. If the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, then the Word is...? If Jesus is the Word, when did Jesus come into existence? Depending on the discussion, you might read the beginning of Genesis. From this point on, I usually let the conversation guide where in Scripture we go. I typically end up in Romans 3 and 4. Galatians 3 is helpful for talking about justification by faith alone.
This last time, the younger missionary was quick on his feet and asked, "What about James 2?". This is an opportunity! We went to James 2 and read James 2:14-26 together. So, after reading this passage, are we saved by faith or by works? Thankfully, we had just read Romans 4 and Galations 3, and had firmly established that Abraham was justified by faith, so James can't be saying that Abraham is justified by works. Rather, James is saying that faith will result in a desire for obedience. We had a good discussion about the two ways to live. One is doing works to earn faith, the other is having faith resulting in works. The first is burdensome, the second is freedom in Christ. I pointed out that to the outside world, the end result is going to look a lot alike. The one trying to earn faith by works might actually even look holier than the one living by faith. The result is incredibly different though. One results in bondage, the other results in freedom and a life overflowing with joy.
It was at this point I noticed that there were tears standing in the eyes of one of the guys and the other guy was flushed and clearly emotional. The temptation here is to push. Resist the temptation. These guys' lives have been carefully structured so that they will not wander from the faith on their mission. So, at this point, I encourage them to read John and Romans or Galatians in their morning study time (every morning, they are to devote two hours to study, and are allowed to read either approved Mormon literature, or the Bible).
Honestly, my hope is to plant a seed. Statistics show that many leave the Mormon faith, but they don't convert to Christianity. Instead, they grow disillusioned with religion and become athiests. My goal is that they might see how the Gospel is glorious, and maybe someday they might look back and remember that guy who was genuinely super excited about Jesus and might remember my encouragement to read their Bible. Any literature that you give them is to be immediately thrown away when they leave your home, so don't bother sending it along with them. Just emphasize the reading the Bible.
Then, I pray for them and invite them to come back if they ever have questions (I highly doubt they will, if they express any doubt at all, the other missionary will express this concern to the regional mission director, and they will be reassigned). Then I send them out, praying that the Holy Spirit might have done a work while we read God's Word together. Since they are from all around the country, I'll never know if our visit had an impact, but I can hope.
What do you think? Do you look at Mormon visits as an opportunity to share the love of Christ, or an opportunity to shut the door? If you have any questions, I would love to chat with you more!
