fellowshipping

On the heels of attending a prayer service for Pope Benedict the 16th, Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke at the BYU Management Society dinner this weekend.  The dinner is an annual gathering in Washington, D.C. that includes area members as well as prominent people and dignitaries. 

Elder Ballard’s speech surveyed the church’s experience in the public eye for the last year and repeated his recent calls to engage in public and online discussions about the Church. His overall conclusion was that the past year has been a good experience, saying “I’d much rather have people talking about us than ignoring us.”  Most of the confusion results from those caught between two extremes of critics: conservative Christians who try to marginalize the Church as a cult and those opposed to the Church’s political stands on moral issues.
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Elder Lance B. Wickman spoke Monday (busy guy) outlining the efforts and process the Church undergoes to operate in new countries.

According to Elder Wickman, in order for the church to become established in a particular nation, it must obtain what he called “legal recognition.” That status entails members being allowed to meet and pay tithing. Missionaries must be permitted to proselyte, and the church must be able to purchase real estate, open and operate bank accounts, and print and distribute literature.

“To the extent that any of these is legally unavailable, the church is not established,” Elder Wickman said. “To that extent, it is not recognized.”

Elder Wickman outlined the three stages that lead to recognition: registration, credibility and respectability.

While credibility is getting on “the right side of the cult line,” respectability is basically being on good terms with whoever approves the visas. Plus, he talks about the small but growing presence in China.

Are the Church’s young single adults its most vulnerable group?   Increasing mental health challenges and faltering church activity are two striking examples that suggest they are.

LDS therapists anticipate a greater need for mental health counseling for young adults, particularly missionaries.

[College students and military recruits] provide the bulk of missionaries sent out by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and because mental illness knows no boundary lines, those who find themselves with mental illness while serving a mission need help from trained providers, he said. “I’m quite sure these disorders among missionaries will continue to increase over time, and it will require additional attention and resources.”

The total number of missionaries who suffer from some form of mental disorder wasn’t disclosed, but of those who return home early because of mental health issues, 40 percent suffer from depression, 23 percent from anxiety, 14 percent are suicidal and 9 percent exhibit obsessive compulsive disorder, or a “perfectionism higher than expected for their age group,” he said.

Also, BCC has a very interesting discussion on Single Wards and the inactivity levels of YSAs.  The numbers touted in the comments suggest that 8-14% of YSAs are active (!) which jive with what was suggested in Sunday’s press conference with the new Young Women’s Presidency.

When asked how they planned to cope with the fact that as many as 80 percent of the single Mormon women between 18 and 30 are no longer active in the LDS Church, Elaine Dalton, Young Women president, said, “That is the question of the day. . .I don’t know that we have all the answers right now.”

Several comments at BCC suggest that smaller singles wards (or even branches) would better involve singles and that they would be less likely to get lost in the crowd.  

I definitely benefited from a small singles ward that could use anyone who came by its way.  I used to resent the larger “meat-market” singles wards a few stakes away, but no more. 

The Washington Post has a very nice piece on the Church’s increasing global presence and its internet outreach. 

Perhaps the best illustration of this is the story of one convert who first investigated the Church through its more common internet resources.  But it sounds like he was won over when he came across the online version of the Church’s secret weapon for conversion:

After reading about the church online, Omowaiye clicked his way to a dating Web site for Mormons (though not officially affiliated with the church). There he began chatting electronically with Deborah Hess, a relocation manager from Colorado. After corresponding for a year by e-mail, webcam and phone, Hess recently came to Lagos and married Omowaiye, a quiet, soft-spoken man.