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Mormons: You Must Come To Church! Because...

Today I got a surprise visit of one of the sisters in my Branch. She came to ask me help in a task she was assigned to do. As we were talking, she told me she just got a call of a sister in the Branch (who holds a leadership calling as well as being closely related to one of the Branch leaders). She said "You know what? Sis. Smith* just called me and told me, I MUST come to Church tomorrow!". For few seconds, I had a smile on my face thinking how nicely of this sister to encourage her to come to Church since she has not been attending regularly. Then, what she said next removed that smile completely.

"She said I MUST come to Church tomorrow because tomorrow's attendance numbers count the most".

I was speechless but did not tell her anything but how disappointing. I know the District and the Branch has been "Counting" on attendance to form the stake but I never thought they would be calling people to remind them of it. I cannot even imagine asking someone to come to Church just because I "Need" a certain amount of members there every Sunday in September in order to become a Stake.

The branch is calling people on the phone to attend, holding potlucks right after church for the purpose of attracting "Numbers", but where is the concern and love that we should feel for one another? Is it that in this tiny area of the world I live in, people are just a number and not souls with feelings and needs?

Every Sunday I hear:

We have to pay tithing...BECAUSE we have to become a stake.

We have to attend Church...BECAUSE we have to become a stake.

We have to bring friends to church...BECAUSE we have to become a stake.

What is wrong with this picture?


*Not her real name

Because Church To Must Mormons

It seems that someone has missed the point. (I know, obvious.) It makes me think of the movie "Field of Dreams" and the saying, "If you build it, they will come."

That is how the Church works - or at least how it is supposed to work. You care about the people and truly love them and they will listen to the message feel the Spirit and believe. You care about the members and truly love them and they will to come to the meetings and the activities.

If you treat them like statistics why would they want to come?

If the leaders in your area truly want a stake they need to love the members and teach them to love each other. That is how they will build a stake.

I am so sorry for that sister. But I am glad she could come to you to unload. I wonder how many others were called that did not have someone they could go to, so instead they are just sitting at home feeling alone and like a statistic.

Mormons: You Must Come To Church! Because... Studies Doctrine Mormon

That's the interesting thing. She did not seem bothered about it in the least, she told me casually about it. I think the main reason is because 99% of people here does not know what a stake is, they know they have to become one but not the depth of it. On top of that, the way the Church operates here is all they know so as far as they are concerned that's how Church is.