As I was searching online through forums on different
websites, I was surprised to see how many people really accept online
missionary work. I couldn’t really find
anyone who was truly against online missionary work.
There were, of course, many people attacking the church,
depending on the website they were making their comments online. However, many of these people were pretty
obviously atheists, ex-Mormons, etc.
There were also many people within the church who commented
on the subject of online missionary work, and it was pretty obvious that most
of them appreciated and accepted the church’s adoption of online media to do
missionary work.
Thinking about what to do or how to continue with my idea of
challenging the dogma of missionary work (since it seems like most people
within the church already agree with me), I thought that the problem must be
with those of my age group. Granted,
many people of my age group struggle to do a lot of things, given the fact that
many of us are very busy with school, starting our lives, etc. Whatever the case, it seems to be a struggle
with my age group.
Also, I thought that it could simply be that the people
online commenting on these things are most likely people who are good with and
very accepting of technology already. It
would also make sense that most older people against online missionary work
probably aren’t online commenting about it.
I think my next step would be to see more of what people my
age think about online missionary work, and how to encourage them better. Also, I think talking personally to people of
older age groups who aren’t very into technology would help as well.
The internet is great but personally I am grateful my mission didn't have all the new social media tools missionaries are now being allowed to use. I can imagine many less dedicated missionaries wasting countless hours "proselyting" online. Online evangelism like online dating I think carries with it a certain stigma. Most people have the lingering thought in their mind: "Shouldn't those things be done in person?" I am not against online missionary work but I do think we still have a long ways to go in getting everyone on the same page with regards to the effort.
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