Love, Serve, Teach, Baptize, Elder Uchtdorf Tells New Mission Leaders
Contributed By Scott Taylor, Church News Managing Editor
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf and his wife, Sister Harriet Uchtdorf, and other Church leaders attend the 2017 Seminar for New Mission Presidents held Saturday, June 24, 2017, through Thursday, June 29, 2017, at the Provo Missionary Training Center.
Article Highlights
- We don’t finish ministering, loving, praying for, or thinking about those whom God has put in our path.
- We are charged to go and find, teach the true doctrine, make disciples, and baptize.
“In this sacred work we don’t get to choose the target, let alone the bull’s-eye. It has already been chosen by the Savior Himself. Our role is not to redefine the purpose, but to align with it.” —Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
PROVO, UTAH
Mindful of the multitude of responsibilities of interviewing, teaching, training, and edifying that face new mission presidents and their wives, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles identified a simple target and bull’s-eye for focus.
“Our loving Heavenly Father gave us two great commandments as our target and divine motive for our service as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “They are to love and serve God and to love and serve God’s children.
“Fail in these two commandments and we fail in all.”
He linked in the Savior’s commission to “go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).
“The interconnected teachings of the two great commandments and the great commission are the bull’s-eye for mission presidents and companions,” he said.
Named as chairman of the Missionary Executive Committee earlier this year, Elder Uchtdorf spoke Sunday morning, June 24, to the 112 new mission presidents and their wives attending the 2018 Mission Leadership Seminar at the Provo Missionary Training Center.
Two great commandments
Elder Uchtdorf cited the Savior’s two-fold response when He was asked which might be the greatest commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36–40).
The Apostle added: “Those who heard His answer then must have marveled that He was able to digest the 613 commandments found in the Hebrew Bible down to two interrelated commandments. Jesus hit the bull’s-eye by His absolutely perfect response.”
He likened the love for God and neighbor as “the higher and holier way” outlined by President Russell M. Nelson in the April 2018 general conference.
“Our Church service is one of loving and caring for God’s children and has no beginning or end,” he said. “We don’t finish ministering, we don’t finish loving, we don’t finish praying, and we don’t finish thinking about those whom God has put in our path.”
Elder Uchtdorf encouraged mission leaders to help missionaries to know and love God and to choose belief instead of doubt and to help them to reach out to others in love and compassion while fulfilling their missionary purpose.
“Our love for others does not end should they reject baptism or refuse to listen to the good news of the gospel. Our love is not conditional upon their interest in spending time with our missionaries,” he said.
“We love them because they are children of our Heavenly Father. We love them because they are our brothers and sisters. We love and pray for all men and women—even those who hate, curse, persecute, or mistreat us.”
Missionaries will have greater success when they touch the hearts of people, help them to see what the gospel and Church are all about, and invite them to come unto Christ, he said.
“This can best be accomplished if your missionaries first listen to the promptings of the Spirit while finding people, then listen to these people with compassion and love and be guided by the Spirit how best to teach and to help them.”
The great commission
Elder Uchtdorf noted a recent English translation of the Greek Bible regarding the Savior’s commission that reads in part: “Go forward, making disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
“Each step is important,” he added. “We must go—that is find—we must teach the true doctrine, make disciples, and baptize. Leaving one of the steps out will not fulfill Christ’s command.”
“Going” is finding people to teach, one of a missionary’s primary daily responsibilities, and not just relying on the internet and social media activity, he said. “It would be a fatal mistake if you and your missionaries simply waited passively for referrals.”
“Teaching” requires missionaries to develop compassion, empathy, and love for the people they find and teaching to their specific circumstances, he said. “Confidence in teaching will be rewarding as they move from a mechanical approach to an approach in which they listen more intently and then teach to the needs of those they meet.”
As for “baptizing,” Elder Uchtdorf said: “We mortals do not convert anyone. Receiving a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and making a commitment to enter the waters of baptism is between the individual person and the Holy Ghost. Conversion comes from personal revelation and from the heavenly manifestation of spiritual light.”
Quoting President Gordon B. Hinckley’s statement that “any individual who is worthy of baptism is worth saving as a member of the Church,” Elder Uchtdorf said the same is true for missionaries.
“All who are called to serve the Lord as missionaries are worth saving during their mission and after they return home,” he said. “Your missionary’s sheaves are the converts in your mission; your sheaves are the missionaries and their descendants.”
Elder Uchtdorf underscored the target theme once more in conclusion. “In this sacred work we don’t get to choose the target, let alone the bull’s-eye,” he said. “It has already been chosen by the Savior Himself. Our role is not to redefine the purpose, but to align with it.”
Read additional stories
President Nelson Shares the “Hopes of My Heart” with New Mission Leaders
Elder Cook: Four Ways Missionaries Can Love Others and Deepen Their Conversion
Book of Mormon Is the Most Effective Conversion Tool, Say Elder and Sister Holland
Repentance Is Not a Backup Plan; It Is the Plan, Says Elder Andersen
