Thoughts on Reactivation and Baptism

Roy recently wrote a great blog post about reactivation. I intended this to be a comment on that post but realized how asinine it was to write such a long comment when it could be a post in and of itself. So here we go.

I wonder, and I've expressed this before, whether or not the people the missionaries baptized into the church are people who can stay active. We're as a rule a highly articulate and educated church. We have our own jargon, derived from traditional Christianity, but with very unique meanings. We place a high value on academic achievement. Our leaders tend to be highly successful in their fields.

This does not describe--I'm speaking in general terms here--the type of people that the missionaries have access to. Now that's not to say that missionaries don't baptize people who become stalwarts in the faith. They do we've all seen it. But of their many baptisms what percent stays active? I think church wide our activity rate is somewhere in the 30%-50% range. I don't think this is all because of disaffection with dogma, I think a lot of inactivity starts with a failure to find a niche in a ward or branch and subsequent failure to learn our liturgical language.

This is why I see reactivation and missionary work as a highly cultural part of our church existence. With new converts we need to befriend them and acculturate them. We cannot simply assign a home teacher and call it a day. Conversion requires new members to become fluent in a new language and to learn a new standard of expectations.

Now the language part is hard for many Mormons because by and large we are not bilingual. I mean to say we don't speak Catholic, Muslim, or Evangelical very well. We struggle to realize that "sacrament" to us is "communion" to others and their "sacraments" are our "ordinances". We forget that the term Grace as it is used in much of the Christian world is what we think of as mercy (rough translation, there are nuances that don't come through). Perhaps most important in the conversion and conversation with new members (and non-members) is that what we mean by "works" is really nothing more than the idea that the power of the Grace of Christ changes the hearts of men to do good continually.

Without starting this process of linguistic acculturation at the beginning of a conversion we are fighting an uphill battle when we reactivate.

I believe that this is why Prez. Hinckley was so adamant about not only having a calling for new converts, but also teaching them the gospel and befriending them. Without friendship and the ability to openly dialogue about doctrine, those we baptize are at a disadvantage at "becoming Mormon" and all of the cultural baggage that this entails.

Additionally without the ability to actually discuss the gospel beyond the superficial "seminary" analysis of Sunday School, I think we fail to realize the potential of living in a community of Christ. The insights that can be gleaned through dialoguing with others and admitting to them that there are aspects of the gospel you a. struggle to understand or b. have a hard time believing, can be tremendously edifying and uplifting. If we undertake to start this process with every convert and reach out to our friends in a similar manner we can as a people fulfill the promise of the School of the Prophets and "all be edified together."

~Stew