I grew up in a small city in Utah County, Utah, USA (about 20,000 people). From the time I was young, Almost everyone I knew and interacted with was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often called Mormons). After my freshman year at BYU, I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ in Germany. Up until that time, I had resided in Utah County. The fact is, even now, I simply haven't had a lot of interaction with people who are not Mormons!
As an active Mormon, much of my social interaction is stems from the Church. Active Mormons attend church each Sunday--for three hours! about 2/3 of that time is fairly interactive. Also, as a Mormon man, I participate in the congregation as a lay priest--a priesthood holder. Essentially, my duties in the Church require me to interact with other church members (like visiting the homes of families in the congregation to teach, encourage, and offer care). So, typically somewhere around four hours of my week are spent either at Church, or interacting with members of the church by virtue of my lay priesthood responsibilities.
Currently, I live in Bountiful, Utah. Something that troubles me is this: when people outside the LDS (Latter-day Saint) faith land in a community that is predominantly Mormon, in many cases, they are terribly excluded. It's a negative situation, but I can understand how this happens. If most of the members of the community are engaged in the Mormon "lifestyle" as I'll call it, people who are not engaged in the lifestyle are excluded. People in the Mormon "zone," so to speak, I think are often oblivious to those who aren't in the circle.
As members of the majority community, we should reach out more often and more naturally. It is true we are a missionary church, but our interactions with friends of other faith should not end with an invitation to meet the missionaries! I, and many other Mormons in communities where Mormons represent the majority, could and should make a concerted effort to be kind and inclusive to all, not just Mormons. How can we do that? Our recent Utah windstorm has taught us some good lessons and brought some things to my awareness.
In the aftermath of the windstorm, there was a lot of clean-up. I was glad to see some of my Mormon neighbors help a friend of another faith who lost three large pines in the storm. But, in the ensuing days, when the Church mobilized to clean up debris before a second possible storm, I realized too late that our friend of another faith was left out of the loop and not invited to join the clean-up party!
It a simple matter. We just need to become cognizant of the fact that not everyone is a Mormon!
My pledge is to consider all of my neighbors, not just the Mormons.
[Bryce is a professional genealogist living Bountiful, Utah. You can also follow him at episodesfromthelifeofbryce.blogspot.com and www.briggsrogersfamilyhistory.com]
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I think there's an interesting paradox here. While we were still living in Utah, I recall coming home from our ward Trunk or Treat on Halloween and seeing a mom and her little girl, going door to door, and I heard the mom saying "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I don't know where everyone is--they're supposed to be home!" I was mortified at the impact that a ward activity had on our larger community, and the hurt feelings it caused. (I invited the woman to come to the trunk or treat on the spot, but she declined. I could understand why.) On the other side of that is the true feeling by non-members that any invitation to participate is a missionary effort. Sometimes we exclude them. Sometimes they call us pushy if we try to include. But I think that the effort needs to be made, either way.
ReplyDeleteBecca, I agree that the effort needs to be made to reach out to all of our neighbors. I aspire to be aware and inclusive of friends of other faiths, even if I don't expect they'll ever want to join our faith! Thanks for the comment!
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