Missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is well known for their efforts to contact the public through proselyting activities. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints use the word mission in relation to these activities. It has 2 related yet distinct meanings.
- the administrative area, often based on a geographic region, to which missionaries are assigned.
- a proselyting or service assignment of limited duration fulfilled by individuals or married couples acting as LDS missionaries.
This article deals with the former, and all references to "missionary" specifically refer to a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Contents |
[edit] Administrative structure
Geographically, a mission may be a city, a city and surrounding areas, a state, or perhaps an entire country or multiple countries. Essentially, all parts of the world where missionaries are permitted to serve are divided into missions. In addition, there are a number of "special missions," generally within the area of a regular mission, which are designated for a specific purpose such as service to the homeless. Special missions have their own Presidencies (see below), separate from that of the larger missions in whose territory they are formed.
The mission with the smallest geographic area is the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission, in which "sister" missionaries from around the world serve as tourguides, often to visitors from their own homelands. These sisters will serve approximately 6 months on Temple Square, then serve "in the field" for 6 months in another mission in another part of the United States, then return to Temple Square for the final 6 months of their 18-month mission call.
Typically the name of the mission is the name of the country (or state in the United States), and then the city (usually a large city) where the mission headquarters office is located.
[edit] Mission President
All missionaries serve in a mission under the direction of a Mission president, who, like individual missionaries, is assigned by the President of the Church. He is a High Priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood. His wife serves alongside him. He is typically middle age or older. Like the missionaries, he is most likely not from the area he is serving, and may not even be from the same country, or be a native speaker of the language.
The Mission President has at least two counselors, who sometimes are from the local area and who keep their regular employment. The role of the counselors varies by mission, but they are typically liasions between the mission and the stakes.
[edit] Mission Organization
A mission may be organized two different ways, depending on the situation. The first is the organization of the missionaries. There are two or more missionaries who serve as "Assistants to the President" (not to be confused with the counselors in the mission presidency). They carry out the direction of the Mission President in the organization of the mission, the assigning of companions and proselyting areas, and oversee the welfare and training of the missionaries. The missionaries are divided into zones, each led by a missionary assigned as a zone leader. The zones may be geographically large or small depending on the mission. The zones are divided into districts, each being led by a missionary assigned as a district leader. A district usually has two to four missionary companionships. The zone leaders and district leaders train the missionaries, see after their welfare, conduct interviews, proselyte together, and share successes.
Each missionary companionship has a geographical area which may include part of a ward or branch, one ward or branch, or several wards or branches. They are reponsible for preaching to the people in their own area.
The other type of mission organization exists where there are no organized church stakes. This may be case where the church is relatively new and there are few members. The mission president is the presiding church authority in such areas, and he is responsible for all the members, not just the missionaries. The mission is divided into districts (not to be confused with the other type of district) which serve much the same role as stakes do. Each district has a District President and his counselors who are usually local residents and report directly to the mission presidency. The districts are composed of branches. In these cases the Mission President oversees all the affairs of the church in the mission. After the membership has grown typically the districts are turned into stakes and the stake presidents do not report to the mission president. The Mission President is then only responsible for the proselyting missionaries.
[edit] Mission Reunions
Many missionaries working together build strong bonds of friendship, and for a few years after their missions are over, a former mission president will host reunions of missionaries who served with him. As the missionaries come from many different parts of the world, it is common that the reunions are held in Utah, especially during general conference weekends, as it provides for the probability of the largest number of attendees. Several web sites have been created by church members with the express purpose of allowing mission alumni to keep in contact, one of the most notable being the LDS Mission Network[1].
[edit] List of Missions
These are the names of the missions. Their actual area of responsibility may be much larger than the name may indicate. As the LDS Church does not maintain official Websites for its missions (as opposed to individual wards and stakes), external links are to unofficial alumni sites.
[edit] United States |
||
---|---|---|
|
|
|
[edit] Canada |
||
|
|
|
[edit] Mexico |
||
|
|
|
[edit] Central America and The Caribbean |
||
|
|
|
[edit] South America |
||
|
|
|
[edit] Europe and Russia |
||
|
|
|
[edit] Africa |
||
|
|
|
[edit] Asia |
||
|
|
|
[edit] Pacific |
||
|
|
|
[edit] References
- ----. 2001-2002 Deseret News Church Almanac (2000). Salt Lake City: Deseret News.
[edit] External Links
- mission.net - list of mission websites