Lessons on Missionary Service
Lesson No. Eleven

Invite All to Come and be Baptized

Baptizing in the Lord’s way is the primary purpose of missionary service – On the first day of our mission we sent a letter to the missionaries and members of the Kentucky Louisville Mission.  This letter was accompanied by a copy of a sermon President Ezra Taft Benson gave entitled President Kimball’s Vision of Missionary Work (Ensign, July 1985).  All members and missionaries should study this sermon as it emphasizes “the sacredness of bringing souls unto our Father in Heaven and the importance of greatly increasing convert baptisms.” Our mission focused on greatly increasing convert baptisms.

In the September 1990 Iron Rod, our mission letter, we wrote:  “Great missionaries never hesitate to invite people to be baptized.  As they testify and invite people to come to Christ through baptism, the Spirit bears record and the ‘elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts’ (D&C 29:7).

“The Lord has said that missionaries must ‘open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your back, for lo, I am with you’ (D&C 33:9).  When He says, ‘spare not’ I suggest that He is saying that we should not hold back but that we deliver our message with courage and boldness.”

Baptizing thousands – Presidents Kimball and Benson refer to Alma 26:22 which states “yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls unto repentance.”  They continue:  “Did you hear the words thousands? Not hundreds, not dozens, not tens, but thousands.  The Lord knows what these words mean, and when he uses the word thousands, he means thousands” (Ensign, July 1985). 

The July 1990 Iron Rod stated:  “We believe, like the prophets do, that the promise recorded in Alma 26:22 about bringing thousands of people to repentance applies to us.”  We knew that we could bring thousands of people into the Church if our missionaries would “repent” (keeping all mission rules), and “exercise faith” (study the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon), and “bring forth good works” (work hard and smart), and “pray continually without ceasing” (effective missionaries pray many times a day, and they live as they pray). “Unto such is given to know the mysteries of God” (the gospel is a mystery that must be revealed by God). “Yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed” (missionaries teach those who have never heard of the gospel). “Yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls unto repentance…” (Alma 26:22).

Thousands accepted the invitation to be baptized – Baptisms increased as our missionaries opened their mouths and invited their investigators to be baptized.  They trusted in the Lord’s promises given by His Prophets that we could baptize thousands.  In the next three years as missionaries in the Kentucky Louisville Mission taught and testified of Christ and the Restoration and invited all to come and be baptized more than two thousand people joined the Church.    

We share this in the spirit of what Presidents Kimball and Benson emphasized in their sermon:  “Please do not confuse this straightforward emphasis on missionary work with mere statistics.  Our concerns are with souls, not statistics.  We desire growth because that will mean that we are reaching our Heavenly Father’s children who desperately need the gospel and the Church…” (Ensign, July 1985).

Testimony– This lesson is consistent with Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service which was written for both full time and member missionaries.  The first chapter is entitled What is My Purpose as a Missionary?  The answer: “Baptizing and confirming the people you teach is central to you purpose. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said:  ‘We do not preach and teach in order to ‘bring people into the Church’ or to increase the membership of the Church.  We do not preach and teach just to persuade people to live better lives. …We invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in order to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God.  No one else can do this.’”

 We testify that what Elder Oaks taught is true.  Baptizing is the main purpose of missionary service.