LDS Says More Work Done With Higher Standards for Missionaries

KIFI ABC News Local 8/August 26, 2004

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints says although higher standards have resulted in fewer missionaries, more work is getting done.

Local News 8's Dale Jakins takes a closer look at how missionaries are doing after the church raised the bar.

That glow that they have about them just tells you that they're here for the right reasons.

They're part of the 56,000 missionaries worldwide for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Missionaries are comprised of mostly 19-year-old men who devote two years of their lives entirely to the church.

In October, 2002, the church announced it would raise standards on qualifying missionaries.

But that meant a fewer amount of missionaries considered worthy to complete service for the church.

Fewer missionaries are doing the same amount of work that 192 missionaries did, so that will tell you that the standards in their own personal lives and the commitment to the Lord, it's all been raised.

Colin Bricknell is a mission president presiding over a 155 missionaries.

He keeps track of how many people are taught and baptized in southeast Idaho.

They're up and down, but overall over the last year, they've stayed the same and that is indicative of a fewer number of missionaries obtaining the same amount of baptisms.

Bricknell says numbers are not the focus of success for a missionary.

He says it's something deeper than charts and figures.

They will know that they've been successful when they feel deep inside their heart that they've done their very best they can do for the Lord.

More prepared missionaries are being able to come out and serve God, we don't have so many problems and hassles that they used to have.

The success is measured personally by the way you feel after you've done all that you can for the Lord.

The greatest number of missionaries the church had serving was 61,000 in 2002.

Bricknell says he expects to see the number of missionaries increase in the near future.