Posted by:
Anon for this one
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Date: October 28, 2013 10:38PM
So the missionaries were at our house last night for dinner, the first time in months. Unlike some of the previous missionaries, they were all business to the point of seeming incredibly fake. Very patronizing and condescending, though in a naive, innocent way.
After telling us as though we were spiritually and intellectually inferior that the missionaries do the teaching while the members have the responsibility of finding, they introduced us to the latest new inspired plan called by the catchy acronym, FFT: finders, fellowshippers, and testifiers.
They told us that they had faith that we could become FFTs. I didn't think much of it until a branch leader told me that apparently the missionaries now maintain a list of FFTs. Get this...they apparently rate members on what level of FFT they are. Apparently the missionaries showed branch leaders the list, with some members on it and some excluded, some marked less active and inactive. Those that were good FFTs were labeled as something like "fully invested in the work of eternal salvation."
II was appalled!! 18 year old boys are ranking members based on their perception of their level of commitment to sharing the gospel?? And what criteria are they using to judge this? Who are they to judge this? How do they quantify this?
The branch leader told me that this idea was offensive to him and that even one of the more consercative branch leaders poked fun at the concept of "first string" and "second string" members.
Well I did some quick research, and I found out that this idea was drawn up, not by the local missionaries, but by a visiting general authority that recently toured the Iowa mission.
Here is a selection from Elder Anderson's missionary blog. Apparently his mom posts all his letters online. He is currently serving in the Iowa mission.
"It was powerful. In mission leadership council we learned about turning members into FFT’s (finders, fellow shippers, and testifiers). And starting with the bishop. He said, “the bishop holds the keys to missionary work in the ward, and we need to get him to turn his keys to “finding.” It was super inspiring to see the results that converting members into effective FFT’s would come about. Thousands of baptisms in a year. So in our zone we are now tracking how many FFT’s have been mobilized in each of the units that we cover, and then we will be reporting that to the Stake President. Missionaries will now be focusing on converting members into missionaries. I think that that is the future of successful missionary work. Knocking on doors is going out the door. Eventually it will progress to simply working through the members. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is how it is for Jared when he goes on his mission. Brett’s mission might still be in the transition process."
http://www.elderkyleanderson.com/2013/09/29/september-16-2013/Note to self: don't post son's future mission letters to blog.
"I am relieved to be working with Africans again. I love them so much. We have taught quite a few lessons this week, despite our busy schedule. And all of them have been to African families. They are just super humble people, and they are so sensitive to the spirit."
Wow!! Just wow!!!