Gospel Principles
Unit 7: Perfecting Our Lives
Chapter 33: Missionary Work
Concept 2: The Lord's Church Is a Missionary Church
"The Lord's Church has always been a missionary church. When the Savior lived on the earth, he ordained Apostles and Seventies and gave them the authority and responsibility to preach the gospel. Most of their preaching was to their own people, the Jews (Matthew 10:5-6 "5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."). After Jesus was resurrected, he sent Apostles to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He commanded the Apostles, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15).
The Apostle Paul was a great missionary sent to the Gentiles. After he was converted to the Church, he spent the remainder of his life preaching the gospel to them. At different times during his mission he was whipped, stoned, and imprisoned. Yet each time he escaped from his persecutors, he preached the gospel as diligently as before (Acts 23:10-12 "10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle.
11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
12 And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul."
See acts/26">Acts 26.
Missionary work began again when the Lord's Church was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Today the Apostles and Seventies have been given the chief responsibility for preaching the gospel and seeing that it is preached in all the world. The Lord told Joseph Smith: "proclaim my gospel from land to land, and from city to city ... . Bear testimony in every place, unto every people" (D&C 66:5, 7). In June 1830, Samuel Harrison Smith, the Prophet's brother, began the first missionary journey for the Church.
Since that time thousands of missionaries have been called and sent forth to preach the gospel. The message they take to the world is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior. They testify that the gospel has been restored to the earth through a prophet of God (see David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, p. 132). The missionaries are given the responsibility to preach the gospel to all people, to baptize them, and to teach them to do all things that the Lord has commanded (Matthew 28:19-20 "19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them toobserve all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.").
Latter-day Saint missionaries go at their own expense to all parts of the world to preach the gospel message.
Discussion
What two important messages do missionaries teach and testify of?"