Buening & Cowley: Mormon Missionary Trips Do More Harm Than Good
Snowfall in downtown Salt Lake City on a Christmas night on Dec. 25, 2018. (Photo by Abu Asib | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
April 29, 2022
Fifty-four thousand five hundred thirty-nine missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints currently serve in one of 407 mission locations worldwide. Members go with the intention to serve their faith dutifully, but the reality is more complicated than that.
As people with LDS family members, acquaintances and friends, we have watched many people embark on mission trips. We’ve seen firsthand how these trips exploit members of the church, as well as the communities they visit. And while the church touts mission trips as voluntary, the lack of informed consent, lifetime of pressure and questionable self-sovereignty would indicate otherwise.
The mission trips promoted by the Mormon church have lasting psychological and financial impacts on members and harm the communities they visit more than they help.
The Missionary Experience
From a young age, church members are encouraged to proselytize — recruit people to convert to their faith. Mission trips are the embodiment of this recruitment. Men can begin their two-year missions at the ripe age of 18, while women can serve for 18 months when they’re 19. For men especially, missionary service is an expectation. The church’s apostles have reinforced serving a mission as a “priesthood duty” and “obligation” for them.
While serving in foreign or otherwise unfamiliar areas, a missionary’s duty is to convert as many people as they can, working in tandem with another missionary — their “companion.” Meanwhile, they must abide by a strict set of rules that dictate everything, from what they can wear to what types of media they can consume. Missionaries cannot communicate with family or friends on their own terms, either. Breaching these rules can mean getting sent home — a fate sometimes equal to social ostracization.
Engaging in such service can be damaging for young missionaries. Take, for example, Janell Christensen — a returned missionary and current student at the University of Utah. As a Utah-raised Mormon, she approached her mission as an opportunity for spiritual growth and service. But looking back, she said she had “no idea what [she] was getting into.” She said that although she volunteered to serve, she didn’t have what was necessary to provide informed consent.
Upon getting to Chile, her mission location, Christensen was “torn away from all of [her] coping skills.” She had no time or energy to take care of her own needs, and the mission encouraged her to neglect them altogether. Even for the bulk of her mission, she skipped dinner to be “diligent” and find more people to teach.
When she tried to escape an emotionally abusive companion, Christensen’s mission president threatened to send her home. When placed in an area with high crime, she received little protection or preparation. Men groped her, she withstood carbon monoxide exposure and endured harassment. The church places missionaries like her in some of the world’s most dangerous areas, with promises that obedience to the rules will keep them safe. Missionaries must also pay a minimum of $500 a month for the trip’s duration. This exchange might reap more members for the church, but it exploits the free labor of young people with innocent intentions.
Separation from everything familiar deals a severe blow to many missionaries’ mental health. Uprooting and isolating missionaries during some of the most formative years of their lives is not coincidental on the church’s part. Stripping missionaries of their autonomy effectively indoctrinates them as lifelong members of the religion.
Community Consequences
Mission trips are similar to modern-day colonialism. They resemble Christian assimilation as more missionaries attempt to convert people from poor and developing communities. Should poor people convert, they have to begin paying a “tithe,” where the church collects one-tenth of their income. Regardless of socioeconomic status, they’re expected to contribute these funds to the church’s multi-billion dollar organization.
Christensen said that because missionaries purposefully sweep the more controversial subjects under the rug, converts aren’t given enough information to make an informed decision about conversion. As a result, convert retention rates are poor, with most countries only retaining about 50% of their converts after one year.
The church also sends missionaries to both struggling countries and Native American reservations within the U.S. This comes after a long history of invading Native people’s lands that dates back to when Utah was first settled. When Mormons arrived in Utah, they pushed out the native tribes who had been living on the land for thousands of years.
Mormon presence meant devastation for the native people. LDS leader Brigham Young preached that the Navajo and other native tribes were descendants of a prominent LDS group that would become “white and delightsome” once baptized. In addition, church leaders encouraged members to buy child slaves in order to convert and “civilize them.”
Sometimes Native people felt forced to sell their children to the Mormons. Even in recent history, Mormons have taken native children from their families to “assimilate” them. The Indian Placement Program ran from 1947-2000, and ripped native children from their families to place them in boarding schools. The church has repeatedly seen Native people as nothing more than potential converts and continues to target them.
There are better ways to provide aid to those in need. The church’s missionary programs make it clear that their want for more members outweighs concern for human wellbeing and historical insult. For missionaries, their service can result in lasting trauma. For communities, missionary work can resemble colonialism by ushering underprivileged people into problematic power structures and covenants. What’s the good in that?
Russ • Dec 2, 2022 at 9:08 am
I’m a returned missionary and absolutely loved every minute of it. There is no doubt it was one of the most difficult periods in my life. Living the rules and lifestyle is not easy. However, those trials have paid massive dividends in my life. I’ve received FAR more than I gave. There’s no comparison.
It always astonishes me how much hate and vitriol there is for the church. Have you even considered the massive good that also comes from serving a mission?
Amy • May 13, 2022 at 10:32 pm
Some very important points made there.
My husband had a companion who was suicidal and didn’t want to return without serving an ‘honourable mission.’ That is a lot for young people to cope and deal with in those circumstances. My husband was afraid to sleep incase he woke up to find his companion dead.
My husband also spent the night in a cell for doing missionary work as did many others on that mission..
I do think transparency to prospective members is important. I doubt many have any idea the ceremonies and promises that the missionaries have made shortly beforehand at the temple. I doubt even the missionaries have even themselves processed by then that they promise to give their entire lives over to the church or be as dead… they aren’t allowed to discuss what happens in the temple outside of it. Go figure.
I would be very concearned sending my children off to another country on a mission for the LDS church.. based on the experiences that I and others have had with members of the church who have been extremely abusive while portrayed and portraying as the most lovely people. If so lovely why does the church need to send out salesmen to draw people to it? If so lovely why is there no sign of true care and compassion or concearn expressed in the many comments here so far by members, for the experiences of the missionaries in the article? Instead plain discrediting of experience that is shared. How do people become so cold and inhumane?! More concearned with appearing right than actually doing right.
Christine • May 13, 2022 at 7:26 pm
Thank you for this article. My mission was traumatic and the worst mistake I ever made. So many missionaries who have a horrible experience are made to think it is their fault. Shame and judgment is unhealthy. Also, I hated the ethnocentric audacity of predominantly white people going to other countries and telling them that their beliefs are wrong. It destroys culture.
Kerry • May 13, 2022 at 8:27 am
I served a mission in the mid 90s. My father died while I was serving. I was told “ the brethren expect you to stay” . I wanted to go home but the expectation was repeated. I stayed. I received nothing but praise for my amazing sacrifice for 20 years. I finally realized that the unprocessed grief and the choices that were taken away from me as a fully competent adult were wrong and a glimpse into what is problematic about the church’s missionary program. I did love the people and it was cool learning a language but the extreme rules and putting adults in a situation where they are not thinking for themselves can often cause mental distress. Missions can be great but it’s not the military , it’s not a job, it’s a volunteer opportunity and as such should give those serving control over their experience.
Thomas • May 12, 2022 at 10:08 am
Your overall arguments and reasoning throughout this opinion piece are shallow and your evidence is rather unimpressive. Many things that you say are taken completely out of context. As people who have never served missions, I would never expect you to fully understand them. This is yet another unnecessary low blow at the Church to paint it in a bad light with the intent to sway people to leave it and fight against it. There is also no mention of the wonderful, life-changing growth that takes place for missionaries nor the people that they interact with. Before writing your opinion about something, you ought to think a little harder about what you are actually saying and who will be reading it. Your mentioning of “indoctrination” attempts by the church throughout your article are, in my opinion, offensive. Members of the church are often portrayed as “brainwashed” and “indoctrinated” to make them feel ignorant and to think of their beliefs as being foolish. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ myself, and a returned missionary, there has been no lack of thought, analyzation, or questioning on my part. I have spent my whole life asking questions and will continue to do so. You have tried to belittle my service and my sacrifices here and portray them as meaningless and stupid. In response to this, I might ask you the same question that you ended your article with: “What’s the good in that?”
Djent • Jul 31, 2022 at 7:25 pm
Fail
Ty • May 9, 2022 at 11:57 am
I served a mission. I loved the people, memories I made, and the opportunity it gave me to grow. I am black, and was adopted and all my life growing up I had to think about how the church had a ban on allowing men of African descent into their priesthood that was in effect until the late 70’s, and then it was “lifted” and the members treated it like it was the emancipation proclamation. No official apology. No official explanation. I stumbled upon the Nelson Lowry letters, where the first presidency under George Albert Smith responded and stated that black people were “less faithful in the preexistence.” Read them and please tell me if they were fake. I read a book written by a general authority called “Mormonism and the negro” off of my grandpas bookshelf. I was always the only black person in the church building. No matter what the individual members think, the church’s view of race is set in stone. Even in regard to the LGBT community and the church’s involvement in politics against them. I remember a mission leader told us to focus on black people because “they are more humble” because they’re poor. The rules placed on missionaries has been relaxed in the past few years but when I went it was completely against the rules to talk to family, only for an hour on mondays. My stance is that individuals in the church are amazing people, but the organization of the church and what it stands for is not welcoming to many people, and people that are trying to join should be made aware of what they’re getting into
Sarah • May 3, 2022 at 8:17 am
Oh boy! I sure feel sorry for you.
You sound very unhappy.
Someone has filled your mind and soul with lies and misleading information.
Obviously you have not served a mission yourself. Take the time to get on your knees and pray, it will change your life.
Deborah W. • May 3, 2022 at 3:53 am
What a slanted bunch of garbage!
You have obviously not spoken to many people who actually served missions. Everyone I know that served a mission is glad they went. That includes those who are no longer members. You also have not talked with any of the Indian students involved in the Indian Exchange Program, or families that opened their homes to house an Indian student.
Both my husband and I served missions. To this day, we both say it was one of the best decisions we ever made! He says that, inspite of getting mugged and beat up by 5 drunk cowboys in a little town in Iowa, ON HIS BIRTHDAY!
Crime happens everywhere, and the strict mission rules are an attempt to keep all of the missionaries safe. Even with the best rules and safety proticol bad things happen.
Within the last few years the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has put out a series of safety videos to train missionaries how to stay safe. No one anywhere in this world can be guaranteed 100% safety all of the time. The Church provides immediate counseling for missionaries who have bad things happen.
If you took a random sampling of the same age group of non-missionary, college-aged students, you would find the assults, rapes, robberies, and violent crime is much much higher. Those numbers are probably posted on many college campus info sites. The crime statitics actually verify it is much safer to serve a mission.
The missionary safety proticols continue to evolve and improve. I didn’t receive any safety training in 1992. Yes that was probably naive of me. I also got almost no safety training when I went to college in 1990 either. So you can’t say missionary safety was worse.
Today missionaries are actually counseled to avoid certain areas, if is not safe to be there use your best judgement as an adult. We geek we do get special promptings from God that keep us safe.
Around the world, as various conflicts arise, such as Ukraine and Russia, missionaries are removed early, before they could be caught in a dangerous situation.
My husband and I both faced numerous challenges as missionaries. Every missionary week struggle learning to get asking with companions different than themselves. In college I had to learn to get along with roommates. That’s life.
We sacrificed a lot to serve for 18 months and 2 years. No one forced us to stay. At any point we could’ve bought a plane ticket and come home.
Our oldest son choose not to serve a mission. No one forced him or pressured him to go. Missions don’t want someone who doesn’t want to be there! We love him.
Our second son went on a mission to England. Your article is completely false about missionaries not being able to contact their families.
It’s false to say they can’t go home when they want to. Missionaries are encouraged to email, write, and call home weekly. If a missionary is serving in a very remote area, that is going to affect how often they can contact their families. Lack of internet is to be expected in some countries or rural USA areas.
To me it seems pretty obvious why foreign missions may keep the passports in the security of the mission office.
It’s so they don’t get stolen or lost! You can’t get back into your home country without it. Your premise is completely false. It’s not easy to replace a passport. Any foreign travelor that has had their bag stolen can attest to what a traumatic feeling it is to not have any ID to fly home! It would include significant time, money, and resources to get to an embassy on a large city to replace a VISA, passport, or other lost documents.
Our son contacted us daily, or as needed, from the day he left for England. His Mission President knew he was having a hard time being away from home for the first time. When he started having mental health issues due, to anxiety and depression, no one forced him to stay. The mission first offered counseling and tried to help him stay. When that didn’t work, he made the decision to come home early after 6 months. The Mission President was supportive. The decision was our son’s. No one forced him to stay. It was the same with other missionaries he knew that needed or wanted to come home.
Counseling was also offered free of charge from the Church after he came home. He chose to continue his mission from home. He served as a local Service Missionary. There is zero proseliting. Your article completely leaves out the option of serving a service mission. That is an option now that is given to everyone who wants to be a missionary.
Our son lived at home and volunteered at the VA Hospital, Haven Hospice, and delivering food with Meals on Wheels during covid. He worked hundreds of service hours. Your premise that a missionary is only out there to convert people is so naive and wrong!
Missionaries worldwide spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of hours each year volunteering and serving within their communities! They clean up after natural disasters. They offer translation services, teach English, teach hygiene and water sanitation practices.
In Europe right now missionaries are helping the hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Teaching others about what we believe is only one small part of what missionaries do.
We serve within the communities we are assigned. We improve lives. My local sister missionaries weekly go to help a woman rebuild her fire damaged house. Missionaries are a benefit to their communities. We come to love those we serve. We learn to be less selfish and more Christlike. We became a ray of hope and goodness in their lives.
Missionaries grow up on their missions. They learn to be adults with a strong work ethic. They learn to love people and serve people in different socioeconomic and cultural situations. That isn’t a bad thing. Many come home and become interpreters. They continue to serve in their home communities. Their possitive outlook lifys others.
Missionaries come home with a better perspective of the world. They have seen what real life is like for many people. The many skills they learn often translate into getting better jobs and better education skills. They can provide better for their future families. Learning to study scriptures and a new language diligently every day for 18 months – 2 years translates into better college study skills. What college student doesn’t need better study skills?
Missions can be very very hard. Mine was. My husband’s was. My son’s was. When my oldest son, who chose not to go on a mission, told his younger brother, “I told you you would hate it and come home early!” The younger brother’s response was, “Actually, I don’t regret a thing. I’m glad I went, even if it was only 6 months. I had a lot of good experiences, even though I needed to come home early.”
Your article is very very flawed in so many ways. By focusing on a few of the negative things that some have felt, you have left out the majority of those whose overall experience was positive. Nothing in life is 100% negative or positive.
You also mention the Indian Placement Program in your article. Since I also have experience with that, your article is very flawed in its assumptions. The Church was trying to help Native American children gain a better education off the Reservation. You obviously have no idea how awful the schools on an Indian Reservation can be. Have you ever personally set foot on an Indian reservation? Have you ever talked with anyone who went to school there?
You can look up the statistics of low graduation rates, reading and math scores below national averages. Reservations, like any school, get funding from taxes and federal government dollars. There is a lack of funding and it is difficult to get good teachers to stay and teach in remote resrvation areas.
In the 1980’s my family in AZ had the oportunity to host a middle school aged Navajo Indian Boy. He lived with us for the school year. It was not an indoctrination program. The program was set up to give a better education opportunity to students on reservations. They had free room and board, so they could get a better education than the one offered on the Navajo Reservation. Think of it as free boarding school.
Our Navajo student joined in with all the activities my brother and I did. My parents enrolled him in soccer and any extracurricular activities my brother did. I’m sure it was difficult for him to be away from his family for that school year.
There were no cell phones back then, but he could call home if needed, but long distance calls are expensive back then. It would’ve been similar to a Student Exchange Program where a student from Germany comes to America to go to school with a host family. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that.
No one forced his parents to sign him up for the program.
He decided to come too. Families usually took 1 or 2 children into their home for the school year. Although there are cases of some issues with the program, you cannot say it’s any worse than any other student exchange program, just because a religous organization was in charge of it.
Yes, Navajo student came to church with us on Sundays. My sister’s German exchange student did that too. He joined in family prayers. He was included in other activities our family did, like vacations.
My sister’s German Exchange student in 2019-2020 did the same thing. In both situations, religious involvement was voluntary, but her exchange student chose to join in.
The Church sponsored program, by virtue of being the sponsor, made it pretty clear to those who signed up, that their kids would be living with families who attended church regularly. These Indian families weren’t dumb. No one forced them to send their children to stay with members of our church. I’m sure the students had a mixture of good and bad experiences with the program, just like other foreign exchange student programs.
Your entire article is flawed. It’s obvious you didn’t do a good job of researching your topic and talking to enough missionaries. You cherry-picked your examples to fit your negative viewpoint.
The view that missionaries are some sort of Western White conquorer is pretty dumb too.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a global church with congregations all over the world. Hundreds if thousands of members live oitside the USS. Members are from many cultures and countries. Thus, they aren’t all from the USA or all white, so we don’t fit your narrative.
The total number of missionaries serving INCLUDES those from outside the USA serving within their own foreign countries. That’s thousands of missionaries doing service within their own nation.
Sorry, too many flaws with your article to discuss them all.
Ace Tanner • May 14, 2022 at 4:18 pm
What a slanted bunch of garbage!
You have obviously not spoken to many people who actually served missions. There are also many people who didn’t like, or even hate the fact that they’ve served a mission! I’m glad you and your family had a great time server a mission, but it doesn’t necessarily mean all missionaries have a great time. Calling this article “a slanted bunch of garbage” arbitrarily by deliberately ignoring the voice from the people who were suffering from their missions is not nice and open-minded, which I believe contradicts from what the Bible taught us to do.
Your comment is very very flawed in so many ways. By focusing on a few of the positive things that some have felt, you have left out the majority of those whose overall experience was negative. Nothing in life is 100% positive or negative.
People could choose to believe in your God, or they could choose to not believe in your God at all. Why does the Church have to send missionaries to persuade people to believe in its God? Plus, if the Church is actually that good, why would it send out missionaries?
Sorry, too many flaws with your comment to discuss them all! (Laugh😩)
Mike • May 2, 2022 at 10:32 pm
Biggest load of crap I’ve ever read. Poorly written and poorly researched. And some ought right false information. But it’s The Cranny. We’ve come to expect National Enquirer type journalism from them.
Margaret A Black • May 2, 2022 at 7:03 pm
This article is ridiculously slanted.
John • May 13, 2022 at 2:20 pm
Like everything the church says. Does the “one and only true and living church” or the “Lords anointed” give open and truthful information about; church history? Polygamy? Polyandry? Race issues? Conversion therapy? Are the open and honest? How about the church pr department do they slsnt things? Absolutely! So we should follow the examples of those ordained right??
正名 • May 2, 2022 at 3:16 pm
To paraphrase William Dalrymple:
“One can write the history of anything as a chronicle of crime and folly. First you decide what you hate, and then you gather evidence for its hatefulness. Since man is a fallen creature there is always much to find.”
Alas, if only these two were clearer about whom they hate. However, full marks for vacuous buzzwords.
Vaughn • May 1, 2022 at 8:45 pm
When are we going to read the opinion of the the other 54,000 missionaries.vaughn
J. P. • May 1, 2022 at 6:29 pm
I served a mission in El Salvador more than ten years ago. It was one of the most dangerous missions in the world with lots of crime and gang activity. But, we had very good safety protocols and training that we repeated every couple months. We never went into the most dangerous areas and never went out at night. No missionary was harmed in the whole 2 years I was there. Over the whole world, young missionaries are safer on their missions than most college campuses.
We taught a lot of people that we poor (basically everyone in El Salvador is poor). Most people that embraced our message ended up doing better financially as a side effect of joining our church. They quit expensive vices like cigarettes and alcohol, they networked with church members to find better jobs, and they were introduced to affordable education programs like the perpetual education fund.
Sergio Roa • May 1, 2022 at 12:36 pm
A Chilean Professor here, and a Latter Day Saint: I will speak as a professor: a) In your investigative work, you show the “Lenses” , my colleages put in your minds, that lenses are Neo marxism, Critical History Teory, Critical Race Teory , and a Militant Atheism. b) You need to know where your “Lenses” came from. c) All those ideologies, that the left use actually, came from a group of Intelectuals, professors like me, in the Franckfort University, they realice that marxism did not work, and develope a new aproach in the Post war Europe.
Jesse Bardsley • Apr 30, 2022 at 11:27 pm
Not considered here is that many of these poor people who join the church in developing countries find a loving and supportive community and purpose in life. Many of them claim it was the best thing that ever happened to them (although about as many end up leaving in the end). But still, it is difficult to say with confidence that it “does more harm than good.” It is the same with missionaries themselves: many former missionaries, even those who leave the church, still love their missions. It can be traumatic for some, but again, difficult to say if it does more harm than good.
R Clark • Apr 30, 2022 at 3:44 pm
Sarah Buening has no idea what she’s talking about.
Andrew Smith • Apr 30, 2022 at 9:11 am
I am a non mission serving man that was pressured to go but could not give up my passion for metal music and the art of drumming. Just the freedom to listen to music that can release stress and the freedom to have hobbies that make you unique could make the difference between a depressed and traumatic mission and a fun positive opportunity for developing as an adult. The church wants to create a generation of indoctrinated top down life long employees.
That is really the reason why the convert retention is so low. People do not have life changing interactions when the truth bearer is unrelatable. They think “Yeah thats nice but I could never see myself being like them”.
tt • Apr 30, 2022 at 6:07 am
In my mission, we were trapped there. Our passports were locked in a safe in the mission office. So if we wanted to go home on our own accord, we couldn’t. I have read that this is a common practice in some missions outside the U.S.
I clearly remember one elder who was begging to go home for weeks, but the mission president wouldn’t let him.
N Jones • Apr 30, 2022 at 1:16 am
A critical point eluded to here is that the purpose of LDS Missions are to complete the indoctrination process and keep the missionary in the Church. The leadership has stated in training meetings that if new members don’t do 1. Mission 2. Temple 3. Marriage in Temple by age 30, 91% will leave. Missions are to indoctrinate and create loyalty to the Church first. Period.
Jack M • Apr 30, 2022 at 7:20 pm
Well said.
Jared A • May 2, 2022 at 5:01 pm
Indoctrinate is the wrong word. Educate is better. No other church asks their potential members to ask questions and to find out for themselves if what they are being taught is true more than the LDS church. It is their entire mantra. Your response insinuates motive, which you do not know.
Chris Vore • Apr 29, 2022 at 8:52 pm
I’ve been around about 30 of these missionaries for many hours the last 3 weeks. They are so good! They want so badly to help people to become loving and kind like Jesus. It’s incredible to watch them sacrifice a couple of years to serve
others.
Amy • May 13, 2022 at 11:18 pm
It is a terrible shame for them to try to help people become kind when in the organisation they bring people to there is so little kindness given unless assimilating. Not a lot of kindness in the LDS church toward GLBTQ’s. At one point the children of same sex parents were not allowed to be full members of the church even. I’ve witnessed incredible amounts of bullying and threats made to people within the church.. people Living live trapped in dispair. I once bumped into an investigator while shopping who has special needs and asked her how she was doing and she cried telling me that missionaries would not stop contacting her.. she had told them time and time again that she wasn’t interested but they just kept showing up.. harrassing her. Just because they were possibly unaware they were doing it doesn’t make it any less so! I know people after serving missions and finding that they had been lied to regarding important parts of church history felt sad and regretted sacrificing years of their life on missions and bringing others into the church.. some have even contacted each of the people that they baptized to apologize to them and share with them the fuller version of what they have learned since.