LDS Senior Missionary Program
Elderly Mormons Can Go on Missions Not Focused on Conversion
When most people think of Mormon missionaries, a mental image forms of two clean-cut young men knocking on the door at an inconvenient time to peddle a product most people have no interest in. In recent years, the church has launched a senior missionary program to give older couples a chance to serve the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Some of these senior missionary positions resemble the traditional missionary work used by churches all over the world, while other senior missionary opportunities seem to have the goal of providing free labor for the Mormon church. One such opportunity recently posted on the senior missionary opportunities web page is the church looking for a geologist with a degree.
Senior Missionary Opportunities – A Way for Older Members to Keep Busy
The senior missions give Mormons that have reached retirement age a way to keep busy, although some of the opportunities serve the needs of the church or its for-profit enterprises rather than trying to help others. The most common type of senior mission is elderly couples volunteering to be temple workers. Other senior missionary opportunities include working for the Church Welfare System, working for the Church Educational System, or teaching people how to play piano for their congregation.
Some of these mission opportunities seem to have nothing to do with serving others or encouraging spiritual growth and concern themselves with providing services normally one has to deal with, such as overseeing the finances of the mission president. The elderly couples that go on these missions pay for the opportunity to serve the church. The church itself has issued guidelines on how much each mission should cost. The opportunities for senior missionaries are posted here, section of the official LDS website. Paying for missions is a standard practice for all missionaries. Young Mormon men often have mission funds set up by their parents.
Perhaps the oddest inclusion on the listing of senior missionary opportunities is tracking down members who have moved outside of their current branch, ward, or stake without giving the church a forwarding address. (Branches, wards, and stakes are organizational divisions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) The missionary opportunities page on the the church's website states that the job of tracking down members who left no forwarding address is a wonderful spiritual opportunity that gives the missionary the opportunity to give inactive members a chance to reconnect with the happiness they knew as active members of the church. Non-members often find this behavior disturbing but it is a common LDS practice.
Every Member a Missionary
“Ever member a missionary” is a slogan that anyone who is or has been a Latter-day Saint knows. Some of the senior missions seem odd to someone who has not been a Mormon, but the postings represent a shift from missionaries focusing purely on trying to convert people to giving more service-oriented opportunities that are associated with missionary work in denominations.
