Posted on 05/13/2014 3:33:43 AM PDT by chajin
Two thirds of active missionaries are married couples. Another third are single women. The rest are single men.
This is not exactly a statistic, per se. Its a sentiment, and sometimes a joke, expressed by mission leaders, mission recruiters, and most recently, by a bunch of twenty-something singles in my living room. It is a sentiment that reveals a striking truth about missionary work today: There are very few single men choosing to go.
The real statistic is this: For AIM and other similar organizations, somewhere between 80 and 85 percent of all single missionaries are women. For every 10 singles sent, only 2 are men. The disparity is great enough that theres a noticeable gap on many mission fields. The men are missing, and a cadre of single women have taken up the work, sometimes doing jobs that a male presence would be better suited to.
Why is there such a difference between men and women who choose missions in their single years? And does it matter?...
(Excerpt) Read more at next-mission.com ...
Good article.
Without reading the whole article, I’ll go so far as to say that I don’t know that these mission organizations would necessarily want today’s crop of young men. They are apathetic, uninspired, and lazy. Most men today are born to single mothers with no paternal guidance.
They’d be filling the “coffers” of missionary work if there was a draft. Tons of men went into the Peace Corps to avoid Viet Nam - Chris Matthews, I mean you!
How many men have been involved in missionary work compared to women in the last 100 years?
Thanks for this. Good insight.
Thanks for the article Chajin. I sometimes wonder if the cultural stew that comes with the internet is a factor in the male/female missionary ratio.
It is nice to see AIM unexpectedly pop up on my browser. Keep up the good work.
Well; would YOU like to shack up with some OTHER dude for a YEAR???
Well, I don't understand why they'd be so reticent about it...
After all...
What is your church doing to help the male to stay true?
"All of this should be conveyed without having priesthood leaders focus upon intimate matters which are a part of husband and wife relationships. Skillful interviewing and counseling can occur without discussion of clinical details by placing firm responsibility on individual members of the Church to put their lives in order before exercising the privilege of entering a house of the Lord. The First Presidency has interpreted oral sex as constituting an unnatural, impure, or unholy practice. If a person is engaged in a practice which troubles him enough to ask about it, he should discontinue it."
- Official Declaration of the First Presidency of the Church, January 5th, 1982
"Prophets anciently and today condemn masturbation. It induces feelings of guilt and shame. It is detrimental to spirituality. It indicates slavery to the flesh, not that mastery of it and the growth toward godhood which is the object of our mortal life. Our modern prophet has indicated that no young man should be called on a mission who is not free from this practice. What is more, it too often leads to grievous sin, even to that sin against nature, homosexuality. For, done in private, it evolves often into mutual masturbation-practiced with another person of the same sex and thence into total homosexuality...."
- Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, Pages 77-79, 81-82
"Among the most common sexual sins our young people commit are necking and petting. Not only do these improper relations often lead to fornication, [unwed] pregnancy, and abortions - all ugly sins - but in and of themselves they are pernicious evils, and it is often difficult for youth to distinguish where one ends and another begins. They awaken lust and stir evil thoughts and sex desires. They are but parts of the whole family of related sins and indiscretions. Almost like twins, 'petting' and fornication are alike."
- Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, page 65
"Also far-reaching is the effect of the loss of chastity. Once given or taken or stolen it can never be regained. Even in a forced contact such as rape or incest, the injured one is greatly outraged. If she has not cooperated and contributed to the foul deed, she is of course in a more favorable position. There is no condemnation where there is no voluntary participation. It is better to die in defending one's virtue than to live having lost it without a struggle."
- Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, page 196
"And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth." (Genesis 4:9-14.) That was true of murder. It is also true of illicit sex, which, of course, includes all petting, fornication, adultery, homosexual acts, and all other perversions. The Lord may say to offenders, as He did to Cain, "What hast thou done?" The children thus conceived make damning charges against you; the companions who have been frustrated and violated condemn you; the body that has been defiled cries out against you; the spirit which has been dwarfed convicts you. You will have difficulty throughout the ages in totally forgiving yourself."
-Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, "Love Versus Lust", BYU Speech January 5, 1965. Often-used quote still used today in LDS seminary classes."I do not find in the Bible the modern terms "petting" nor "homosexuality," yet I found numerous scriptures which forbade such acts under by whatever names they might be called. I could not find the term "homosexuality," but I did find numerous places where the Lord condemned such a practice with such vigor that even the death penalty was assessed."
- Apostle Spencer W. Kimball, "Love Versus Lust", BYU Speech January 5, 1965
"If adultery or fornication justified the death penalty in the old days, and still in Christ's day, is the sin any less today because the laws of the land do not assess the death penalty for it? Is the act less grievous? There must be a washing, a purging, a changing of attitudes, a correcting of appraisals, a strengthening toward self-mastery. There must be many prayers, and volumes of tears. There must be an inner conviction giving to the sin its full diabolical weight. There must be increased devotion and much thought and study. And this takes energy and time and often is accompanied with sore embarrassment, heavy deprivations and deep trials, even if indeed one is not excommunicated from the Church, losing all spiritual blessings."
-Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, Page 155
"How like the mistletoe is immorality. The killer plant starts with a sticky sweet berry. Little indiscretions are the berries -- indiscretions like sex thoughts sex discussions, passionate kissing, pornography. The leaves and little twigs are masturbation and necking and such, growing with every exercise. The full-grown plant is petting and sex looseness. It confounds, frustrates, and destroys like the parasite if it is not cut out and destroyed, for, in time it robs the tree, bleeds its life, and leaves it barren and dry; and, strangely enough, the parasite dies with its host."
- Apostle Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference Address, April 1, 1967.
Iff'n they wuz Catholic; we'd hear they were poorly catechized.
Maybe the SCHOOLS are falling down a bit in their instruction methods...
The BACKstory...
1 John 2:12-14
12 I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His names sake.
13 I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning.
????
What if you are in the middle of community service when the clock chimes 4 hours? “Sorry, I can't finish cutting your lawn, I've done enough community service for this week!”
Most of the male missionaries whom I know are risk takers and I am not sure that we are bringing up our boys in this same mold.
Many of them are former high school and college athletes and are they are used to winning, losing and getting thoroughly banged up in the process of athletics.
Probably the best way to make sure that we field men in missions is to send your sons and grandsons on short mission trips. Many of them will figure out that this is the important work.
I would also add that when you are on mission be a guy not a panty waste holy man. Hunt, fish and play the local sports on site with your friends. Good things happen when you become involved in other people’s lives and men are extremely well suited to this task.
Eh, I went to Jesuit, and there’s a couple of the guys from there who went on some missions. There’s a bunch who did stuff around town/at Jesuit after graduating. But overall, the overseas missions stuff just wasn’t all that popular.
One of my old girlfriends went on a couple mission trips, and their group was mostly females. Same thing with another girlfriend’s dad. Couldn’t tell you why.
Many of them are former high school and college athletes and are they are used to winning, losing and getting thoroughly banged up in the process of athletics.
The press used to trot out stories of "Vietnam vets gone bad" all the time.
However, I have met a very large number of Vietnam veterans who are missionaries, relief workers or medical workers in developing countries. Far more than the number of "Vets gone Bad" that I have personally met.
One possible reason for the disparity in single men vs single women missionaries is, to be blunt about it, testosterone. Potential missionary men really do not want to think about a life of celibacy. At the younger age of most Bible college students, most of us are still enamored with the Hollywood idea of a desirable female. It takes a bit of maturity to recognize quality in a woman.
Thankfully, I met Mrs NB at Bible school AFTER my tour in Vietnam. I had developed a 6 or 8 item checklist. She scored 100%. Plus, she was a real looker, to boot!
We have a number of friends who spent years on the field as single lady missionaries. One had become a widow after six months of marriage. Another spent about 12 years working as a nurse in a very remote, difficult area. Both are among the finest people I have ever known.
God also provided them both with outstanding husbands, in due time.
Too often, we men tend not to trust God to provide the very best wife for us at the best time, but not necessarily on our timetable.
His gift is well worth the wait!
Thank you for your service in both roles.
Yes, most missionaries do get married to others who are either missionaries or who catch the fire.
Testosterone is needed in the field for difficult times when leadership is required and I hope that more young men will sign up and go help people and teach the word. They will not regret it.
We are leaving an in country mission assignment and my thoughts are turning to Africa. Lots of work needs to be done and there is much fertile ground to be plowed, seeded and harvested.
"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision
of what is before them, glory and danger alike,
and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it."~Thucydides
Those rules must be from the 1800s. Sheesh. Why not just disappear into the woodwork.
I do know a lot of vets who have become missionaries. I thought it was just me and my own circle of friends.
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