Senior Missionaries and the Gospel

Elder Russell M. Nelson
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Liahona, Nov 2004, 79–82

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Word Count: 373

1.      Argument:   Senior sisters and senior couples should engage in missionary work.

2.      Audience:  Senior members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and their priesthood leaders such as Bishops.  The talk was addressed to the entire membership of the church, but the focus is on these seniors.   

3.      Goal:  To cause more senior couples and sisters to serve missions or engage in missionary work in other ways.

4.      How:

·        Pathos:   Elder Nelson uses several stories of specific senior missionary couples experiences in his talk.  These stories give examples of how the missionaries are serving and the difference they are making in people’s lives.  The audience will be familiar with the good feelings that service causes and will feel like the work is something they would like to participate in.  These stories all spoke of blessings the couples were receiving as a result of the work.  This further encourages the audience to serve.

·        Ethos:  Elder Nelson draws on the Prophets to back up his claims.  He uses examples of Joseph Smith, John Taylor, Brigham Young, and Wilford Woodruff serving missions despite difficulties.  He quotes Heber J Grant and Gordon B Hinckley to emphasize the importance of senior missionaries.  He also speaks of Jesus Christ, his mission and following his example.  The audience very greatly respects these leaders and will want to follow their examples and their teachings.

·        Typical:  By addressing several different life circumstances that seniors in the Church find themselves in, Elder Nelson is able to give suggestions to people of all kinds of how their barriers to a mission can be overcome.

·        Relevant:  This talk is relevant to the audience because many senior members of the Church that could be on missions aren’t.  It is also relevant to the rest of the younger Church membership because they will someday be in that position.

5.      Effective or Not:   I think the talk was effective.  Members of the Church are particularly receptive to teachings by prophets and Elder Nelson was good about including lots of these.  The audience also generally has a desire to participate in church service and showing how others are engaging in this service and being blessed for it will be especially appealing.