Many recognize the image of young men and women missionaries riding bikes and wearing name tags as a symbol of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). But these are not the only missionaries giving service and spreading the message.
The Deseret News this week tells the story of another group — Latter-day Saint Church-service missionaries — that carries out a different aspect of missionary work.
The 2010 statistical report shows that 20,813 Church-service missionaries (in addition to the Church’s 52,483 full-time missionaries) volunteered during that year. Most serve from home and volunteer for their assignments (whereas full-time missionaries are assigned to certain areas of the world by Church leaders) and serve from six to 24 months. The list of Church-service mission assignments covers a broad spectrum, including addiction recovery programs, inner city projects and facilities management.
Joel S. Moriyama, who directs the Church-service missionary program, provided insight in the Deseret News story into the value of this program to the Church.
At any given time there are 13,000-14,000 Church-service missionaries out in the field serving. During 2010, those 20,813 missionaries donated more than 8.8 million hours of service. How many employees would we have had to hire, and at what cost to the Church, in order to accomplish all that these wonderful missionaries have accomplished during the course of a year?
Read more at the Deseret News.
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