Practical Dynamics of Finding Techniques PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS TO CONTACTING
Effective missionary work requires a balance between street contacting, tracting, and referrals. The incredible attractiveness of working through member referrals is apparent. After all, member referrals potentially provide quick success with relatively little effort. What missionary would not greatly prefer to spend an evening in the comfort of a member's home, rather than out on the street knocking on doors and facing rejection time after time? Various attitudes and philosophies about missionary work reflect this preference for easy success more than they reflect any real increase in effectiveness with a dominant focus on member referrals. However, the drawback of member referrals from a missionary standpoint is that they can be quickly saturated.
SATURATION AND DIMINISHING RETURNS
Because of the natural preference of many missionaries for referrals, often missionary work is out of balance at the expense of contacting. When too much time is spent visiting members or soliciting referrals, returns diminish progressively. Actual damage can be done. Missionaries who are initially welcomed can soon become a tiresome burden to worn-out members when they stay too long or visit too frequently. Well-meaning missionaries often breed tremendous dependency of members with too frequent visits. This dependency in turn undermines the very purpose of the increased emphasis on member work. With contacting, there is generally no such diminishment of returns because new ground is constantly being broken. Every new contact provides a new opportunity.
The fact that saturation is reached is demonstrated in areas like Belarus, where missionaries cannot contact and all referrals come through members. Over the past decade, the missionary complement has fluctuated greatly. However, beyond a minimum number of missionaries, the number of baptisms from member referrals has demonstrated little relation to the number of missionaries serving even when the missionary complement has varied widely. Member referrals are important and should be solicited regularly. It only makes sense that the number of member referrals available to missionaries only depends a certain amount on the missionaries’ efforts, as the members are the ones putting forth the real work. The number of member referrals has instead depended upon the number of members and their strength and faithfulness. Therefore, a focus on member referrals is a wonderful focus for members, but beyond a certain point it is a poor focus for missionaries as increased missionary effort may not lead to better results.
DYNAMICS OF MEMBER REFERRALS AND CONTACTING
The dynamics of soliciting referrals and contacting for missionaries can be represented as follows. The number of potential baptisms from member referrals rises dramatically with increasing effort by missionary companionships up to a certain point. After that point, additional time spent soliciting referrals results in very little increase in productivity. Where that point is depends on both the total number of members (active more than inactive) and the relative obedience to the gospel and helpfulness of the members. In much of Eastern Europe, where very high missionary to member ratios exist, this point of diminishing returns is reached very early, usually with only a few hours each week. In some other parts of the world, the threshold may be significantly higher. However, in any case a point of diminishing returns is reached. With contacting, the initial return is small. However, the return rises linearly, generally without any point of diminishing returns. So an increase in missionary work ethic and total proselyting hours generally results in very dramatic increases in contacting baptisms, while the effect on referral baptisms may be small.
Member work clearly is needed. The key is to do it effectively and keep it in balance, and in areas without very high membership the balance can generally be reached with only a few hours of member work each week. I do not believe it is possible for any missionary in Eastern Europe who works effectively to completely fill up one's schedule with member referrals. When time is managed wisely, there is always time available daily for contacting – even in weeks when fifteen or twenty discussions are taught and numerous member visits are made. I've never been able to understand how any missionary anywhere can be "too busy" to contact. Such missionaries consistently miss wonderful opportunities due to lack of awareness or effort. Unfortunately, sometimes this is actually a goal: filling up one's schedule with visits, trips, and meetings, often regardless of the quality, to minimize or even eliminate contacting time. Anyone who does not find consistent time for contacting every day simply isn't managing his or her time appropriately. It's that simple.
Should missionaries tract? Yes. Should missionaries street contact? Yes. Should missionaries solicit member referrals? Yes. But beyond a certain critical point, too much time spent with members only detracts from missionary effectiveness. Member referrals, no matter how many visits one makes, are finite from a missionary standpoint. A missionary who relies mainly on members can rarely if ever bring large numbers of people into the church. Contacting opportunities in most of Eastern Europe are virtually infinite -- they are limited only by work ethic and determination. Contacting has unlimited potential.
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