{"id":2717,"date":"2016-06-29T11:47:28","date_gmt":"2016-06-29T15:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/practicalmattersjournal.ecdsdev.org\/?p=2717"},"modified":"2016-06-29T11:47:28","modified_gmt":"2016-06-29T15:47:28","slug":"lds-three-fold-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pmcleanup.ecdsdev.org\/2016\/06\/29\/lds-three-fold-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Their \u201cThree-Fold Mission,\u201d and Practical and Pastoral Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"
Download PDF: \u00a0Olsen, Latter-Day Saints and their \u201cThree -Fold Mission\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n
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Abstract<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In recent years scholars have expanded their investigation into the intersections between religion and tourism. While most of this research has focused on the ways in which religion can be commodified for touristic consumption, there has been but little written on the ways in which religions view tourism and\/or embrace tourism to meet their spiritual and ecclesiastical goals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints use tourism to its religious and historical sites to further their religious and institutional goals\/missions as they revolve around its \u201cthree-fold mission\u201d: proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the past two or three decades the intersections between religion and tourism have become a topic of study by tourism scholars and more recently religious studies scholars.[1][2]<\/a> Much of the existing literature has focused on the use of the tangible and intangible aspects of religion as a tourism resource, with scholars trying to understand the motivations of those who travel to religious sites in order to better understand the religious tourism market as well as how to overcome the negative impacts of tourism on these sites through management.[3]<\/a> Less studied are the ways in which religious leaders view tourism as a social phenomenon and how tourism can be utilized to further religious goals and missions.[4]<\/a> This is odd in part because religious prescriptions and proscriptions have long affected the types of activities in which people choose to engage in during their leisure time, and also affect why people travel, where they travel to, and the activities in which people engage as tourists.[5]<\/a> Religion has long affected how hospitable cultures are to strangers, what constitutes appropriate dress in religious spaces, the creation of gendered religious spatial practices, and the use of aesthetics to enhance religious experiences at sacred sites as well.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

However, very few religious faiths outside of the Roman Catholic Church have articulated a specific \u201ctheology of tourism\u201d which \u201cexamine[s] the religious meaning, justification, or legitimation of tourism and relate[s] it to broader religious goals and aspirations.\u201d[7]<\/a> This is also odd considering that most major world religions have some sort of doctrinal basis for pilgrimage travel. In some cases pilgrimage is a required element of religious worship, whether it is essential for a happier afterlife or for initiatory purposes.[8]<\/a> But even faiths that do not fully embrace the notion of pilgrimage in its traditional sense, such as Protestantism, usually have informal pilgrimage-like practices that take place among their adherents.[9]<\/a> As well, religious communities have also long used their religious sites and culture to educate non-believers of their religious values and as a way to gain new converts, such as the Shakers in the nineteenth century and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the present day.[10]<\/a> Also, with millions of people visiting religious sites and sites related to the history of different belief systems,[11]<\/a> religious leaders not only have had to come to terms with how to deal with the non-adherents that visit their religious and historical sites but also with how to engage in pastoral or outreach activities for those within their congregations who are \u201con the move\u201d recreating themselves through recreational and tourism pursuits.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints use tourism as a medium to further the religious goals and mission of their faith. While leaders of LDS Church have not promulgated a specific \u201ctheology of tourism,\u201d and, like Protestants, feel that \u201cNeither shrines nor pilgrimages are a part of true worship as practiced by the true saints….[T]here is no thought that some special virtue will attach to worship by performing [pilgrimage to sacred sites],\u201d[13]<\/a> they recognize, as do Church members, the existence of sacred spaces and have long held that certain places are more holy or sacred than others.[14]<\/a> As such, every year thousands of Church members travel to places associated with the history and practice of the Church, whether that travel involves attending Church-run pageants or pioneer re-enactment treks, taking tours related to Book of Mormon lands or to the Holy Land, viewing Christmas displays at Temple Square and Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, or participating in informal worship and ritual activities away from home, such as performing temple rituals at different temples throughout the world, being baptized in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania where Church founder Joseph Smith was first baptized, or having a prayer meeting in the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith experienced his first theophany.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

While I have written elsewhere on the travel motivations and patterns of Church members and how Church leaders use tourism to their historical sites and temples\u2014which uses revolve around the key themes of hospitality, remembering and witnessing, proselytizing, and outreach[16]<\/a>\u2014in this paper I wish to delve a little deeper to examine particular aspects of Latter-day Saint religious belief that might explain why the Church utilizes tourism as a tool to fulfill its most important religious mission\u2014to save souls.[17]<\/a> To do so, I focus here on what is known as the \u201cthree-fold mission\u201d of the Church\u2014proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead\u2014which I argue leads Church leaders to place great importance on preserving, maintaining, and interpreting their historical and religious sites in a particular manner, and why Church members are motivated to travel to these sacred sites.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

Tourism and the Saving of Souls<\/h3>\n

As noted earlier, Church leaders have not outlined a systematic \u201ctheology of tourism\u201d that highlights the way in which tourism is viewed within the context of core Latter-day Saint beliefs. This may be in part because The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not directly in the business of tourism but rather the business of \u201csaving souls\u201d in accordance with its particular understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.\u201d[19]<\/a> The religious teachings that are developed and promulgated by Church leaders, according to Robert Millett, tend to have \u201ca rather narrow focus, range, and direction,\u201d in that these teachings focus specifically on the \u201ccentral and saving doctrines\u201d of the Church.[20]<\/a> To Latter-day Saints, the core of their faith is not \u201ca confession to a creed but a personal witness that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ.\u201d[21]<\/a> From a doctrinal perspective, the \u201ccore doctrine\u201d of the Latter-day Saint faith is the \u201cdoctrine of Christ\u201d; that it is only through the atonement of Jesus Christ that all humankind can be saved. As the founder of the Church, Joseph Smith, once taught, \u201cThe fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose on the third day, and ascended unto heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.\u201d[22]<\/a><\/p>\n

This \u201cdoctrine of Christ,\u201d then, is at the heart of the Church\u2019s work and God\u2019s glory, which is to \u201cbring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man,\u201d[23]<\/a> and provides the foundation upon which all other Church teachings rest.[24]<\/a> As such, the focus of the Church is on bringing individuals unto Christ, which comes through acknowledging Christ as their Lord and Saviour, having faith on his name, being baptized by immersion for the remission of sins, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by persons in authority (i.e., LDS priesthood), and striving to remain faithful to the commandments of God until the end of their lives.[25]<\/a> As such, the core mission of the Church is to \u201csave souls\u201d and the Church leadership focuses its efforts in areas that help it to achieve this goal.<\/p>\n

Spencer W. Kimball, a former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, expanded on this core mission of saving souls and suggested that the Church has a \u201cthree-fold mission,\u201d which he summarized as being \u201cproclaiming the gospel,\u201d \u201cperfecting the Saints,\u201d and \u201credeeming the dead.\u201d[26]<\/a> While seemingly tangential to the \u201ccore doctrine\u201d of the Church, I argue that tourism plays an important role in helping Church leaders accomplish its \u201cthree-fold mission\u201d and to achieve broader religious goals and aspirations. However, before discussing the linkages between each mission and tourism it is important to note that tourism is generally seen by Church leaders as an outward facing activity, in that any engagement the Church has with tourism tends to be the responsibility of departments within the Church\u2019s vast bureaucracy which focus on the Church\u2019s relationship towards and to and with Church members (e.g., the Priesthood Department) and non-members (e.g., Public Affairs and the Missionary Department) rather than a direct ecclesiastical department dealing specifically with leisure, recreation, and tourism concerns. So for example, even though the Church\u2019s Historical Department\u2019s Historic Sites Committee oversees the Church\u2019s historical sites, the Missionary Department is responsible for the interpretation of most Church\u2019s historical sites, whereas activities that are member-centered, such as concerts at Temple Square or world-wide cultural celebrations, are run through the Priesthood Department.[27]<\/a><\/p>\n

Proclaiming the Gospel<\/h3>\n

As a part of making salvation readily available to all of humanity, Latter-day Saints believe that God has revealed through his prophets what is called the \u201cPlan of Salvation.\u201d This plan provides knowledge about many of the questions about life, including: \u201cWhere did we come from?\u201d \u201cWhat is the meaning of life?\u201d\u2014or more specifically, \u201cWhat is the meaning of my<\/em> life?\u201d\u2014and \u201cWhat happens after we die?\u201d[28]<\/a> John Welsh contends that understanding that humanity was not created by happenstance, but that there is a purpose to life as outlined through the Plan of Salvation, makes it easier for individuals to find meaning in their own lives.[29]<\/a><\/p>\n

Latter-day Saints believe that all humans lived with God as spirit children prior to coming to this earth.[30]<\/a> During this pre-mortal existence God presented the Plan of Salvation which would allow his spirit children to progress to become more like God. This plan included sending God\u2019s spirit children to earth where they would both receive a physical body and be placed in an environment in which, through the exercise of agency, they could demonstrate their willingness to keep God\u2019s commandments. Through exercising agency in a righteous manner people could one day return to God\u2019s presence and attain godhood for themselves.[31]<\/a> Since no one would remember their pre-mortal life, the Plan of Salvation would be made known to humanity through God\u2019s prophets who would dispense knowledge of the plan to others. However, knowing that many people would choose to disobey God\u2019s commandments and estrange themselves from him, this Plan of Salvation included having Jesus Christ serve as the redeemer of humankind, through whom people could repent and turn back to God.[32]<\/a><\/p>\n

Latter-day Saints feel a responsibility to save souls by making this plan known to everyone who will listen.[33]<\/a> This responsibility comes from the belief that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contains the \u201cfullness\u201d of the gospel,[34]<\/a> having both a clear knowledge of the Plan of Salvation through its founder Joseph Smith and his prophet successors and the priesthood authority to perform the ordinances or rituals necessary for salvation.[35]<\/a> Church members therefore take seriously the commission of Christ who instructed his followers anciently to \u201cteach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you\u201d[36]<\/a> so that people can have an opportunity to \u201ccome unto Christ\u201d and receive the ordinances necessary for salvation. While missionary work is a responsibility of all members of the Church, there is an active proselytizing program in place where young men and young women, at the ages of 18 and 19 respectively, are encouraged to volunteer for full-time missions. These missions are between eighteen months and two years in length, and missionaries are assigned to proselytize in a specified geographic area called a \u201cmission.\u201d Currently there are just over 85,000 missionaries serving in 405 missions around the world.[37]<\/a><\/p>\n

While Church leaders have long focused on active proselytization as a means of spreading the message of the Church to others, tourism has become another vehicle through which Church messages can be disseminated. In particular, hospitality towards non-Mormon visitors has long played a key role in fulfilling the Church\u2019s mission of proclaiming the gospel. In addition to hospitality being a religious responsibility in the Old and New Testaments,[38]<\/a> specific modern revelations to the Church relating to hospitality have been given. For example, in 1841 a revelation was given to the Church to build a boarding house or hotel where visitors to Nauvoo, Illinois who were interested in learning more about the Church could rest.[39]<\/a> According to Hyrum Smith and Janne Sjodhal, \u201cthis revelation proves that the Lord wanted the tourists of the world to visit and become acquainted with the Saints. [They] were not to be surrounded by a wall of isolation. They had nothing to hide from the world.\u201d[40]<\/a><\/p>\n

Hospitality as a way of spreading the gospel message was also practiced in Salt Lake City. The establishment of the Church\u2019s headquarters in Salt Lake City and the building of the Salt Lake Temple in the city center was seen by Church leaders as the fulfillment of Isaiah\u2019s prophecy where \u201cin the last days\u2026the mountain of the Lord\u2019s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.\u201d[41]<\/a> Tourists were seen as one of the groups that would travel to the \u201ctops of the mountains,\u201d and as such the Latter-day Saints have a responsibility to be hospitable and courteous to visitors who, according to this scripture, will actively come to Salt Lake City to see the \u201chouse of the God of Jacob,\u201d as well as a responsibility to prepare to receive those who seek to learn the \u201cword of the Lord\u201d through visiting the Lord\u2019s house. Thus, when curious visitors came to Salt Lake City soon after the Church was established in Salt Lake City Church leaders not only actively greeted and attempted to educate tourists, most of whom came with strong views and prejudices against the Mormons, on the beliefs and culture of the Church and its members,[42]<\/a> but also helped build the Hotel Utah to house these visitors from the east.[43]<\/a><\/p>\n

As such, Church leaders continue to use tourism to educate the general public about the Church. Throughout its history, the Latter-day Saint Church has weathered abuses from various media sources that perpetuated stereotypes and falsehoods by focusing on the unique Latter-day Saint beliefs that differed from other Christian groups, with the media often depicting Mormons as a group to be admired because of their moral and social convictions but not \u201ctruly belong[ing] in mainstream society\u201d or mainstream Christianity.[44]<\/a> While public relations efforts have helped to improve the image of Mormonism over time,[45]<\/a> the fact that non-Mormons come to Salt Lake City and dozens of other Latter-day Saint heritage sites and interpretive centers throughout the United States provides both fertile ground and a captive audience for sharing its religious message and history to non-Mormon visitors.[46]<\/a> The expectation is that visitors who come to these religious heritage sites will leave with at least a more correct understanding of the tenets of the LDS Church, if not a desire to learn more about these beliefs by inviting Latter-day Saint missionaries to their homes.[47]<\/a><\/p>\n

Presently the Church owns and operates over thirty-five religious heritage sites and nineteen interpretive centres, which stretch from Vermont to California.[48]<\/a> As mentioned earlier these sites and interpretive centres are staffed by the Missionary Department of the Church, which explains the missionary-focused agenda at many of these sites.[49]<\/a> At some historical sites the proselytizing is overt, in that service missionaries bear their \u201ctestimony\u201d or \u201cwitness\u201d to visitors as they take tours,[50]<\/a> while at Temple Square in Salt Lake City the proselytizing is more passive, in that people are educated about the history and beliefs of Mormonism and then invited to have Latter-day Saint missionaries visit them in their homes to learn more about the Church without overt witnessing taking place.[51]<\/a> The fact that the Missionary Department is responsible for the management and interpretation of these religious heritage centers demonstrates the importance of these sites as a part of fulfilling the mission of proclaiming the gospel.[52]<\/a><\/p>\n

Perfecting the Saints<\/h3>\n

According to Linda Charney, while people have different motivations for becoming members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they all share three common experiences when they join.[53]<\/a> First, people interested in the Church meet with the Church\u2019s full-time missionaries and go through a series of lessons about the basic beliefs of the Church. Second, prospective members must demonstrate in a pre-baptism interview that they are making an informed decision to be baptised of their own free will. Third, every convert receives the ordinances of baptism and confirmation by authorised representatives of the Church. However, the conversion process \u201cimplies not merely mental acceptance of Jesus and his teaching[s] but also a motivating faith in him and his gospel\u2014a faith which works a transformation, an actual change in one\u2019s understanding of life\u2019s meaning and in his [sic<\/em>] allegiance to God\u2014in interest, in thought, and in conduct.\u201d[54]<\/a> The transformation part of the conversion process occurs through the gaining of a \u201ctestimony,\u201d which is \u201cthe sure knowledge, received by revelation from the Holy Ghost, of the divinity of the great latter-day work.\u201d[55]<\/a> Prospective converts are invited to pray to receive a spiritual witness through the Holy Ghost of the truthfulness of the teachings of the Church,[56]<\/a> which witness, according to Bruce McConkie, revolves around three great truths:[57]<\/a><\/p>\n