by Working with the branch (or ward) is the key to success and it is a very enjoyable part of being a missionary.
The Branch Mission Program
The ward mission program is your personal missionary army. Something that I like to imagine is that the unit you are serving in is your army. You are the chief, the missionary specialist sent to the ward to marshal your “army” to victory. So it is not you the missionaries who are the missionaries but it is everyone in your unit. You are simply the specialist, the person who has received the most training on missionary work and the one who is supposed to teach others how to do missionary work. To train your “army” you have to first work on developing your core people, and these are going to be the branch missionaries. First start off with meeting the branch mission leader. If there isn’t a ward mission leader, you can be it for now. Then track down all the ward missionaries. Sometimes the people don’t even know they’ve been called as ward missionaries or there are no ward missionaries called. Find them and start training them in their responsibilities.
With the help of the ward mission leader, every other Sunday, teach all the branch missionaries the missionary lessons using Preach My Gospel. Teach them the lessons and your expectations for how much they should work. Generally, people in Cameroon are really busy. They have to work full-time to survive so choose branch missionaries who have the most amount of free time on hand like the youth and young adults and the unemployed. Set expectations for how much missionary work they need to do like set aside a day out of the week to find people to teach and or to work with the missionaries or to visit new members. The Handbook states, “Ward missionaries find and prepare people for the full-time missionaries to teach. They also assist in fellowshipping and teaching investigators.” So this is one of their responsibilities, teach them what they are expected to do and train them in how to do it after church on Sundays.
To understand how to run the branch mission program read in the Handbook of Church Administration titled, “Ward Missionaries” under “Participating in Missionary Work, Retention, and Activation.”
General Handbook of Church Administration
All missionaries should study the General Handbook of Church Administration Study it like scripture. Sentence by sentence, reread it and take notes about what you read. Study by section. Sections that might be important for you to know are titled, “Inviting All to Receive the Gospel”, “Callings in the Church”, “Ward/Branch leadership”, and “Sunday School.” From what you read, you can help others learn how to better fulfill their callings for the betterment of the entire branch. When you see something that isn’t being done right, open the Handbook and show them how it should be done. This will motivate them to want to read the Handbook themselves and to know what to do with their callings.
Branch Council
Missionaries need to make sure that there is a regular ward council taking place at least every 2-3 weeks. Make sure that you talk about the less-active members of the branch and that you talk about how they can be invited back into church. Talk about the quality of the teaching in Sunday School and the reverence and quality of talks in Sacrament meeting. Talk about how the ward can be made more welcoming for new members and for investigators. One return missionary said that missionaries going to Cameroon need strong personalities. I agree, the members like a missionary who is willing to speak his mind and shake things up a little in the branch. That shows that they really care about the branch and the members, when they want things to change for the better. So missionaries, keep your eyes wide open and your ears open for things happening in the branch that need to be fixed and address those things in the branch council.
Ministering
Demanding members to do ministering is like the last straw that breaks the camel’s back for most saints in Cameroon. They already have to work full-time to earn a living and visiting other members is expensive and time consuming. However, if members want rapid, healthy growth in their unit then they need to do some ministering, especially to the newly baptized members. New members feel distant and hurt when members of the church don’t visit them. So at the very least, if church leaders want these recent converts to stay and they want them to be strong, contributing members of the branch, the branch leaders and members must visit them regularly. They can complain about visiting every member of the branch but they can’t complain about visiting new members because if they do then that means that they do not want new converts in their branch. So the missionaries can ask, “Do you want new members in your branch?” And the members will say, “Yes” Then you can say, “We will baptize new members if you promise to visit them regularly.” It’s like an ultimatum. The members might get angry because they legitimately don’t want to visit new members, but if they really want these new members then they will agree. BUT they must agree to this before baptism, because after this person becomes a member of the church, it’s nobody’s business except for the missionaries if that agreement is not made beforehand.
Proposing callings for members of the branch
All the posts of the branch should be filled if it is to be a full and thriving branch and if you want the branch to have a foundation suitable for expansive growth in the future. So look at the Relief Society presidency, the Sunday School presidency, the Young mens, the Young womens, the Elder’s Quorum presidency. Are these all filled? If not then you need to find some people who can fill them either less-active members or recent converts or your investigators and you need to train these people in how to fulfill their callings so that they can make a meaningful contribution to the success of the branch, because if you aren’t going to train them in that branch, no one will. If you really care about the long-term success of this branch and your converts and the members then you will make an effort to build this foundation by filling all the positions in the organizations and making sure that everyone is fulfilling their callings so that the branch can be ready to grow.
If you have problems in a branch
If you have tried working things out in the branch and things aren’t working out or some branch leaders are doing things they shouldn’t be doing, don’t hesitate and reach out to the Mission President and the Zone leaders. I remember when I was having a hard time with one branch president. We talked to the mission president, President Thompson and when we came back to see that branch president he had changed. I think President Thompson might have talked to him and given him some ideas of things that he should change, and starting from that point this branch president started working with us and we were very happy.
Making a branch mission plan
Along with the branch mission leader, you should make a branch mission plan. To learn how to make this plan read, “Ward Mission Plan” under “Inviting All to Receive the Gospel” in the General Handbook. The purpose of the branch mission plan is to prepare the branch and the members to be as welcoming as possible to new investigators and converts. That means explicitly stating in the Branch Mission Plan that the goal is for each member of the branch from the youngest to the oldest to start having certain gospel habits.
Branch Mission Plan Part 1. Spiritual habits
The Law of the Harvest says, “Basic gospel habits that generate spiritual growth, including reading the Book of Mormon daily, saying prayers, sharing the gospel, observing the Sabbath Day and Word of Wisdom, attending the temple, and the habit of regularly initiating gospel discussions with nonmembers. Members with these habits are much more likely to participate in member-missionary work. Righteousness is the precursor of effective missionary work and the source of self-motivation.”
If you want the members to participate in missionary work, they all need to have these habits in place. Many members will argue that they do not have the time to study the scriptures and that they are too busy. I empathize with that and you must be understanding of that but there is time when they can study. So one of the goals of the Branch mission plan should be to make sure every family and individual in the branch is praying and reading the scriptures daily.
Branch Mission Plan Part 2. Charity
After the members have these habits that will help them have the Spirit, another thing to put in the plan is that every member prays for charity and for opportunities to serve someone. The members should say hi and talk to any person at the branch that they don’t know. This will help the branch be more welcoming and let Heavenly Father know that the branch is ready to receive more members. A good book that teaches this is Clayton Christensen’s The Power of Everyday Missionaries. Have the members study John 15 and how it’s only through connecting ourselves to Jesus Christ that our fruit can survive.
Branch Mission Plan Part 3. Family Home Evening
Another aspect of the branch mission plan could be that every family and individual does Family Home Evening. This is an oft-forgotten program in Africa unfortunately because they don’t know how to do it. So make that part of your plan that every member of the branch be part of a Family Home Evening unit with other members nearby and that you as missionaries go to each one of these groups and you show them how these are to be done.
So generally, the branch mission plan is not to have lofty goals, like say have 15 baptisms a month, but to plan how to prepare the members and the branch to receive new converts.
Working with the Branch President
The branch president is your best friend. You two are working together to help every member of your branch to grow and to help build a stable foundation for the branch. When you invite someone to come to church, introduce them to the branch president.
Before an investigator is baptized, they should have an interview with the branch president and they will talk about stuff. After this investigator has their interview, you should talk with the branch president to suggest a calling for this convert that would best suit their strengths and based on the training that you are going to provide for this convert for their calling. Similarly, when you talk with the branch president ask him who are going to be the ministering brothers to this convert. Make sure that that is established before this person is baptized like I mentioned with the ultimatum above. If the convert is of seminary or institute age, ask the branch president how the convert can register and be part of the program. Ask the branch president if the convert can join a temple preparation course that is being held in the branch or in the district.
After the convert is baptized make sure that they have another interview on the Sunday that they are confirmed so that they can be interviewed for the Aaronic Priesthood and to receive a limited-use temple recommend and to help the member find a family name that they can bring to the temple.
