Mark Dawes, Religion Editor

Eyring

Correction/Clarification

In the story which appeared last Saturday on Page B9 under the headline ‘Mormon witness quietly grows in Ja’, the word ‘not’ was left out of a quotation from David Gingery, president of the Jamaica Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The relevant paragraph should have read: “Generally,” said Gingery, “we do not enter into a baptismal covenant with children if they do not have parental support. We look to baptise the parents and the children then will follow. We try not to usurp or go around the parents.”

The Gleaner regrets the error and any inconvenience caused.

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Since it established itself here in Jamaica during the 1980s, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has seen its witness expand across the island. currently, it has 5,000 members and 21 congregations in the nation.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is also known as the Mormon Church, has congregations in every parish in Jamaica, and there is the prospect that two more congregations will be established by 2010 - one in Port Antonio and the other in Old Harbour.

This year marks a milestone in Mormon witness in Jamaica as the church will play host to top ranking officials of the global church who will be coming to the island later this month for a satellite broadcast from Jamaica, which will be beamed throughout the Caribbean and South and Central America. The two officials are Henry B. Eyring, whose title is first counsellor of the first presidency; and David A. Bednar, who the church describes as a prophet, seer, revelator and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles - the second-highest presiding body in the world council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormonism is an international religious movement with 13 million members.

Conference broadcast

Patrick Medley (left), first counsellor in the Mission Presidency and overseer for all financial matters concerning the Mormon Church in Cayman, Jamaica and The Bahamas, and Kevin Brown, executive secretary with responsibility for all Mormon educational services in Jamaica and The Bahamas. - Photos by Colin Hamilton/freelance photographer

The conference is being held January 24-25 at the Spanish Town branch of the church which is located at 3 Newton Drive (off Brunswick Avenue). Earlier this week, The Gleaner spoke with some of the leaders of Mormon movement in Jamaica at its 36 Red Hills Road head office in St Andrew.

David Gingery, an expatriate who heads the Mormon Church in Jamaica, said the broadcast is slated to be viewed by the 150,000 Mormons who reside in the Caribbean.

Asked what his high-profile visitors will talk about, Gingery pleaded ignorance except to say: "They get to choose what they will speak to us about ... it is always going to be Christ-centred. Everything that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says and does is going to be centred on Jesus Christ and how we can emulate him and be more like him." On Saturday (January 24) evening at 5, there will be a broadcast for the priesthood - the men of the church. Also during that time, there will be a meeting for the women leaders of the church. This women's meeting will not be broadcast. The women will be addressed by Sylvia Allred, first counsellor in the general relief society presidency of our church. On Sunday (January 25), there will be the general meeting at 9 a.m. - this is for all men, women and children. And the satellite broadcast will happen at 5 p.m. and this will be for everyone.

The local Mormon leaders are hoping the broadcasts will encourage and energise their members to be more faithful to the standards and creeds of the church and also influence non-Mormons to consider joining their way of life.

Mormonism is a proselytising movement. In perhaps much the same way Muslims are encouraged to make at least one trip to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Mormons are encouraged to devote up to two years of their lives in missionary work on behalf the church.

The Mormon church in Jamaica has 80 persons serving as missionaries - nearly half of whom are Jamaicans and the rest are drawn mainly from the United States.

Financial support

Members of the Constant Spring branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pose for a family photo.

Missionaries are expected to raise their own financial support to render service in the mission field. Typically, males are required to serve for a minimum of two years, and women 18 months.

But it is not the traditional door-to-door evangelism that accounts for the greatest numerical growth of the church, said Kevin Brown, executive secretary and education system coordinator of the Mormon Church in Jamaica.

"The most successful part of missionary work is when members of the church share the gospel with their friends and family. The missionaries will then be invited to their homes where they have friends or family members who are not members of the church. That is probably the most successful way for members to come into the church. Yes, missionaries do go and knock on doors (of strangers). And a significant number of persons do join the church that way. But the most successful and proven way is when a member of the church shares the gospel with friends, acquaintances and co-workers and invite the missionaries over and they participate in the conversion process," said Brown.

In the Mormon church, baptism is a rite of passage for becoming a member. In recent years, the church has been baptising hundreds each year. Gingery said about 300 persons per annum have been baptised and these constitute persons who were not previously connected with the church. These baptism figures, however, do not include children.

Generally, said Gingery, "We do not enter into a baptismal covenant with children if they do not have parental support. We look to baptise the parents and the children then will follow. We try not to usurp or go around the parents."

Saving souls

David Gingery, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Mission in Jamaica.

According to Brown : "It really is not about numbers - like growing the numbers of the church - but saving souls. It is about helping people to come to a knowledge of the Saviour, helping them to develop their own personal relationships with Him."

Quizzed about the white shirt and white undershirt which typically form the attire of Mormon male leaders, Brown explained: "is not a uniform. It really just something we have used to standardise how we missionaries dress. For normal members of the church, you don't have to wear white shirts. Members of the church, wear any colour shirt. But when you participate in priesthood functions (males alone are priests in the Mormon faith) or officiate at a meeting or you are a missionary - we try to make it a standard. There is no really theology behind it."

He continued, "The white undershirt that both men and women wear is theologically significant for those individuals who have gone to a Mormon temple. In the temple, we make covenants with God. These are very specific covenants in which we promise Him that we will be obedient. The garment is an outward manifestation and a constant reminder of the covenants that we did make."

Brown explained that it is a goal and expectation of every devotee to visit a Mormon temple. Jamaica does not have a Mormon temple. The ones closest to the island are located in the Dominican Republic, Orlando in Florida and Panama.

To go to the temple, however, a member of the church should give evidence of a satisfactory level of lifestyle and character development as well as a sound grasp and appreciation of Mormon precepts. There are a number of interviews that a person has to go through whereby a candidate for a temple visit is appraised.

Armed with genealogical and family history, a person in the temple can perform certain ordinances which will serve to secure dead family members into God's kingdom.

Brown said: "We believe that people who die without the gospel still have an opportunity to hear the gospel. Your body stays in the grave but your spirit goes to the spirit world. In the spirit world, people are being taught the gospel and given an opportunity to accept Christ. In the temple when I find out enough family history, which includes an approximate date for the death and birth of a family member, I can perform an ordinance for and on the behalf of my dead relative. Missionaries teach the relatives the gospel in the spirit world. The same organisation that is here is there. When I perform the ordinance for someone, I don't know for sure if that person is going to accept the gospel, but if they do, the ordinance is done and they have an opportunity to return to live with the heavenly Father."

Two centres

The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints encourages its people to visit one of its temples at least once in their lifetime. Here, members of the church in Jamaica stand outside the Mormon temple in Panama City, Panama. The group visited the temple last year. - Contributed

To facilitate local Mormons to perform specific ordinances in temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and also to help Jamaicans to find out about their ancestors, the church has created two centres - one in Kingston and the other in May Pen - persons can at no charge be assisted to find out about their family history. These outlets are called Family Research Centres. The church in collaboration with the Registrar General's Department worked to create a database of the nation's births, deaths and marriages.

Gingery, who took up the post of president of the Jamaica Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2006, ends his tour of duty in July. He is not likely to be replaced by a local person. Patrick Medley, first counsellor in the Mission Presidency, explained that many local persons who have been groomed by the church and who would have been natural candidates for the leadership of the organisation in Jamaica have emigrated.

Send feedback to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com