Latter-day Saint Life

Dealing with Diversity in the Church: 7 Insights From the Life of Christ

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MR says: How can we not only learn to live with but come to truly love all of our ward members?

We belong to a church of assignments, and as such dealing with diversity comes with the territory. No one asks us who we want to visit teach or home teach, we are assigned companions and routes. It is bound to happen occasionally that we are assigned to visit someone each month with whom we don’t get along to one degree or another. There is almost no escaping it. In those circumstances, the odds they don’t get visited go up exponentially. If they do get visits each month, they are often strained and kept extra short.

Visiting and Home Teaching can be a real mixed bag of challenges and blessings. Some families are part-member families and may or may not want to be visited. Some families may be what you consider to be political dissidents or hold social views contrary to your own. What does the Lord expect us to do with these kinds of assignments?

Lessons we need to learn

When the Savior was about to ascend into heaven (Acts 1:6 – 8) his apostles asked Him when it would be that he would come and set up His kingdom. His response was evasive. He told them that it was none of their business. They were to wait until the promise was fulfilled for them to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He promised them they would be given power to be His witnesses “unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

There was a lot they still needed to learn. These were men who were still arguing with each other over who was going to be the most important person in the kingdom of heaven. Following are six lessons we need to learn if we are going to be better representatives of the Lord to those around us, both in Visiting and Home teaching, and as we deal with our neighbors and the communities in which we live. What lesson applies in one instance can be derived to apply in other situations as well.

Lead image from Mormon Basics.
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