Last night's topic was GOAL SETTING – within the context of member missionary work. The idea was to explore ways that we can use goal setting as a tool to help us bring souls unto Christ.
After an opening song, prayer, and remarks, we split off into three rotating breakout sessions. Here is the material that I prepared for presentation:
Breakout #1 – Overview
Goal
setting, planning, and accountability can help many people receive the restored
gospel.
Goals reflect the desires of our hearts
and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our
hopes are transformed into action. Goal setting and planning are acts of faith (see Preach My Gospel, ch. 8).
As families and individuals, we should prayerfully set goals that contribute to
the fulfillment of our Ward Mission Plan.
A key part of our goals as member
missionaries is names. Names of people we know who will help
us achieve our missionary-oriented goals. This includes neighbors, friends,
family members, work colleagues, families we home teach or visit teach, or
anyone else we may know who needs the gospel in their lives to a greater
degree. We should set goals for what we hope will happen with these people – attend church, read the Book of Mormon, set a baptismal date, and so on (see Preach My Gospel, ch. 8).
These goals should be specific and include milestones with target dates.
“I
am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how
to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old
age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of
our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal,
he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in
this life.” –Elder M. Russell Ballard
Carefully
considered, challenging goals will give you clear direction and help to stretch
you as you strive to do the Lord’s work. Here are some important guidelines as
you set your goals:
- Do the gospel things that will help you to feel the desire to succeed in member missionary work. Pray for the motivation to do your best as a member missionary.
- Focus on specific people, not abstract numbers.
- Be specific and realistic, but set goals that will make you stretch.
- Set meaningful weekly, monthly, and annual missionary goals as a family.
- Once you’ve set goals, decide how you are going to achieve them.
- Take note of your successes and also note where you may have fallen short or missed an opportunity. Review those notes in a family council and adjust your goals accordingly.
- Approach your goal setting and planning with the idea that you will account for your efforts to the Lord through prayer.
- Feel personal responsibility for the sacred trust the Lord has given you as a member of His Church.
- Above all, live worthily to feel the Spirit and follow His promptings. Pray for inspiration.
Remember,
setting goals is very valuable, but it is worthless if we do not follow through
with implementation.
“For
behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is
compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant;
wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged
in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass
much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto
themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.
But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a
commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is
damned.” D&C 58:26-29
Take a few minutes now to think about NAMES
of people who may need the gospel more fully in their lives. Just brainstorm
and don’t dismiss any ideas that come to mind. Jot down and share your
thoughts.
Breakout #2 – SMART Goals
You’ve probably heard of the concept of
SMART goals. SMART is an acronym from the business
world designed to help you make worthwhile goals. There are a few versions of
the definition of SMART, but here’s the meaning we’ll work with:
- Specific – not vague hopes, but a concrete objective you can put your finger on
- Measurable –progress can be tracked (needn’t be numerical, just a benchmark of some kind)
- Achievable – in other words, realistic
- Relevant –the goal is tied to overall objectives such as the Ward Mission Plan
- Time-based – specify when the result(s) should be achieved
SPECIFIC: Some of your specific
member missionary goals might include:
- Helping an individual or family to develop greater faith in the Savior
- Teaching an individual or family to repent and make changes that will bring them closer to God
- Guiding an individual or family on the path to receive the covenant of baptism and confirmation
- Encouraging an individual or family to come back to the church and renew the baptismal covenant
MEASURABLE: Some
benchmarks may include:
- Having a non-member or less active individual or family over for dinner or FHE (maybe a certain number of times)
- Bringing a non-member or less active individual or family to a ward activity
- Bringing a non-member or less active individual or family to church on Sunday
- Giving away a Book of Mormon (maybe a certain number of them)
- Bearing your testimony to a non-member or less active individual or family
ACHIEVABLE: Don’t
overwhelm yourself by setting too high a bar, but be sure to stretch yourself.
Also, be sure that your goals do not rely too much on the agency of others. You
can only control what you can do. You
can set a goal to invite 10 people to church, but you can’t set a goal for them
all to say “yes.”
RELEVANT: Make sure that
your goals are ultimately about bringing souls unto Christ.
TIME-BASED: Your goals
should not be left flapping in the wind with no chronological anchor. Your
goals should not have a deadline of “before I die.” Put a realistic time frame
on your goals – a little pressure from the clock or calendar can be a good
motivator!
Take a few minutes now to think about some
SMART goals that you can set as an individual or family – specific things you’d
like to achieve as a member missionary. Just brainstorm and don’t dismiss any
ideas that come to mind. Jot down and share your thoughts.
Breakout #3 – Implementation
Now that you understand the general
approach, the motivation, and how to set SMART goals, you need to focus on the
actual steps you can take every day to make those goals become reality. This is
how you MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Some
things to consider:
Overcoming fear – President
Monson has taught us that when we act in faith, the Lord will show us how to
strengthen His church. He said that the Lord will sanctify your efforts and you
will gain a capacity beyond your own to lift and bless the lives of others (see Special Broadcast). Also, Elder Oaks has said that when we are doing the work of the Lord, the power that's behind us is greater than any obstacles that are before us (see Hastening the Work in Europe video). Finally, remember the principle of "Jehovah-jireh" as taught by Abraham (see Genesis 22:14). This is what Abraham named the mountain where he was to sacrifice Isaac. It means "the Lord will provide." And He did - He provided the ram - but only after the trial of Abraham's faith. Faith precedes the miracle. Thus we see that if we are willing to sacrifice for the Lord in faith, He will provide what we need to accomplish His purposes.
Time management – We are all
busy, but with a little organization we can find ways to fit member missionary
work into our lives – and many of the things we do can actually take very
little time with wonderful long-term results. Some things may require no additional time at all in our schedules, such as orienting our attitude toward missionary work.
Forming good habits – Just as we work to form the habits of daily prayer and scripture study, weekly church attendance, and temple worship; we can form the habit of member missionary work. Try to set goals that you can implement via the formation of simple good habits.
Accountability within the family – Hold one another accountable for the goals you set. Lovingly encourage each other and remind each other of the importance of the work.
Accountability to God – Include your thoughts on your missionary goals in your personal prayers. Report to the Lord, and ask Him for help. He will provide.
Truly loving others – We can have a mighty change of heart that impels us to seek after the lost sheep, to love our brothers and sisters who do not currently have the gospel in their lives. We can show our gratitude for all we've been given by answering His call to share the joy we have with others. President Monson said, “May we ever increase our faith and faithfulness in fulfilling our sacred duty to rescue our brothers and sisters.” I can tell you from sacred personal experience that it is so very rewarding to love a family into the gospel!
With
these general guidelines in mind, you should be able to develop a list of
specific steps that you intend to take as you strive to meet your member
missionary goals. The steps should be customized to the actual people on
whom you plan to focus your missionary goals.
Before the final exercise, grab a tissue and watch this wonderful video:
Without words, this video shows so many beautiful ways to be a missionary. Three takeaways I got were that having a focus on prayer and scriptures is key to being open to inspiration; service is an excellent way to share the gospel; and when it comes down to it, it's all about simply loving others. What did you notice in the video?
Now, take a few minutes now to think about WAYS
that you can achieve your goals as an individual or family – specific things
you can do to succeed as a member missionary. Just brainstorm and don’t dismiss
any ideas that come to mind. Jot down and share your thoughts.
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And that was it. We regrouped for a few closing words, a song and a prayer, and then enjoyed some treats. I also made sure that all in attendance had the phone number of the full-time missionaries in their cell phones.
All in all, it was a good meeting!
What is your family doing to hasten the work of salvation?
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