It Isn’t About the Numbers
Have you ever heard of the term “key indicators?” Key indicators are used by our missionaries to report and measure progress in helping others “come unto Christ.” Each day, missionaries keep track of their key indicators, plan for them, and report them to their missionary leaders. Some people are mistakenly critical about their use because they argue that it makes missionaries seem like a sales force rather than focusing on sharing the message of Jesus Christ. But if you are familiar with key indicators, you will see that this is not the case at all. In fact, key indicators actually help the missionaries stay focused on nurturing an individual so that they progress in a meaningful way as they prepare for baptism. The key indicators also make sure that we help new members be more comfortable in their new community after being baptized. Our Heavenly Father wants us to continue on the path towards salvation for the rest of our lives and baptism marks the beginning of this journey as seen in the picture below.
There are six key indicators that our missionaries track so they know that they are caring for each person they teach. They are:
New friends being taught
Friends who attend Sacrament meeting
Lessons with our friends where members of the ward or branch accompany us.
Friends with a baptismal date
Friends who are baptized and confirmed members of the Church
Sacrament meeting attendance after baptism
Last week, when we held our weekly zoom meeting and gathered the key indicators from our missionaries, President Chipman filled out this form as they reported. As I watched him write down the numbers, the spirit whispered to me powerfully that this is what the Savior’s net looks like for missionaries.
The key indicators create the strings for the net. The more we focus on the key indicators, the fewer fish will slip out and be lost. If the missionaries don’t use the key indicators, we have holes in our net and people fail to progress. Beyond this, the missionaries are like the disciples that the Savior called to work diligently to secure the nets in order to bring them unto the Savior full of fish.
After our meeting, I studied Luke 5:4-10 and learned more. It says:
4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing:
Notice: When the disciples did things their own way, they were not successful. As they did the work as directed by the Savior, things changed dramatically!
6 And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
Notice: The disciples called their friends for help! Our missionaries can do the same when they work and coordinate with their local ward members & leaders to help their new friends feel welcomed and supported in our community of faith.
9 For he (Simon Peter) was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
10 ………….And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
This is like the Savior saying to missionaries, ward members and leaders, “Don’t be afraid of your key indicators because from henceforth together we shall catch men!”
It really isn’t about numbers, it is about changing the lives of new members as well as our missionaries. When President Chipman and I went to the MTC a year ago to be trained as mission leaders for four days, we had an amazing experience as we were taught by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. We were told specifically that one of our biggest duties was to help each of our young missionaries to be “converted unto the Lord” through their missionary experience. Elder Nash, a member of the first quorum of the seventy and leader of the missionary department, specifically taught us how to do this. He said: “We must help the missionary look unto Christ always, to seek him always, and view the vital practices of finding, teaching, and working with members, planning, setting goals, inviting, following up, and reporting on the key indicators, and baptizing converts, as a means to actively joining with the Lord in laboring in the salvation of others.” He then made this powerful promise: “if the missionaries do these things as a means for serving Christ, they will come to know and trust him and then they will experience Christ's presence and power.”
We love our missionaries and because of this promise, we will continue to do all we can so that they may receive this promised blessing for themselves! It isn’t about feeling good or bad about one’s performance compared to others, it is all about experiencing Christ’s presence and power as you come unto Him and serve Him in His way.
—------
Added Scripture:
Moroni 6:4–5
“And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.
“And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.”
