I’m convinced that the best way to convert someone to Mormonism is to not try and convert them at all. Everything that we do for other people doesn’t need to be a “missionary opportunity.” If we just do good for the sake of doing good, then I believe we’ll have more effectual opportunities to show someone what the restored gospel is really all about.
I don’t believe any one person on this earth has the power to truly convert someone else. That change has to come from within as they interact with the convincing power of the Spirit. Even Christ, with all his miracles, couldn’t convert Peter and the other apostles to the truth of his own divinity. The scriptures describe Christ as someone who “went about doing good.” Others observed Him… and then wanted to learn more about what he believed. Once they were intrigued, he’d then begin a dialogue with them in the form of questions and reasoning. Aside from the sermon on the mount, there was very little “preaching.”
So why do we try so hard to convert other people? Why do we bug and pry and nudge and tug on other people to do what we think they should do in regards to coming to church, getting baptized, or being “reactivated.” I have no doubt that most of the time, those efforts are made in a spirit of genuine concern for others. But contrived acts of fellowship rarely work… and if they do work, they’re usually not permanent in their effects.
Ward mission plans, goals, KPI’s, and every other calculated program are in my mind, a distraction to what is most important. We’re suffering from the programmatic implementation of the gospel in our lives and according to Boyd K. Packer, “You cannot force spiritual things. You can no more force the Spirit to respond than you can force a bean to sprout, or an egg to hatch before it’s time.”
So how the heck am I supposed to set ward baptism goals? I have no idea whether the Lord has prepared 1 person or 1000 people to hear the gospel and become converted. Can you imagine Ammon and his brothers setting out to the Lamanites and making KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) regarding how many people they were going to baptize?
Please understand that I am not against setting goals. They are a major part of my life, but create your own goals… for yourself. Don’t create goals that are beyond your control.
I can control what I do. I can’t control others. It’s never worked. There was an entire war in heaven over it.
I’m almost certain Ammon and his brothers had just one goal and one program. In fact, the scriptures say that all Ammon wanted to do was “dwell among this people [The Lamanites] for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.” Meaning… whatever it takes. Ammon just wanted to get to know the people and be an example to them with the hope that he could one day share what had brought him so much joy in his life. He just wanted to love them and serve them and find out what makes them tick. He had no idea how long he’d stay and he didn’t care. He had no timetable. No box to check. No report to give. If he had the opportunity to share the gospel with them, he’d take it, but the last thing he’d try to do was “force spiritual things.” He wasn’t going to try and baptize someone on December 31st in order to hit his circa 78 B.C. goals. He was going to do what the spirit directed him to do on the Lord’s timetable.
I remember a time while in the MTC when I was asked to role play with a companion. I was asked to teach one of the discussions. I was trying my best, trying to recall all that I had learned, and trying to give my own testimony as purely and as honestly as I could. The instructor stopped me mid-lesson and said, “C’mon… you’re not teaching with the spirit.”
“Dude… what do you want me to do? Do I need to make myself cry or something in order for it to be convincing? And really… who are you to determine whether I’m teaching by the spirit or not?” These are all things I thought to myself as I sat there in disbelief.
If there is one thing I’ve learned in my short time in this church, it’s this; the harder you try to convert someone to the gospel, the more you’ll push them away. The more you try to force spiritual things, the more things get awkward. But when you are authentically enthusiastic about the gospel, there will be no end to the number of people who will want to know what you believe and why you believe it.
Arbitrary programs, commitment patterns, “will you” questions, “I invite you” statements, “promised blessings,” and a host of other cultural hand-me-downs just make things weird. They usually come across forced and unnatural, rarely helping people to feel the spirit or causing them to consider joining the church.
“Teach correct principles,” the Prophet Joseph Smith liked to say, “and let them govern themselves.” When we cite D&C 43:9 about “binding to act,” it’s not insinuating that we need to place someone into a commitment pattern each and every time we want someone to participate in our program.
People will join the church because of your example, because of the doctrine, and because of the spirit that they feel. They’re not going to join the church because you’re on “assignment” to get them back to church or because you really need to return and report. People don’t want to be your goals. They don’t want to be your stats. They want to be your friends and they want the peace that only the Savior can bring them.
Sharing the gospel is like serving fruit. Regardless of how sweet and perfect that fruit is, if it is served improperly, then there’s a strong possibility that the recipient will not want any part of that fruit. The more care and thought we put into serving the fruit, the more that fruit will be accepted, embraced, and enjoyed. Taking a fistful if smashed raspberries out of your pocket with your dirty hands isn’t going to have the same result as taking those same raspberries and neatly presenting them on a platter.
But that’s what we do sometimes. In our conversations, in our friendships with others, and especially in our church meetings where missionaries bring their investigators hoping for some neatly presented fruit for them to be edified with. But instead, we smash the fruit in their face until what once might have become sweet and beautiful to them, becomes an unrecognizable ugly mess.
What I think is funny (more sad than funny) is the fact that I’ve been to so many meetings in which there are multiple investigators in the congregation who are ready to hear a powerful message about Jesus Christ, but then we waste the whole meeting talking about how to do missionary work and get more investigators out to church. This literally happened in the extreme a few years back when we had the mayor of our city out to one of our meetings. Can you guess what we talked about for almost 2 hours? Programs on how to get more of our friends out to church.
I wanted to yell from the back… “Hey there! We have 5 investigators + the mayor of our city sitting right here! Serve them some fruit!” Instead, we send them away with 5 tactics for getting more investigators out to church.
We have the most amazing gospel in our hands. We have the most powerful doctrine in our hearts. But then we throw golden opportunities away in the name of “instruction” and “programs.” We ought to stop talking about how to do missionary work and how to convert people because it doesn’t seem to help. It seems as if the more programs we implement, the more our numbers decline.
Why is that?
Maybe if we got up to the pulpit and brought Ammon and the Sons of Mosiah with us, and told their story along with the associated doctrine, we’d start to see a spark roar into a flame inside our members. And yet… how often do you see people truly teaching from the scriptures nowadays?
Stories, tangets, cliches, 5-10 minutes of local leadership flattering, and a closing thankamony? Then maybe one verse of scripture if we’re lucky. People are zoned out, scrolling Facebook, checking their bank balance, or “resting their eyes” aka sleeping.
In a recent training meeting, a senior couple got up to address the body of men sitting in the room. The Elder got up and said some stuff that I can’t remember. Then his wife stood up, opened her New Testament, and taught us about Christ in the context of what they were trying to convey. It was the best 10 minutes of the training. It was powerful because she opened the scriptures and let the Savior teach us.
All we’ve got to do is get back to the basics and expound upon the Book of Mormon and the Bible. If we still don’t know how to do missionary work at that point… well then… there’s little hope that some program is going to do the trick.
As a previously inactive 20-year-old, there was no program, no tactic, and no strategy that was effective enough to get me out to church and on to a mission. It wasn’t until I read the Book of Mormon in its entirety, and witnessed the excitement of one who had already served a mission that anything changed for me regarding conversion. Once I began to be taught the doctrine, it caused me to “put my hand to the plow and never look back.” (Luke 9:62)
Living the gospel and exhibiting Christlike love isn’t rocket science. But sometimes it feels like we turn it into rocket science. The Savior made it simple. Let your light shine bright! Everywhere you go. That’s it. Just let your light shine and others will be drawn to that light. Once they’ve been drawn to your light, then you can expound upon what you know about Christ and his teachings.
the lds mormon church is the biggest fraud ever..there is nothing true about it …there temples are there money machines..you have to pay to play money is what the cult is about and i am out and free
You don’t sound very free to me. You’re here trolling an LDS blog post. If you’re so free, go do something else.
you’re right. it is EITHER the biggest fraud or the GREATEST story told in these days. It’s for people to find out for themselves. Apparently you have already decided. I personally believe it’s the greatest story.
pay to play? no one is forcing anyone to play. temples have been around since the beginning of time. it’s not some ‘play’ to get people to pay. i believe temples even appeared in the old and new testament. not a Mormon idea. the sooner you give up your hatred of the Mormon church, the happier you will be. give it a shot.
Perhaps you are referring to another church, what you describe is not The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. Having studied world religions in college, attended many churches and been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints for many years, I should know.
The commandment of paying tithing is in the bible, it is not a Mormon concept. But unlike so many churches that collect thithes and offerings, my tithing does not pay for my Sunday sermons. It is a very small contribution to the building of places of worship in which I gain far more than I give. This is not a cult and for you to say so is to make a mockery of those who are truly captive and enslaved by evil people seeking power and control in actual cults. They do exist and had you any compassion for them you would not use such a word so lightly and incorrectly.
If everyone in the world lived by the promises and covenants made in Holy Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the world would be free of poverty, abuse, addictions, greed, unkindness, infidelity, hunger, crime, lying, and other plagues of society. The temples are doing more for the world than can ever be measured, including building faith in those who pay their tithing, fast offering, and humanitarian aid so assistance of all types helps people of all cultures, of any or no faith, all around the world. P.S. it is “their” temples, not “there” temples.
Dear exmonomo–So interesting you are reading article by faithful LDS for faithful LDS. You may be “out and free” as you say, but not so free that you are free from the desire to still read LDS stuff and spend you life being mocking and rude about it. To be really ‘out and free’ we suggest you go live your life and enjoy it instead. But everyone who knows anyone who has ever left and considers themselves an Ex-Mormon fit to the letter the old dictum: “They can leave the Church but the can’t leave it alone” Thanks for proving the truth of that statement once again. 🙂
god has nothing to do with the mormon cult..that is why utah is not geting any snow this winter…there priest hood blessings are wothless as a lpiece of shit
if you feel that way, why are you still trolling LDS sites? sounds like the guilty take the truth to be hard and want others to confirm their decision to quit. Sorry, it is true
As a convert to “The Cult” at age 17, I have been preaching against preaching for 53 years.
Moroni 7:46-47:
46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail–
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
It’s snowing at my house, I live in Utah and I’m a Mormon. You must belong to the “Church of the Sunday Morning Skiers” 🙂 I will pray that you get snow!
Love so much of this. The contrived ‘baptism’ goals and all the other contrived stuff /gimmicks is why we have 489 people in our ward with an average Sac Mtg attendance of 106. People may ‘join the Church ‘ as the result of lots of these ‘goals’ etc etc–but they so very rarely keep coming— or are even interested in the Gospel at all. Just recently, we did an evaluation of many of them–they all joined because of intense fellowshipping which played to their need for attention and interaction with others– but they didn’t really know or care about anything with the gospel, they just liked serious and intense attention. When that dropped off from being so very focused on them, they stopped coming. The ones who have become ‘real members’ I know were all converts for reasons other than baptism goals or gimmicks or pressure on the members to come up with somebody/anybody for the missionaries to teach.
Really liked so much of what you had to say. Thank you.
CS Lewis was so great at helping people understand conversion. He said that it takes much more than imagination and reasoning to have any effect on the human will. He said it takes what he described as a supernatural intervention. We know it as personal revelation or a confirmation of the spirit. Many people may be brought to the church on imagination and reasoning but until they themselves have that Supernatural intervention and a confirmation from the spirit of the Lord, their human will will not be affected nor swayed to the will of the Lord. The talks at church should be presented so that the spirit can confirm to the hearts of the listeners that what is being taught is true.
Fabulous post 🙂
Thanks Amy! 🙂
I have read your first and last two paragraphs, Greg. Assuming those paragraphs represent your article, I think what you’ve said is great. I’ve been thinking along these lines when it comes to my relatives. Joyce Meyer said the other night, “Live to love, Live to love.” That’s simple.
Over the years I have met thousands of people in my extensive traveling. My position is, always leave them better than when you first met them. It could be sharing the Gospel or just helping them with a personal problem or helping them feel good about themselves. It is like you can make the grumpiest person smile with a genuine hello, how are you. Just care about them at whatever point they are at in their lives and make it better if you can.
I agree. Christ is our supreme example in every way. He loved and served everyone around him. He taught when he was asked questions, when people begged him to teach them. When you are truly a disciple of Christ and center your life around him, it is natural to bring him into conversation on many occasions. When you live by the spirit, there are many times it will prompt you to express certain aspects of your faith and understanding. It is in these moments of opening one’s mouth out of love of the Lord and sensitivity to the spirit that others are touched and the spirit testifies. This is why we spend an hour bearing testimony once a month. Let missionary work be a natural consequence of doing and being the good in the world and it’s effect will be powerful and lasting.
While I think you are entirely correct in your comments, I also know that it is the nature of people to need explicit instructions. We have been told for many years that Every member [is] a missionary but we have had a difficult time articulating our testimonies of the gospel to others when they have had questions. Many of the “programs” we have been given were designed to help members know what to say and when to say it. Life would be wonderful if we could always “be an example of the believers” all the time, consistently throughout the Church, but because we are not (because of our agency), I think we have needed a unifying program to help us see what we need to do. The problems come–and I think you have shown this beautifully–when people become projects instead of friends. A vast number of “saints” see communities as “us” and “them” and have never thought about how to be friends, to cross the boundary we have set up to protect ourselves from the criticism and misunderstandings of others. I would love to see us get beyond that and I believe that the Brethren are leading the way for us in their General Conference addresses about loving (not converting) our neighbors of all persuasions. They have also reemphasized keeping the Sabbath Day holy which could be a great unifying factor in making us “different” in the kind of way that others will ask us questions about our beliefs in Christ and the peace that will follow us because of keeping the commandments. Overall, though, I think our emphasis on conversion and reactivation needs to be based on our own goals of seeking to be worthy to receive personal revelation to know how to be the kind of teachers that the Savior way, how to go about doing good (without getting discouraged), and hearing the Spirit whisper to us and following through with those directions to love and serve our fellowmen (and women). Even if we did nothing more than to love unconditionally and to pray for those we care about individually–consistently–the Lord would be able to prepare many more hearts to receive the witness of the Spirit and we would be able to share our testimonies more easily. Finally, I think that “We Need to Stop CONVERTING others has an issue with semantics. Most of us already know that We do not Convert; the Spirit does and yet we need to be available and listening to the Spirit ourselves in order to make the blessings of the gospel available to others. As President Kimball said, “God does notice us and he watches over us, but it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.” Rather than an emphasis on converting others, we need, as you have suggested, to set goals for ourselves to be more converted and in tune with the Spirit so God can work through us to being the peaceable things of the kingdom to others.
A thousand amens to this!! Goals are a fabulous thing; as long as we set them for ourselves or our families. An inquiring family at my children’s school asked if they could come to my house and see what we believed, because they really liked the way our kids acted. We met alone with them, and they expressed desired to come to church and have the discussions. Next time we invited the missionaries to come over with our family and our friends. The missionaries taught, and then started in with their “will you” statements. They hammered. And would not let go. “Will you join the church if you find it’s true?” Our friends kept saying they wanted to investigate and continue lessons and come to church, but the young elders hammered their same statement. Our friends felt trapped; we felt embarrassed. It was all around awkwardness. That was the end of our friends’ interest in the church. I have always regretted calling those missionaries to come teach, even though they were good young men. It would’ve been a different story had we continued in friendship and fellowship on our own.
We were taught to do the same thing on our mission. The reasoning behind it was that if someone is truly ready they will commit.
The “will you” commitments never felt right to me. The hard sale makes it feel more like you’re being pressured into a time share and less like someone is sharing a life changing gospel with you.
And the thing is, many of us as investigators had no previous firsthand experience with a religion being true. We may have been unwittingly responding to the spirit as we attended church, but we didn’t really ever think a church could be “true.” We were mainly hoping to find one that felt right for us, notwithstanding all the talk from the missionaries about it being the true church. It can take time for that sort of testimony to take hold, and badgering in advance of it is a huge turnoff. It feels like a hard-sell, and can actually be a strike against believing the church is true — as in, If it were true, why would “sales tactics” be necessary?
I’m so glad you wrote this. My observation is that a large majority in the church are so steeped in culture and tradition that they have lost sight of what really matters, and the children born into the religion may have never actually observed, witnessed, or felt the sweetness of Christ’s gospel for themselves. They just follow the rules and do what they’re told to do for social acceptance and to please their parents without anyone ever bothering to give them the “why” behind the rules. I worry that in many ways our people are starting to look and act a bit like those who had a problem with Jesus in His day. They couldn’t get over their culture and traditions long enough to see the truths He was teaching. Keep writing, Greg! Your work here is addressing the very things that are challenging for headquarters to address (for reasons I’m still struggling to understand.). I’ve been working up there as a writer for a number of years now and I’m telling you that when you’re writing for yourself you have more freedom to say what needs to be said. I wish more people would do the same.
I pray every day that our children who are not active in the church will be touched by the love and kindness of members who accept them where they are in life. They all have amazing qualities that should outweigh the fact that they do not attend church, or live exactly the way others think they should.
I agree with bluewater. I see so many converts fall away after their missionaries leave. I was inactive for 12 years and occasionally I saw members and we would chat. They didn’t try to get me to return to church, I returned after joining an exercise class that was taught by a woman who just had something special about her, and later I found out she was a member of our ward who had moved here. We talked and she never asked me to return to church, but I missed having what she had from living the gospel. I told her how she affected me in such a good way. We really do just need to let our light shine and draw members back that way. Of course, when we see inactive members we should let them know how much we miss them and make them feel welcome to return. I remember how hard it was to walk back in after 12 years. I only made it to the back row before my shaky knees had to sit down.
Greg: I absolutely loved your article and couldn’t agree with you more. Your article really hit home as I am currently inactive and want to come back. There is a lot of hurt and it needs to be at my pace, not someone else’s. I love your articles (this is my second) because they give me much to think about. Thank you so much. ????
Debbie, I pray that you will feel the love of Christ in your life and be open to the love people want to give you. I don’t know who hurt you, but there are SO many people who will nurture you with Christ’s love. Please give them a chance!
Loved the thoughts in here. So Greg what would a Ward Mission Plan look like in your opinion?
Great read. I think some people take your comments wrong. The way I read this is to aoply this tactic more for our everyday lives. I don’t think you can apply what you are suggesting for a full time missionary, of course they need to be more direct. But I agree 100% with your approach in our day tyo day lives. For an example…for some reason, throught my life I have always been assigned less active home teaching families. I don’t ever show up at there home in a white shirt and tie, but I have a 100% success rate of getting into their homes. I think many times we scare people and come off as preachy or untreatable.
Keep writing I love your ideas.
Bob Wilcock
There is so much truth to what you have said. However, we definitely need to follow the spirit. We have heard of those who joined the Church and were asked why they did not join earlier. The reply was “no one ever asked me.” I remember the story of a Bishop who would go to the beach every Sunday to find a boy who continued to be absent. The boy appeared to be annoyed, however, he later expressed his appreciation for the persistent Bishop. I think the real answer is to seek the spirit to know what, how, and when to say or do something. It is important that all we is do is done and said with love.
I’ll admit I didn’t read every single word of this article, but what I read I loved. As an adult convert, I can honestly say I have always been irritated by the numbers thing. Despite their persistence, I refused to meet with the missionaries until I was sure that I was ready to be baptized, and I had already almost finished the entire Book of Mormon and gained a testimony for myself. After joining the church I’d go on tons of visits with the missionaries, but I was always frustrated that they’d bring these people into the fold only to have them fall away very quickly because of what I believed was most of them never even gaining a true testimony yet, a lack of fellowship, and a lack of follow-up by the missionaries. It was like the missionaries were so excited to baptize someone, but bringing someone into the church requires so much more than that. It’s like entering a brand new world that you know nothing about, and it’s hard to take that journey completely alone. I’m grateful that I took the time to gain a testimony for myself, because it helped me (and continues to help me) through the loneliness of being a young single adult and the only member in my family, but I understand how easy it can be to fall away. I currently serve as a ward missionary, and I’ve gotten seriously irritated with how we do our visits. If we are able to make contact with anyone (99% of the time no one answers the door) we basically say, hi we’re from the ward, and then leave and don’t visit again for months. How is this going to help these people come back to church?! We need to be the Lord’s hands here on the earth, lifting up our fellow brothers and sisters and reminding them that they are loved, so that they can remember why they joined the church in the first place. Numbers are literally meaningless when retention/reactivation rates are terrible, and I think the focus needs to be reevaluated.
May I just add a suggestion that any member could apply. Once when I brought a friend to sacrament meeting, she was very impressed by the preparations and message of the speakers. She also decided NEVER to return because of the irreverence. She wasn’t concerned about noisy small children, but adults talking to each other during the talks, massaging each other’s backs, teens visiting and hitting each other and wandering in and out, etc. She is from a very reverent church (so am I before my conversion). When entering a church, we knelt in private prayer before sitting in our seat listening to prelude. We did not talk, because others were kneeling in prayer and meditating. It was the polite thing to do. As converts, we are told to bring the good from our previous religion, and the LDS church will add to it. It is hard to bring that reverence, because it is foreign to so many “lifers” in the church. As an organist I sometimes feel that I’m playing in a gymnasium. The young men preparing the sacrament table are laughing and joking as they set up the sacrament table. There is a time for all of that, but it isn’t in the chapel before or during church. We are preparing to partake of the Lord’s supper. Guests in our church should be able to feel the spirit from the second they enter the chapel. A quiet welcome and handshake upon entering is nice. A heartier welcome could come after the meeting! She is still open to talking about religions and going to RS events, but not coming to church again. I keep praying that she will someday decide to read the Book of Mormon so that she will know its truth, and be willing to return to church in spite of our faults.
I have thought these same things for a long time but have never been able to write them down as you have.
My wife and I have a dear friend who was interested in, and coming to church. Unfortunately her Aunt (that lives next door) and her Aunts friend continually bothered (harassed might be a better word) her about going to church and getting baptized and paying tithing and living the word of wisdom and going to the temple and taking her son to primary and on and on and on.
It got to the point where she just felt suffocated and started ignoring them!
Her Aunts friend was talking to me one time about her and said “it is so said about so and so. I mean I really think she is possessed by an evil spirit. Why else would she not talk to me and her aunt anymore?” She was completely serious.
I wanted to tell her maybe it’s because you two couldn’t stop shoving your perception of your religion down her throat!
And yes I agree with your point. If we are truly trying to be like Jesus, I’m pretty sure he did not set goals that were conditional on other peoples agency.
Thought provoking. I agree & disagree lol. Cant force, sure, can invite, sure ! If we dont do the inviting, people won’t get the opportunity to hear more. People are not gong to just ask no matter how good your life is, even Nathaniel was asked to ‘come see’ by Peter – he became an apostle ! But do agree we need to ask & serve. I am taking someone to church on sunday who would not go if I had not have invited them. Its a cop out not to invite.
Hey Robert – I’m not saying not to invite people. I’m saying to not use the awkward “I invite you” statements lol. I like “come and see” much better. 🙂
Hi Greg, yes agreed and wasn’t trying to be critical. It’s a good article and you keep on posting. I think the missionaries over use the phrase ‘will you’, as you were saying, the softer questions like ‘come and see, and let me know what you think’ , ‘this has helped me, it might help you to’, etc, are better.
But a lot of the comments seem to suggest that people think we just need to be good people, and that is going to attract people to church on its own, I don’t agree with.
I read your book on virtual missionaries and I’m doing some work on that, I thank you for writing it, it was good, I am just in the process of finishing off my own book on member missionary work to fill in some gaps that exist on this important subject. Hope it can be as good as yours 🙂
I would love to read your book!
I will send you a copy in a few months. Whats the best way to send it ?
Far too many meetings are full of fluff and not enough scripture. Far too many meetings are ran with only the members in mind, with no consideration that there might be someone in the audience who is a non member, or is struggling with their testimony, or has just come back to church. Members seem to want to bring others into the fold, but don’t take key moments to teach about the church and to fellowship. So many missed opportunities, so many that are right at their fingertips. I feel that it is because of numbers and looking good for each other…especially in predominately Mormon neighborhoods. This is such a shame, because the people who could benefit from their fellowship are often ignored. They are too busy worrying about getting numbers to see what/who is right in front of them.
one of my favorite ideas in the christmas song, “santa claus is coming to town” is the part that reads, “oh, be good for goodness’ sake”. it can be understood two ways: better be good or santa’s gonna give you a lump of nothing. or it can be understood to say that goodness and behaving good/in a good manner is its own reward
on the other hand i tend to differ slightly from greg: i think we should ” … talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.”2N25:26. but not 24-7 since sleep has to happen also, as well as study, work, school, living. and while those things are happening, we can show our true character, by living as Christ has, putting our “light on a hill”. our voice should not be stifled either