What We Say and What We Mean

[jamesq]

I was thinking about religious groups that have active proselytizing missions - specifically the Mormons, but also the Jehovah's Witnesses and assorted Evangelical groups too. The stated goal of these missions is to win converts. However, I find it hard to believe that they're that successful at it. There's simply not that many people in a hostile world that would put up with being woken up on a Sunday morning to be preached too while thinking "Coffee gooooood".

A more important aspect of missions is to increase group coherence. Running into lots of hostile people is a good way to foster an us-versus-them mentality, which should protect against defections.

My point is not to argue that one or the other is more important - I'm sure they both are. What I want to know is if the leadership of the groups acknowledges the importance of fostering group coherence. When talking amongst themselves, do they say "we know we don't get many converts, that's not the point. The point is to make the missionaries more afraid of the outside world".

Comments

[oblivions.livejournal.com]

I'll ask my friends back home. Some went through that, other broke away from that religion at a fairly young age. They are all pretty frank about the ways things are.

[snooness2]

All I know is that they haven't made it to my door yet (thank goodness)... mind you the 3 foot snow barrier in front of the door may have a lot to do with it.... and not usually being home Saturday and Sunday mornings to answer the door.

[rectangularcat]

There are lots of lonely people that welcome any people to speak to. They start you off with a generic Bible Study which if you are some sort of lapsed Christian is very intriguing.

You only see them on weekends as they have already marked your house as not being home on weekdays. They go door to door any day, any part of the day and keep trying given homes for months on end until someone answers.

I have previous inside knowledge of the JW's. For the mormons, only the young men go door to door. For the JW's everyone has monthly hourly quotas to meet and in a given month they have a handful of positive call backs.

It works, they are a very fast growing church.