Imagining a Church where everyone feels truly welcome
Faith Matters resources to accompany your Come Follow Me study: May 12-18
The Savior welcomes all who want to worship in His Church. I can help others feel welcome at church.
Shima Baradaran-Baughman: Mercy at the Margins
“Let's treat every visitor with love. And I think we can do better at that… I think we're often just not used to visitors coming, at least maybe in some of our wards… I think just being prepared for that, people that don't look like us, that have a different background than us, actually treating them like Christ would, with the kind of love that He would and just being open to that, I think that's something definitely we need to work on."
Justin Dyer: Be ye Therefore a Perfectionist?
One of Justin’s most powerful insights is that our perceptions become a physiological reality. Stress responses not only shape how we think but also affect our ability to connect with others and feel the Spirit. This underscores the vital importance of creating church communities that are unconditionally loving, judgment-free spaces where people feel truly accepted.
Heavenly Father gives me spiritual gifts to bless others.
In Doctrine and Covenants, when the Lord offers a list of spiritual gifts, one of the things that is discussed there is, “to some it is given to know that Jesus is the Christ,” et cetera, et cetera. But what is striking to me, and what was initially surprising, is that then the next part of that same list says, “and to some it is given to believe on the words of those who know.”
My understanding of that pairing is that the second is purposefully given in contradistinction to the first. In other words, to some it's given to know, that's their gift, and to some it is given to not know. …
We don't usually stand up in testimony meeting and say, I have been blessed with the gift of not knowing if the Church is true. But that section of the Doctrine and Covenants seems to suggest that that's a totally legitimate thing to say.
So when we read in the New Testament about this metaphor of the different parts of the body of Christ, and the kidney can't say to the heart, “I have no need of you,” and so on and so on, I think that those of us who have been gifted with spiritual knowledge could do a better job of trying to understand the gift of those who do not have that knowledge, and who may never, at least in this life, have that knowledge. What necessary beauty and healing and succor do they bring to the body of Christ that we couldn't have if everybody had the gift of knowing?
—Tyler Johnson, “When Church is Hard”
The community is better, the Body of Christ is stronger, when all the members are there, with all the people, in all of their different stages.
And I think that it's really hard to do, right? Especially when you've kind of passed through one stage, and you can remember what it was like, and now you're in a different place. And maybe you even are appreciative of the good things that you learned from that stage, but you're like, oh, man, I'm so much happier now. I'm in a better place.
It's just a very human thing to say, wouldn't it be better if everybody was like me? I mean, that's the ego. But I think what Paul is really pushing back on there is, no, it would not be better if everybody were like you. That would be a terrible body if it were all eyes or all ears or all hearts, no matter how important each of those parts are. And so it's really an act of humility to be able to say, I need—not just, I can coexist with other people in other stages—but I need them. And they act as checks on me, and I might even have things to learn.
—Patrick Mason, “Imagining a Four-Stage Church”
Eboo Patel: Partners in a Prophetic Mission
Using the beautiful metaphor of a potluck dinner, Eboo reminds us: "Do not hide your light. Do not stop bringing your distinctive dish to the table. A potluck is a place where everyone’s contributions matter." This episode is about how we can actively build relationships, cooperate across differences, and create something richer together than any of us could alone.
Melissa Inouye and Kate Holbrook: Every Needful Thing
Kate and Melissa talked through so many important questions with us, including how we can belong exactly as we are and how we may have more choice in the matter of belonging than we think we do; how it’s important to be thoughtful as we think about change and progress in a global Church; and perhaps most importantly, how we can reconcile both mind and spirit as we live our lives.
The Lord wants His Church to keep a history.
Dr. Lisa Olsen Tait: A New Approach to Church History
We know that some Latter-day Saints have had a complicated relationship with Church history. It can be alternately incredibly inspiring, confusing, uplifting and at times disturbing. And as Lisa put it, “There’s a history to the Church’s relationship with its history.” For those who have longed for an official history that is more open and accurate than what the Church has published before, Saints seems a huge step in the right direction.
Lisa Olsen Tait & Scott Hales: Our Beautiful, Messy, Unfolding Story
In this candid discussion, Lisa and Scott reflect on the Church’s evolving approach to its own history through the years. They both share a deep commitment to transparency and accuracy and discuss how Volume 4 of Saints takes deliberate steps to address challenging topics—including the priesthood and temple ban, the Church’s rapid global growth and subsequent correlation efforts of the 1960s, and how those changes shaped women’s roles and autonomy within the community.
This conversation was a beautiful reminder that each of us is part of a rich, unfolding history—a history that connects us to generations of Saints who faced their own challenges and whose courage and faithfulness have blessed us today. We hope it inspires you to see your own place in this story.
When I go to church history, I try to have an open mind… So often in the past, we've used it as evidence for the truth of our faith, right? Set that aside. Approach this as laboratories of discipleship. People are experimenting with what it means to be a disciple, what it means to be a chosen people, to seek God under different conditions, dealing with different things, with their own problems… Once you do that, it's fascinating, right? And sometimes it really works. And sometimes it falls apart in tragic and instructive ways.
And so I really try very hard to suspend judgment a little bit in Church history and get in and empathize with people. And as I do… it deepens my faith to study Church history, because I see how people really did it in the struggle of life.
—James Goldberg, “Let Me Drown with Moses”
Elder Marlin K. Jensen's Exclusive Interview - A Disciple’s Plea for Openness and Inclusion
During his 24 years as a beloved LDS General Authority and Official Church Historian, Elder Marlin K. Jensen presided over an historic shift toward greater openness in the LDS church’s approach to its history. In this conversation with Terryl Givens, we get an intimate glimpse into Elder Jensen’s personal life and thoughts, including the challenges and the fruits of complete openness and transparency in telling the history of the Church, and the urgent need to embrace those who are different or “don’t meet the norm” in the Church.
Terryl Givens once wrote of Elder Jensen: "Marlin Jensen has done more to further the cause of Mormon history than any person of the current generation."
Kate Holbrook: Extraordinary Women in Mormon History
Kate Holbrook served as managing historian for Women’s History for the LDS church. In this conversation with Terryl Givens, Kate highlights the importance of telling the LDS story from the perspective of its women, and she talks about the effect the Relief Society (“God’s quorum for women”) has had in shaping the church.
LDS church history “needs to be told in a way that integrates what men were doing with what women were doing,” Holbrook says. And not just what Mormon women were doing, but what they were teaching and preaching. Kate co-edited an extraordinary volume titled “At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women.” “At the Pulpit” features 54 speeches by LDS women over the entire history of the church, complete with important historical context provided by Holbrook and fellow co-editor Jennifer Reeder.
The Richard Bushman Interview
In this conversation, Richard spoke about his own early journey from agnosticism to faith; why learning history, and learning from history, are so important; the revelatory process; the legacy of Rough Stone Rolling; and even why he wants to live in a world where there could be such a thing as gold plates.
I can record my history.
In remembrance of the feet that have carried us here—bruised and blistered, scarred and swollen, both steadfast and faltering—we present a collection of essays to honor Pioneer Day, featuring four writers who share a connection with an ancestor that has touched them. We hope this series reflects the wisdom, solace, and strength we glean as our hearts turn to the generations before us. A kindling of recognition, a story that imparts courage, a shared grief—these are some of the gifts we receive as we commune with our family across time. May we find renewed faith as we remember the feet that carried us here and the footprints we leave for those who follow. —Grace Carter, Wayfare
I can help others by sharing what I have been given.
