Heavenly Father has a plan for us, and we ought to have a plan for Him; a plan that is written down.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!”
Benjamin Franklin
A ‘digital’ Family Mission Plan should address how we intend to do missionary work online, by including specifics of what we will do, and when and where we will do it.
To start, we simply write down our initial thoughts on this. Then we pray through the following week to fine-tune those initial thoughts into a more considered and inspired plan.
We can also discuss our initial plan with family and friends, seeking their help in fine-tuning it, as well as subsequently carrying it out.
As we commit to, and carry out, our plan the Spirit will guide us and help us further fine-tune it.
President Benson gave excellent counsel when he said:
“I have said so many times …. that the Spirit is the most important single element in this work. With the Spirit and magnifying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord in the mission field. Without the Spirit you will never succeed regardless of your talent and ability.'
Also, consider writing down the purpose of the plan. One family wrote: “To work as a family to invite others to ‘come unto Christ and be perfected in Him’ (Moroni 10:32).”
Furthermore, consider including a vision for our plan; ask ourselves questions like, “What is our vision?”, “What would we like to accomplish?”, and “What do we hope to achieve?”
To help with this, try filling in the blanks in the statements below and see what further ideas this generates.
- We believe our Heaven Father wants us to ____________ this year, separately considering each of these areas of attention:
- With each other, we will ____________.
- With our neighbours and friends, we will ____________.
- With our extended family, we will ____________.
- With our church members, we will ____________.
- When people think of our family, how could we finish this sentence: “They are a family that ____________”?
Our plan should include the specific actions that we will take; below, are examples of what others have done. Initially include only those with which we can start; along the way, as we evaluate how we are doing, we can add more items
SERVE
- Pray for service and missionary opportunities each day
- Fast for service and missionary opportunities
- Help a member become more familiar with technology
- Offer help to a leader on a technical challenge
- Be involved in community service
- Find a project on JustServe.org
- Plan a community service project that involves those of other faiths
- Give service whenever you see a need and do not hesitate.
SHARE
- Regularly ‘like’ gospel-related messages posted by others
- Regularly ‘comment’ with uplifting messages on posts done by others
- Regularly share a church message, video, and so on, through social media
- Start a ‘blog’ (an online journal for others to read), or a ‘vlog’ (an online video-based journal for others to watch), to share how the gospel blesses your life
- Find your unique ‘create’ project and start to regularly post about it
- Refer someone to comeuntochrist.org.
INVITE
- Invite someone to join an online uplifting gospel discussion
- Invite someone to view a spiritual message by leaders
- Invite someone to view a mission ‘devotional’ online
- Invite someone to meet the missionaries in your home and learn more about the church.
Once we have made a digital Family Mission plan and are following it, we can consider expanding it to include non-digital member-missionary actions; the plan could even be expanded to be a broader Family Plan addressing who we want to become.
This article is part of the 'Gospel Technology' series which focus on the use of technology in our gospel-oriented lives. For more articles click here.