What do you see as the greatest challenge(s) facing the Church in the next ten years, and what would you think are fruitful approaches to meeting those?
Full Citation for this Article: Editorial Board, SquareTwo Journal (2023) "Reader's Puzzle for Fall 2023," SquareTwo, Vol. 16 No. 3 (Fall 2023), http://squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleReadersPuzzleFall2023.html, accessed <give access date>.
Would you like to comment on this article? Thoughtful, faithful comments of at least 100 words are welcome.
I. Savannah Eccles Johnston
I believe the greatest challenge facing the Church within the next decade is retention of young adults (ages 18-30). I think this is particularly a concern for women between the ages of 26 and 30. The Church could do much to aid retention, such as updating policies that are simply policies, allowing for greater geographic and cultural differences in local units, and amplifying the voices of the few female leaders at the general level. At the personal level, focusing on big theological picture when seeking for answers on tough social questions and being comfortable with a lot of gray and dissonance is important.
_______________________________________________________________________II. Rachel Zirkle
I would say one of the greatest challenges we face in the next ten years is summed up in Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Overt attacks on the Church would be easier to call the wrestle what it is, but I think the real challenge is the cultural shifts taking place that make foundational gospel truths seem muddled, outdated, strange. With increasing speed and intensity, we live in a time when good is called evil, and evil good. In fact, society as a whole no longer agrees on what even is good and what is evil. We don’t agree on things that were once considered a given, like innate identity. We don’t agree on what is acceptable behavior for leaders or between nations, or if that even matters. We don’t agree and we fight bitterly about it.
The “you do you” mentality of society-- constantly reinforced in social media, TV entertainment, books, media, etc. -- has promised happiness and personal fulfillment are found in untethering from constructs like religion. This lie has become especially appealing for individuals tired of the uncomfortable, unrelenting work of reconciling personal religious beliefs with other society-driven attitudes, politics, and ethics. The greater distance there is between the accepted worldview of society and the perspective of the gospel, the greater dissonance there is for individuals who want to keep a foot in both camps. You can only do the splits for so long, and the distance between the two is only growing.
When it comes to combatting society focused on the self and the slew of ills that come from incessantly looking inward, the only successful answer is to look to the Savior. When the individual is left to call all the shots, decide individually what is right and wrong, good or bad, confusion is rampant because what do we individually know? Who among us is infallible? As individuals we are so different and fear makes us cling to identifiers we find safety in, but that also pits us against everyone whose own identifiers challenges ours. Therefore, there is such wisdom in the reoccurring themes I picked up from our latest session of General Conference—prayer and attending the temple to further understand the covenants we make there—because they both point us to Christ and away from the self. Drawing closer to Jesus Christ brings inner peace for the things of the world and of the gospel we can’t reconcile on our own. This allows us to continue to walk the gospel path with confidence, while those without His peace increasingly feel compelled to turn away from it.
The more our leaders can point us to Jesus Christ, the more Church members can find the strength and peace necessary to navigate a world we don’t fit very well in anymore. It is important for members to learn how to come to know Jesus Christ. This, I believe, is the significance of understanding our covenants we make because they are road maps to better know Jesus Christ. For example, as we love one another, as we bear one another’s burdens, as we sacrifice, as we repent and change, He’s there in those moments. We come to know Him in the very act of being like Him. As Prophets and Church leaders focus on helping us understand and act on the covenants we make as Church members, they help us come to know Jesus Christ, which we know is the way – the only way—to overcome any and all challenges in mortality.
_______________________________________________________________________III. V.H. Cassler
I completely agree that passing on our faith and its religious organization (the Church) in uncorrupted form to our children and grandchildren is always the most important effort of any religious community. However, I would also like to add another issue to the mix, with special reference to the situation in the US. We know the days of persecution are coming; we can see signs that those days are nearing. While there is a generalized anti-Christian feeling from those of other religions as well as those without religion, there is also an anti-CoJC feeling among several Christian denominations. It will no doubt be a confluence of several sources that will catalyze the prophesied persecutions of the future.
In the recent past, the Church has addressed these ill feelings by making friends far and wide. That is still a very wise strategy, and it should continue. The Church has also amassed an impressive “rainy day” fund, as well as immense farm acreage and food processing centers, which are surely for the purposes of surviving what is to come. This is wisdom, and is praiseworthy. But I hope the Church is also thinking of how to temporally “save” its members when the persecution becomes severe. We may face a time in the not-so-distant future when CoJC members may be debanked for their religious views, when they may be fired from their jobs or refused certification and credentials to serve in their jobs, when the public schools will be a place of harassment and harmful indoctrination by those who dislike our faith’s tenets. (Of course, there may be a time in the future when members of the Church will be physically attacked, but I think the opening stages will be social, economic, and educational assaults.)
I feel there are steps that might be considered in this time of preparation—and none of us know how short or how long that time might be. We need substitute institutions when our governmental institutions have been turned against us. There must be ways for members to bank and barter if they are shut out of banking and finance for their views. There must be ways for members to communicate with each other if they are denied any online presence. There must be alternative boards of certification established now, so that members in professions such as mental health and family therapy can continue to serve their communities, even if they are stripped of their credentials by those who do not appreciate their views. There needs to be certification for alternative educational paths that CoJC members may be forced into some day. We need to become a bit more self-sufficient as a people in terms of our ability to carry on if we are denied access to important institutions; not quite as disassociated as the Amish, but with the ability to withstand persecution and function as a people even when our society turns inevitably against us, as the scriptures prophesy.
I feel confident the Church must be making these plans—our General Authorities know we will need an ark one day. But since I am not privy to these plans, this is something I ponder when I look to the future.
_______________________________________________________________________IV. Ashley B. Alley
One of the greatest challenges facing church membership (not necessarily The Church itself) is sorting through the myriad voices vying for our attention, devotion, and discipleship. The prevalence of social media influencers who are associated with the faith but are promoting views and opinions not in alignment with doctrine and/or policy is difficult and tricky to navigate. Members must be willing to put in personal time and effort to understand the gospel and to seek the spirit of discernment in a world growing increasingly loud with the philosophies of men mingled with scripture. The Church, as an institution, may be able to assist members navigate this minefield by also increasing general members’ access to resources not previously distributed widely or readily available, for example translating key addresses from BYU speeches into more languages or using social media accounts to direct members back to addresses that are particularly adept at explaining major doctrinal concepts (for example, Brad Wilcox’s “His Grace is Sufficient”).
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