Mitt Romney, Harry Reid, Glenn Beck, Steve Young, and Donnie and Marie Osmond—the list of famous Mormons continues to grow. So much so that Newsweek recently called this “The Mormon Moment.” Behind this sudden public prominence is decades of rapid growth for the Latter Day Saints, and few evangelical churches have much success in reaching them. Alpine Church, a non-denominational, five-campus church in northern Utah, is a notable exception. To understand what it takes to reach our Mormon neighbors, we talked to Steve Bennetsen, one of Alpine’s teaching pastors.
What made you want to minister in Utah?
After attending Moody Bible Institute, I worked in a church near Chicago. I enjoyed ministering in that area, but I wanted to be somewhere with greater spiritual need. When I learned that Utah, apart from Mormon wards, is actually the most unchurched area in America, it grabbed my heart. Only one percent of the population attend an evangelical church. Utah is one of America’s greatest mission fields. There is a smaller percentage here than in places like Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iraq.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced?
To understand the culture. At first glance, Utah looks like any other place in America. But the Latter Day Saints church influences every aspect of the culture, from education to business to government to media. The church owns the major businesses and media outlets. Every night, the news spins a positive piece about the Mormon Church. This religion touches every aspect of society in Utah.
How do you speak effectively within that culture?
Many Mormons believe evangelical Christianity is for morally-lazy people, for people who want to drink coffee and wear jeans to church. So one of the biggest challenges we face is leading people to understand the gospel. The gospel is not about performance or religious ability. The gospel teaches we are sinners and only God can save us. That gospel is a new idea to many people, and many find it offensive.
We ask them if they have had a defining moment of being saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. We tell them that only when they have received a new identity can they begin to honor God. Getting people to understand that sequence is the biggest challenge we face, because they have been indoctrinated with the idea that salvation is linked to works. We want to honor God with our lives. But we tell them we can never earn salvation. Only the Cross can do that.
If we are going to be effective in reaching this culture, we can’t simply try to change people’s doctrine. While doctrine is important, reaching Mormons is not primarily a doctrinal issue. Mormonism affects a person’s entire worldview. So we have had to think deeply about how we address their culture, not just attack their beliefs.
What approach has been most successful?
Historically, most evangelical churches have isolated themselves and served as refuges from the Mormon culture. But we decided to actively engage Mormon culture.
We discovered that a good first step is simply to invite somebody to church. In our context, inviting people to church is not offensive. In Manhattan people might find it offensive, but that’s a secular society. Things are different in Utah. It’s considered normal to invite someone to church. When they come, we work hard to create a Sunday service that makes sense to Mormons. We want to engage them without being offensive.
What have you found does not work?
You’ll always run into a dead end if you start off attacking their beliefs. Many Christians want to attack the cultural anomalies of Mormonism—polygamy, racism, the relationship of Christ and Lucifer, and so forth. But Mormons are trained to tune out those sorts of attacks. They consider that to be persecution, which they think bolsters their position. They also have set answers to respond to attacks. Being derogatory or starting with theological distinctions isn’t helpful.
You have to establish a relationship first. Most people I encounter that have come out of Mormonism have done so because they were burdened by Mormonism and realized they could never be good enough. Mormonism has a never-ending list of things you have to do to be good enough. That wears people out. When people recognize they will never be good enough, they’re open to the gospel.
So when you sense Mormons are feeling that burden, ask them if you can tell them the biblical gospel. That can create an open door. And when you discuss theology, focus on the essentials. I talk about who God is, who Jesus is, and how we are made right with God. Those are the three main issues I focus on, because Mormons have radically different beliefs about those topics.
How do you avoid offending them?
We never use the word Mormon from the pulpit. We never talk about Joseph Smith. We never address the Latter Day Saints directly, but we preach clear Christian theology every week. We preach grace. We preach the Trinity and other core biblical truths.
They’re usually not offended when you focus on what the Bible says. But if I were to say, from the pulpit, “Mormons think this …” and “Joseph Smith was wrong,” people would be offended. Even if they’ve rejected Mormon beliefs, they still feel a sense of loyalty to Mormonism. This is a unique place where religion and culture are closely linked. It is similar to Judaism. “Jewish” can refer to religion, culture, or heritage. It’s an identity. Mormonism is the same way.
When a Mormon converts, what kinds of challenges do they face?
We have developed curriculum designed to help Mormon background believers. They need help with the transition. Family dynamics is a critical issue. Many times, coverts are marginalized or disowned by their families. A girl in our church became a Christian several years ago. She went two years without telling her parents. When she told them she converted, they wept, and her mom said, “I thought you were going to tell me that you became a lesbian. I would have preferred that.” Mormons believe in an eternal family unit. Her parents believed she disrupted the eternal family unit by converting.
Often people lose their jobs or businesses when they convert. This is illegal, but the Mormon Church owns so many businesses that a lot of people find themselves out of a job.
Another hurdle is learning how to relate to the community. The Mormon Church is incredibly organized. People are assigned which church to attend based on the neighborhood they live in. So everyone on my street goes to the same church. Because I’m an outsider, they don’t expect me to go to church with them. But if a person goes to the same church for 30 years and suddenly stops attending, the community is impacted. People end up moving because they can’t handle the social pressure in their neighborhoods.
Converts have to learn about Christian church structure and personal involvement. Mormonism has a clear hierarchical structure. People understand their role because they have been told what to do by an authority figure. So when evangelical churches tell them to get involved in whatever way they want, they get confused. They are used to receiving direction. Mormon churches even review people’s W-2 forms, to make sure they are tithing. But evangelical churches don’t do that. It’s culture shock.
Church politics is also confusing for them. So we have to inculcate them into the evangelical environment—the priesthood of all believers. I tell them I’m the pastor, but I’m no more crucial to the body of Christ than they. We tell them we all have spiritual authority. Yes, I have a specific role in the church, but my role doesn’t make my prayers more powerful or more effective. This is a new way of thinking for them.
Mormons are getting more media attention with the upcoming election. What impact will that have?
Some fear Mormonism will be legitimized if Mitt Romney wins the election. They fear Mormonism will be considered just another Christian denomination. Others, like me, are fine with having a Mormon President. If Mitt Romney wins, it will bring Mormon beliefs under the microscope. Most Mormons try to keep their beliefs under wraps and don’t talk much about their church’s history. So if Romney is elected President, people will more carefully examine Mormonism, and that’s a good thing. It’s good to know the facts of history. More people will find the evidence is thin to support Joseph Smith’s claims.
What can others, who are not in a Mormon culture, learn from your experience?
First, we all have to exegete our culture. We must understand the people we’re trying to reach. Then we must develop a clear process to address our cultures that enables everyone in our churches to be engaged in that mission.
You can turn average church-goers into disciple-makers, no matter where you are. All you need to do is understand your culture, and the challenges of your culture, and develop a concrete method that everyone can follow.
The traditional model works like this: after hearing the Word on Sunday mornings, Christians are sent out to evangelize in their neighborhoods, workplaces, and social organizations. That’s great, and it seems to make sense. But in my experience as a pastor of 14 years, few people actually engage their neighbors, coworkers, friends, and family members, because they don’t know how. Most Christians think evangelizing requires a certain personality—bold and outgoing. Since most Christians don’t have that certain personality, they throw in the towel.
But we have tried to create an environment that enables everyone to get involved. We use Sunday mornings as a gateway experience. And it works in our culture. It is acceptable. I’m from Seattle, a neo-pagan, secular culture. There, it rarely works for me to invite my neighbor to church. But that approach works in Utah. So do whatever is practical for your congregants. Don’t just tell your people to go out and make disciples. Find something that everyone can do.
Steve Bennetsen is a teaching pastor at Alpine Church in northern Utah.
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