Follow-up Archive

July 20 , 2005

Personal Witnessing to Mormons
by Susan Roberts

Download the whole article (PDF)

As a life-long resident of Utah, and a former Mormon, I commonly hear the words, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the Redeemer of the World." This sounds very much like a Christian profession of faith, but it will quickly be followed by: "and I believe that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church." This is a typical Mormon testimony.

How do we share our personal witness with someone who sounds so - well - so Christian? Let's begin with a quick overview of how witnessing to people from an LDS background is unique. First, we must recognize that any similarities we think we see between LDS teachings and Biblical theology is strictly a matter of terminology. Mormon teachings on the nature of God, the nature of man, and the plan of salvation are not Biblical, and clearly place Mormonism outside of Christianity. However, having a basic understanding of what Mormons do believe will equip us as we witness to them: it gives us confidence to speak to them, increases our compassion for them, helps us understand where we need to focus as we begin witnessing, and prepares us to address some of the questions they may ask. In addition, Mormons will be surprised that we care enough about them to have learned something of their religion. An excellent resource for learning about LDS beliefs and how to witness to LDS people is Speaking the Truth in Love to Mormons by Rev. Mark Cares.

One of the major difficulties in witnessing to Mormons is their terminology: they speak a unique language. They have created many new words and expressions that are unique to Mormonism and they have given new definitions to commonly used Christian words and expressions. Without a clear understanding of their language, we can find ourselves talking past them as we try to witness. Mormons may have no concept of what Christians believe and are often just as surprised at our definition of a word as we are at theirs.

Download the whole article (PDF)