Let's say you were a youngster again, and that your parents have moved to a new town in a new state. It was your first day in school, and you were the new kid.
It wasn't easy. As soon as you walked into the classroom, all the other kids stared at you: your hair, your clothes, your expression. You introduced yourself to the teacher, who looked around the room trying to spot an empty desk. Then you found your way to it, hoping you wouldn't trip because everyone was still watching and you didn't know any of them, who was friendly and who wasn't.Everything around you was different -- the desks, the books, the pictures on the wall. To your horror, the other students seemed to have mastered the multiplication tables up to 13 and you had only been taught up to seven. When you went to lunch you sat alone and when you were at recess you were still alone.
Now there's an experience that a lot of people have had, and most of them recall it with a shudder.
But wait! What if everyone in the class smiled at you? What if they all came up to you and said they were glad you moved to their town? What if they shook your hand and asked if they could help you find your next classroom?
What if the teacher appointed you to a committee and gave you something to do that would get you involved in the school's activities right away? What if you didn't have to sit alone at lunch because someone called you over to a friendly group and included you in the conversation? What if they explained some of the things you didn't know about?
What a difference that would make! You might even look forward to going back.
We're talking, of course, about how we can keep new members of the Church excited and committed to their new life in the gospel. There's a word for it: retention. It's a very serious subject among Church members.
Think about it. As President Gordon B. Hinckley has noted on several occasions, the decision to join the Church is a profound one for many people. They are making enormous decisions in their lives and are asked to change many of their old ways, from religious concepts to personal habits.
On top of that, they find themselves in a strange new world with its own traditions, culture and language -- just like the new kid in school. But this time, the stakes are much higher. They have become members of the Kingdom of God. The goal is not graduation, but salvation.
How they are welcomed into the Church can make all the difference to their future. When you are the new kid in school you have no choice about going back the next day. But when you are a new arrival in the Church, you do have a choice. You can stay home.
President Hinckley summed it up in a missionary satellite broadcast last month. "We cannot have [the convert] walking in the front door and out the back. . . . Unless there are warm and strong hands to greet the convert, unless there is an outreach of love and concern, he will begin to wonder about the step he has taken."
His message was primarily aimed at ensuring that new converts remain enthusiastic about their decision. But the wisdom also applies to less-active members who want to return to activity. They, too, have made a decision that needs our unselfish support.
They need friends to walk beside them, an assignment so they become involved, and spiritual nourishment from their meetings.
It's clear that we all have a responsibility to help. We should be open and welcoming to the strangers among us. We should be ready to give them assignments, if that is our prerogative, or to help them by working alongside them. And we should be providing spiritual food in our lessons and talks. It's important to us as well as to them.
The Apostle Paul was very familiar with this. He worked hard to make members of the early church aware of their unusual status and their obligation to each other. As he wrote to the Ephesians: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God. (Eph. 2:19.)
Paul didn't want them to feel like strangers in the one place where they must be accepted without reservation.