I’m an educator. My job is to figure out the best ways to help my students learn. Occasionally I encountered a real challenge: that student who put his head down on his desk and refused to read, that student who didn’t want to be in school in the first place, or that student who had a whole arsenal of avoidance strategies. We called them “reluctant learners” — not because they couldn’t learn (even struggling learners can be taught good coping strategies to learn), but because they would not buy into the culture of the classroom. Passive-aggressive behaviors, emotional needs not being met, or just some bad habits that made school a miserable experience were some characteristics of the “reluctant learner.”
Similarly, I have encountered members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are “reluctant members” — those members who don’t want to continue onward with the community of believers. They have been offended by people or policies, they may have gotten caught up in the pervasive rhetoric of cynicism towards the church, or they may be suffering from doubts or immobilized by deep-rooted questions. Whatever the cause, they find the bumps in the road and the construction sites alongside the road as reasons not to continue the journey with the same joy they once had. Or they choose to discontinue the journey altogether.
My heart hurts for them. I want to rekindle the love of the journey and help them see the necessity and joy for their membership in the church. I want to help them relearn their testimony.
We are all on this journey together — whether brand-new baptized member, the burned-out former leader, the enthusiastic missionary, or perhaps the unhappy wanderer. Some of these fellow-travelers can be “reluctant Mormons.” This series of blogs will address a few of the challenges that I sense can be stumbling blocks or dangerous diverging roads for our fellow-members on the trek.
Then Sings My Soul 