Missionaries serving in the Bulgaria Sofia Mission report that four elders will be assigned to Istanbul, Turkey in mid-February and begin active missionary work in Turkey. This development appears to have occurred on the heals of the Church receiving government recognition within the past year. In accordance with societal attitudes regarding Christian proselytism, all missionary activity will occur through member referral. Reports indicate that missionaries will learn the Turkish language by attending university classes for a portion of the day once transferred to Istanbul. Turkey previously pertained to no mission but was assigned to the Bulgaria Sofia Mission within the past year.
The Church has operated four branches in Turkey for two decades and has assigned humanitarian senior missionary couples for years. The assignment of young missionaries to Turkey is a major church growth development as Turkey numbers among the most populous countries that have no proselytizing missionaries assigned and Turkey is a homogeneously Muslim nation. It is unclear whether missionaries will be permitted to teach Muslims or be restricted to working with individuals who follow other religious beliefs.
15 comments:
This is awesome that we are getting Elders in Turkey.
I served in Bulgaria between 2001-2003 and at that time, with President Galbraith, Turkey was a part of our mission and we had some senior couples over there who weren't allowed to proselyte.
It was under the Greece mission prior to President Galbraith coming to the Bulgarian mission, if I remember right. But because of his experience at the Jerusalem Center the put it under him.
Fantastic feedback everyone!
I am not anticipating that the Church will experience rapid growth in Turkey. The Church has experienced slow membership growth and retention problems throughout Southeastern Europe over the past decade. Other missionary-focused Christians report slow or stagnant growth if any growth occurs at all. Many Christian Turks have left the country or have few children resulting in a decline in the number of indigenous Christians. The Church's past efforts to reach Turkic peoples have also yielded few results. For example, there has been very little growth in Kazakhstan notwithstanding full-time missionaries working in Almaty for about five years and in Astana for the past six months or so.
It sounds like there is some strong member support for missionary work from the handful of Turkish Latter-day Saints in Istanbul. It will be critical for local members to continue to head finding and retention efforts in order for growth to be sustainable.
It is exciting to see missionaries assigned to such as homogeneously Muslim nation and for the Church to take advantage of the liberal religious laws that accommodate many Christian groups.
Exciting news, although Matt is certainly correct to temper the enthusiasm. FYI, Booth's diaries are available online here http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/search/collection/MMD/mode/all/field/creato/searchterm/joseph%20booth and they are currently being prepared for publication in print form.
Let's try a shorter URL. Booth diaries (along with the diaries of many other early missionaries) are located here: http://lib.byu.edu/digital/mmd/
(this is a project that I worked on at BYU and I too remember being fascinated by Booth's obversations)
Do you know where I can find an official statement by the church regarding this matter? I don't want to pass it on until it's been officially released to the public. Thank you for the information!
There is no official church statement on the assignment of young missionaries to Istanbul. This information was obtained through missionary reports from Southeastern Europe.
The Church rarely reports when it assigns its first missionaries to a nation. Rather, the Church will often report when a nation is dedicated for missionary work - but this can occur months, years, and even decades after the first missionaries are assigned and the first congregations are organized.
Merhabba! (That is hello in Turkish.) I am a Senior at BYU-Idaho and was recently in Istanbul, along with many other cities in Turkey. The people there are absolutely wonderful. The Spirit is very strong and the singles branch is amazing too. This is fantastic news to me and the other students who came to Turkey.
One of those four Elders is my cousin! So excited to see this growth.
Because I get this cousin's emails weekly, I will confirm for all of you that this is true. I don't know when the church would make an 'official statement' but they are for sure there!
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