Missionary TikTok Training? Church Unveils New Program for Missionaries. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a forward-thinking announcement early Friday morning via the Church News official Instagram account.
Missionary Training Centers worldwide will start instructing missionaries how to spread the gospel by becoming “valiant social media influencers.”
The announcement comes on the heels of several technological advancements the Church has rolled out over the past decade including paying tithing online, Sacrament meetings viewable through Zoom, digital attendance rolls, and the availability of flat-screen televisions in place of CRT televisions in meetinghouse libraries.
Elder Moshul Seedya, head of the Church Missionary Social Media Department, made the announcement via a live Instagram broadcast from downtown Salt Lake City. “This is an exciting time in our Church. COVID-19 has forced us to use technology like never before, and it’s time to harness and refine the unique skills of the upcoming generation,” Elder Seedya stated early Friday morning. “Much of the content our missionaries are producing on social media is wonderful and uplifting, other content, is just ‘meh’.” he hesitated. “We really need to provide tools and resources to help these tech-savvy Elders and Sisters produce the highest level of content – not just funny videos of missionaries riding their bikes and slam dunking a basketball.”
The Church will release a supplement to Preach My Gospel called, Your Testimony Through Technology: A Guide to Missionary Work via Social Media which will include topics such as Spiritual Snapping, TikToking into Eternity, Don’t Let Satan Slide Into Your DMs, How to Cha-Cha in Church Clothes, Commenting Without Contention, and Tweeting Your Testimony.
“The lessons included in the new social media guide will contain instruction taught by popular Latter-day Saint content producers including YouTuber Mark Rober, Al Fox Carraway, The Piano Guys, Donny Osmond, violinist Lindsey Stirling, and various other Latter-day Saint women with immaculately organized pantries, very nice hair, and a large number of social media followers.” Elder Seedya continued.
Mark Rober will teach missionaries how to distribute Book of Mormons by making them look like packages delivered on strangers’ porches only to be stolen moments later. Al Carraway will teach Elders and Sisters how to handle judgemental, critical comments on their accounts, while The Piano Guys will instruct missionaries how to properly use drone shots to get the perfect angles for their music videos.
“These faithful Latter-day Saints have produced quality content for years and we are grateful for their willingness to assist with the church’s mission to proclaim the gospel. These instructional videos will also be made available on a limited basis to members with social media accounts containing the special blue checkmark.” Elder Seedya remarked.
Mission Presidents will also be extending special assignments to missionaries to assist in producing top-notch content across various platforms. These assignments include Video Editing Missionary, Mission Drone Pilot, Stunt Double Missionary, Mission Hairstylist, and a Mission Dance Coach.
When Elder Johannes, a local missionary was asked his thoughts on the new program, he excitedly declared, “Oh yeah, bro. The lineup of talent giving us missionaries these lessons is lit. I’m pumped to have my companion be trained on how to film me in our apartment, and not end up with a shaky video that has bad audio quality. It’s gonna be so sick. For real.”
