A Holier Approach to Ministering | Neil L. Andersen | 2018

The recent shift from home and visiting teaching to ministering gives us a chance to rethink the way we love and serve others.

This speech was given April 10, 2018.

Read the speech here:
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/neil-l-andersen_a-holier-approach-to-ministering/

Read more about Neil L. Anderson here:
https://speeches.byu.edu/speakers/neil-l-andersen/

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"There is a unique and supernal gift of ministering that can come from someone who loves God with all his or her heart; who is settled, grounded, steadfast, and immovable in his or her faith10 in Jesus Christ and in the restored gospel; and who keeps the commandments with exactness.

Let me quickly give you some context that you already know. Across the world, your generation is slipping in its faith and especially in its belief in a specific religion. When I graduated from BYU in 1975, the number of young adults (ages eighteen to twenty-four) with an affiliation with a religion was near 90 percent. It is now at 66 percent. A full third of young adults do not affiliate with any organized religion.11

In 2001 the religious scholar Robert C. Fuller wrote a book called Spiritual, but Not Religious.12 This may have been true twenty years ago, but it is less true today. Young adults in the United States today pray with less frequency, believe less in God, believe less in the Bible, and believe less in commandments.13

On this wonderful campus, it is different. Faith flourishes, and we, here this morning, are believers. But it is naïve to believe that the trends of the world are not able to influence the very elect.

Caring for others, physically and emotionally, requires an unselfish and sensitive heart. It is an important part of the gospel. This caring is done in and out of the Church by good people, believers and nonbelievers. There are many wonderful, kind people all over the world, and we can learn from them.

However, unique to a converted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is another kind of ministering. At BYU you have the opportunities, as disciples of the Savior, to minister in a way that helps keep a friend’s faith from faltering, that reminds a roommate in a kind way that reading the Book of Mormon every day really does bring miracles and that the standards of the Church are not just a set of rules but keep us closer to God and bring us happiness.

A person with a good heart can help someone fix a tire, take a roommate to the doctor, have lunch with someone who is sad, or smile and say hello to brighten a day.

But a follower of the first commandment will naturally add to these important acts of service, encouraging the person who is doing well in keeping the commandments and sharing wise counsel to strengthen the faith of someone who is slipping or who needs help in moving back onto the path he once traveled.

At BYU you are surrounded by believers who are in various stages of belief and testimony. I challenge you to strengthen your efforts to spiritually minister to one another. To minister spiritually can begin with baking cookies or playing a basketball game, but eventually this holier way of ministering requires opening your heart and your faith, taking courage in encouraging the positive growth you are seeing in a friend, or expressing concerns about things you see and feel are not consistent with discipleship.

Let us not be self-righteous, but let us be spiritually courageous in ministering in a holier way, specifically by strengthening the faith of others.

To stir your thinking, consider these possible situations:

• You notice that a roommate spends an inordinate amount of time playing games on an iPhone but rarely engages in conversations relating to gospel topics.

• You have a sense that a friend may have a problem with pornography.

• You are in a conversation with friends and notice that the language being used is edgy and inappropriate.

• You smell alcohol or marijuana in a friend’s car.

• You see prescription drugs that you know are not being used properly.

• Your friends are spending enormous time taking and posting pictures of themselves that move to the edge of immodesty.

• You notice that someone who once seemed to love to talk about the Book of Mormon now never mentions it.

• You notice that a friend who once seemed to love to go to the temple now is not going.

• You notice a friend who once spoke with faith about the prophet’s counsel now speaks critically.

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