I was looking online to find the pamphlets the missionaries used to hand out and to find the changes and history of Missionary Discussions. I know now they are using 6 colorful books. Does anyone have a link to how the discussions have changed and what was handed out to the investigators? I find it interesting.

When I went to church last week someone mentioned Rainbow discussions (used around early 80s)

Hopefully someone will come along who can give you more details, but I can give you a little bit of information.

They are currently using the Preach My Gospel manual - they switched away from the 6 booklets about 10 years ago, I think.

I'm guessing the rainbow discussions are the 6 colorful books you referred to in your post - because the booklets are the colors of the rainbow.

When I was on a mission in the early 90s we used the 6 discussion booklets. We also had a training manual called the missionary guide. The missionary guide & discussion booklets have been consolidated into Preach My Gospel. At that time we did not have anything we handed out as part of the discussions. We did however has access to a number of different pamphlets that we could hand out on different subjects if we wanted to.

Anyone, member on not can purchase Preach My Gospel via the LDS church's distribution centers and web site - under $10.

I have heard that previously the discussions were memorized word for word and included flip charts but I can't give you any more details.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2012 10:50AM by bc.

I remember those pamphlets, hardly any information to think about apart from spin, a few references to the BoM and a few token bible references. Looking back on it the only information was given by the missionaries and even that was sketchy in terms of depth. One thing that strikes me now is that they would supply a BoM and a bible if you didnt have one but they would not allow you free access to the D&C. Information control indeed.

We had to memorize the six discussions and present them word for word in my mission. We were required to pass them off, showing that we had them memorized, every six months. We handed out the pamphlets after every discussion. They didn't include much information. We just wrote on the back of them...reading assignment, follow-up appointment date & time...

Passing off on the discussions was daunting in a foreign language. If we exhausted the discussions without getting the investigator to commit to baptism, we showed those filmstrips. Ancient technology but a nice break for us.

Before "Preach My Gospel" missionary discussions were highly structured:

Missionary says, "Mr. Brown, will you blah, blah, blah."
Mr. Brown bows head and says, "Yes."

Missionaries were required to repeat their parts of the discussion word perfect from memory. If you have ever worked in a call center, representatives are given a script and told to never deviate. The words are chosen for maximum effect (to increase sales) and to minimize legal liability. Missionaries fulfill the same role within the Church: max. sales / min. liability.

With a highly structured presentation (sales pitch?), you know what an investigator has been taught to prepare for baptism. We could argue about what the Church discloses to investigators, but at least we know what they were taught.

"Preach My Gospel" leaves much of the teaching to individuals acting under the Spirit. If missionaries were directed by the Spirit, this should lead to more compassionate teaching. But since missions are structured to reap as many converts as quickly as possible, the inspiration missionaries receive is to do "whatever it takes" to get Mr. Brown baptized.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2012 01:25PM by idleswell.

The 6 colored pamphlets were in between preach my gospel and the highly structured lessons that proceeded them. We did not memorize the pamphlets word for word but were instructed to follow them fairly closely as directed by the spirit.

"we used the 6 discussion booklets. We also had a training manual called the missionary guide. The missionary guide & discussion booklets have been consolidated into Preach My Gospel."

Actually, we had to memorize the content of the booklets - word for word - as some sort of certification process to become a senior companion, which is essential to serving as a district leader, zone leader, and AP.

We were told teach the six discussions in the exact order as Discussion 1, Discussion 2, and so on.

The Missionary Guide served as a training tool that details teaching techniques, "Christ-like attributes," and so on. It does not include what we were instructed to teach to investigators.

What year did you go out?

My guess is that different mission presidents had different requirements and approaches. When I was out 1991-1993 there was definitely no church wide mandate to memorize the discussions. I'm sure there were mission presidents who required it for their particular missions, however.

I served between '93 and '95.

I served 94-96 and we used the same booklets. We were encouraged to memorize them and were instructed to teach them in the order of the discussions but we didn't have to teach them word for word. We were told we can use "our own words" as to sound more natural.

When I was a missionary, 1979-81, there were seven (or 8?) memorized discussions, with the Joe Smith story being the first "discussion".

Some of the tracts we used were "Meet the Mormons", "Man's Search for Happiness", etc.

This all did not work at all when teaching Budhists. They did not know anything about Christian conflicting teachings. They thought being a Christian was one in the same, regardless of being a Mormon or Catholic or Baptist, etc.

that I received during the late 70's. I probably still have the discussions, as I recall, they were printed on half sheets of orange paper.

Ah... what fun times!

No, there are 6 books (pamphlets) with the Preach my Gospel. I own them. This is what they look like.
http://store.lds.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category3_715839595_10557_21129_-1_N_image_0

I found this link https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/pdf/138-28-46.pdf and it said

The Standardized Missionary Discussions.
Since the mid-20th century, the Church has produced five sets
of standardized missionary discussions. Each set superceded
the one before.
1952 A Systematic Program for Teaching the Gospel
1961 A Uniform System for Teaching Investigators
1973 The Uniform System for Teaching Families
1986 The Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel
2004 Preach My Gospel



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/2012 12:43PM by nevermojulie.

Great link and information:

I thought Preach My Gospel only had 5 lessons instead of 6???? I wasn't aware of the pamphlets that missionaries give out for each lesson.

Before Preach My Gospel were the "rainbow discussions." There was 1 booklet for each discussion/lesson. The missionaries received a copy of the booklet which they used to teach out of. There was nothing to give to investigators as part of the discussion.

Preach My Gospel still uses the artwork of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery sitting at the same table. Golden plates in open view with Smith's hand on the plates and Cowdery writing.

2014

The fraud is perpetuated knowingly by the Mormons on the Mormons.

Where is a copy of the audio-visual presentation "Ancient America Speaks"?
Are they all reeled back in and destroyed?
It was a standard missionary tool that made it obvious the Lamanites were from central and south America.

"Ancient America Speaks" is on You-Tube

It was shown at the 1974 Spokane World’s fair by the LDS Church at their pavilion which was in the shape of an open Book of Mormon, with two gold plates, joined by large gold rings. Outside was a statue of the angel Moroni, while inside, the movie called “Ancient America Speaks” was shown in two theatres. The movie told the story of American history as related in the Book of Mormon. Reed boats made by South American Mormons rounded out the exhibit.

The 1970’s Church produced film showcased visits to many of the then known Inca/Aztec/Mayan ruins in Central and South America and claimed that these archeological ruins were evidence of the peoples depicted in The Book of Mormon

Yes, when I was a kid archaeology was a huge part of "proving"
the Book of Mormon.

Now they say stuff like, "the Book of Mormon is not an
archaeology text so we can't use archaeology in testing it."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrKNYkEKwcM

Is this it? It's in Spanish, but subtitled.

I made a mistake. Preach my Gospel is only 5 lessons. Actually, 4 because the last one is after Baptism and Confirmation.

They sure move fast. What do the Missioanries do when someone has run out of lessons and they still don't want to be baptized. What is taught?

The investagators do recieve the booklets and when looking at the Manual online http://www.lds.org/languages/additionalmanuals/preachgospel/PreachMyGospel___00_00_Complete__36617_eng_.pdf?icid=osd

I figured investagators got the books in this order...

First Lesson- The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/content/english/manual/missionary/pdf/36920_the-restoration-eng.pdf?lang=eng&icid=osd

Second Lesson- The Plan of Salvation https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/content/english/manual/missionary/pdf/36950_the-plan-of-salvation-eng.pdf?lang=eng&icid=osd

Third Lesson- The Gospel of Jesus Christ
https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/content/english/manual/missionary/pdf/36951_the-gospel-of-jesus-christ-eng.pdf?lang=eng&icid=osd

Forth Lesson- The Commandments. This lesson can be split up into 3 other lessons. The pamphlets are

Chasity- https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/content/english/manual/missionary/pdf/36952_chastity-eng.pdf?lang=eng&icid=osd

The Word of Wisdom- https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/content/english/manual/missionary/pdf/36953_the-word-of-wisdom-eng.pdf?lang=eng&icid=osd


Tithing and Fast Offerings- https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/content/english/manual/missionary/pdf/36954_tithing-and-fast-offerings-eng.pdf?lang=eng&icid=osd

Sorry for all the links I just wanted to show what the pamphlets had in them.

I don't understand the Pamphlets. they seem to sort of go along with the Missionary Discussions, but I think they are mostly used for reading after the missionaries have finished explaining it.

In the past I think the Pamphlets were read along with the missionaies discussions. Right?

Anyway. I just can't get over that they ask if you want baptism after the 1st lesson and who says yes???

In the past the pamphlets were the source material for the missionaries - those who knew them well would just go from memory or maybe read 1 or 2 quotes from the pamphlets. Those who were newbies would read heavily or reference the pamphlets a lot when giving the discussions - so they were like a lesson manual.

It sounds like the new ones are more of "study guides" given after the lesson for people to go study the topics more on their own.

So the old ones were missionary facing and the new ones are investigator facing.

In the early 90s we would ask about baptism on the 2nd discussion. Surprising a lot of people said yes, maybe 1/2 or more. I think a lot of it is that at least where I was with lots of Mormons around, many of the people had decided or were seriously considered baptism before they even met with us. Also, sometimes the emotions in those discussions could be very strong.

Missionaries are generally encouraged to move on pretty quickly if the investigator is not interested in getting baptized - the term is "eternal investigators." I'd imagine in areas where baptisms are more rare this is less the case. We would often supplement with reading out of the Book of Mormon in cases where people didn't want to get baptized after just 6 lessons but were serious. Also we would often push the 2nd lesson back if they had not read the Book of Mormon from the first lesson and do some reading with them to get them started. In a very real sense it's a "hard sell" - the missionaries are instructed to do the "hard sell" and the members or ward missionaries to do the "soft sell".

I was onthe mission right when they were piloting what would become "Preach my Gospel". Yes, we used the Rainbow lessons, they were like mini manuals that you had to memorize word for word. I think I was realy good at dramatizing the texts (Like an acting script). And I often taught the discussions out of order based onthe questions investigators had, so the concept of teach whatever you want that Preach My Gospel introduced was well recieved.

Hi Everyone! This is my first post ever on this board! It's been a long journey for me to come out of the "heretic" closet.

Each lesson came with a pamphlet highlighting the main points of the each discussion and as it was mentioned earlier, the investigator had to commit to something each lesson.

List of Commitments:

1. Read the BOM and pray about it.
2. Baptism
3. Pray about JS
4. Law of Chastity
5. Tithing
6. Endure to the end

I may be wrong about a couple of these, It has been almot 10 years :)

Welcome, nice to have you here. There are a lot of RM's here, you should feel right at home.

I'm old, I went 67-69.
the discussions asked Very Leading questions. It was kinda like being a lawyer allowed to ask leading questions, with only 1 answer allowed/acceptible.

They (5?) escalated from JS-first vision (Who were those 2 personages, Mr. Brown?) thru tithing, WOW. threaded thru them was committment to baptism.

I got a reel-to-reel tape recorder and looped myself reading them to memorize them.

I soon realized what an INSULT to ppls intelligence they were.

I was taught the "old six." I recall that the missionaries hit me with a baptismal challenge right out of the gate - "If you come to believe that what we are telling you is true, will you commit to be baptized on January 17, 1969," or something like that. Very scripted, very aggressive, very leading, very intimidating.

The "rainbow discussions" are formally known as "A Unified System for Teaching Families." To the best of my recollection, with some gaps dimmed by time, they looked like this:

C - The Restoration and the Joseph Smith story (Brown)
D - The Plan of Salvation (Salmon)
E - Prophets and Apostles and Church Organization (Goldenrod)
F - Repentance (Blue)
G - Baptismal Challenge (White)
H - The Law of Chastity (Green)
I - The Nature of Christ (Canary)
J - Membership in the Kingdom (Can't recall the color - I don't think I ever taught this lesson, as most people dropped out after "D".)

I was in the MTC from January - April of 2003. Come to think of it, I'll hit my 11-year anniversary of going into the MTC in 11 days.

They were piloting Preach My Gospel at the MTC when I went in. So I've got both the old-style formalized discussions as well as the PMG materials. I think everyone had transitioned to PMG sometime between mid 2003 and the beginning of 2004.

PMG is kind of awkward. There are sections on dealing with concerns, but the church tried to walk a fine line there. Present real concerns in the book, and you might scare off missionaries. So they end up putting how to address concerns nobody actually has in there.

Supposedly I was in one of the test countries when Preach My Gospel finally arrived 2004-'06 PMG arrived about a month into the field. I don't know if this was true, but we were given the old 6 discussions in the MTC, but told to put the principles into our own words and then translate them into our mission language and memorize from there until we felt comfortable enough to teach without our memorized versions of the discussions. This would lead to an easier transition to PMG since we never formally memorized the original discussions.

In any case, I have both sets of discussions now called lessons and the old Missionary Guide, but when I got back I asked an Elder if I could see his copy of PMG and I noticed that it was already being edited!

PMG emphasizes setting a baptism date right from the beginning, but most of us that were trained in the old ways would hold off until the lesson on baptism. One of my comps felt that PMG actually negatively affected baptisms because young missionaries were all over the place when teaching. He felt everyone should begin with the Missionary Guide and memorized discussions and then move onto PMG once one was more advanced in their teaching skills. The book says to repeat the lessons if investigators don't convert by lesson 4 or at least my edition did (I haven't read it in years, but I remember this being the policy).

We never had pamphlets that accompanied the book.

I went out in 1980. We were the first group that did not use Mr. and Mrs. Brown discussions. I forgot what we had. I remember we memorized something, but then there would be a direction that we could add our own thoughts. We also still used that awful flip binder.

If you are old enough you remember missionaries using flanel boards and paper cut outs.

Funny to me how they've tried everything.. hoping that they will find the magic formula. It all boils down to; If you can find a gullible person who actually has any money for tithing, good luck.

OH my…its ben a very long time. I learned the 6. The Flip Book DIscussions. We had to memorize them. It meant that missionaries with the Spanish of a 10 year old suddenly started talking like a college professor. They were translated in to Spanish by Eduardo Baldaras if I recall and sounded silly. They were very structured.

BEFORE the 6 I seem toy recall the flannel board discussions. There were still a few sets floating around my mission. THOSE were really bizarre. The only thing I remember was that if you set up the foundations of the church right when you pulled the foundation away the whole church crashed off the flannel board as a way of illustrating the point and that some of the Elders were really good at decorating their flannel board figures.

I served in Scotland from 76-78 and I have my mission bible with an outline of the discussion scriptures. Kind of makes me shake my head at what we taught people and what we conveniently left out.
Discussion 1 - The Restoration.
Discussion 2 - Eternal Progression.
Discussion 3 - Continuing Revelation & Individual Responsibility
Discussion 4 - Truth vs Error.
**** The Baptismal Challenge ****
Discussion 5 - Obedience to the Lord's Commandments.
Discussion 6 - Relationship to Christ.
Discussion 7 - Membership in the Kingdom.

If someone wants the scripture references that go along with the discussions, I will post them. I also have the scripture groups we used as well.

I preached the Mr. Brown stuff off a flannel board. What's a flannel board? you ask.

.......The 6 six discussions that were used by missionaries in the 80s and 90s.

Granted these six had different coloured covers and may have picked up the nickname over the years (although I never heard that name used during my two years) but the Rainbow discussions were around much earlier, maybe 1960s into the 70s. My mother in law talks about using the Rainbow discussions when she was a ward/stake missionary in the 70s.