“Becoming Better Saints through Interfaith Involvement,” Ensign, Dec. 2013, 28–33

When we serve alongside those of other faiths, we not only build our communities and improve our relationships but we also become better disciples ourselves.

Church leaders frequently call on members to participate with the honest in heart﻿—regardless of religious affiliation﻿—in service and in causes on moral issues. And Church leaders often set the example. Recently, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, along with his wife, Harriet, received a Humanitarian of the Year award from Catholic Community Services; he noted the irony of “two Germans, former Lutherans, now committed Mormons being honored by Catholics in the United States of America.”1

Members around the world have responded commendably to the call to serve shoulder to shoulder with members of other organizations. I have been touched by accounts of LDS wards growing community gardens, holding interfaith conferences on moral values, and doing community cleanups with other congregations.

In serving with those of other faiths, I’ve found the encouragement from Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to be true: Respectful and sincere interfaith service not only builds our communities but also enables us to collectively and individually grow in our love of God and His children.2

Bettering the World A few years ago, a Presbyterian minister moved into my community wanting to serve all of her neighbors, not just her church congregation. As she reached out in our predominantly LDS neighborhood with friendliness, offers to help, and invitations to neighborhood parties, ward members began participating in her congregation’s service projects; together, she and neighbors of various faiths held a fundraiser that significantly helped an LDS family with dire medical expenses. Apostle Orson F. Whitney (1855–1931) stated, “God is using more than one people for the accomplishment of his great and marvelous work. … It is too vast, too arduous, for any one people.”3 Great things can be accomplished when good people band together. Our neighborhood minister’s efforts led to the formation of a community interfaith committee that, along with our stake Relief Society, put on a women’s conference supplying hygiene kits and books to refugee agencies. These interfaith connections then enabled stake members to help a congregation feed a large refugee gathering and to step in when another church needed additional volunteers at a homeless shelter. “We have a responsibility … to work cooperatively with other churches and organizations,” President Thomas S. Monson has told members,4 and this outreach has blessed the world beyond humanitarian service. In an address to Christian leaders in the United States, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles described a series of LDS–Evangelical Christian dialogues held at Brigham Young University.5 One outcome of these conferences occurred when a prominent theologian apologized for mischaracterizations of the Mormon faith by some in his community.6 Of such bridge building Elder Holland said, “I cannot help but believe this to be part of a divine orchestration of events in these troubled times.”7

Bettering Our Relationships As we serve with others, certain guidelines can help us make our interactions more meaningful and avoid giving offense. I once lived in a large city and volunteered for a local church’s tutoring program open to the public﻿—only to discover that the person in charge found my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unacceptable. That experience convinced me to value anyone’s contribution regardless of his or her religious affiliation (or lack thereof). I gratefully follow up on anyone’s interest in learning about the Church, but I also know that we Latter-day Saints take Jesus’s charge seriously to love our neighbor, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and visit the imprisoned (see Matthew 25:34–36) without expecting the conversion of the recipient or those who serve with us. Sincere and respectful interfaith engagement never requires any group, including ours, to disavow its beliefs. Rather, it encourages participants to “contend against no church” (D&C 18:20) and “clothe [themselves] with the bond of charity” (D&C 88:125). Another helpful guideline came from a wise stake leader in our heavily LDS neighborhood. He advised members serving with other faiths not to “take over” by dominating in decisions or leadership but to work in councils and allow all to “have an equal privilege” (D&C 88:122). This leader, who had extensive experience engaging with other churches, also encouraged members to develop good relationships. He had discovered that some who had partnered with Latter-day Saints found them hardworking and pleasant but more interested in getting the work done than in developing friendships. My experiences in community and educational causes have convinced me that the Spirit is strong when diverse people unite in a worthy mission. Brotherly love and pure motives propel service forward even more than the hard work involved.8 One LDS speaker at an interfaith academic conference observed that making connections with others helps those outside our faith better understand us.9 Another scholar, not of our faith, teaches a seminar on Mormonism at a prominent American university. She discovered that her students wanted to learn about our Church “primarily … because they were raised to believe that the religion was a cult, but their experience with Mormon friends and colleagues was not consistent with that stereotype.”10