If you haven’t seen MormonsMadeSimple you should check it out. It’s a web site with short, cute videos which describe Mormon topics in simple terms.
You’ll find the following videos on the site:
Attending a Mormon Church Service
The Book of Mormon
Mormon Missionaries
Mormon Myths
Temples (the latest)
These are created by a member of the Church and not official. But they’re great. More are coming soon. Larry blogged about the “Facebook Missionary Challenge” you can take part in on their web site. If you don’t want to do that, you could just post links to their videos on your Facebook page or email to your friends.
Help share them!
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I’m a big fan of these videos and have received a very positive response when sharing them. I’ve actually been including them in a new website I’ve been creating about the Church.
Look forward to these covering more topics.
These are nice; I only disagree with one point in the Attending a Mormon Church Service video. As my dad always says, “crying children are like good intentions — they should be carried out.”
Thoughts along these lines have often been expressed by Church leaders. For a recent example, see e.g. the talk by Margaret Lifferth in April 2009 conference:
“We encourage reverence when we take a crying child out of the chapel and find another room where we continue to listen to the meeting until the baby is calmed…”
If a child is disruptive, it’s far more important, rather than adamantly insisting on some abstract concept of family solidarity, that the parent(s) set an example of reverence for the rest of the family, and for the disruptive child, by leaving the meeting until the distracting noise has stopped. When this is done, it remains possible for everyone to focus on the messages being shared and on reverent thoughts of the Savior.
A similar doctrine, clearly set out in the Church Handbook of Instructions, but rather widely flouted, is that members are not to socialize in the chapel before and after (or during!) meetings. In almost every ward or branch I’ve ever entered, this principle is not kept. It remains, however, the right thing to do.
The problem becomes when your kids figure out that they can get out of sitting in Sacrament Meeting by making a scene. Please be patient with parents who let their kids squawk a little bit in pursuance of the ultimate goal of maintaining reverence in the chapel, not the foyer or hallway. We’re not all thoughtless and inconsiderate dolts – at least, not consciously.