Church-led survey finds majority of LDS missionaries reporting feeling safe

In this undated photo, missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serve in the Alabama Birmingham mission | Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — An “overwhelming majority” of missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported feeling safe within their missions all over the the globe, according to a church-led survey.

The survey, which was announced in June 2017, was sent to missionaries determine areas or circumstances where missionary safety could be at risk. The specific results of the survey were not made available by the church when they announced the update to the survey Friday.

“We were pleased to learn that an overwhelming majority of missionaries reported feeling safe within their missions, and the number of incidents was very low compared to the total missionaries serving,” a church-issued news release reads. “Gratefully, serious threats and violence involving missionaries are uncommon, although we recognize that exceptions occur.”

The feedback from the survey will spark changes to the Missionary Handbook, including policies dealing with safety for female missionaries, a follow-up process for missionaries to provide better care after an incident and “significant health, safety and security training,” according to the news release.

In places around the world where multiple safety concerns have been brought up by the missionaries serving there, the church will send missionaries a second survey to understand potential risks.

“We greatly value their safety,” the news release reads. “We are committed to doing all we can to understand and to improve, where needed, the circumstances of all missionaries.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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1 Comment

  • Real Life May 7, 2018 at 12:57 pm

    How long did it take LDS officials to scour through thousands of photos to find this “diverse” one?

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