The Church starts to pay some missionaries
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 8:06 am
In an article about the dissolution of the all-female Temple Square mission in SLC…
In every other part of the world, those part-time missionary-guides are volunteers. They are service missionaries who pay to serve. I wonder how they feel about the family and friends of people living in SLC getting paid for doing essentially the same thing?A little more than 30 years after it was formally established, the one and only Latter-day Saint mission made up solely of female proselytizers is being dissolved.
Starting in July, a Friday news release announced, the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission will shutter, replaced by the same model under which other visitor centers run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have long operated. That is, so-called sister missionaries from surrounding Utah missions will divide their time between the site, answering guests’ questions and providing tours, and engaging in traditional proselytizing in their assigned geographic region.
There will be a notable difference, however. Unlike other visitor centers, the popular landmark — which draws millions of visitors a year — will get a helping hand from former Temple Square missionaries “hired,” the release points out, as part-time guides to work alongside the volunteer evangelizers (those interested in applying are encouraged to reach out to their bishop, or lay leader of their congregation).