Transitions

Multimedia Resource for Those in Transition from Mormonism

The Need

Statistics indicate that perhaps thousands of Latter-day Saints leave the Mormon Church each year in order to embrace traditional Christianity. When they do they undergo experiences and challenges much like an immigrant moving from one country to another. Their transition produces emotional stresses and doctrinal/worldview reorientation issues. Pastors from throughout the Western United States where the Mormon Church is numerically strong have expressed their desire for a resource that they can use in their churches to assist with these transitional issues.

Resource Overview

In response to this need we have begun production on Transitions, a multimedia resource. This project includes six video sessions to introduce and discuss key issues, along with a group facilitator’s guide and participant workbook. In order to address the key issues this study will be divided into two main sections and six segments:

Section I: Migration – Identity, Grief & Church Culture

1. Identity – Finding new individual and collective identity

This segment will note how the former Latter-day Saint experiences a sense of being an individual out of place and “culture-less” through loss of friends, community ties, cherished stories, absolute answers, a sense of being special/elite, and how this contributes to a loss of essential roots and sense of identity.

2. Relationships – Friends, loved ones, marriage, and children issues

This segment will help deal with issues surrounding relationships in a variety of forms that are often complicated, sometimes fractured and even lost through a transition out of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3. Church Culture – Sorting out new church culture

This segment will help the transitioner develop a new sense of identity and relationships in Christian community through the church. It will also address issues of church culture that differ from the Mormon context, including church structure, baptism, communion, tithing and stewardship, the place of clergy, and the sense of calling to service.

Section II. Doctrine and Worldview Issues

Drawing upon the Mormon framework in the Plan of Salvation this section will present traditional Christian doctrine and worldview framed in understandable ways for the transitioner.

4. “Where did I come from?”

This section will address issues such as the pre-existence, creation, God’s purpose for the individual and humanity, the created nature of the human family apart from a pre-existence and without the potential for exaltation, the kind of being God is, that intense personal relationships with God possible without the necessity of God having a body, and how we can know God (experience and Scripture).

5. “Why am I here?”

This section will address life in the mundane and the divine, the fall, Christ’s work (atonement and resurrection) and nature, grace, repentance, good works, personal purpose in knowing God and worshiping him, making him known, service to the Kingdom and community, and the process of sanctification.

6. “Where am I going?”

This segment will address what happens after death, the Second Coming, resurrection and glorification, the new heavens and new earth, the heavenly Jerusalem.

Supporting the Project

The budget for this project is $170,000 that will be raised from interested Christian individuals, churches, foundations, and corporate donations. All interested parties are encouraged to contact us with questions about this project and with potential donation inquiries. If you would like to make a donation toward this project please click on the 'Donate' button below to make your donation, or contact us if you prefer to send a check. 

Total Project Cost: $170,000 

All Gifts Are Tax Deductible. Click here for our IRS Determination Letter.

For more information, please This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .