Saturday, October 28, 2006

Positive Church Coverage in the Local News

It might be surprising to some members of the Church to see how much local press coverage the LDS Church receives. As the Church continues to grow in small communities outside of Utah, hometown newspapers are covering an increasing number of local ward and stake activities.

The good news is that most local press coverage tends to be positive, but keep in mind the message of Alma 4:10: "the wickedness of the church was a great stumbling-block to those who did not belong to the church; and thus the church began to fail in its progress." Good news can leave neighbors with a positive impression about the Church and help with missionary work because it reflects the values members live by. Bad news can destroy credibility in the community.

If the Church is respected in the local community, the press will publish positive stories like the following from the past 24 hours:

1 comment:

Jettboy said...

I am not sure about that last newspaper article. The quote is unatributed and doesn't sound like anything I am familiar with. If anything, our sermons (general authorities at least) have started to stress home and family above work. It's a subject I might have to look at closer.