Episode #140 – Happy 18th. Enjoy Your Mission. (Musings from General Conference)
What a great General Conference! Such a blessing to hear the words of living prophets and apostles. We had a great weekend listening to counsel, live tweeting with many of you, and keeping track of General Conference fashions. The big news, of course, is the Church lowering the minimum age for men to serve missions to 18 and women to 19. Pretty crazy stuff. We’re witnessing modern revelation in action. Another reason to love General Conference. This is a landmark change in policy and will fundamentally change the course of missionary work for the Church. As Elder Holland states: “God is hastening his work.” So true. Listen in to this week’s show as we get through the content from much of the conference, offering our thoughts. Happy General Conference to you!
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Not only more young women, but I think more young men will now serve missions. My brother had a group of friends who all turned 19 shortly after graduating high school, so they all prepared and left together – - except for one friend, who had to wait a year until he turned 19. With no positive influence friends left, he sort of fell of the tracks and never served.
I've always wondered too about the upper age limit. Why are men no longer welcome to serve past 25, but women can serve whenever they want to? I know many men who have joined the church at age 25 or slightly older, and who have been brimming with enthusiasm to serve missions too, only to be told 'sorry, your service is not welcome'.
Whenever I've raised this question, the answer 'they need to get married instead' has come back – which would make sense if women as well had an upper age limit (as they need to get married just as much as men do), but since they aren't limited in this way it can't be the reason why. I've searched online, through church material, and asked leaders for answers, but nobody seems to have any idea. It doesn't help when Elder Evans was so vague about the subject.
Just want to know if you or anyone else has any understanding of why this policy difference exists? PS. Those converts I mentioned above would've been phenomenal missionaries if they had the chance.