I don't agree with many policies of the LDS Church, but I support the leadership of the LDS Church regardless. The reason for this is the LDS Church is Jesus Christ's Church, and it is a mostly volunteer organization with less than 1 paid minister per 1,000,000 members. Most prophets and apostles in scriptures have flaws, and I doubt I could do a better job leading The Church better than our current leadership; I would do things differently, but I would make mistakes of my own. I have zero interested in committing my life completely to volunteer work of any kind, no do I like every day of my life to be consumed with Church all day long. I DON'T WANT LEADERSHIP'S JOB, SO I SUPPORT LEADERSHIP! I will give you an example of a policy I do not agree with: 2 year missions. Why don't I like them?
- I didn't go on my mission until I was 24. That was a very uncomfortable 6 years from age 18 to age 24. I greatly benefited to going on a mission and am very grateful that I went, but to say that the experience isn't for everyone is an extraordinary understatement. I believe that the missionary program of the church chases away more members between ages of 18 and 24 than it manages to convert.
- The LDS missionary program uproots emerging adults from their hometowns for two years, making them less likely to stay in their home towns and build up their communities. Instead of guiding not-LDS fellow emerging adults into the fold just as they need direction in their life, LDS emerging adults go off on Church directed adventures far away from their hometown. This might make sense in Utah, where growing the Church has already been maximized in your hometown, but it doesn't make sense for building up the Church outside of Utah.
- As LDS know it is not fun when Jehova's Witnesses knock on your door to proselyte you. I talked to numerous people in my mission who described running and hiding when they realized LDS missionaries were knocking on their door. I don't think door-to-door proselyting is the way to go, I think we are mostly just instigating resentment by doing this practice.
We LDS are annoyed when protesters gather outside our temples and conference centers to object to our religious observances. But what are those protesters a reaction to? If you ask them they will tell you they are witnessing to LDS. In other words in their hometowns, usually not in Utah, missionaries have knocked on every door 10 times in the last five years, and these Christians couldn't help but notice something: LDS's primary target for converts are OTHER CHRISTIANS. By definition, how can LDS be Christian when our primary audience for conversion are other Christians, and we are so aggressive with door knocking to convert other Christians that we have become a significant annoyance to their day to day lives?
The Christian community is getting the idea that LDS are not Christian by LDS aggressively trying to convert other Christians to LDS. Simple logic here.
In 2013 the The Church attempted to reign in aggressive door-to-door proselyting. I sat through the entire broadcast, and by the end was satisfied I had seen my last pair of missionaries knocking on doors. Unfortunately the broadcast changed basically NOTHING AT ALL, I never once have met a pair of missionaries who don't knock door to door as a result of that broadcast. I believe the broadcast represented God's will, and it was presented as such at the time. I haven't been able to find the broadcast online, but The Church's first World Report after the broadcast mentioned it and you can see some details pointing to a recent de-emphasis on door knocking:
Pro-Tip: the practice of door-to-door knocking has actually been discouraged for a long time. In 1998 when I started my mission there was a missionary handbook that listed how effective each type of "finding" converts was. Door to door was one of the last items on the list, recognized to be very ineffective for finding people interested in The Church. Being 24 years old at the time I wasn't about to spend all day long terrorizing neighborhoods going door to door, and I participated in this activity 5% or less of the days I was on my mission. I ended up being involved in twice as many conversions as most other missionaries in that mission at that time. It turns out that just eating in a restaurant in your missionary uniform, or just hanging out talking to people in a park, or volunteering in the community, is MUCH more effective than going door to door. It also stokes less resentment, because it is less hostile and aggressive.
