The Ammon Model

As a missionary in Oklahoma, I heard vague mentions of missionaries in a few missions who were experimenting with the "Ammon Model" of missionary work. I heard they essentially did as much service as they could instead of the typical missionary activities. I didn't know much more about it. Seth Rogers, a commenter at BCC has written about his experience as an Ammon Model missionary in Japan. It was very interesting and a bit sad. In summing up the auspicious beginnings of the project, he writes, "English classes became a prime source of convert baptisms which, incidentally, tripled after a year of the Ammon Project."

He then writes the none-too-surprising transition,

"Unfortunately, our open-ended, easy going, flexible style of proselyting caught up with us. Many of the missionaries started justifying there behavior with the more open-minded mission mottos. The mission slogan 'means and ends' became a slogan for "doing whatever I want and labeling it as proselyting later."

He concludes,

"The focus of the missionaries crashed and burned almost mission-wide.

By the time I left Japan, door-to-door was back and much of the Ammon Project had been gutted and reintegrated into more traditional proselyting forms.

Sigh ...

I suppose, in the final analysis, we just weren't ready for it."