I’m preparing a two-week teaching series called “The Truth About Mormonism”. This will be my first time teaching about the Mormon Church from the stage in my 11 years as a youth pastor. I’ve considered doing it in the past, but have been reluctant to do so. A handful of fellow Christians have even discouraged me from talking about it from the platform.

The Mormon Church is prominent here in AZ. I often hear things like, “Everyone at my school is LDS”. While that obviously isn’t true, my students feel like they are swimming in Mormon seas in their classrooms and on their teams.

My conviction is that I’m not shepherding my students well if I don’t tell them two things: First, the Mormon religion is a false religion, and Joseph Smith was a false prophet. Second, the gospel of grace is incredibly good news to devoted Mormons, and it’s the gospel that they need. They don’t need to be bashed. We don’t need to have a “GOTCHA! IN YOUR FACE” moment with them when we point out false prophecies and inconsistencies.

What I’ve heard countless times is that it’s Mormon bashing to teach or talk about Mormonism. That’s a defense mechanism aimed at preventing anyone from questioning their beliefs. I’ll spend the weekend right before this series picking apart the Bible and Christianity, looking for inconsistencies and reasons to bail on the whole thing.

My hope is that my students and their Mormon friends will submit to the truth, even if it hurts abominably.

My hope is also that none of us would come across as arrogant jerks through the process or in our resulting conversations.

My greatest hope is that the LDS students in the Gilbert area would fall in love with Jesus, who is more than enough to save and sustain them, and the Bible, which is more than enough to teach them about the one true God.