BYU Jerusalem Center - Mission

Mission

Members of the LDS Church believe that Jesus Christ will return in glory in his Second Coming. Howard W. Hunter, who was President of the church's Quorum of the Twelve at the time of the center's construction, pointed out that although there would be no proselyting from the center, it still served a valuable purpose. One church member quoted him this way: "Elder Hunter said that our mission was not to harvest, probably not even to plant, but to clear away a few more stones." Latter-day Saints often see the center as a way for them to show local Jews what the church is about by example, rather than by proselyting. This is done by the way students and faculty at the center live their lives, as well as through the hiring of both Israeli and Palestinian workers, as an example of what can be done through cooperation. During construction of the center, for example, the church hired as many as 300 workers at one time, with about 60% of them being Arab and the other 40% being Jewish. Similar cooperation continues today.

The center also strives to meet the goals of the BYU Mission statement, "to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life" as well as in their educational endeavors. The center aims to give students not only an educational experience by experiencing cultures and languages firsthand, but a spiritual experience by taking them to the sites of biblical events and encouraging them to live their lives in a Christian way.