Missionary (LDS Church) - History

History

Main article: Mission (LDS Church)#History of missions See also: List of LDS missionary entries by country

The LDS Church regards Samuel H. Smith, the younger brother of church founder Joseph Smith, as the church's first full-time missionary. Throughout the history of the church, over one million missionaries have been sent on missions. The peak year for full-time missionary service in the church was 2002, when there were over 61,000 missionaries.

In 1898, the church began allowing single women to be called as missionaries. The first two single female missionaries were Jennie Brimhall and Inez Knight, who were called to serve as companions in England.

In 2002, apostle M. Russell Ballard delivered a General Conference address stating that the bar to qualify for missionary service had been raised and that "the day of the 'repent and go' missionary is over".

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