Losing Faith When Your Child’s a Mormon Missionary: Julie and Jill Durrant | Ep. 1737

Losing Faith During Your Child’s Mormon Mission: A Family's Journey

When a parent loses faith just as a child sets out on their Mormon mission, the experience can be disorienting and heart-wrenching. Julie and Jill Durrant's story, as a recent episode of the Mormon Stories Podcast highlights, provides a uniquely personal perspective on this complex dynamic. On one hand, parents have often instilled deeply held beliefs and practices into their children, believing this path to be one of divine guidance and fulfillment. On the other, they are confronted with personal realizations that shake the very foundation of those beliefs. The Durrants' narrative highlights an essential question: What happens when the faith you built your life on begins to crumble while your child is halfway across the world, spreading that very faith to others?

A Historical Context of Parental Faith and Missions

Historically, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has placed significant emphasis on missionary work. Serving a mission often constitutes the pinnacle of a young member's early religious life, marking a rite of passage that parents anticipate with pride. This milestone is a testament to a family's dedication to their faith's foundational principles. Yet, what if the very beliefs these missions promote come into question at home?

Julie and Jill, like many faithful LDS parents, raised their children within the Church's teachings, emphasizing the virtues of obedience and community service. However, as Jill learned from the podcast, the family's spiritual journey was fraught with scrupulosity, a word she encountered only recently. This describes a near-obsessive commitment to religious observance, driven by fear of falling short of divine expectations. Such experiences are not uncommon among families devoted to the Church, where the pressure to fulfill religious duties can create internal rifts.

The Impact of Losing Faith During a Child’s Church Mission