Bryan Gentry is a writer and editor who works in university communications. His work has appeared in university publications, magazines and newspapers for more than 20 years. He earned his English degree at Southern Virginia University and an MBA at the University of Lynchburg. In the Church, he has served as a missionary (in Nevada and California), a Primary chorister and teacher, a ward clerk, Seminary and Gospel Doctrine teacher, and in elders quorum presidencies. He and his wife and children live in South Carolina.
Enter Bryan…
One of the most challenging tasks for a church leader is getting someone to do something they do not already want to do. We want a teenager to go to Seminary, an adult to visit ministering families, an activities committee member to help decorate, and someone to agree to prepare a talk. Sometimes, we might urge someone to change long-ingrained habits to prepare for making temple covenants.
If you’ve ever hit a brick wall in trying to convince someone to do these good things, you might even be tempted to try badgering or guilt-tripping them into choosing the right. Or you might give up instead — after all, they’ve made their choice.
But there is another way to handle these situations, and it’s illustrated well in a story from Joseph Smith’s life that seems straight out of an action western movie.
The Persuasive Prophet
It happened in November 1839. The Prophet Joseph was in a stagecoach bound for Washington, D.C. About 130 miles from the capital, the stagecoach driver stopped for a drink at an inn on the mountain.
While the passengers waited for the driver’s return, something happened to spook the horses yoked to the carriage.
“The horses took fright and ran down the hill at full speed,”
The passengers panicked as their driverless coach bounced along the winding mountain road. But Joseph knew that screaming passengers would only scare the horses more.
“I perswaded [sic] my fellow travellers to be quiet and retain their seats,” he wrote. “I used every persuasion to calm their feelings.”
Then the prophet opened the stagecoach door, grabbed the side of the carriage, and made his way to the driver’s seat.
This incident, also shared by Elias Higbee, shows us a prophet’s leadership in a moment of crisis. Joseph could have barked commands. He could have screamed with the other passengers or screamed at them. Instead, he twice mentions persuasion ― a concept he knew well, even though he struggled to spell it.
Only six months before this stagecoach adventure, while stooped in the cramped Liberty Jail, the prophet recorded a revelation teaching that:
“No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile. (Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-42)
Because of this revelation, we know that we do not have to give up when someone does not follow the gospel path at first. Nor do we need to resort to force, intimidation, or pressure to get other people to do what we want. Instead, we can learn the doctrine and the art of persuasion.
The Doctrine of Persuasion
The original Latter-day Saint hymnal opened with the hymn we now call “Know This, That Every Soul Is Free.” The second verse in our modern hymnal reads:
“He’ll call, persuade, direct aright, And bless with wisdom, love, and light, In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind.”
God leads through persuasion, not force. Our Heavenly Father doesn’t want us forced to return to him, because only willfully walking the covenant path will help us develop into who He wants us to be.
This is God’s mode of leadership. President Howard W. Hunter said:
“God’s chief way of acting is by persuasion and patience and long-suffering, not by coercion and stark confrontation. He acts by gentle solicitation and by sweet enticement. He always acts with unfailing respect for the freedom and independence that we possess. … He will … stand by us forever to help us see the right path [through] his gentle, peaceful, powerful persuasion to do right.”
God expects us to emulate his patient persuasion as we teach the gospel and lead others, thus the list of persuasive characteristics in section 121: longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned.
President Gordon B. Hinckley said that we
“must lift the world, and the only levers [we] have” are the example we set and “the powers of persuasion that will come of [our] testimonies.”
We can’t force the world to a higher plane, but by setting an example, we can invite persuasively. Not only is persuasion God’s way of leadership, but it is the only way that truly works in the long run.
Elder Dallas N. Archibald, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, once said,
“Attempting to force others to accept our way of thinking will cause them to close their minds to our teachings and ultimately reject our words.”
How, then, do we persuade others? The art and science of communication and the scriptures together teach us powerful lessons that we can begin to apply quickly.
The Art of Persuasion
One of the world’s oldest texts on persuasion came from the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived more than 300 years B.C. In his treatise titles “Rhetoric,” he outlined three modes of persuasion ― three approaches that combine to create a persuasive argument. Think of them as the three legs of a stool; take one away and your argument falls flat. The three legs of this stool are ethos (sometimes called “character” or “credibility”), emotion and logic.
Ethos is the essential character or reputation of the speaker. It answers the question, “Why should I believe you?” Aristotle says that a speaker must show himself to have “certain qualities.” These may include character traits like honesty, integrity, and humility, but it also may include competence or skill. In the gospel context, ethos almost always includes setting an example.
Aristotle also said that ethos requires displaying a certain attitude toward the audience. Think of this as charity for the person you’re trying to persuade. Show respect for their freedom of choice and their intellect. Social science shows that people resist information presented in ways that talk down to them. Charity opens doors to the mind and heart.
Logic, the second leg of the stool, is reasoning with facts and arguments. Aristotle had a lot to say about logic, including an entirely separate treatise on that topic alone, but for now it is enough to know that a logical argument builds on ideas that the audience already understands or accepts, leading them to consider other points that must be true. “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18) the Lord says, acknowledging that our minds as well as our spirits need to be converted.
Emotion comes into play because we often trust our feelings as much as our minds. Logic presents us with lots of reasons, but our emotions motivate us to act. In “Rhetoric,” Aristotle explains many emotions and what kinds of thoughts lead someone to that emotion. Helping someone to feel love, peace, joy, longing for family, hope, or excitement can provide the spark that gets them to take action.
Examples of Persuasion
One of my favorite examples of persuasion in the scriptures is Mosiah 29, when King Mosiah wants to convince his citizens to replace their monarchy with a system of judges. He logically walks them through the problems of monarchy, including the risk of having an unrighteous king as well as problems of succession. He reminds them how he has served them, building ethos as someone who has their best interest at heart. He arouses emotion with stories of the tribulations faced by the people of King Noah. Ultimately, his people agree to change their system of government.
I love the story shared by Sister Carole M. Stephens about convincing her young granddaughter, Chloe, to stay buckled on a car ride. She tried insisting, offering incentives, and more, but made no progress until she shifted gears:
“I turned to face her and pulled my seat belt away from my body so she could see it. I said, “Chloe, I am wearing this seat belt because it will protect me. But you aren’t wearing your seat belt, and you won’t be safe. And I will be so sad if you get hurt.” She looked at me; I could almost see the wheels turning in her little mind as I waited anxiously for her response. Finally, her big blue eyes brightened, and she said, “Grandma, you want me to wear my seat belt because you love me!”
Sister Stephens set an example by wearing her seatbelt and demonstrated her caring for Chloe (ethos). She quickly connected the seatbelt to safety (logic), and helped Chloe feel love (emotion) that motivated her to obey.
Other examples abound. Ammon developed the ultimate ethos by serving King Lamoni with the utmost faithfulness, then by building on the king’s beliefs, and then helped Lamoni feel convinced of his need to repent.
Nephi persuaded his brothers to keep trying to get the brass plates by appealing to the scriptures, reminding them of stories of Moses as metaphors for their own path.
Peter convinced other church leaders to accept Gentile converts by telling his story, which evoked his authority as one to receive revelation, prompted excitement about Christ continuing to lead his church, and ended with the logical conclusion,
“what was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17).
Persuasion in Politics
The principles of persuasion also call us to engage in politics in a certain way. The world’s preferred mode of political discourse seems focused on domination. Many countries are now dealing with high political polarization, with stark coalitions gathering on opposite ends of a spectrum with little middle ground. This leads to contentious political discourse and occasionally political violence. From time to time, I see church members on social media use abusive language against each other due to political differences. Twice in recent years, President Russell M. Nelson has reminded us from the pulpit,
“Anger never persuades. Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to inspired solutions.”
In the April 2025 General Conference, he expounded:
“It is imperative that we have charity in our discourse, both public and private. … As followers of Jesus Christ, we should lead the way as peacemakers.”
Peacemaking doesn’t mean we should withdraw from politics or that we adopt a middle-of-the-road position on every issue. We are supposed “to be anxiously engaged in a good cause” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27), which may involve running for office, campaigning for someone else, or lobbying our elected leaders. But in all this, we can employ the principles of persuasion to make our case.
“Peacemakers are not passive; they are persuasive in the Savior’s way.”
Agency and Patience
When Joseph Smith rescued a stagecoach full of passengers by persuading them to calm down while he took the reins, he was traveling to Washington, D.C., to ask the federal government of the United States to intervene to stop the persecutions against the Latter-day Saints. He presented a written testimony that was powerfully persuasive. It evoked pity by describing the Saints and their simple desire to worship. It appealed to American values of freedom. It outlined the facts of the case in detail.
And yet Congress did nothing.
This begs the question, what if we follow all these principles of persuasion and someone does not do what we asked?
There’s a reason the prophet paired “persuasion” and “longsuffering” in his Liberty Jail revelation. Persuasion is about enticing people to follow a certain action; Longsuffering is about allowing them to choose and waiting patiently for the right time when they might change.
This doesn’t mean giving up. Instead, we should continue to employ the principles of persuasion. We can build ethos with them through love, service and example. We can learn about them and learn how we might present a logical case and strive to help them feel God’s love.
Jesus told the Nephites that if someone has rejected the gospel, “unto such shall ye continue to minister” in hopes that “they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them” (3 Nephi 18:32).
Persuasion is the practice of continuing to minister to someone with hope they may someday follow Christ. It’s what our Heavenly Father does for us, and what he asks us to do for those we lead.
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