Church Ties

     In class on Monday, we discussed how social groups and social interaction influence the beliefs of those around you and also how friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends can be influential.  While studying the assigned reading about the early history of the church, I noticed a few influential social connections that brought people to the church.  Family ties were the strongest by far, many of the family members of the early saints joined the church in droves.  Friendship ties were the second most influential just as we had discussed in class.  Joseph Smith's close friends were also among the first saints of this dispensation, and after they joined they reached out to their friends and began the process of furthering the church's influence through the use of social ties.

    One of the most influential early church members, Sydney Rigdon, was among those who were brought into the church through these strong social ties.  Rigdon was told about the church by a friend, Parley Pratt, who had heard about the church from Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith.  Pratt's friends had such a huge influence on Rigdon that he ended up abandoning his old faith and joining the church.  This one example shows just how the ties that our friends make influence us.

    Social networks, such as the one that brought family and friends to the church, work best when there is an organized network that allows for streamlined communication, and in early church history that head of the network, the hub so to speak, was Joseph Smith.  When other people tried to receive revelation for the church, Joseph Smith was quick to show that God may work through each of his servants, especially when it comes to spreading the work, but there is only one speaker, only one head of the social network chain.

    There is one thing that makes this church social network chain unique, and that is another influencer that does not directly interact with people, the Holy Ghost.  It is true that Joseph Smith did quite a lot for the church, but the Holy Ghost touches the heart of each convert, whether or not Smith met them.  Smith might be the social heart of the church, but the Holy Ghost and through him, God, influences the church the most.

    Social interactions are the reason that the church started small and then rapidly grew in just a few short years.  Even today you can still see how powerful social interactions are as the prophet and apostles cry for members to reach out to those that they know and try to bring the gospel to them.  Of course, missionaries can still reach out to those who do not have any ties to people in the church, but people have said over and over that members reaching out is much more effective, that these strong social ties are much more effective.