Physical health
General Handbook 24.3.3. If you are not physically able to work the full teaching-missionary schedule, leaders may discuss a service assignment lived at home, matched to what your body can do.
Same call. A different way to serve.
You may hear teaching missionary and service missionary. Both are a call from the Lord. Where you serve matters, and it is still second to the call itself. (Doctrine and Covenants 80:3)
| Young teaching missionary | Young service missionary | |
|---|---|---|
| Called by | President of the Church | President of the Church |
| Assigned by | An Apostle | An Apostle |
| Lives | Away from home | At home |
| Schedule | The full teaching-missionary schedule | Customized to your talents, skills, and capacity |
| Usual length | 24 months (men), 18 months (women) | Usually 24 months for men and 18 months for women, and not longer than that. |
| Who directs the work | Mission president | Mission president, through service missionary advisers. Your stake president handles Church matters at home. |
| Money | A monthly contribution to the ward missionary fund | You and your family cover your own expenses. The ward missionary fund is not used for service missionaries. Friends may help. |
Source: General Handbook 24.2 and 24.3.4.
When the handbook points to a service assignment
These assignments go to candidates whose circumstances are best suited for a service assignment. The handbook points that phrase to one place: physical, mental, and emotional health. A teaching missionary must be able to work the full schedule away from home. A service missionary’s schedule is customized to their talents, skills, and capacity. If health makes the full schedule the wrong fit, your bishop and stake president may talk with you, and with your parents if you agree, about a service assignment.
Mental health
If mental health would keep you from the full schedule away from home, a service assignment may be the one that fits. If a doctor has prescribed medication, the handbook asks you to keep taking it as directed while you serve.
Emotional health
Emotional health is the third reason the handbook names. Leaders may discuss a service assignment when the emotional demands of a teaching mission away from home are not what you can carry.
You prepare. Leaders assign.
Get ready, and be honest when you are interviewed. Your stake president sends the recommendation. An Apostle assigns you by revelation. Sometimes a person who truly wants to serve is not called, either to teach or to serve at home. If that is you, your leaders should thank you and walk with you — school, work, and the covenant path are still good and holy.
ChurchofJesusChrist.org/service-missionary — where young service assignments are available, and how they work.
What your days might hold
Your mission president and service missionary advisers shape the work around what you can do and what your area needs. You may have more than one assignment while you serve. In all of them, the hope is the same: help people come to Christ by serving them the way the Savior would.
Church operations
Quiet, needed work that keeps the Church’s local efforts going, matched to what you can offer.
Temples
Temple service, when that fits your life. Newly called missionaries are encouraged to receive their endowment when that is right for them.
Approved charities
Serving with charities your mission has approved. You do not have to go find a job on your own.
Teaching visits
Some service missionaries visit with teaching missionaries. Teaching and serving are one work, and you may get to do both.
Stake-assigned service
Ways to help that your stake already knows are needed. Your stake president stays close as your Church leader while you serve.
Parents close by
Because you live at home, your parents or guardians are part of the daily care. They can help decide which assignments will bless you and the people you serve.
Missionary Standards for Service Missionaries (2025), chapter 2 · Liahona: “Service Missions: Called to the Work”
Things people sometimes get wrong
Tap a card. It helps to have a kind answer ready before a friend repeats the myth.
A way to get ready
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Questions
Do I wear a badge and get a call packet?
Your stake president sets you apart, close to the day you begin, the same as other missionaries. Dress, schedule, and assignments come from your mission leaders and the service missionary standards. Those pages will feel more personal than anything we could guess here.
Can I go to school or work?
Your week is built around what you can sustain. School or work may fit, and it may not. Your advisers, mission president, and stake president decide that with you. A service assignment is still a mission, not an ordinary week with a name tag added.
Is this an official Church page?
No. MissionChecklist.com is independent. The facts here are drawn from General Handbook chapter 24, the service missionary standards, and ChurchofJesusChrist.org/service-missionary. If a leader’s counsel and this page ever differ, follow your bishop.