For more than a decade, leaders have emphasized the mission of the Church to bring souls to Christ as having three dimensions: to preach the gospel, perfect the saints and redeem the dead. Now, a stake in England has undertaken a project that aims to combine all three ideals in one endeavor through stake and ward histories.

      The Newcastle-under-Lyme England Stake is engaged in what it calls the "Progeny Identification Program.""The idea is to trace the descendants of the early Church members in what is now our stake," explained Gordon W. Beharrell, stake high councilor and a member of the Shrewsbury Branch.

      "We're putting the normal family history research process in reverse. We go back to the progenitors and then come forward to identify their living progeny."

      Ward historians in the stake are compiling ward histories that include the names of the early members with their pedigrees traced forward to the living descendants.

      "Eventually, a printed history will be made for each ward; then a copy of that history, together with a copy of the Book of Mormon, will be presented to the descendants of the early members we have identified," Brother Beharrell explained during a recent visit to Salt Lake City.

      He was in Utah to organize a private "Heritage Society," made up of descendants of Church members who emigrated from the stake's area to the United States. He aims to enlist their aid in extending their pedigrees and identifying their distant relatives.

      "In fact, our call to these people is to please help us to help them," Brother Beharrell remarked.

      He said he does not know how many Church members emigrated from the area within the boundaries of the stake, which covers parts of four counties: Shropshire, Powys, Cheshire and Staffordshire. "But we know there was a tremendous number," he said.

      An important part of the program, he added, is to identify the descendants of the early missionaries who worked in that area.

      "Many of them came from the United States. Some of their descendants won't have knowledge of this, but some will, and they will have journals from that particular time. Journals can give us wonderful details regarding the names, lifestyle and feeling of the time."

      He said his own research into the history of the Church in Shrewsbury shows that Mormon missionaries first came there in 1847.

      "Within 10 days of their arrival, they baptized the first member, Thomas Davis, who was born near Shrewsbury in 1811. The following year, he immigrated to the States and eventually arrived in Fillmore, Utah, in 1852. He died in 1890. [RecentlyT I went to Fillmore and saw his grave. It was a strange feeling to come from the green, green grass of Shropshire, where he was born, and see where he died in Fillmore. The temperature was over 100 degrees, and everything looked sort of burnt and hot in contrast to the area where he was born."

      Brother Beharrell cites a quotation from President Spencer W. Kimball: "I hope to see us dissolve the artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and genealogical work, because it is the same great redemptive work!" (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 540.)

      He feels the stake's Progeny Identification Program helps accomplish that goal, at the same time helping perfect the saints by reminding them of their gospel legacy.

      "A number of people will be introduced to the gospel by means of their Church heritage, which, in many instances, they will not be aware of," he noted. "And we will be organizing annual `heritage days' and inviting descendants and local dignitaries to attend: mayors, councilors, as well as the local population."

      The program is already raising the profile of the Church locally, he said. "One of our main problems in England is that when missionaries go around to the houses, or when a Church member introduces the Church to a non-member, the general feeling is that this is an American church. Many of the members of the Church in our stake, let alone non-members, are completely unaware of our Church heritage in England. The fact is, the Church was established in England by 1840."