Each meetinghouse provides priesthood leaders and their public affairs councils with an opportunity to reach out into the community, build bridges with neighbors and opinion leaders, and dispel myths about Latter-day Saints and how they worship.

It is critical to begin planning far enough in advance to allow the people being invited, especially busy community leaders, to schedule the open house on their calendars.

Open house objectives include:

• Residents of the community who are invited and escorted to the open house by Latter-day Saint neighbors and friends meet and mingle with members in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere while increasing their awareness and understanding of the Church.
• Priesthood leaders and public affairs councils build bridges of understanding and cooperation with community leaders and the media.

Open houses are not limited to newly constructed meetinghouses. Priesthood leaders and public affairs councils may also plan and implement open houses for:

• Newly renovated meetinghouses.
• Existing meetinghouses. This type of open house shares information and resources that meet the needs or interests of the community (strengthening families and youth, family history, emergency preparedness and other “provident living” information).

Many successful open houses have followed a pattern where the visitors are met by auxiliary leaders such as a Relief Society presidency member in the Relief Society room and receive talking points about the respective auxiliary and its purpose. The visitors are then routed to the leaders of another auxiliary for a similar short explanation.

Regardless of how successful the open house is, follow-up is essential. The process of building relationships requires more than a one-time event. Following the open house, the open house committee chairperson or director of public affairs may request to be invited to the next stake or ward council meeting to recommend specific follow-up action.