Why Doesn’t the Mormon Church have Ministers?

If you are here just to have the question answered, the answer is we do and we don’t. If that satisfied your curiosity then great; if want to know more, then read on.

If you Google the word minister there are two main definitions, a noun and a verb. The noun is used to describe a member of the clergy, especially in Protestant churches and as a head of a government department such as Britain’s defense minister. The verb describes a person that tends to, care for, take care of, look after, administer to, help, or assist someone. (Google definition of minister) An example of this type of a minister is the Good Samaritan from New Testament teachings of Jesus Christ.

Protestant Minister

British Minister of Defense

As a teenager my family attended the Methodist Church in a small Indiana town and there was a minister for our local congregation. The Minister was the person that was hired by the local church to take care of the spiritual needs of the members. He was responsible for all the finances, all the various youth and adult programs, he was the person that gave the sermon during the Sunday services and he was paid a salary to provide for his needs and his families. There were also volunteers who helped teach Sunday School, work with the Youth Programs, helped with the nursery, and many other programs; but the Minister was the one person that was responsible for everything.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we don’t have a paid minister, we have a lay clergy. The Bishop is the closest thing we have to a Protestant Minister. The bishop, along with his counselors, is responsible for a ward or local congregation. Bishops are not paid for their work in the church. They continue to work in whatever profession they have in addition to serving as Bishop.

During this past April Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson had this to say:

“Dear brothers and sisters, we constantly seek direction from the Lord on how we can help our members keep the commandments of God, especially those two great commandments to love God and our neighbors.

“For months we have been seeking a better way to minister to the spiritual and temporal needs of our people in the Savior’s way. “We have made the decision to retire home teaching and visiting teaching as we have known them. Instead, we will implement a newer, holier approach to caring for and ministering to others. We will refer to these efforts simply as ministering.” (“Ministering”)

In the same conference session Elder Jeffery R. Holland added this plea:

“Brothers and sisters, we have a heaven-sent opportunity as an entire Church to demonstrate “pure religion … undefiled before God”  “to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light” and to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort,” to minister to the widows and the fatherless, the married and the single, the strong and the distraught, the downtrodden and the robust, the happy and the sad—in short, all of us, every one of us, because we all need to feel the warm hand of friendship and hear the firm declaration of faith.” (Be With and Strengthen Them)

As members of the Lord’s Church we are all ministers in the verb definition of the word. We are to be modern day “Good Samaritans” and look for opportunities to tend to, care for, take care of, look after, administer to, help, or assist our neighbors, co-workers, family, and yes even the stranger that has been left on the side of the road. In other words we are to be as the Savior was to those he ministered to. We should pray each day for the Lord to guide us to someone that we can minister to in some way and then as we go about our normal daily labors we should watch for and listen to the promptings that will come. As we do this we will be surprised at how many opportunities we will have to provide Christ like service to those who we meet. Watch this short video from the ministering.lds.org web site that provides a vision of what ministering is:

I invite you to share this message with your social media friends and hope you will share your thoughts and comments with me.

Loving Dandelions

Today in our fast and testimony meeting a young women spoke about how she loves dandelions. She said it was her favorite flower. Most people do not like dandelions and try to get rid of them when they grow in their yard; just yesterday I was out pulling them up and throwing them away. She said that even though the dandelion is hated we should look for the beauty that the flower has and she suggested that it is even useful in salads. She said there are many beautiful flowers and some are loved more than others and some are hated like the dandelions. Heavenly Father created the dandelions and he loves all of his creations.

We live in a world that has many different types of people. There is a variety of races, religions, good people and evil, those that keep the commandments and those that don’t. Heavenly Father loves all of his children – even those that have strayed from his commandments and have fallen off the gospel path. We need to emulate the love that Heavenly Father has and strive to love all his children even those that we feel, like the dandelion, have no place in our lives or should be cast off.

I am reminded of the time that Christ goes from Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria. Samaria was what was left of the Norther Kingdom of Israel when they were defeated by the Assyrians. The conquerors took the children of Israel and replaced them with others and those that remained intermarried with them and were called Samaritans. The Jews thought that the Samaritans were unclean and would avoid going through the country or even talking to a Samaritan. Jesus chose to go through Samaria on his way to Galilee. He stopped at Jacob’s well and asked a Samaritan women to give him something to drink. The Jewish leaders would never have had a conversation with a women, let alone a Samaritan women. When the disciples found the Savior speaking to the Samaritan women, they wondered among themselves why he was speaking to her (though they did not have the courage to ask him directly).

When the Samaritan women questioned him about the Messiah that should come, Jesus simply said: “I that speak unto thee am he”(John 4:26). She believed and went into the village and told everyone to come see the Christ. Many villagers came and were converted and Jesus spent two days teaching the people of the village.

Why would Jesus go out of his way and go through Samaria and then speak to a women that was living in adultery? Could it be to teach us that all of Heavenly Father’s children are loved by him? We need to have the same love for all of our brothers and sisters, even those we consider to be unclean, sinners, or lost.

The Savior speaking to those in the Americas after his resurrection told them to welcome everyone to their meetings and minister unto them and pray for them “for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them” (3 Nephi 18:30-32).

If you were sitting in church and someone came and sat next to you and they smelled of alcohol or had tattoos or piercings that you did not like what would you do? Would you move or would you introduce your family and welcome them? We know what the Savior would do, he would seek them out and welcome them and teach them as he did the Samaritan women.

There are many of Heavenly Father’s children that think they are the dandelions of the world and have no place and are cast off. We need to have that Christ like love and look for the beauty that everyone has and truly minister to everyone because we “for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them”.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

I Will Hasten My Work In Its Time

This past weekend (March 31-April 1, 2018), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held its 188 Annual General Conference and it was an historic one. We were able to sustain a new prophet and in the priesthood session later that day our prophet announced that in the wards the high priests and elders quorums were now going to be meeting as one quorum instead of separately as a high priest group and an elders quorum. President Nelson said the changes were made “to accomplish the work of the Lord more effectively…This adjustment will greatly enhance the capacity and the ability of men who bear the priesthood to serve others.” (Introductory Remarks)

Elder D. Todd Christofferson explained in more detail how the changes will affect the local wards. He said:

“Having one Melchizedek Priesthood quorum in a ward unifies priesthood holders to accomplish all aspects of the work of salvation, including the temple and family history work previously coordinated by the high priests groups. It allows quorum members of all ages and backgrounds to benefit from the perspective and experience of one another and of those in different stages of life. It also provides additional opportunities for experienced priesthood holders to mentor others, including prospective elders, new members, young adults, and those returning to Church activity. I cannot adequately express how excited I am to contemplate the increasingly vital role that elders quorums will play in the future. The wisdom, experience, capacity, and strength that will be found in these quorums portend a new day and a new standard of priesthood service across the Church.” (The Elders Quorum)

I was with two of my sons and two grandsons at the priesthood session. It was exciting for our grandsons to be a part of that meeting. My younger son that was with us said that this change was exciting. When he was serving as an Elders Quorum President in is ward he was always telling his bishop that whenever they took someone out of the elders quorum to make them high priests they were taking the best people out of his quorum. It was frustrating to him to lose such good quality people and then start over training new elders in how they should fulfill their priesthood assignments, just to lose them to a different calling that would take them from their quorum. That will no longer happen. All Melchizedek priesthood holders (except those serving in bishoprics, stake presidencies, high councils, and active patriarchs) will be together in one elders quorum. Elder Ronald A. Rasband described the benefits that will come with this change:

“As previous presiding leaders return to share their experience with the quorum of elders, a stronger quorum membership will result.

“There will be a greater diversity of gifts and capacities within the quorum.

“There will be more flexibility and availability to meet current and urgent needs within the ward and quorum and in fulfilling our various ministering assignments.

“There will be an increase in mentoring and unity as a new elder and an experienced high priest share experiences, side by side, in quorum meetings and assignments.” (Behold! A Royal Army)

One of the positive aspects that I see is that there is a greater emphasis on unity in the priesthood instead of being the elders, or we are the high priests; we are all one elders quorum. We are all elders when we receive the Melchizedek Priesthood but we may also be ordained to different offices based on our current assignment. In addition to being an elder I have been a seventy, a high priest, and a bishop but I never had any more priesthood power in those offices than I had when I was first ordained to be an elder. Even general authorities are called Elder because they have the same priesthood power as all other elders. To me this is the greatest benefit in uniting us all as brothers in the priesthood.

After the priesthood meeting, and our traditional ice cream treat, we returned to our son’s home and his wife asked her 12 year old son to tell her about the meeting. After he told her his experience she, with tears in her eyes, said that as he was speaking the spirit bore witness to her that President Nelson was the Lord’s prophet and that she was grateful for her son’s witness to her. It was a thrilling experience to see my family grow in the gospel and our grandsons testimonies develop.

Then came the Sunday afternoon session when President Oaks announced that President Nelson would speak to us briefly. President Nelson then announced that the home and visiting teaching program would be done away and a new program with an emphasis on ministering would be implemented. I texted my other son and said: “Whenever one of the counselors in the First Presidency says ‘President Nelson will speak to us briefly’ we should pay attention!

When this announcement was made my oldest son, who is serving as a counselor in the bishopric, told me later that he started weeping. In their ward they have been struggling getting the elders quorum to do their home teaching. He said that in their ward council meetings the bishopric tried to encourage the leaders to teach their members to reach out to the families that they were assigned to home/visit teach and instead of focusing on a once-a-month visit to developing the attitude of ministering in the way the Savior would minister to those he came in contact with. He said that this announcement was an answer to their prayers as a bishopric. Doing away with home and visiting teaching and focusing on having the members ministering with each other is the greatest thing that can happen for their ward; and the entire Church.

Explaining the principles found in this change Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:

“Brothers and sisters, we have a heaven-sent opportunity as an entire Church to demonstrate “pure religion … undefiled before God”⁸—“to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light” and to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort,”⁹ to minister to the widows and the fatherless, the married and the single, the strong and the distraught, the downtrodden and the robust, the happy and the sad—in short, all of us, every one of us, because we all need to feel the warm hand of friendship and hear the firm declaration of faith. However, I warn you, a new name, new flexibility, and fewer reports won’t make an ounce of difference in our service unless we see this as an invitation to care for one another in a bold, new, holier way, as President Nelson has just said.” (Be With and Strengthen Them)

Sister Jean B. Bingham added:

“After all is said and done, true ministering is accomplished one by one with love as the motivation. The value and merit and wonder of sincere ministering is that it truly changes lives! When our hearts are open and willing to love and include, encourage and comfort, the power of our ministering will be irresistible. With love as the motivation, miracles will happen, and we will find ways to bring our “missing” sisters and brothers into the all-inclusive embrace of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Savior is our example in everything—not only in what we should do but why we should do it.⁸ “His life on earth was [an] invitation to us—to raise our sights a little higher, to forget our own problems and [to] reach out to others.”⁹ As we accept the opportunity to wholeheartedly minister to our sisters and brothers, we are blessed to become more spiritually refined, more in tune with the will of God, and more able to understand His plan to help each one return to Him. We will more readily recognize His blessings and be eager to extend those blessings to others.” (Ministering as the Savior Does)

Elder Rasband added this testimony of the Lord’s involvement in this work:

“The Lord declared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Restoration:

“Behold, and lo, I will take care of your flocks, and will raise up elders and send unto them.

“Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.”

“Indeed, this is a time when the Lord is hastening His work.” (Behold A Royal Army)

I am grateful to have been a participant in this historic general conference. I am also grateful to know that the Lord Jesus Christ directs His Church through living prophets today.

Your questions and comments are welcome.