Service & the priesthood

[sjdawg]

As an organization, the LDS church has a high participation rate among members on service projects. I don't have data, it's just my opinion.

I place value on the church teaching the ethos of service more than trying to compare the sheer amount of service done.,

I agree with this. One area I do believe the LDS church could improve in is their service to those not of their faith. When I say this I am not speaking of Global Humanitarian aid but of the work done by local wards and stakes. So much of the ground level service provided goes unnoticed by community as it is done within church buildings and congregations. (home teaching, fulfilling callings, cleaning church buildings and temples)

If the LDS church wants to be embraced by communities they have to become part of communities. I see some efforts by the church to make this happen in my area.

[Jeff K.]

I agree with this. One area I do believe the LDS church could improve in is their service to those not of their faith. When I say this I am not speaking of Global Humanitarian aid but of the work done by local wards and stakes. So much of the ground level service provided goes unnoticed by community as it is done within church buildings and congregations. (home teaching, fulfilling callings, cleaning church buildings and temples)

If the LDS church wants to be embraced by communities they have to become part of communities. I see some efforts by the church to make this happen in my area.

Yes, the church is doubling its outreach and emphasizing (at least here in California) media relations and meeting with key leaders to make our presence and help known. Often we do help but are lost in the crowd with others. I think it is more a mix of becoming known, and becoming more involved than we already are. This is especially so with scout eagle projects, our stake will have around 80 to 100 this year alone.

[todd520]

I agree with this. One area I do believe the LDS church could improve in is their service to those not of their faith. When I say this I am not speaking of Global Humanitarian aid but of the work done by local wards and stakes. So much of the ground level service provided goes unnoticed by community as it is done within church buildings and congregations. (home teaching, fulfilling callings, cleaning church buildings and temples)

If the LDS church wants to be embraced by communities they have to become part of communities. I see some efforts by the church to make this happen in my area.

Yes, I'm with you on this one. Here is a personal neg PR example that highlights the issue

Mama mia helped run a small town soup kitchen when I was young

Multiple faiths took turns running the kitchen, my mother was Catholic

The LDS women pulled out and declined to participate because it wasn't how the Church operated on service.

Naturally, this looked really bad from the perspective of the other faiths who were donating their time.

I like how the LDS org trades work for aid, but there are also times to just give help

[mfbukowski]

But I'm just not seeing it - service organizations seem to run as well or better than the typical ward organization, from my experience.

I agree and it's a crying shame. We need to do much much better.

[frankenstein]

The LDS women pulled out and declined to participate because it wasn't how the Church operated on service.

I like how the LDS org trades work for aid, but there are also times to just give help

shame on those LDS woman.

Where in the scripture does Christ place a condition on helping others? As much as I know He doesn't.

Consider Matthew 25, food, clothing and shelter, no conditions were placed on the recipient.

King Benjamin didn't place conditions on it either.

[cinepro]

Yes, I'm with you on this one. Here is a personal neg PR example that highlights the issue

Mama mia helped run a small town soup kitchen when I was young

Multiple faiths took turns running the kitchen, my mother was Catholic

The LDS women pulled out and declined to participate because it wasn't how the Church operated on service.

Naturally, this looked really bad from the perspective of the other faiths who were donating their time.

I like how the LDS org trades work for aid, but there are also times to just give help

My ward regularly helps out at a local food bank/ soup kitchen. So it seems to be how we "operate" on service and it works just fine.

[mfbukowski]

shame on those LDS woman.

Where in the scripture does Christ place a condition on helping others? As much as I know He doesn't.

Consider Matthew 25, food, clothing and shelter, no conditions were placed on the recipient.

King Benjamin didn't place conditions on it either.

I am not disagreeing on your point, but there is another way to see this.

Maybe those women just felt overwhelmed at doing service in church AND the extra demands they had perhaps unwittingly taken on.

Perhaps the women in the non-LDS organization were simply unaware of the load of service those who quit were already bearing, and didn't understand that it all became too much for them.

[frankenstein]

I am not disagreeing on your point, but there is another way to see this.

Maybe those women just felt overwhelmed at doing service in church AND the extra demands they had perhaps unwittingly taken on.

Perhaps the women in the non-LDS organization were simply unaware of the load of service those who quit were already bearing, and didn't understand that it all became too much for them.

I do not disagree with you either. From todds posts it seem that the stated reason for not helping is because things were free without condition, so I can only comment on what was available.

Perhaps it was overwhelming, and someone didn't give a nice PR reason for discontinuing the help; people don't always say the most PR friendly things when pressured for reasons.

[LDS Guy 1986]

In all of this I'm hearing that the only thing the priesthood does is a) fill in as administrators (which other organizations have) and b) augment the word service by including ecclesiastical duties.

I'd also suggest that you nor I can state the dollar efficiency of the church's usage of funds, considering no information is revealed publicly. But might I play the speculation game, too? Tithing does not just go to humanitarian or welfare. A good portion goes to the property management and overhead, paying the salaries of church employees, IT services (familysearch, lds.org, all that isn't free), funding BYU, paying for broadcast services. And yes, a good amount goes into welfare services, but obviously, not all of it. I'd suggest that it could be as low as 10%, maybe as high as 25%, who knows.

I'd also like to point out that in a typical ward, at least in the 40 or so I've had the opportunity to monitor over the past 20 years, enter into a deficit scenario with respect to fast offerings and disbursements. Each time this has happened it's because most members, after they've paid tithing, fail to pay a generous portion in fast offering. This is not a criticism of the membership, but it does refute the notion that LDS are more generous, if one adjusts for the effects that a commandment (tithing)has on influencing it's people to donate.

H.

It seems like this is not a discussion, it is me presenting evidence and you ignoring it or denying it. Since this is suppose to be a discussion forum, I see no point in continuing this.

I wish you well!

God Bless

[LDS Guy 1986]

Yes, I'm with you on this one. Here is a personal neg PR example that highlights the issue

Mama mia helped run a small town soup kitchen when I was young

Multiple faiths took turns running the kitchen, my mother was Catholic

The LDS women pulled out and declined to participate because it wasn't how the Church operated on service.

Naturally, this looked really bad from the perspective of the other faiths who were donating their time.

I like how the LDS org trades work for aid, but there are also times to just give help

March's First Presidency message fit this example perfectly, if you look for good or evil out of anything long enough you will find it. Some people made a poor choice, why don't we storm LDS headquarters and burn the First Presidency at the stake.

If you are looking for faults you will find them, remember though that fault finding is not Christ like. I am sure you can find dozens of examples where mistakes were made, and I am sure in each case when the issue was found steps to correct the mistake were made. For an orginization that donates millions of man hours a year to tens of thousands of projects you are bound to find plenty of mistakes if that is what you are looking for.

[LDSToronto]

It seems like this is not a discussion, it is me presenting evidence and you ignoring it or denying it. Since this is suppose to be a discussion forum, I see no point in continuing this.

You presented no evidence of the things I asked; you merely speculated. And there is a difference between 'ignoring and denying' and 'refuting and rebuttal'.

But, if you need to find safe harbour somewhere, I can respect that you have conceded.

H.

[CV75]

In all of this I'm hearing that the only thing the priesthood does is a) fill in as administrators (which other organizations have) and b) augment the word service by including ecclesiastical duties.

By "all of this" do you refer to a person's post or to the entire thread? If to the thread, I would add "c) bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man under God's direction."

[LDSToronto]

By "all of this" do you refer to a person's post or to the entire thread? If to the thread, I would add "c) bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man under God's direction."

Sorry for the ambiguity. It was in reference to the specific post, not the entire thread.

H.