bluebell Posted December 2, 2013 Posted December 2, 2013 How many single brothers and sisters do you know who serve in Stake callings either at the Stake or local level except in the callings specifically devoted to singles? I suspect you will have difficulty coming up with any in the authority chain. The trend in certain areas of endeavors in the Church is to call couples. Being single in a married church is a difficult situation, I was their briefly after my first wife died -- but that should not be used as an excuse to support patriarchy. I do not know my current ward or stake well enough to judge. But the stake I grew up in had a few. One was in the stake yw's and the other was a seminary teacher and also in the ward YM's as a counselor. Perhaps they do things differently now though.
Stone holm Posted December 2, 2013 Posted December 2, 2013 I do not know my current ward or stake well enough to judge. But the stake I grew up in had a few. One was in the stake yw's and the other was a seminary teacher and also in the ward YM's as a counselor. Perhaps they do things differently now though. Yeah, the operative word is few. I have known of seminary teachers who were single, and occasionally you will have youth leaders (although Ward YM presidency is not a Stake calling). The point is you do not normally see them in the authority chain, although widower GAs retain their callings -- but you don't see single Bishops, single Stake Presidents, etc.
bluebell Posted December 2, 2013 Posted December 2, 2013 Yeah, the operative word is few. I have known of seminary teachers who were single, and occasionally you will have youth leaders (although Ward YM presidency is not a Stake calling). The point is you do not normally see them in the authority chain, although widower GAs retain their callings -- but you don't see single Bishops, single Stake Presidents, etc. I was under the impression that bishops and stake presidents had to be married. I don't know of any other callings that require that, though I've never really thought about it.
Stone holm Posted December 2, 2013 Posted December 2, 2013 I was under the impression that bishops and stake presidents had to be married. I don't know of any other callings that require that, though I've never really thought about it. I have never known the Church to ever call a single brother into the Bishopric or Stake Presidency. No huge leap here to call couples into those bodies. Personally, I would feel better if the wives were called and set apart -- there would be less backbiting aimed at the Bishop's wife if they did so. Many Wards are moving towards having married couples do the hometeaching/visit teaching together. Older couples are called as missionary companions. This would be no major doctrinal leap to implement.
Deborah Posted December 2, 2013 Posted December 2, 2013 I knew someone who was a member of the bishopric and had never been married; he was an older man. As I recall there were some single men called to be counselors in single student wards, but that was a long time ago so I may not remember correctly. 1
Stone holm Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 I knew someone who was a member of the bishopric and had never been married; he was an older man. As I recall there were some single men called to be counselors in single student wards, but that was a long time ago so I may not remember correctly.Bishops by Scripture are required to be married. Singles are sometimes organized as branches, Branch Presidents are not required to be married.
bluebell Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 Bishops by Scripture are required to be married. Singles are sometimes organized as branches, Branch Presidents are not required to be married. Are bishop's counselors given the same requirement?
Duncan Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 (edited) Bishops by Scripture are required to be married. Singles are sometimes organized as branches, Branch Presidents are not required to be married. I have known single bishopric members, High Councilors, Stake Clerk (my bro is single and is doing that) and all manner of local callings. My current Stake Pres. is divorced and I had a Bishop who was divorced previously. In saying all this I have known plenty of brethren who I am amazed they got married and are currently married. I do not know why some callings require someone to be married but better them than me, I don't need a calling to serve someone-I do have a calling FYI Granted my stake officially has 3000ish members but only 1200 "active" so the Lord has to play with the cards he's dealt with Edited December 3, 2013 by Duncan 1
sheilauk Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 How many single brothers and sisters do you know who serve in Stake callings either at the Stake or local level except in the callings specifically devoted to singles? I suspect you will have difficulty coming up with any in the authority chain. The trend in certain areas of endeavors in the Church is to call couples. Being single in a married church is a difficult situation, I was their briefly after my first wife died -- but that should not be used as an excuse to support patriarchy.I suppose it depends on what you mean by the authority chain. If you are referring to the Stake Presidency and Ward Bishopric only then there are very few. The Stake Presidency in my limited period of time (5 Years and one ward) has I think only been married men, certainly currently is. My Ward Bishopric is currently composed of married men, but has had single brothers as councillors. As to other callings, I can't really say regarding the Stake because I don't know them well enough. As to my ward, approx half of the active members are single. If we did not utilise single members, a lot of callings would be unfulfilled. Currently, there are single brothers and sisters in the YW, YM, Primary, Relief Society and Sunday School presidencies, and a number are teachers. Around a third to half of the callings are filled by single members at any one time. It could be that my ward is a rarity. It could be that the UK has a disproportiate number of singles - the country as a whole has a huge number of single people. My point was meant to be that any change has other consequences and thus the change should be explained and justified and made as clear as possible and make clear that the others affected have been considered. 2
Stone holm Posted December 3, 2013 Posted December 3, 2013 Are bishop's counselors given the same requirement? Nothing is said, to my knowledge about counselors -- I have never known a single person to be called as a counselor in a Bishopric, but people seem to be indicating that they know of persons who have been. It is possible for a pure Levite if he is righteous to serve as a Bishop without counselors, but I know of no examples where this has actually happened.
Tacenda Posted December 4, 2013 Posted December 4, 2013 http://www.dovesandserpents.org/wp/2013/12/equality-is-not-a-feeling-9-0/ Saw this....any comeback, do girls do way more than this outline portrays?
Duncan Posted December 4, 2013 Posted December 4, 2013 (edited) http://www.dovesandserpents.org/wp/2013/12/equality-is-not-a-feeling-9-0/ Saw this....any comeback, do girls do way more than this outline portrays? I think for the boys at least those are very well run wards that do all of that. For me at least when I was 16 myself and a girl were called as asst. ward mission leaders to help with missionary work and so we went to correlation mtg and helped with what they were doing. I never baptized anyone, never collected fast offerings, never assisted the Bishop, rarely if ever went home teaching-I did when i was 12 and it was a horrifying experience. Then there was seminary, of which for one year I was the only boy and so the class pres. was a girl and she did whatever needed to be done. For me at least I never even thought about any disparity between boys and girls and I don't ever recall anyone complaining in the church that they didn't have enough to do! haha! it's always the opposite! and what is more there was all the flubdubbery connected to Youth Conference dot dot dot, choir things and we were told we had to date each other as well so girls were always planning that as well Edited December 4, 2013 by Duncan
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