No more First Presidency messages?

[Duncan]

I was just this, at first I thought it's a hoax but I dunno, what do you think? about them not continuing with First Presidency messages and not me thinking it was a hoax

https://ldsmediatalk.com/2018/03/16/monthly-lds-first-presidency-messages-discontinued/

[Jeanne]

It sure looks legit..members will be kind of upset for awhile..this is part of an already small conversation between Prophet and his people.

[Calm]

They might make greater use of lds.org or another channel in order to have on topic messages come out in a more timely manner.  They may have found many members are paying more attention to other formats outside of the magazines and decided to switch, perhaps the emails will provide this service now.

Magazines generally are prepared significantly ahead of time, so it is kind of a delayed conversation.

Edited March 16, 2018 by Calm

[Amulek]

18 hours ago, Duncan said:

I was just this, at first I thought it's a hoax but I dunno, what do you think?

Definitely not a hoax. It's included in the article on the church's website, here:

        https://www.lds.org/ensign/2018/04/as-we-go-forward-together?lang=eng

 

Quote

[W]hat do you think? about them not continuing with First Presidency messages and not me thinking it was a hoax

Well, technically, it doesn't say that they are discontinuing the First Presidency messages. It says that the April message "will be the last First Presidency Message published in the Ensign on a monthly basis." 

I think the key prepositions are "in the Ensign" and "on a monthly basis."

It sounds like they'll still publish messages in the Ensign, just not every month; maybe it will be quarterly or something like that instead.

And maybe we can expect to see more on the church's website or other online media, which - to be honest - is where I consume most church content (including the Ensign) anyway.

On a more general level, I think it will be nice that Home Teachers will no longer feel obligated to share the First Presidency message every month. I know that this isn't a requirement, but I've had plenty of companions over the years that were just raised that that is what you are supposed to do. So, at a minimum, I can finally stop getting 'those looks' from my HT companion whenever I go 'off book.'

 

Edited March 17, 2018 by Amulek

[Jane_Doe]

12 minutes ago, Amulek said:

It sounds like they'll still publish messages in the Ensign, just not every month; maybe it will be quarterly or something like that instead.

And maybe we can expect to see more on the church's website or other online media, which - to be honest - is where I consume most church content (including the Ensign) anyway.

It even says "In the future, the First Presidency will share important messages as needed through the Church’s various channels, including Church magazines and LDS.org."

[pogi]

Reduced messages from the first presidency = reduced messages from home teachers - quarterly?

Hey, one can hope! 

Let the lashings commence. 

[Calm]

Visiting Teaching no longer requires messages unless that is seen as the best by the teachee.  The relationship is to be of primary importance.  This may be a shift for home teaching as well.  I have had hometeachers that would give messages monthly and that would be the limit of our interaction.  Overtime I pretty much have forgotten them.  They had little to no impact on my family beyond letting us feel like we provided them a chance to serve through the monthly teaching.  I have had hometeachers that never gave a message, but were always there when we needed extra help or even just doing casual friends stuff where the relationship lasted long after they have been called to teach someone else.  If there is no insistence on a message, perhaps that will help put emphasis on the relationship as well

[mfbukowski]

Hopefully if anything this will extend the movement of the church from "canned" lessons virtually read from the manual and encourage actual communication with the Spirit to develop lessons as needed tailored to the needs of the recipients.

Imagine actually asking what they would like to discuss next month and preparing a scripture discussion?

 

[Rain]

3 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

Hopefully if anything this will extend the movement of the church from "canned" lessons virtually read from the manual and encourage actual communication with the Spirit to develop lessons as needed tailored to the needs of the recipients.

Imagine actually asking what they would like to discuss next month and preparing a scripture discussion?

 

This is exactly what my husband and youngest does with one of the families they home teach. They are not allowed to give the first presidency message (the home teachee already read it) and my husband is not allowed to give it. My son asks what the teachee would like the lesson and then spends time in preparing it. 

And it is the opposite with the woman they teach. My son is supposed to ask her a question and then she voraciously studies it that month so she can tell them about it. 

[The Nehor]

Maybe because printed magazines are an anachronism and their only remaining customers are the waiting rooms of medical facilities and even there are used only by those rare few who do not have a smartphone?

[bsjkki]

11 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Maybe because printed magazines are an anachronism and their only remaining customers are the waiting rooms of medical facilities and even there are used only by those rare few who do not have a smartphone?

I stopped my subscription because it is all online...but then I don't read all the articles like I used to. I go to lds.org a lot more and look at the headline stories of the day. Maybe they should incorporate the magazine into the  front page of the website a little more. But, I also have not been a fan of the new format introduced a few years ago...it seems more fluffy. 

[theplains]

21 hours ago, Amulek said:

I think the key prepositions are "in the Ensign" and "on a monthly basis."

Maybe the First Presidency doesn't see the 'monthly basis' in the magazine as adding value any more so they felt that
removing it would not cause any harm.

Jim

[Jeanne]

I am thinking maybe they have justor run out of things to say..it would be honest..so much is a repeating of things over and over again.  Perhaps when they speak...more will pay attention.  But for members who need to follow leaders..I am really surprised.  Technology plays  a lot into this though..I understand that.

[Tacenda]

On 3/16/2018 at 4:57 PM, pogi said:

Reduced messages from the first presidency = reduced messages from home teachers - quarterly?

Hey, one can hope! 

Let the lashings commence. 

That's exactly what I thought, maybe we are changing our VT/HT to quarterly visits unless a monthly visit is needed. This may go hand in hand with the new program (if true), that it will be changed to ministering brothers and sisters now. 

[HappyJackWagon]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 5:24 PM, Calm said:

They might make greater use of lds.org or another channel in order to have on topic messages come out in a more timely manner.  They may have found many members are paying more attention to other formats outside of the magazines and decided to switch, perhaps the emails will provide this service now.

Magazines generally are prepared significantly ahead of time, so it is kind of a delayed conversation.

I think there's something to that, BUT...I also think that there is a segment of the population which only reads the Ensign. I would dare guess that if the church essays appeared in the Ensign they would have been more widely known much more quickly. My home teacher comes every month with his paper magazine and shares the 1st presidency message. That, and conference, are where he gets his information about the church. If that goes away I think there will be an increasingly large gap between the prophet(s) and the people.

Many of the First Presidency messages have become rehashes of previous talks/stories so I am all for freshening up the content but I think it's a little unrealistic to think that the older generations will get all of their information online from lds.org . We'll see

[Calm]

16 minutes ago, HappyJackWagon said:

I think there's something to that, BUT...I also think that there is a segment of the population which only reads the Ensign. I would dare guess that if the church essays appeared in the Ensign they would have been more widely known much more quickly. My home teacher comes every month with his paper magazine and shares the 1st presidency message. That, and conference, are where he gets his information about the church. If that goes away I think there will be an increasingly large gap between the prophet(s) and the people.

Many of the First Presidency messages have become rehashes of previous talks/stories so I am all for freshening up the content but I think it's a little unrealistic to think that the older generations will get all of their information online from lds.org . We'll see

They are not discontinuing the Ensign.  I would not be the least surprised to see talks from the FP monthly, though they might shift to including the 12 or other leaders to give members more exposure to more leaders.

[Avatar4321]

On 3/16/2018 at 5:06 PM, Jeanne said:

It sure looks legit..members will be kind of upset for awhile..this is part of an already small conversation between Prophet and his people.

Why would we be upset?

[Jeanne]

3 minutes ago, Avatar4321 said:

Why would we be upset?

Well..when reactived, I was excited to read their words...and used them in my life and in corresponding messages to my Gospel Doctrine and RS classes..I looked forward to them.  I guess I am just assuming..

[bluebell]

A lot of time the first presidency message was just a re-write of a message that had already been shared before.  Maybe that's why they are discontinuing it.

[HappyJackWagon]

3 hours ago, bluebell said:

A lot of time the first presidency message was just a re-write of a message that had already been shared before.  Maybe that's why they are discontinuing it.

Yeah, but it didn't have to be. It seems like a missed opportunity for the prophet to speak to the people. Otherwise, you get addresses twice a year. Maybe God doesn't have the need to communicate through the prophet very often about very many topics  

[Jane_Doe]

10 minutes ago, HappyJackWagon said:

Yeah, but it didn't have to be. It seems like a missed opportunity for the prophet to speak to the people. Otherwise, you get addresses twice a year. Maybe God doesn't have the need to communicate through the prophet very often about very many topics  

Except for all the other addresses given throughout the year.... there are no shortage of them, and no shortage of ways to watch/listen/read, etc.

[Jane_Doe]

20 hours ago, Jeanne said:

Well..when reactived, I was excited to read their words...and used them in my life and in corresponding messages to my Gospel Doctrine and RS classes..I looked forward to them.  I guess I am just assuming..

I'm not: there's countless opportunities to hear messages now- yeah the digital age!  I do quite enjoy them, in the variety of venues/audiences/ways received.  I don't think it has to be one monthly home teaching message for everyone.  

[bluebell]

7 minutes ago, HappyJackWagon said:

Yeah, but it didn't have to be. It seems like a missed opportunity for the prophet to speak to the people. Otherwise, you get addresses twice a year.

I agree it didn't have to be, but that's usually what it was.

Quote

Maybe God doesn't have the need to communicate through the prophet very often about very many topics  

I don't think that God really does need to communicate through the prophet very often.  We aren't supposed to use the prophet as a crutch and a substitute for our own personal relationship with God and ability to know His will for us through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and judging from the scriptures, it doesn't seem like new revelation from God to His church as a whole comes that often, barring the restoration when so much had to be revealed at once that many more revelations were necessary just to get things up and running.

[Jeanne]

54 minutes ago, Jane_Doe said:

I'm not: there's countless opportunities to hear messages now- yeah the digital age!  I do quite enjoy them, in the variety of venues/audiences/ways received.  I don't think it has to be one monthly home teaching message for everyone.  

I am embarrassed to say that I am so slow in going from books/mags to good ol' google.    I am sure that the church is in communication in many ways..I am looking at people my age..you would be surprised at the sights online that they have never heard of...Thank You.

[2BizE]

Let’s be honest, most of the FP monthly messages were just reruns from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Sure, they would be new for new members, but the message will be provided in a different way in the future.