Half way between conferences

[Scott Lloyd]

On 7/1/2018 at 6:12 PM, strappinglad said:

I am being pedantic but something just rubs me the wrong way when I hear the word ministering. Too much baggage from association with Minister, be that religious or political. I would have been happy with a simple emphasis change/reform rather than a name change . " Home Teacher"  will stick with me for decades I'm sure. " Ministering Brethren " has too many syllables in it .

Don’t know how many here are old enough to remember ward teaching, but it didn’t take us long to adapt when it became home teaching. 

[Scott Lloyd]

On 7/2/2018 at 1:12 PM, pogi said:

My Aunt tells me that her friend lives in a ward in Pleasant Grove, UT which is trying out the two hour block, as advised by the church. 

I know that there have been many rumors about this in the past...let this be one more rumor. 

This has the earmarks of the typical urban legend. 

[ElPatron]

Combining the two quorums has gone really well and we have two instructors for lessons/discussions. One is a young Elder and one a seasoned HP so we have two different life perspectives which leads to some great discussions. Our most recent discussion was spirit filled and some great bonding occurred. I will say that I’m starting to see the occasional eye roll when Ministering is brought up as if to say, “ok, ok, we get it...” I did see a funny tweet that said that the Elders Quorum is longing for the days when lessons were less about Ministering and more about avoiding pornography. One thing I’ve noticed that’s really stood out to me is that we’ve had 3 Service projects since combining and if it weren’t for the High Priests in the Ward, folks would have been left high and dry. Another one is coming up and the only ones that have signed up are from the old HP group. Just an observation that I’ve made. And yes, Elders significantly out number HP’s in our ward. 

[Stargazer]

On 7/2/2018 at 1:17 AM, Hamba Tuhan said:

We begin each elders quorum meeting with ministering reports. They just keep increasing in both quantity and quality. I'm excited to see where all this goes. One of our brothers who last week said that ministering was 'not his thing' put his hand up this week to take a missionary out on ministering visits. Good stuff.

I'm curious as to what you are doing as to "ministering reports".  Can your provide a kind of sample of the kind of thing this involves?

[Hamba Tuhan]

2 hours ago, Stargazer said:

I'm curious as to what you are doing as to "ministering reports".  Can your provide a kind of sample of the kind of thing this involves?

Basically, the member of the EQ presidency asks if anyone would like to share a ministering experience from the previous week. Usually we have time for 3-5 quick reports.

Yesterday, the first to raise his hand was a brother, only recently ordained an elder, who said that he'd been on his way to his brother's house but felt impressed to visit a less-active friend instead, so he changed directions and made the visit. There he was able to invite the less-active man to come to church. The invitation was accepted, but the friend had rung earlier yesterday morning to apologise that he wasn't going to make it but would try again this coming Sunday.

I shared very briefly my experience Saturday visiting an older couple who live in a small town about 45 minutes away. She is a member but now claims to be an atheist (though she's very bad at it). He's a devout member of another Christian church and has a crippling neurological disorder. I visit every month to help with any tasks they can't do on their own. This past Saturday, I took a set of Elders with me, and we prepared the soil and then laid 300 kg of cement paving blocks for them. Then we had a lovely lunch together and shared a message from Mosiah 4 before returning.

Stuff like that. I think the idea is to encourage and edify each other in our ministering efforts. It also normalises being engaged in the work, in my opinion.

ETA: I currently serve with the stake presidency, and we begin our weekly presidency meetings this same way as well, each of us sharing at least one ministering experience from the previous week.

Edited July 16, 2018 by Hamba Tuhan

[Unaffiliated]

I've been in the Young Mens Presidency since November so I haven't attended a single Elders Quorum since the change.

[Rivers]

I’ve been in nursery so I’ve been pretty out of the loop with a lot of things.