Is the time having a bishop calling being reduced to 3 years soon?

[Tacenda]

Spoke with my pickle ball friend whose husband is a bishop of a branch and she said they may be lowering the time spent being a bishop to three years only. Her husband will have been a bishop five years in May. 

Anyone hear of this? I think it'd be nice for the bishop and especially his family. I can just imagine the time spent being a bishop and all they do that we are unaware of. 

 

Edited April 16, 2024 by Tacenda

[Duncan]

I genuinely hope so!

[pogi]

I have never been a bishop, but I imagine it takes at least a year or two to get into a groove.  It seems like Bishops would almost be in perpetual training if their callings were reduced to 3 years.  But I certainly understand why 3 years would be more desirable too.  
In smaller wards, that might cause great anxiety in some men knowing that the likelihood of being called as Bishop someday would drastically increase as significantly more men would need to be called to that position in a lifetime.  Might start seeing really young bishops again.

[The Nehor]

I have heard that Salt Lake or some automated system in Salt Lake is notifying Stake Presidents if a Bishop is being kept in “too long”. Three years does seem a bit short but I think spreading the load in general is a good idea.

[Vanguard]

Considering the fact that many times the new bishop is called from the ranks of one of his counselors, it makes sense to shorten it. The counselors already have a good feel for the requirements. It also makes sense because many of these bishops go on to stake presidency level positions. Aren't stake presidents in for ~7+ years? Good grief. Shorten all of these callings. ; )

[Tacenda]

1 hour ago, Vanguard said:

Considering the fact that many times the new bishop is called from the ranks of one of his counselors, it makes sense to shorten it. The counselors already have a good feel for the requirements. It also makes sense because many of these bishops go on to stake presidency level positions. Aren't stake presidents in for ~7+ years? Good grief. Shorten all of these callings. ; )

My previous was bishop for 5 yrs and immediately put in as the stake president, and the number 10 is stuck in my head, I sure hope he wasn't called for another 10 years on top of that. I'm no longer living in the ward so I don't know. Maybe it was 5 as bishop and another 5 for stake president. That's a long, long time either way.

[rockpond]

1 hour ago, Vanguard said:

Considering the fact that many times the new bishop is called from the ranks of one of his counselors, it makes sense to shorten it. The counselors already have a good feel for the requirements. It also makes sense because many of these bishops go on to stake presidency level positions. Aren't stake presidents in for ~7+ years? Good grief. Shorten all of these callings. ; )

Our stake rarely calls bishop's counselors to be the next bishop.  I've lived in the same area for over 20 years and have almost never seen that happen.  I'm not denying that it happens elsewhere but it certainly isn't the norm here.

[Tacenda]

In all my years in the church, I've never had a bad bishop. I know they may be out there, but luckily I didn't have one. All I ever saw was exceptional love, concern and care for the congregation from the bishop. 

It is a thankless job, I've heard said. It can be up to a 40 hour a week job, not sure now though. And I've heard how bishops have to know way more than they ever wanted about members, I've had a few brothers-in-law's be bishops. That would be one of the hardest parts IMO. 

Just like going from 3 hours to only 2 hours each Sunday, it can go from 5 years to 3 years as bishop, I'm thinking.

 

 

[Duncan]

11 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

In all my years in the church, I've never had a bad bishop. I know they may be out there, but luckily I didn't have one. All I ever saw was exceptional love, concern and care for the congregation from the bishop. 

It is a thankless job, I've heard said. It can be up to a 40 hour a week job, not sure now though. And I've heard how bishops have to know way more than they ever wanted about members, I've had a few brothers-in-law's be bishops. That would be one of the hardest parts IMO. 

Just like going from 3 hours to only 2 hours each Sunday, it can go from 5 years to 3 years as bishop, I'm thinking.

 

 

our stake the norm is most bishops quit before 5 years. I and another brother were thinking we can count on one hand how many men did 5 years as bishops. Our ward was created in Nov. 2021 and we are on our second Bishop already

[Tacenda]

5 minutes ago, Duncan said:

our stake the norm is most bishops quit before 5 years. I and another brother were thinking we can count on one hand how many men did 5 years as bishops. Our ward was created in Nov. 2021 and we are on our second Bishop already

My previous neighborhood/ward had one of the highest levels of activity in the area. Could that be why? From the years you've posted you've had some doozy situations in the wards you've been in. If remembering right. I live in a bubble, haha. 

[let’s roll]

Guidelines with respect to term of service for Church leaders have a purpose but my experience has been they are guidelines, not policies, and authorities with the responsibility to call and release are encouraged to be sensitive to the circumstances and wishes of individuals serving and the promptings of the spirit in determining when to extend a release.

[Duncan]

5 hours ago, Tacenda said:

My previous neighborhood/ward had one of the highest levels of activity in the area. Could that be why? From the years you've posted you've had some doozy situations in the wards you've been in. If remembering right. I live in a bubble, haha. 

I think, here, burnout, or some people their heart is in the right place but they just aren't a good person to run a ward. I've had good people be a good Bishop, a bad person-three times became, a bad bishop and then a bad person become a decent-ish Bishop. Maybe once or twice a good person be a bad bishop. People assume that because someone is a High priest and he makes a decent living he had managerial skills, people skills etc that they would make a good Bishop but that isn't always the case. I think , for me, the best Bishops are the ones that work a job with people and not products. The worst of the worst, for me, was aa janitor, a pharmacist, a handyman0we think, and a baker. Really, these types of jobs work with products and you aren't really dealing with the public so much. The pharmacist, kind of but in his case not really.

[Tacenda]

3 hours ago, Duncan said:

I think, here, burnout, or some people their heart is in the right place but they just aren't a good person to run a ward. I've had good people be a good Bishop, a bad person-three times became, a bad bishop and then a bad person become a decent-ish Bishop. Maybe once or twice a good person be a bad bishop. People assume that because someone is a High priest and he makes a decent living he had managerial skills, people skills etc that they would make a good Bishop but that isn't always the case. I think , for me, the best Bishops are the ones that work a job with people and not products. The worst of the worst, for me, was aa janitor, a pharmacist, a handyman0we think, and a baker. Really, these types of jobs work with products and you aren't really dealing with the public so much. The pharmacist, kind of but in his case not really.

Totally get it!

[bluebell]

9 hours ago, rockpond said:

Our stake rarely calls bishop's counselors to be the next bishop.  I've lived in the same area for over 20 years and have almost never seen that happen.  I'm not denying that it happens elsewhere but it certainly isn't the norm here.

It’s never happened in my ward either. We’ve been here almost 11 years.  My ward also rarely leaves counselors in for the whole time a bishop serves. 

[achupallas]

The current rule of thumb for single adult wards is 3 years for a Bishop.

[MustardSeed]

37 minutes ago, achupallas said:

The current rule of thumb for single adult wards is 3 years for a Bishop.

Now there’s a tough duty. 

[Amulek]

15 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Spoke with my pickle ball friend whose husband is a bishop of a branch and she said they may be lowering the time spent being a bishop to three years only. Her husband will have been a bishop five years in May. 

Anyone hear of this? I think it'd be nice for the bishop and especially his family. I can just imagine the time spent being a bishop and all they do that we are unaware of.

Not that I have heard of. I think the current ≈5 year tenure is probably about right. The best bishop I ever had was in place for a little over 8 years, but that's certainly an outlier.

 

[Amulek]

1 hour ago, bluebell said:

11 hours ago, rockpond said:

Our stake rarely calls bishop's counselors to be the next bishop.  I've lived in the same area for over 20 years and have almost never seen that happen.  I'm not denying that it happens elsewhere but it certainly isn't the norm here.

It’s never happened in my ward either. We’ve been here almost 11 years.  My ward also rarely leaves counselors in for the whole time a bishop serves. 

Same. I think the general rule of thumb for counselors seems to be: lean on them hard and then rotate them out.

They might be in the crosshairs for the next round, but they usually seem to dodge the transition if they are in the bishopric currently.

 

[LoudmouthMormon]

I'll never forget the bishop who made me Executive Secretary.  The most in-tune with the spirit bishop I ever had.  Partnering up with a tough-as-nails YW president, he worked genuine miracles with our young women.   The Ward understood he was something special, and dozens of people would approach me for an appointment, asking for "his last appointment of the day".  That was sort of understood that it might go long.   I lost track of the number of late evenings where bishop and someone was meeting, and I was next door in the clerk's office, the other priesthood holder, killing time on the computer while the bishop did his thing.   I'd finally hear his door open, and come out to see the retreating form of whoever he was meeting with, often hear the sniffles.  The Bishop would gratefully thank me for staying late, saying "We managed to change a heart today brother LM!"  I always had my list of people I was to re-schedule after a week or a month, until bishop told me differently.   I eventually took a turn 'sitting in the hotseat' over unresolved sins from a decade ago, and went through a more loving disciplinary process than I ever thought was possible.  The best parts about me came about as the result of the atonement that got applied in those meetings.

When they released him, he all but broke down in tears when bearing his testimony.  He said he was afraid of losing the special closeness to the Lord he'd experienced as bishop.

They moved out of the ward shortly after, and years later I discovered he had been convicted in Nevada of some horrible crime against a child and did 5 years in prison.  Apparently when the cops had come to arrest him, he failed at shooting himself in the head with a pistol.  He looked so different in his mug shot.  Like someone had taken the warm, wise, spiritual person I knew, and sucked the soul out of him.  Then I got what he meant about losing his closeness to the spirit.

Yeah, so they tell me that spiritual highs and lows are part of life for a lot of people.  Myself included, but I've never seen such a great 5 year high, followed by low like that.  May we be all protected from such downward swings, and those who have them.

Edited April 17, 2024 by LoudmouthMormon

[longview]

The secret to avoiding burnouts is to delegate, delegate, delegate . . .

It seems to me from a lot of my readings of Utah pioneer days that bishops served for a very long duration? Like 30 years? Don't know how common that was.

[Tacenda]

2 minutes ago, longview said:

The secret to avoiding burnouts is to delegate, delegate, delegate . . .

It seems to me from a lot of my readings of Utah pioneer days that bishops served for a very long duration? Like 30 years? Don't know how common that was.

Very true!

[ZealouslyStriving]

57 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

I'll never forget the bishop who made me Executive Secretary.  The most in-tune with the spirit bishop I ever had.  Partnering up with a tough-as-nails YW president, he worked genuine miracles with our young women.   The Ward understood he was something special, and dozens of people would approach me for an appointment, asking for "his last appointment of the day".  That was sort of understood that it might go long.   I lost track of the number of late evenings where bishop and someone was meeting, and I was next door in the clerk's office, the other priesthood holder, killing time on the computer while the bishop did his thing.   I'd finally hear his door open, and come out to see the retreating form of whoever he was meeting with, often hear the sniffles.  The Bishop would gratefully thank me for staying late, saying "We managed to change a heart today brother LM!"  I always had my list of people I was to re-schedule after a week or a month, until bishop told me differently.   I eventually took a turn 'sitting in the hotseat' over unresolved sins from a decade ago, and went through a more loving disciplinary process than I ever thought was possible.  The best parts about me came about as the result of the atonement that got applied in those meetings.

When they released him, he all but broke down in tears when bearing his testimony.  He said he was afraid of losing the special closeness to the Lord he'd experienced as bishop.

They moved out of the ward shortly after, and years later I discovered he had been convicted in Nevada of some horrible crime against a child and did 5 years in prison.  Apparently when the cops had come to arrest him, he failed at shooting himself in the head with a pistol.  He looked so different in his mug shot.  Like someone had taken the warm, wise, spiritual person I knew, and sucked the soul out of him.  Then I got what he meant about losing his closeness to the spirit.

Yeah, so they tell me that spiritual highs and lows are part of life for a lot of people.  Myself included, but I've never seen such a great 5 year high, followed by low like that.  May we be all protected from such downward swings, and those who have them.

Hopefully he has received the same loving counsel and correction he offered others so many years before from his local priesthood leaders...

"...however late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines."  - Pres. Jeffrey R. Holland 

Edited April 17, 2024 by ZealouslyStriving

[jcake]

I know that my grandfather served in a bishopric that lasted for 28 years in central Utah from sometime in the 1930s on.  All three members of the bishopric served that length of time.  I think that is too long!

[Stargazer]

Three years is not a good idea, I don't think. We have a small ward here, and so far as I know nobody has had to serve as bishop twice, but if they went to three then it would happen. 

I think I'm immune, so no worries for me on that score. I've crossed over into the quorum of the superannuated. I'm 72 now, and by the time our current bishop gets released (he's new), I'll be 77 and totally drooling on myself. 

[SkyRock]

In the last 20 years, in various locals, we have had 3 bishops transfer for work.  I wondered if that was moving to get released.