LDS Freedom Forum

I recently moved to a small ward in the south. I love it.
I quickly learned that this Elder's Quorum talks about the same things all my other quorums talked about: why do we spend so much time as a quorum talking about service and so little time actually serving as a quorum?

Two parts to the rest of this. Part 1: what that would look like. Part 2: what if we applied it to General Conference.

Part 1:
WHAT IF our Elder's Quorums were devoted to a) identifying opportunities for service/ministering, b) planning and coordinating service/ministering projects, and c) reporting on those projects.
We already have Sunday School, talks in Sacrament Meeting, personal and family scripture study, etc., so we wouldn't exactly be missing out on teaching the gospel by dropping the lesson from Elder's Quorum. We could always just have a brief testimony, a lesson or chastisement from the quorum leadership, and/or instruction on priesthood responsibilities (how to give blessings, how to baptize, how to dedicate graves, how to administer the sacrament, etc.). 5 minutes "teaching" tops, just to always keep us mindful of the spirit of the work, our need to live worthily, and our ordinance duties. But the rest of the meeting devoted to action.

Part 2:
WHAT IF Priesthood Meeting at General Conference was at least partially focused on a very specific service project for all of the Priesthood Quorums in the church? Maybe half the meeting, with the rest important instruction. Not a new program, but a specific project with specific goals and a plan to achieve the goals?

What if? Would you like that? Would you hate it? How would it impact your feelings about the church and your activity in the church?

I would love it. I'm tired of sitting around listening to the 3,000th lesson on ministering.

The biggest issue I see with priesthood quorums is that when there are opportunities to serve, the same small group shows up. We have many opportunities to serve in our ward and our quorum does a great job at coordinating and communication on the opportunities, but the same small group shows up. It frosts me during lessons or council meetings to hear those that spout off on the need to serve never being the ones that show up.

Full quorum service activities would be good, but the only way to get people to show up would be to do it during the allotted church time.

Ministering is about YOU seeing something that needs to be done in YOUR neighborhood, and doing it.

Everything is on the table. Stretch yourself, get out of your comfort zone. Do some thing that you would do for yourself or your family, for someone else. Small things. Big things.

I hate that people are still assigned ward members. It keeps the whole thing in a box. Ministering is about being outside that box.

Keep your eyes open as you drive that last few blocks home at night. You will begin to see things that need to be done. Just do them.

Lord of my dogs wrote: ↑April 1st, 2019, 7:35 pm Ministering is about YOU seeing something that needs to be done in YOUR neighborhood, and doing it.

Yes, on an individual basis, each of us should be more concerned about what we are doing individually.
I don't disagree with you.

That said, there is something to the combined efforts of a priesthood quorum acting in unison to serve. That is the type of service I'm talking about, something that doesn't take away from your point, but may in fact support it and produce more Elders willing to be more service oriented when alone.
In other words, both matter.

kgrigio wrote: ↑April 1st, 2019, 6:14 pm The biggest issue I see with priesthood quorums is that when there are opportunities to serve, the same small group shows up. We have many opportunities to serve in our ward and our quorum does a great job at coordinating and communication on the opportunities, but the same small group shows up. It frosts me during lessons or council meetings to hear those that spout off on the need to serve never being the ones that show up.

That same small group will reap the blessings. And, if they'll be charitable, consistent, persistent, and fight off discouragement, I guarantee they'll eventually grow in numbers. The brand of messaging matters. I've been in discussions on service where the primary tactic was shame based. That does little to change behavior long term. If the few that participate will just keep being positive about their own participation, and will continue it long term, others will WANT to join in of their own volition, eventually. Still others may occasionally benefit from personal invites. There are so many opportunities to serve, many of which would be best carried out by quorums acting together in unison.

EDIT/ADDITION:
Creating a heavy service-oriented (action based, not just theory based) culture in quorums would, eventually, produce an environment where people are more open to asking for help and offering help, both in quorum meetings and ministering visits. Service should be the spirit of our priesthood. It is the fulfillment of our baptismal covenant, to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort. To uplift the downtrodden, and simply help others in need of help. We don't need to just sit around on uncomfortable chairs talking about it anymore. What we need is to become men of action, creating a culture of action, with specific actions being coordinated and reported on while the quorum is together. That's my opinion, anyway.

i'mnotspecial wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2019, 11:26 am

kgrigio wrote: ↑April 1st, 2019, 6:14 pm The biggest issue I see with priesthood quorums is that when there are opportunities to serve, the same small group shows up. We have many opportunities to serve in our ward and our quorum does a great job at coordinating and communication on the opportunities, but the same small group shows up. It frosts me during lessons or council meetings to hear those that spout off on the need to serve never being the ones that show up.

That same small group will reap the blessings. And, if they'll be charitable, consistent, persistent, and fight off discouragement, I guarantee they'll eventually grow in numbers. The brand of messaging matters. I've been in discussions on service where the primary tactic was shame based. That does little to change behavior long term. If the few that participate will just keep being positive about their own participation, and will continue it long term, others will WANT to join in of their own volition, eventually. Still others may occasionally benefit from personal invites. There are so many opportunities to serve, many of which would be best carried out by quorums acting together in unison.

EDIT/ADDITION:
Creating a heavy service-oriented (action based, not just theory based) culture in quorums would, eventually, produce an environment where people are more open to asking for help and offering help, both in quorum meetings and ministering visits. Service should be the spirit of our priesthood. It is the fulfillment of our baptismal covenant, to mourn with those who mourn, comfort those who stand in need of comfort. To uplift the downtrodden, and simply help others in need of help. We don't need to just sit around on uncomfortable chairs talking about it anymore. What we need is to become men of action, creating a culture of action, with specific actions being coordinated and reported on while the quorum is together. That's my opinion, anyway.

I like your thoughts, in my case it has always been the logistics that kill these kinds of ideas. If we only have an hour for the priesthood meeting, there needs to either be a pre-planned and approved event, and even then there would be brethren who could not leave the building (for children or whatever other reason). Then depending on what you were trying to do there was travel time and logistics involved that made for too much difficulty. I hate be so negative because I really wish we were a more service focused organization, my experience has thus far shown that it ends up being seen as a burden and is ultimately rejected because of the time involved or just lack of participation.
I think the most successful way to make service like that happen is to have the planning and or notices about the service coming through priesthood meetings and announcements, but the actual service itself as a separate event from priesthood meetings.