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Question: For those who are active or partially active in an LDS ward, are there any callings you would not accept? I’m interested in what callings you feel you could NOT do, and why, as well as what callings you might accept.
One of the things that helped me relieve the anxiety of being an active Mormon was deciding that I would never again accept a calling I did not feel comfortable with. I can not begin to relate the anxiety I experienced over the years trying to fulfill callings I was not equipped for or desired to do at all. Anyway to answer your question. Currently I teach High Priests. I like that because it is really just a discussion group. I throw out a concept and it is like red meat to wolfs. Our group of High Priests will latch onto anything and expound, manipulate, and interpret any doctrine. Sure some crazy stuff comes up but it is enjoyable because I get to direct the questions and discussion.
Things I will never do again would include: Anything to do with the youth. I do not connect well with them. Yes I know this makes me a bad Mormon because the truly good Mormons love the youth and love working with them. I commend those who do love working with the youth, but I am not one of them. Teaching Sunday School. It is to much focused on literal interpretation of the scriptures which I believe are more allegorical. Other than that I would have to consider what I was asked to do and make a decision. ONe thing I will not do is accept any calling without going home and thinking about it. Not going to be pressured into saying yes on the spot.
I do believe it is important to participate and help out where you can. You can not leave all the heavy lifting to others. I just feel it is a mistake to guilt people into accepting callings. Everyone should be able to serve where the can serve best. Or at lest it would be nice if you were asked where you would like to serve.
Quote:Teaching Sunday School. It is to much focused on literal interpretation of the scriptures which I believe are more allegorical.
Yes, but this is precisely what would make you a great SS teacher! There is no requirement that you teach things as literal rather than allegorical, even if there are many teachers who do like to assume everything is literal. On the contrary, we are taught to liken things unto ourselves, which makes a heckuva lot more sense if you take things as allegory and metaphor than if you assume things literally happened the way they are recorded.
I just received a calling yesterday to teach the youth in Sunday School. I plan to be very allegorical, and keep their best interests in mind…not use it as a platform to share what things are important to me. Because they are youth…I am cautious not to flood them with ideas they don’t need to know about yet…but more around “think for yourself and study things out…don’t be limited by literal interpretations or prideful elitist thinking”. I hope to push them towards their parents and ask their parents for answers … not just bury their questions or have too much reliance on church leaders for all answers. I decided I would accept any calling they extended, as long as I was up front with them on what I believe, and what I can do time-wise so it doesn’t negatively impact my family.
I don’t feel pressure to have to do a calling the way they want or the way it was done before…I will do it the way I can honestly do it…and they can decide to call or release me based on how they view the needs of the ward are being met.
The one I’d least like to do is Scoutmaster…but I could do it if asked to.
The one that would be hardest for me to do right now would be Ward Missionary. But I’d do it and just let them know where my current testimony is prior to accepting it.
This is a question DH and I have been talking about lately. DH knows that the bishops time is ending soon and he is pretty sure he is on the list on candidates. Not sure if it is the short list or the long list though. One thing we both agree on is that when a calling is extended an answer does not have to be given right away. If the one extending gave pressure into an immediate answer then I think pressure should be given right back by saying that it would result in a negative response. Personally I’ve got a pretty comfy calling as Activity Days leader for girls. I get to have some special time with my daughter in this calling. I would not want to work with the youth right now as there are too many evenings out required. I also wouldn’t want to be a SS teacher as the responsibility of making it interesting and not controversial to my thinking would be too much. More than once I have explained my reservations about accepting a calling (and I mean given detailed explanations about why I was hesitant) – with the caveat that I would accept it if they went back and talked and prayed about it and still felt they needed me to fill the position. I also have explained once that if I did accept it I would be “filling a slot” and probably wouldn’t be able to “magnify” anything. Once, they still asked me to accept it, so I did – and was released eventually when someone better was able to do it. The other times, they talked about it and never extended the calling.
Fwiw, right now I am in a holding pattern with a potential calling based on what I shared with the person who spoke with me. It actually is a calling I would like, but I’m not sure if I could do it well or for how long. We’ll see how it turns out.
As with others here, I have asked for time to think and pray about a calling and have had that request well received. A calling that I know I could not perform well at would be missionary / ward mission leader. I have always had problems with proselyting. I am happy to answer questions about the church when someone asks me, but I am never one to start a discussion. Back when my EQ would challenge a person every week to place a BoM and then report back on the experience the next week, I always made sure I was as inconspicuous as possible. At times, it made me not want to attend EQ.
Sure, there are. A teacher of any kind (man Heber, I have a lot of respect for you. Good luck!), anything to do with the missionaries. That’s about it. Not because I wouldn’t like those callings, but because I don’t feel I could do it comfortably. I would likely be one to hold my tongue and control my words, but I would get frustrated and upset and wouldn’t be able to handle it I think. There have been times I have been at a place where I could constructively comment and probably could have taught in the way Heber is theorizing about, but I ebb and flow from that place. However, I do love scouts, love working with the youth, and shoot I wouldn’t mind being in a bishopric (well, except all the blasted meetings). My current calling is ward activities chairperson. I hesitated accepting this calling but not because of my standing with the church, but rather because I’ve never been a huge fan of church social functions (basically I think they’re lame), so I am worried about my ability to really care about them.
hawkgrrrl wrote:Quote:Teaching Sunday School. It is to much focused on literal interpretation of the scriptures which I believe are more allegorical.
Yes, but this is precisely what would make you a great SS teacher! There is no requirement that you teach things as literal rather than allegorical, even if there are many teachers who do like to assume everything is literal. On the contrary, we are taught to liken things unto ourselves, which makes a heckuva lot more sense if you take things as allegory and metaphor than if you assume things literally happened the way they are recorded.
Sure I would and have made a good SS teacher, but the problem is I did not like it. Especially now… I would have to hold to much back.
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