- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
I’d hate to see what I’d do if they made me a Bishop! I’d probably effect change in a number of ways that blessed the lives of members, but without upsetting the Stake President. Here are a few ideas: 1. I’d probably implement the flexible home teaching reporting standard to my quorum leaders.
2. I’d take hometeaching off PEC meeting and deal with it in PPI’s.
3. I’d have an instrumental or vocal music selection far more regularly in Sacrament, and would be REALLY LOOSE on the exact wording of the sacrament prayer. No more annoying repeats for minor wording problems.
4. I’d focus on making programs good, and less on goading the leaders to activate people who simply don’t seem to care most of the time.
5. I’d quietly ignore unreasonable demands from the Stake, and I’d stick up for my priesthood leaders when the Stake starts railing about Home Teaching at Ward conferences.
6. I’d probably cut sacrament meeting short as often as I could without upsetting the stake. I’d do this by arranging for only two speakers, and giving them time limits that were shorter than needed to fill up the full time. And then at the end, with time on our hands in Sacrament meeting, I’d indicate we’re wrapping up a bit early and for the time to be gobbled up in priesthood and RS time – giving the time back to small group interaction and away from our boring Sacrament meetings. I’d do this just enough to stay out of trouble.
7. I would not preach the “pay 10% of your gross or net, or you’re going to be burned at the second coming”. I’d ask people in tithing settlement if they paid a full tithe this year, and if they say yes, so be it.
8. I’d work with Ward leaders to figure out ways of improving the quality of our sacrament meetings and our lessons. Perhaps through public speaking/teaching resource specialists.
9 . I’d devote fifth sundays to a short joint RS/Priesthood meeting and then let everyone out early just to socialize over finger food.
10. I’d draw on the most talented teachers and speakers in the Ward/Stake to participate in certain meetings at Church — to elevate their quality.
11. I’d hold some Ward leadership meetings by confernce call so people don’t have to be ejected from their families every Sunday.
Scary, isn’t it?
What woul you do if you were a Bishop to effect change in a sustainable way?
Ask people what callings they would like – and tell them not to be upset if they couldn’t serve in them. That darned opposition in all things rears its ugly head again. 
Honor Do Not Call lists completely.
Solicit suggestions for sacrament meeting talks and discretionary lessons from the membership. Focus Sacrament Meeting talks on worship topics and confine non-worship discretionary topics to the 3rd hour.
Encourage non-member spouses to consider giving blessings to their children – and encourage member women to give mother’s blessings and prayers of faith that include the laying on of hands.
Pray hard that I never become a Bishop.
I would also stop advertising that every call is inspired over the pulpit. I would only share this fact with specific individuals when there was SOME kind of strong revelation with specific people. I would also release people immediately if they said the calling isn’t working for them — if they want an immediate release, and I’d keep them informed if there were delays in getting them released. I might even consider releasing people with no one to call in their place if they felt that was better for them, rather than waiting until I found someone else suitable. This keeping people in callings when they are emotionally “done” can be hard on the members.
Leadership/PEC meetings would be highly productive. Minutes would be distributed the day of the meeting so people have them to refer to throughout the week. Calendar Items/Announcements would be handled in print and time in PEC meetings with only a brief period for questions, with the bulk of the time invested in meaningful discussion about items that result in doing high-leverage, effective activities.
I would welcome outside of the box thinking about how we go about achieving our objectives, and would not be bound by tradition necessarily.
The only binding I would have on our thinking would be whether the action/idea would get me released as a Bishop due to ticking of the Stake President. As I said, you lose your influence for widespread change if you rock the boat so much you sink the ship.
Old-Timer wrote:Ask people what callings they would like – and tell them not to be upset if they couldn’t serve in them. That darned opposition in all things rears its ugly head again.
Honor Do Not Call lists completely.
Solicit suggestions for sacrament meeting talks and discretionary lessons from the membership. Focus Sacrament Meeting talks on worship topics and confine non-worship discretionary topics to the 3rd hour.
Encourage non-member spouses to consider giving blessings to their children – and encourage member women to give mother’s blessings and prayers of faith that include the laying on of hands.
Pray hard that I never become a Bishop.
Wow! The ideas about non-members giving blessings, and women laying on hands is revolutionary — but don’t you think that would get you fired as Bishop? Or is it in support of the last item above “Pray hard that I never become Bishop!”.
Quote:Encourage non-member spouses to consider giving blessings to their children – and encourage member women to give mother’s blessings and prayers of faith that include the laying on of hands.
I would be in love with the church again if this one was implemented.
Old-Timer wrote:Solicit suggestions for sacrament meeting talks and discretionary lessons from the membership. Focus Sacrament Meeting talks on worship topics and confine non-worship discretionary topics to the 3rd hour.
I can’t stand it when Sacrament meeting is used for “lessons” on cleaning the chapel, genealogy or the preach my gospel book. It’s soooo boring and inappropriate during a time that should be dedicated to a worship or call to Jesus.Fascinating topic, SD! Here’s my list of what I’d do (and consequently, it’s also reasons why I’ll never be called to be bishop): 1. Walk around the neighborhood the Sunday after I’m set apart in street clothes by myself to visit the do-not-contacts and never-actives and ask them what they think about the church and if they’d like to have their names removed from the records. I figure I could feign ignorance when the Stake President busts me.
2. Call at least one woman to the Sunday School presidency and at least one man to the Primary presidency.
3. Invite the RS and YW presidents to PEC.
4. Give out some kind of manly gift on Father’s Day to balance out the flowers on Mother’s Day.
5. Invite the RS president to sit on the stand next to the Bishopbric in Sacrament meeting, which dovetails nicely into…
6. Call my wife to be RS president so she’ll suffer right along with me. Plus, if rumors get out that the bishop and RS president are sleeping together, there’s no scandal.
7. Call the sister with the most tattoos and piercings to be the YW president.
(just kidding about 6 and 7. I really like Ray’s idea of asking people which callings they want and try to accomodate them)
8. Tell the YW to wear whatever they want and not to get hung up on some arbitrary modesty standard.
9. Balance out the basketball games and camping trips with movie nights, video game parties, and cultural activities to reach out to more of the young men who don’t like sports or the outdoors.
10. Invite mothers to stand in the circle for baby blessings.
11. Turn child molesters over to the authorities and not allow them to hide behind clergy-worship privilege.
12. Encourage funerals to be celebrations and opportunities to remember the deceased. Sorry, Pres. Packer, but we’ll have plenty of time to preach the gospel later.
Quote:The ideas about non-members giving blessings, and women laying on hands is revolutionary — but don’t you think that would get you fired as Bishop?
There is absolutely nothing in our canon or in the CHI that forbids this practice – as long as there is no invocation of Priesthood authority. If a non-member or woman member said, essentially, “As your father/mother, I hold you/lay my hands on you and pray to God/ask God/plead with God . . .” nothing has been done that is not in harmony with the Restored Gospel or the direct teachings of the current apostles. (and having a mother hold a baby inside the circle doesn’t make her part of the “Priesthood circle” that is blessing the baby, no matter what our current culture and individual apostles might say)
If it got me released, so be it – but there would be no established, obvious reason for it to do so.
Ray — from a technical standpoint, I think you’re absolutely correct. However, enter perception and naked opinion on the part of the people above you. It would LOOK like you were giving a priesthood blessing, or at least, getting too close to it. It might raise some serious eyebrows. What if you weren’t released as a result, but were sat down and told it wasn’t appropriate — how would you react then? I’ve been in that position before on various matters, usually procedural (ughhhhh). Would you continue doing the pratice at that point? Honestly, I would ask as humbly as possible for clarification – explaining exactly what I was encouraging and asking the person exactly what was out of line and how I could make it not be out of line any longer in their eyes. I would make sure they understand clearly exactly what I was encouraging – that they weren’t basing their request on misinformation they had heard. I would put the responsibility on them to explain why they believed I was acting out of line and to give me a suitable alternative. If I was told to stop teaching it, I would stop teaching it – since a Bishop isn’t supposed to be representing himself, and since I don’t think it’s a matter on which salvation or peace is founded. I would be disappointed, but I wouldn’t be crushed – since I understand many won’t understand.
Fwiw, my wife isn’t totally comfortable with the idea – but in an emergency, if I wasn’t home, she might succumb, since the nearest active MP holder lives about 30 minutes away.
canadiangirl wrote:I would be in love with the church again if this one was implemented.
Yeah, me too. I would love to see MANY of these things happen. GREAT IDEAS — but, once again, it’s all a fantasy to me.
Great topic SD. I would love to have you, or Ray, or Steve as my bishop. However, you are correct. Doing this kind of stuff will get you kicked out of our Stake in a New York minute.
I will add some to the list.
Sit in the congregation with my family during sacrament meetings.
Wear a blue shirt every sunday – maybe mix it up by wearing a white shirt and tie and wrangler jeans.
Implement the three, 1/2 hour block Sunday service.
Let the members know I’m available if they want to meet for tithing settlement. If they don’t want to meet, they don’t have to.
End the trend of having sacrament meeting talks that focus on the WofW and tithing.
Ask the devout members to not put so much emphasis and focus on getting the “less active” members and part-member families into the temple.
Continue to wear a beard.
Make a policy – If I don’t have a written agenda prior to a church meeting – there will be no meeting.
Let members know that their families come first – even before their callings.
If we can’t find enough help to run the church programs – we will simple discontinue those church programs in our ward/branch.
Not “Call” but assign the beer drinkers/smokers who are willing to serve, to high priesthood leadership positions.
cwald, you probably will appreciate these quotes: Quote:“It takes a ___ fine meeting to be better than no meeting.”
Quote:“No meeting is unimportant enough to start late; no meeting is important enough to run late.”
I’d incorporate those sayings into every meeting that is held – and I would encourage Presidents and Group Leaders to rotate attendance at all regularly scheduled meetings of which I was a part among their presidencies in order to avoid having ANY leader away from family for all the meetings. Oh, and I definitely would invite the RS to PEC as a regular attending organization – which is allowed in the CHI at the Bishop’s discretion. I also would invite the YM & YW Presidents (the youth, not the adult advisers) to participate in some way in PEC occasionally, for portions of the overall meeting, with restrictions on what could be discussed for confidentiality purposes.
Mostly, I’d pray to not be called as Bishop. Have I mentioned that one already?
Old-Timer wrote:cwald, you probably will appreciate these quotes:
Haha. Yeah I like those.
Old-Timer wrote:Honestly, I would ask as humbly as possible for clarification – explaining exactly what I was encouraging and asking the person exactly what was out of line and how I could make it not be out of line any longer in their eyes. I would make sure they understand clearly exactly what I was encouraging – that they weren’t basing their request on misinformation they had heard. I would put the responsibility on them to explain why they believed I was acting out of line and to give me a suitable alternative.
If I was told to stop teaching it, I would stop teaching it – since a Bishop isn’t supposed to be representing himself, and since I don’t think it’s a matter on which salvation or peace is founded. I would be disappointed, but I wouldn’t be crushed – since I understand many won’t understand.
Fwiw, my wife isn’t totally comfortable with the idea – but in an emergency, if I wasn’t home, she might succumb, since the nearest active MP holder lives about 30 minutes away.
Actually Ray, I remember a scene in the Church-produced movie called Legacy where the main character had an ox or cow or horse or animal that was sick and fell down. The animal was critical in transporting their possessions as they fled to a new location due to persecution.
I think the main character, a woman, put her hand on the ox, and said a prayer of faith with the words “arise, and walk”. So, there is some justification even based on some of the Church’s own media — not that the media is necessarily a statement of practices, but it did portray how a faithful woman might invoke the power of God as effectively as a priesthood holder might — with laying on of hands part of the experience.
It actually begs the question — as far as priesthood blessings is concerned, is it even important to have the priesthood to give effective blessings? Do we sometimes overrate the “men holding the priesthood” as a form of priesthood envy that is unjustified given the power of an individual to invoke the power of God through faith?
SilentDawning wrote:It actually begs the question — as far as priesthood blessings is concerned, is it even important to have the priesthood to give effective blessings? Do we sometimes overrate the “men holding the priesthood” as a form of priesthood envy that is unjustified given the power of an individual to invoke the power of God through faith?
I had this exact discussion in priesthood meeting two weeks ago. I made the argument that a man of faith without the priesthood could heal and do just as many miracles as a man of faith exercising his priesthood. It did not go over well. I was “corrected” by a member of the branch presidency.
So I guess it depends. In “mormondom” the priesthood is some magical power that trumps faith. In reality — I don’t know.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.