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http://www.ldsliving.com/Church-Makes-Major-Changes-to-2018-Relief-Society-Priesthood-Curriculum/s/86210 ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.ldsliving.com/Church-Makes-Major-Changes-to-2018-Relief-Society-Priesthood-Curriculum/s/86210 http://www.lds.org/church/news/church-announces-come-follow-me-for-melchizedek-priesthood-and-relief-society?lang=eng&_r=1 ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.lds.org/church/news/church-announces-come-follow-me-for-melchizedek-priesthood-and-relief-society?lang=eng&_r=1 Quote:The Church announced some big changes for Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society Sunday meetings in 2018. Having completed the “Teaching of the Prophets” manuals, Relief Society and Melchizedek Priesthood meetings will now focus on counseling together about local needs and general conference talks as well as gospel topics specific to your ward.
We finally ran out of prophets, no more Teachings of the Presidents manuals!
Quote:…the second and third Sundays will be on recent general conference addresses…
[img]http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Michael-Phelps-mom-reaction.gif [/img] Bless you Nibbler – One and million forms of joy come through your keyboarding skills. 
[img]https://www.toonpool.com/user/997/files/bless_you_monk_graffiti_442225.jpg [/img] Quote:…the second and third Sundays will be on recent general conference addresses…
I think I’d rather have the second and third Sundays focus on odd statements from F&T meeting that occurred on the first Sunday. It’d be more lively.I hate regurgitating Conference talks. They were mostly boring the first time I heard/read them. The problem is that very few people actually add anything insightful to the discussion. It ends up being just that- regurgitating a talk. Not much different from using a manual IMO. I like the idea about using the RS and PH meetings to “counsel together about local needs”. I’ve always felt we have enough with Sacrament meeting and Sunday School, and how great it would be to have Priesthood meeting used as a meeting to plan the work of the ward, problem solve, plan, execute, etectera. Opening exercises ends up being just that and sometimes there is no time for a lesson anyway. I’m sure as time goes on what they mean by the counseling together and local needs description will become clearer. Time will tell SD but… Currently 2nd and 3rd Sundays come from a manual and 4th Sundays come from conference addresses. There’s a schedule so people know which lessons and talks are coming up beforehand, which gives people an opportunity to read a lesson in advance… though no one ever does. Still, it’s an option.
The current format for 1st Sundays doesn’t have a programmed lesson. At least I’ve never known what it was going to be in advance. I’ve seen several occasions where even the instructor doesn’t know what it’s going to be in advance of showing up to church that day so it ends up being… a conference talk. The new format sounds equally nebulous so I get the impression leaders won’t know what to do and we’ll default back to our old habits of reading general conference talks.
Here’s what the current curriculum says should be done on 1st Sundays.
RS: A member of the ward Relief Society presidency teaches this lesson. The Relief Society presidency counsels together and seeks inspiration to know what to teach based on the needs of the sisters. Approved resources for first-Sunday lessons include the scriptures, Church magazines, Daughters in My Kingdom, and the resources listed to the side.
PH: Approved resources for first-Sunday lessons include the scriptures, Church magazines, and the resources listed to the side. A member of the elders quorum presidency or high priests group leadership teaches this lesson.
It doesn’t sound all that different than what’s being proposed for next year. “Counsel together about local needs, led by presidency or group leadership” That sounds exactly like the current RS format. You and I may hear “counsel together about local needs” and interpret that as the group coming together to organize group efforts to meet the tangible needs of people in the group but I get the feeling that it will be interpreted how it’s already being interpreted today. “I feel inspired that our quorum needs to hear a lesson on chastity. Let me dig up some conference talks.” In other words, the “needs” are related to what lesson the leader feels the group needs to hear that week, not needs like organizing efforts for the family that is moving, scheduling meals for families having babies or families that are sick, planning visits to members in the hospital, discussing people that need help cutting down trees or other home projects, etc. But I’m getting ahead of myself by basing my future expectations on past experiences. Time will tell.
If it wasn’t obvious… I was happy to hear that the format would be changing, then I was disappointed in that it sounds like nothing has changed. It sounds like church will be at least two hours of rehashing general conference talks each Sunday. It’s hard to get enthused about that.
I’m optimistically skeptical, if that’s not too much of an oxymoron to be possible. I am also disappointed that it’s only RS/PH and not SS which is more in need of an overhaul IMO. I share the concern expressed by others that it will devolve into more of the same ole same ole because that just seems to be the way we do things in the church. Really, as Beefster points out, what’s the difference in discussing (or reading) from the presidents manuals or discussing (or reading) more conference talks? I’d love to have some real discussion on some of the talks, the way we sometimes do here – but I don’t think that can happen in most places. I also worry that the counseling together, which could be of great value if done as a council should be done, could devolve in mass gossip sessions.
Time will indeed tell, and I am willing to give some room for growing pains.
Welcome to 3 hours of agony. Don’t get me wrong I love 3rd hour. I like some of the discussions we can get into. I really like the types of lessons my RS chooses for the first Sunday lesson. However we have now just copped out. I get the idea of each ward choosing it’s own but Presidency’s and Bishoprics are already super busy, now we have handed them this.
BTW my Bless You meme was gratitude for the Phelps family cheer. Maybe I should have responded with this one?
[img]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/03/10/11/321015A100000578-3485581-image-a-9_1457611115216.jpg [/img] I haven’t heard what is in store for the SS hour in 2018. We’re finishing up the 4th year of the 4 year SS lesson cycle, so it’s the perfect opportunity to introduce something new… or just start over with the OT again. DarkJedi wrote:
I’m optimistically skeptical, it that’s not too much of an oxymoron to be possible. I am also disappointed that it’s only RS/PH and not SS which is more in need of an overhaul IMO.
But, but… What about each year switching to a new standard work and rehashing that standard work for the year. Over and over and over again… Why would we need to overhaul that?!?
DoubtingTom wrote:
DarkJedi wrote:
I’m optimistically skeptical, it that’s not too much of an oxymoron to be possible. I am also disappointed that it’s only RS/PH and not SS which is more in need of an overhaul IMO.
But, but… What about each year switching to a new standard work and rehashing that standard work for the year. Over and over and over again… Why would we need to overhaul that?!?
I don’t have a problem with the for year rotation. It’s the way we do it that needs a major overhaul. But I’m sure there are many who would agree with your thought in that light as well.
It’s a revision, but I don’t know about a major revision. There are things that I feel are harder to change about lessons at church and there are things that would be easier to change. One of the things that I feel would be harder to change is the habit where we read directly from the manual. In light of that, an easier path to change might be to refresh the manuals every once in a while. But I also recognize that perhaps I’m a part of a small minority that want the lessons to change. Maybe the majority find comfort in revisiting the same lessons every so often because they tend to forget. Hey, it’s a theory.
🙂 Here’s a website that has more information on the “Come, follow me” program:
https://www.lds.org/manual/come-follow-me?lang=enghttps://www.lds.org/manual/come-follow-me?lang=eng” class=”bbcode_url”> The site has some answers to questions about the PH/RS portion of the program. Here’s one:
Quote:Who chooses which general conference messages we study?
Your local leaders counsel together about which conference messages will best meet the needs of your quorum, group, or Relief Society. A high priests group, elders quorum, and Relief Society in the same ward or branch might study different messages in order to meet different needs.
It sounds like there won’t be a correlated effort to get everyone on the same page by scheduling specific conference talks on specific Sundays. Pros and cons. Pro, the global church leaders won’t decide which talks get emphasis over other talks, the messages can be tailored to the needs of a ward. Con, I have some legitimate ones but I keep getting hung up on, “We’re reading conference talks!”
And what’s up with a program called “Come follow me” and it’s all about reading church leader conference addresses? Who are we following?
I’ve long been frustrated by the dumbing-down of our content. This is another step. For my part, I actually prefer SS over PH/RS lessons currently; it’s the teaching style that kills, not the content of the scriptures. Besides, once every four years, we talk about the NT, which we do in basically no other setting during Church. But what strikes me in this new policy is: “Fourth Sunday – Special topic chosen by general Church leaders (announced in May and November issues of the Liahona and Ensign magazines)”. Interesting that the schedule of “special topics” is announced in the same issue of the Ensign that contains the conference talks. My worst fears are that these “special topics” will be conference addresses by the most senior leadership, to go along with the other conference addresses on the other Sundays.
Starting in January, our Church content will be dominated by conference talk reviews – Sacrament Meeting and PH/RS.
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