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OK, now I’m hearing excitement about 2 hour church from active people in my area. This has always been a wish on StayLDS where many of us find the experience generally unstimulating and repetitive. But now, to hear active people talking about it on social media and face to face has me wondering. Is this just another rumor, or is it a work in process? Anyone know? That would be really cool! That way I’d only have to skip one hour of church each week instead of two! 
Well, God has recently given the Church a lot of “quality of life” changes as of late. My mind says it’s a rumor, but my heart is hoping it is true. Given Nelson’s propensity for making major changes, we can hope. Quote:My mind says it’s a rumor, but my heart is hoping it is true.
^Me too.
Katzpur wrote:
That would be really cool! That way I’d only have to skip one hour of church each week instead of two!
Ha! Yeah, why wait for an official announcement?
It feels like a repeat of a rumor that resurfaces every few years, this time with a little more credence because of the other changes made during GC.
And just think, that’s 48 more hours per year you can work on family history, ministering and/or reading the Book of Mormon. 
DarkJedi wrote:
And just think, that’s 48 more hours per year you can work on family history, ministering and/or reading the Book of Mormon.
I don’t know about you but for me that would translate into 48 more hours per year complaining that church should be 1 hour.
I’ve been hearing this a lot as well. See, I would like to keep it at 3 meetings, but nix half or more of sacrament meeting. One, really good speaker and then maybe a short youth speaker an the sacrament. Keep the other two meetings as they are interactive, if done well, and provide an opportunity for teaching and training….Too many speakers as it stands. And keep Fast and Testimony meeting short. Or do away with the testimony part altogether. The number of times I’ve been embarassed or incensed as the things people say in those open mic meetings..grrr. SilentDawning wrote:
See, I would like to keep it at 3 meetings, but nix half or more of sacrament meeting. One, really good speaker and then maybe a short youth speaker an the sacrament. Keep the other two meetings as they are interactive, if done well, and provide an opportunity for teaching and training….Too many speakers as it stands. And keep Fast and Testimony meeting short. Or do away with the testimony part altogether. The number of times I’ve been embarassed or incensed as the things people say in those open mic meetings..grrr.
I’d say no to this. Why? A lot of business goes on in SM other than the speakers, hymns and sacrament itself. It’s already foreshortened by confirmations, sustainings, announcements etc.
F&T can be good but depends who gets up. It’s really one of the few unrehearsed parts of our religion. People do say idiotic things but they also say good things sometimes.
SamBee wrote:
SilentDawning wrote:
See, I would like to keep it at 3 meetings, but nix half or more of sacrament meeting. One, really good speaker and then maybe a short youth speaker an the sacrament. Keep the other two meetings as they are interactive, if done well, and provide an opportunity for teaching and training….Too many speakers as it stands. And keep Fast and Testimony meeting short. Or do away with the testimony part altogether. The number of times I’ve been embarassed or incensed as the things people say in those open mic meetings..grrr.
I’d say no to this. Why? A lot of business goes on in SM other than the speakers, hymns and sacrament itself. It’s already foreshortened by confirmations, sustainings, announcements etc.
F&T can be good but depends who gets up. It’s really one of the few unrehearsed parts of our religion. People do say idiotic things but they also say good things sometimes.
Keep the time currently spent on announcements etcetera, just get rid of the intermediate hymn and the intermediate speaker. One way meetings are not the thing anymore. People expect interaction, and sitting there listening to the same darn thing over and over again, fading in, and fading out because it’s repetitive, stammered, poorly worded, uninspiring is enough. I don’t listen any more — please relieve me of the monotony!!!!
Thing is, our F&T meetings are not like that. I have been in wards and branches where they were, but ours are usually pretty inspirational. Stupid stuff gets said in Gospel Doctrine in my experience. I think our F&T meetings are more like yours, Sam. We can count on the same people saying pretty much the same thing every month, with a few odd ones that sometimes get up. There’s even kind of an order (old lady who reads her very orthodox testimony, old lady who babbles on for about 10 minutes about her and her husband’s health, old guy with off the wall stuff, young guy who vowed to bear testimony every month when he was 12 and still does it even when he doesn’t have anything to say….). It is possible to do a 2 hour block and keep all the current meetings. As SD alluded to, SM could be shorter. I’d love a format like this:
Welcome (no announcements, put them in the bulletin or do them in PH/RS and do business there too)
opening hymn
opening prayer
sacrament
5 minute speaker (youth or not)
hymn
10 minute speaker
closing hymn prayer
This could be done in about 45 minutes and it might make more focus on the sacrament (it is, after all, sacrament meeting).
Cut the time between meetings to 5 minutes and make PH/RS and SS each 30 minutes or make PH/RS (possibly combined) a short all business/council and allow SS to be a little longer.
FWIW, the YSA ward in our stake loses significant numbers during the summer and have been authorized from on high to do 2 hours during the summer. They alternate PH/RS and SS (one this week, the other the next).
Outside of blogs, I have not heard anybody talk about it. I lean on the side of it is a wish that keeps getting more and more traction as church gets more and more repetitious and boring. LookingHard wrote:
Outside of blogs, I have not heard anybody talk about it. I lean on the side of it is a wish that keeps getting more and more traction as church gets more and more repetitious and boring.
I have been hearing it. I think it gets more credence from the recent rationalization of priesthood quora and home teaching. The three would go hand in hand.
We have simplified many things in the temple too, lowered missionary age and so on. I can see why this idea is hanging in the air just now.
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