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I did consider both SS and stake activities RR. I’m all for a shorter block. In truth I’d keep SS and ditch PH/RS – but there’s some scriptural basis for PH (however not necessarily on Sunday). Either way that’s beyond a bishop’s or SP’s prerogative. Our stake has only one activity besides youth activities (and conference, of course). I usually choose not to attend the activity (a picnic). I see some value in youth activities because in our area it’s otherwise tough to get a critical mass of youth. But they don’t need to be monthly as they are currently, IMO. Some parents would disagree with me because they think that it’s important for youth to associate with each other in a church setting. Also our area tends to have multi-stake activities (for the same critical mass reason) which I could live without. One priest/laurel conference a year is plenty, and I’d ditch the annual rotating dance activity (thus eliminating the travel time to such activities).
Many meetings are irrelevant for some members and vital for others. Sunday School is a great example. It is the only meeting for the entire membership that is supposed to be an instructional meeting. We complain sometimes about the lack of instruction that happens in church, but many members don’t have any other chance to study with a group of other members. For them, Sunday School can be wonderful, no matter the quality of the actual instructions for many lifelong members.
I think the core issue is not the meeting itself. Rather, it is the fact that too often Sacrament Meeting and PH/RS end up being too instructional (instead of what they are meant to be) and Sunday School too often isn’t instructionally stimulating.
If I was a Bishop, I would focus on quality improvement and focus for all meetings. I also would insist that half of the PH/RS meetings each month be replaced by community service, planned largely during the other PH/RS meetings.
My view is that 3 hours of meetings per Sunday plus mutual plus early morning seminary plus leadership meetings will look increasingly unattractive to converts and young people. Something has to give, and even if the quality were consistently good, this kind of time commitment is unsustainable in the 21st century in my opinion. Roadrunner wrote:
My view is that 3 hours of meetings per Sunday plus mutual plus early morning seminary plus leadership meetings will look increasingly unattractive to converts and young people. Something has to give, and even if the quality were consistently good, this kind of time commitment is unsustainable in the 21st century in my opinion.
Agreed
Roadrunner wrote:
My view is that 3 hours of meetings per Sunday plus mutual plus early morning seminary plus leadership meetings will look increasingly unattractive to converts and young people. Something has to give, and even if the quality were consistently good, this kind of time commitment is unsustainable in the 21st century in my opinion.
When you are a new convert, you have NO idea what commitments you’ve made. Back in the old days, we went to church twice on Sunday.
SS, RH, RS in the morning. Sacrament meeting in the afternoon. Sacrament was passed twice on Sunday. The closest ward was 30 min one-way.
It was a full day. When I was Methodist, we went to church on the holidays & considered active. I am OLD.
For me it’s the continual conferences. Ditch VTing in favor of a “visiting committee” of sorts. A group of sisters take “requests” for visits. They divide up their time and minister to those who have requested a visit.
Homemaking meetings – I never understood the back and forth of changing the RS meeting name. It was horrible PR. I’d bring back “homemaking.” There is nothing at all wrong with learning to run and “make” a home. Heaven knows we need more of that these days.
Bring back the paid position of the janitor. The job growth would be beneficial to many families and would relieve some welfare on the ward level.
Make professional counselors way more accessible to ward members.
Create SS classes that would cater to specific needs.
Sometimes we see a marriage class. Let’s make SS a “buffet” where members can choose to go to a class that fills their needs best (of course this wouldn’t work so well in smaller units).
Make Stake conference something that parents of small children can actually attend (and want to). I stopped going when I realized that I stayed in a quiet classroom with my babies since sitting still and quiet for 2 hours simply wasn’t in their genes. Maybe divide into session? Classes? Shorten the time?
This isn’t program-related, but I would LOVE to see a playground or outside area for the nursery and sunbeams. For a religion who celebrates and honors creation, we sure don’t let ourselves enjoy it on Sunday.
If a yearly calendar session is held before a new year starts, then all events and assignments can be made and noted.
That would eliminate a LOT of meeting/discussion time at each ward council or PEC.
Totally against our lay ministry, but I would NOT mind a paid clergyman who made house calls. Not as a missionary tool so much as someone to simply come and minister to the family. Someone who was faithful (he’s getting paid after all) in attendance and who would care for the family.
A friend of mine has a prayer group at her church (non-LDS). They take prayer requests, but they go a step beyond that. They hand-write notes to each person on the list and express their thoughts and feelings pertaining to the person’s situation. Nothing nosy or judgmental. My husband was on the receiving end of those notes after a health scare. It was a beautiful and lovely surprise to get notes from strangers who were aware of his ill health and who were praying for him.
Primary Program: Revamp!
let the kids learn the fun and often forgotten songs in primary and have fun while there.
Maybe make the program something totally different … let families be involved somehow … I don’t know, but primary could be SO much more.
Ward choirs are nice, but I’d like to see more musical numbers in our SM. Maybe a SM that is nothing but music.
Maybe make a stake choir that travels to wards for this special musical number. That would be an event that we could invite our friends to.
SamBee wrote:
For me it’s the continual conferences.
Yeah, eliminating ward conference makes sense to me. I don’t see the point in stake conference unless there is a visiting authority. So maybe stake conference could be reduced to annually. General Conference cold also be shorter, perhaps just Saturday and Sunday morning sessions or two sessions on Sunday. And totally eliminate those special broadcast stake conferences, there are too impersonal. Those things are all beyond the purview of local leadership.
This was a fun thread to read and a fun topic to think about. 
I agree with a lot of what was said. I’m all for doing away with or seriously revamping Visiting Teaching and Home Teaching. I’m a very social person, but I’m not a fan of forced friendships. And that’s what VT feels like to me. More often than not, it’s a burden to even be visit taught, let alone to coordinate schedules to try and go visit. The whole thing just feels canned.
I am also a proponent of bringing back the ward activities committee. Now, the burden of planning and pulling of ward activities fall to the already stretched auxiliary presidencies. And so the quality and frequency of activities suffer. And personally, I think ward activities have huge value.
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