While I agree with you in general, this depends a lot on the type and objective of the meeting. I get the sentimentbut you will notice a recurring theme throughout Handbook 2a lack of hard rules about church administration. Here's your daily dose of what matters most! (2010 World Wide Leadership Training). This discussion reminds me of a quote I heard which sums up the whole concept: It takes a mighty fine meeting to beat no meeting at all.. Dyer asks readers to consider the questions Can the Millennium begin if the Saints are not prepared to live a millennial law? and What will our own wards and stakes look like and how will they function if we are seriously dealing with the question of becoming a prepared people? The bishop isnt there to receive revelation; he is there to confirm revelation. I remember this from a bishop I served with as a councilor years ago. Without putting the lessons plans in this boxjust a couple of ideas. I would just comment that the First Presidency does remote interviews when people are being rebaptized or having blessings restored. The Joplin First Ward was hit hard by the twister, but right away Bishop Chris Hoffman and the ward council started accounting for ward members. She did not remind me, and knowing her, she would have attended our meeting. I have never considered the temptation of gossip in a longer meeting but it makes sense. Seems like gossip takes up most of the meeting. Maybe what I am pulling from this isnt that people need to worry about time limits (yes they still do) .but need to be prepared. It is part of holding folks accountable. Eli H. Pierce. The bishop may also ask him to help follow up with ward council members on their assignments. All We also relied on the Spirit to know what to do. People would enjoy their callings more and sense more satisfaction. We can choose to be miserable and unhappy or change our attitude and praise and uplift and encourage. Furthermore, improving ward council was a frequent topic in bishopric meeting. The author doesnt mean to impose them, but it is a good exercise reading them and getting what benefits you. If there is something they want to address as a group, they should have cleared it for the agenda. See more ideas about spiritual thoughts, lds quotes, church quotes. The Sunday School president is responsible for all gospel instruction during Sunday School. I want to use Ward Council as the model in this post, but this information can be applied to most meetings within the church. They will connect with someone, somehow, that I cant. And on the bright side I do believe there will be better members, better leaders, and better meetings in the next life! See more ideas about spiritual thoughts, lds quotes, church quotes. Second, focus on people, not programs. Pursue the integration of new members, activation of the less active, concerns of the youth, the economic plight of individual members, and the needs of single mothers and widows.. The rank and file workers are often clueless, and quietly steaming. Kohai, Id love to have you do a review of the book and guest post on Leading Saints. One thing we wrestle with is it takes 60 minutes to get to the meeting, and 60 minutes to drive home from the meeting (literally). Id like to reach out to you all and invite ideas of how we can help others implement these principles. Sometimes a person has been placed in a position that is designed to stretch them, they will be in above their heads and thats by design. If few want to show up, it isnt a problem with those absent,its a problem with your leadership. That is not true everywhere..yet. I wish you actually provided suggestions instead of full on criticisms. The Relief Society president represents the women in the ward over the age of 18. IMPROPER CONTENTS. I was concerned when my husband was called about the impact it would have on our family life. Provide a musical event that celebrates Christ's birth, like a cantata. Set it for 60 minutes and tell everyone in the room they are free to walk out once that timer sounds. Plus, in meetings where there isnt a clear end in sight, it is easy to go over time AND I can see how it makes gossip more likely. Same meeting, same prayer and someone else struggles with it for several minutes. So, to go back to the earlier comment about too few meetings, I think that while we become more effective in any given time frame, a lot of us need to spend more time coaching and training and leading just maybe not with everyone in the room. But many organizations outside of our church use committees very successfully! We expect perfect home and visiting teachers! He Is Risen: A Prophets Testimony, Receiving Personal Guidance at Stake Conference, The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality, Celebrating Each Others Accomplishments, Church Releases New Products for Youth, Children, Heather Whittle Wrigley and Philip M. Volmar, Added Focus on Ministering Strengthens Visiting Teaching, Prophets.LDS.org Features New Biographies of Living Apostles, President Packer Teaches at Seminary Centennial, Ward Councils at Work, Ensign, Apr. Here is a quick review of the book from the BYU Studies web site: There is a concept calledParkinsons law, which states that a meeting (or any task) will expand to fill the time you allotted for it. I was the Bishop. Nobody has time to pre-brainstorm because (1) nobody plans that far in advance, (2) they actually believe that the Ward Council is the meeting where this takes place. It may well be time to re-revisit the tech options at hand. (See Handbook 2: Administering the Church, 4.1; 4.2. SheI need to get home and fix dinner for my family! We have lots of technology that never seems to get used in the church. In ward council, the leaders in the ward can brainstorm ideas to get various auxiliarie Mainly because many of us use our phones and/or tablets for calendars and such. Except for a year off for good behavior to teach Primary, I have been participating in ward leadership meetings every Sunday morning for the past twenty-five years. Each companionship was asked to extend an invitation or challenge to those visited and be prepared to report at the next ward council. I agree, but I challenge you to try it. The last comment on rule 8I have sat through some meetings that droned on and onI have led meetings that I thought were droning on and onwishing that we could just finish. Some are even mandating ward council to be held weekly. Learn, share then go & do is my motto with this stuff. I dont think these authoritiesare trying to torture anyone with more meetings. They make all of the decisions themselves! When I'm in my car running errands, going on trips - I love to sing along to country music. They work together in love to serve and strengthen individuals and families in the ward or branch. Because 60minutes of people being unprepared is still as ineffective as 90min or 2 hours of people being unprepared. But I do think he spent most of his time healing others, blessing others, cheering up others, encouraging, motivating, forgiving, looking for the good in others, living the gospel, and spreading the gospel. 6 Rosenstrasse, 91781 Weissenburg in Bayern, Bavaria, Germany. Email and text follow-ups/reporting among the three of us (were without a secretary currently) have gone back and forth through the week and were now preparing for this weeks agenda. RE: HC If you have more than six missionaries reporting their missions in the same week (ten minutes per missionary), it is probably time to split your stake. Some geographies require a different balance. Im not saying meeting as a ward council more often is a bad idea; but if you do, make sure you set some clear objectives and rules. Do you disagree? I realize that last minute changes occur but an annual meeting schedule could help solve so many problems up front. You are right on! She is responsible to help each young woman be worthy to make and keep sacred covenants and receive the ordinances of the temple.. So meetings are few, but precious. Bishop, this will be our 3rd meeting this week; cant we just stay late tonight so that we can get through everything without losing another weeknight to meetings? OR you get TMI info from members at the meeting of things that you wish you didnt know and were not pertinent of the goal of the meeting. Im keeping mine. I think that goes without saying. The bottom line leaders needs to be sensitive to the time demands on members, have an agenda and run meetings as efficiently as possible, and follow the Spirit. Suggest that as a ward council you should be prepared to share testimony of heart and mind with the members of the ward. Other books, talks, articles, experiences, etc. To say a meeting is never worth 61 minutes is putting artificial constraints on the spirit and leaders that are not appropriate. I emailed my counselors this morning and among other things from this post, told them our EQ Pres meetings would not last any longer than 45 minutes from now on. So much of the information shared is not needful for many in the room to even know! I agree that all too often, people sit in a meeting without activly thinking on what they or their organization could do to help or to solve a problem. So in that council, as you have that spirit of unity and act under the influence of the Spirit, the contributions of all of the council members add elements to the inspiration. Thanks for sharing. Let them do so. The few Ive had to attend were 2- to 3-hour nightmares, so I agree with you on the time aspect. That happens all over the world. Now having said that, there are things we can do that can make our meetings more effective and efficient, some of which were mentioned, but they are hardly unbreakable. Writing from his experiences as a husband, father, bishop, high councilor, general Sunday School board member, and stake president, the author adds his expertise as a professional sociologist to this serious look at what it would take to prepare the Saints, their families, and their wards for millennial living. It all seems a tad presumptuous that you should state unbreakable rules for church meetings. He and Elder Nielson, and I think Elder De Jager spoke, and then we had a prayer and took a break, which we thought was for lunch, until we realized it was dark and we had spent the whole day in that meeting non-stop and it was over. minute meeting and accomplished all that was needed. But assuming the leader is mis-guided is the wrong way to state it. What was your favorite part of the event tonight? This is not just participation in decision making. We arent saving souls by spending 3 hours listening to 10 return missionaries at HC meeting. Maybe we should write a church book on how to conduct effective and productive church meetings! It seems there is too much left undone in too many callings these days. The presiding authority or the conductor should cut it off politely and reconduct the meeting. My goal was to get a conversation started about this important subject and it appears it worked. The Lord has prepared ways for His children to be protected and loved, she thought. I know how that feels, because we had 6 missionaries in one branch and branch coordination would last for almost 3 hours just because the way we (the missionaries) were reporting was really inefficient and it would go from there to the brainstorming no-no that dragged it out even longer while people tried to come up with solutions. You can run ANY meeting in the world in an hour, if you know what youre doing. In a pinch, Ive been able to provide music without any hymn books available using my phone, and yes, it accidentally rang once while I was playing. We have a stake that requires two hours to drive from one end to the other. So, just curiousif we truly see these as being revelatory experiences, then they should be treated similarly to our sacrament meetings. TIME. We used to have the prayer meetings before our meetings as a teacher and although they written 5 minutes long, still it was enough time for announcements and a prayer. I really do not like church meetings especially high council meetings because they are so poorly run. Yes we have tried conference calls but all agree it is not the same spirit. Im not sure I agree 100% with the No Tech. Just be sure that if you cancel, you are not making more work for yourself (or someone else) down the road.