For the past couple of years I’ve had an absolutely delightful set of Church assignments. I served as the Stake Sunday School President and as a teacher in our Ward’s High Priest Group where I taught the lesson on the second Sunday in the month. As the Sunday School President I visited ward and branches throughout the Stake on speaking assignments as well as Sunday School coordination assignments. Perhaps my first love in the Church is to be a teacher.
Perhaps some clarification and definition of terms is useful…. The Church I speak of is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called The Mormons. A Stake is a geographic region within the Church, kind lf like a Diocese in the Catholic Church, and is usually made up of eight to ten Wards and Branches. A Ward is a congregation of members in a specific geographical area and is expected to carry the full spectrum of Church organization and activities. A Branch is also a congregation of members in a specific geographical area, but generally has a much smaller membership than a Ward and doesn’t necessarily have sufficient membership to carry the complete Church program. A member of the Church attends the Ward or Branch in whose boundaries the member lives. If the member moves into the boundaries of another Ward or Branch, then they become members of the new Ward or Branch.
Since the Church has no paid clergy, it is staffed entirely of volunteers at the Stake and Ward levels. However, a member doesn’t volunteer for a position, but rather is “called” by someone in leadership to serve for a period of time in a specific position, such as a Sunday School Teacher. Every two or three years a member can expect to be “released” from the position where they are presently serving and be “called” to do something else.
With all that done….
Last Sunday I was released as the Pocatello Stake Sunday School President. This Sunday I was released as a teacher in the Juniper Hills High Priest Group. Today I was set apart by the Stake President to be the junior member of the Pocatello Stake High Council.
Each Stake has a High Council consisting of twelve men. The role of the High Council is to advise the Stake Presidency on matters concerning the Stake and to oversee specific programs as well as specific Wards or Branches in the Stake. My assignments in this new calling are:
- Attend the meetings of and advise the Bishop and leadership of the Cedar Hills Ward. That means that most of the Sundays during the month I’ll be attending the leadership meetings (Bishopric, Priesthood Executive Committee, Ward Council, and Ward Welfare) as well as the normal worship meetings (Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, and Priesthood Meeting).
- Oversee the programs for adult unmarried men and women (never married, widow, widower, and divorced) in the Pocatello Stake
- Oversee the emergency preparedness programs of the Stake
- Oversee the music for the Stake
- Provide training for Melchizedek Priesthood Leaders on quorum and group committees and Church ordinances
- Conduct Personal Priesthood Interviews on odd months with the Cedar Hills High Priest Group Leader and on odd months with the Cedar Hills Elders Quorum President
- Attend and participate in High Council, Stake Council, and Stake Welfare meetings as well as a monthly personal priesthood interview with the First Counselor in the Stake Presidency
- Speak once a month in an assigned Ward or Branch
- Other assignments as given by the Stake President
I’ve definitely gone from a fairly straight-forward and relatively light set of Church assignments to being very busy. But, it should be very rewarding and a lot of fun!