SALT LAKE CITY — A bishop recently spoke to Sister Julie B. Beck about a problem he had
in his Mormon ward. The women, he told the Relief Society general president, don't
know how to minister. This was obvious, he continued, because only 10
percent of the Relief Society sisters were completing their visiting
teaching each month.
Sister Beck agreed to attend a ward Relief Society meeting and see if
she could discover the cause of the problem. "When I got there they sent
around a sign-up for about 15 expectant mothers who were going to have new
babies," she said. "They needed meals brought in, two meals for each
mother. That list filled up just like that. It didn't even make it around
the room. Everyone wanted to help."
Instantly, Sister Beck recognized what was happening. "You don't have a
ministering problem," she told the bishop. "You have an organization
problem."
She wondered if the women had been called correctly, if they had been
taught the importance of being a visiting teacher. She wondered if they
understood that they have no other responsibility outside of their families
that has the potential to do as much good as visiting teaching.
The problem, she told the bishop, would go away if the ward were focusing
on people rather than percentages.See the full story on LDSChurchNews.com
This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.