When, and Why?? Ward Boundaries

[hordak]

As a ward in Finland was delt in two the boundaries were taken so that my best friend ended up in the other ward and I in the other. It tok me 3-5 minutes to walk to her, but her husband was the bishop in the ward, so they had to deal it that way. For me it had been closer to go to the same with her.

I hear you on that. I have a ward building 5 miles down the road.When i get about a mile from it i turn and drive another 15 to get to my assigned ward building.

[Old Tex]

What if everybody tried to attend the Church where the good speakers are at? My ward would be empty.

LDS folks do not attend Sacrament Meetings to be entertained like some others seem to do. We go to partake of the Sacrament and renew our baptismal covenants. A speaker with a truly good delivery is a "bonus".:)

Each of us can become better speakers by becoming familiar with some basic principles of public speaking and asking for the Holy Ghost to assist us.

[Old Tex]

This can also apply to LDS. Let's say there's an LDS family who is planning on moving to a different city. They have friends in the new city who go to a ward that they like and rave about. The LDS family decide to move into the ward their friends are in so that they can attend the same ward. Alas, another form of church shopping. :)

Anyone moving into a new town is going to have several things to consider, schools, public services, tax rates, cost of housing, etc. For an LDS family, Ward location will be a factor, but I see no need in not choosing the location that one is the most satisfied with.

[Old Tex]

It's a Civic term. When a city is formed it is sub-divided into smaller sections. I can't remember exactly why, just that that's what's done, and the term for those sub-divisions used to be wards. Think of New Orleans, how there's still the Ninth Ward there, that's still a part of New Orleans.

Yes, my understanding is that the word "Ward" was used to describe a political subdivision in cities in England. (And perhaps others). Since members of the Church at that time lived in those various subdivisions, a member might say that they lived in a given "ward", since others probably knew where it was.

The use of the word "ward" seems to have been brought to the U.S. with the English saints and then slowly lost it's use as a political subdivision, which are called "districts" or "precincts" now.

But it still applied to a group of members in a given location. I remember when I was a kid people mentioned the county they lived in, instead of the town like they do now.

This serves the Church well since the idea is to keep the wards relatively small so that all members have a given responsibility in making the ward organization function properly.

A LDS member should attend the ward organization in which they reside. That's where one's member record is sent and that's where one's Bishop is, his/her home teachers and visiting teachers are assigned from, and his/her Priesthood/Relief Society leaders are.

[Old Tex]

I have a hard time believing that a stake president can't do anything about a bad bishop until their 'time' is up. There are lots of things they can do about a bad bishop. First off, they can release him at any time, for any or no reason given. If your stake president really said and thinks that, he is sadly mistaken.

Being a Bishop or a Stake President is a big job and I wouldn't want to exchange places with either of them. I served as a Bishop's Counselor, as well as a Ward Clerk and one can see a lot more from there than they can from a seat in the congregation.

[Old Tex]

The Protestant Church I grew up in changed Pastors when I was a teen. The Church Elders (different than our Elders) interviewed a number of candidates and chose 4 applicants and invited them to speak 1 Sunday each. After that each adult member got a ballot and voted for who they wanted as the new Pastor.

There was a little more than that. What you didn't see was the negotiations on the finances....Salary, housing, car, clothing allotment, retirement plan, does he have a family and if so, their expenses,...etc, etc.

In this "professional clergy system" one object has to be to make a living. And one peril is that if his "preaching" begins to offend the congregation (no matter how much they may be "guilty") his "employment" is subject to the same panel of church officials who hired him.

By contrast, the system that the Lord has set up and uses in the Church is the same system that He has used from the beginning.