Why are we set apart?

[gualeguaychu]

My wife has had a calling in the RS for about 4 months, and has not yet been set apart. What are the implications of serving in a calling without being set apart? I don't believe the person would miss some important revelation necessary to them to fulfill their calling, so why do we set people apart?

[BenRaines]

Usually because a blessing is given with the setting apart. All she has to do is contact the member of the Bishopric that is over RS and it will be done.

Ben Raines

[Palerider]

My wife has had a calling in the RS for about 4 months, and has not yet been set apart. What are the implications of serving in a calling without being set apart? I don't believe the person would miss some important revelation necessary to them to fulfill their calling, so why do we set people apart?

I would remind them she needs to be set apart...its easy to overlook that stuff.....

[gualeguaychu]

I guess my question wasn't so much about how to go about getting her set apart, but rather, why do we set people apart when serving in the church?

[pam]

Here is something from lds.org

You will receive added strength when you are sustained by the congregation and set apart. In a setting apart, priesthood leaders lay their hands on your head and give you a charge to act in your calling. You are also given blessings to strengthen and direct you. President Spencer W. Kimball declared, “The setting apart may be taken literally; it is a setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low, vicious, cheap, or vulgar; set apart from the world to a higher plane of thought and activity” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 478).

[Traveler]

I guess my question wasn't so much about how to go about getting her set apart, but rather, why do we set people apart when serving in the church?

The reason has to do with covenant. By covenant we serve in the callings for which we have been called and set apart. The term Messiah or Christ refers to someone that has been anointed to their calling. Most earthly callings are not eternal callings so therefore we are set apart (temporally) and not anointed. A calling is not complete until one has been set apart (for temporally earthly callings) or anointed for eternal callings.

The Traveler

[Justice]

Yes, think of the words "set apart" and what it is we are being set apart from, or to. What are some synonymns for "set apart?"

Being "called" allows us to legally act in our callings. Think of it like baptism.

Being "set apart" gives us direction and power to act in our callings. Think of it like receiving the Holy Ghost.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Justice

[applepansy]

I have served in a calling where I wasn't set apart. The bishopric forgot and I forgot. Everybody forgot. When I realized I hadn't been set apart I was being released. I've since been in the same calling again and was set apart. The blessings you receive when being set apart are very helpful. I noticed a difference. It was so profound that I've never forgotten that experience.

Three years ago I volunteered at the temple. I was there almost a year. I went back this year and worked from April until December. (I'm not on call.) It was in August that the Temple President decided that volunteers needed to be called and set apart. So the process for volunteering at this local temple is different now. If you want to volunteer you need to fill out the paperwork, take it to the bishop and it becomes a calling and you are set apart by the Temple President. Since I was already volunteering I was only set apart. . . it was felt I and others didn't need to be called since we were already serving. Again, I felt a difference in many ways in doing the volunteer work at the temple after being set apart versus before being set apart.

Blessings are important. They work!!!

[tubaloth]

why do we set people apart when serving in the church?

Proper priesthood protocol. Thats how the Priesthood (and the kingdom of God) work. People don't call themselves, they can't set apart themselves, its done through the priesthood authority.

The reason people are set apart is because they are given that reasonability in the kingdom. Its not something you can just stand up and do, you have to be called and set apart to do it.

[HiJolly]

Proper priesthood protocol. Thats how the Priesthood (and the kingdom of God) work. People don't call themselves, they can't set apart themselves, its done through the priesthood authority.

The reason people are set apart is because they are given that reasonability in the kingdom. Its not something you can just stand up and do, you have to be called and set apart to do it.

That's the social and organizational reason, for sure. To my way of thinking, there is also a powerful faith-actuating effect that comes from the 'setting apart' that cannot (and should not) be denied.

HiJolly

[Palerider]

Another reason to be set apart...I think its special to learn what blessing the Lord has in store for you while you are serving.

[Gwen]

i can tell when i'm serving in a calling without being set apart. i served in one calling and another just kinda came with it cause we didn't have enough ppl to fill it... i got set apart for the official one but not the other. the other was one of the hardest callings i've ever had, it began to interfere with the official one. i finally told the branch pres that i couldn't do a calling i had not been set apart for; pray about it and officialy call me or give it to someone else. he ended up calling someone else. lol

[Moksha]

I was given a calling three years ago and never set apart. They only asked me before Priesthood meeting started, if the calling was okay with me. Very informal. I said yes and have always helped out. I would not perform any better if a setting apart ceremony had ever occurred.