Choosing a Ward

[prisonchaplain]

In another thread concerning interpersonal struggles, I suggested that if somebody struggled too much with other ward members (especially leadership), perhaps relocating to a new ward could resolve conflicts. The responses were that such could happen, with permission, but that it was not a common solution. Another Protestant on the string remarked that for us it is very easy to simply find another congregation, if we have troubles in the one we attend.

My question here is: How are wards assigned? Is it purely geographical? What if, for example, my LDS friend at work invites me to his Ward in SeaTac (near work), and then I end up converting. My home is in Federal Way. Will I be baptized in SeaTac, or told to attend meetings in Federal Way, and have my baptism and callings there? When I member moves, and makes good friends in a new location, can his family join the friend in his ward, or must he go to the one nearest his home? Enquiring minds wanna know!

[beefche]

It's geographical. If you want to be in a certain ward, move within its boundaries.

You would be baptised in the ward in which you live. Send me an invite!

[Dravin]

It is geographical, though the boundaries change from time to time (wards split and merge and what not) but if you are in the boundary of a ward that is the one you are supposed to go to. Some exceptions are when you have an overlap, my Young Single Adult ward covers the area of multiple family wards, you also get that with language based wards. So a young single adult (such as myself) may live within the boundaries of the Eagle Mountain West Stake 10th Ward but that is also the boundaries of the Ranches Young Single Adult ward, and as a young single adult I go there.

As far as your other questions I don't know the official policy (just what we as missionaries tried to have happen). I hope I didn't just make things more confusing for the one I attempted to answer. :)

Edited December 8, 2009 by Dravin

[Wingnut]

It is possible to live within one ward's boundaries but receive permission to regularly attend and join another ward, though as mentioned, it's uncommon. There is a family that currently lives in my ward boundaries, but their records reside in a neighboring ward. They are one of only two families in the ward that have teenagers, and there are lots of youth in the other ward. Also, the parents are at a unique age for our ward as well -- all the other parents are either 10-15 years older or younger than them. I know that there are other underlying issues pertaining to their ward switch as well, but I don't know what they are. These are the superficial surface issues.

Unless a conflict in an existing ward is creating a significant impact on one's mental/emotional health, I doubt a ward change would be authorized. If it were, it would have to go through the stake presidency (a stake president presides over several wards), and receive approval from both bishops.

[mnn727]

Its geographical, however in the situation you stipulated you may be baptised into the other ward and attend it for up to 1 year.

[Vort]

In another thread concerning interpersonal struggles, I suggested that if somebody struggled too much with other ward members (especially leadership), perhaps relocating to a new ward could resolve conflicts. The responses were that such could happen, with permission, but that it was not a common solution. Another Protestant on the string remarked that for us it is very easy to simply find another congregation, if we have troubles in the one we attend.

My question here is: How are wards assigned? Is it purely geographical? What if, for example, my LDS friend at work invites me to his Ward in SeaTac (near work), and then I end up converting. My home is in Federal Way. Will I be baptized in SeaTac, or told to attend meetings in Federal Way, and have my baptism and callings there? When I member moves, and makes good friends in a new location, can his family join the friend in his ward, or must he go to the one nearest his home? Enquiring minds wanna know!

As others have already said, it's geographical.

A couple of years ago, we were told that it's fine to invite friends to Church, but that if any of them show interest, we should attend Church with them in their ward. This sounds like a wonderful idea, though I haven't (yet) had the opportunity to give it a shot.

Want me to take you to a Federal Way ward, PC? Just let me know and we'll go. :)

[Guest mormonmusic]

We've also had exceptions, as with any policy. We had a youth who had really bonded with the youth program in her Ward. The Stake changed the boundaries and she ended up in a different Ward with no youth. So, until she was 18, she attended the original, but newly out-of-boundaries Ward so she could be strengthened with the other youth. At 18, they moved her records to her geographical Ward.

I've seen families attend other Wards for the strength of the programs, even though they are out- of- boundaries. This usually relates to children and youth who need strengthening. Again, they can't hold callings in that Ward unless membership records are approved to be sent to the new Ward by the Bishop and Stake Pres.

In terms of what determines the geographical boundaries, it's usually based on a variety of factors. One factor is the availability of active families who can take on leadership positions in the Ward. You don't want a situation where a geographical boundary has only has enough active families for a Bishop, Relief Society President and maybe a Priesthood Leader (Elders Quorum or High Priests) and nothing else. In fact, boundaries have been changed due to the withering of leaders due to move-outs, changes in the municipality etcetera.

A common activity is to split Wards and Stakes when the membership gets so large there's nothing for active people to do, beyond say, being a home or visiting teacher. The philosophy seems to be that it's better to have people serving in leadership positions, growing, and being actively involved rather than sitting on the sidelines with talents going unused or under-developed. However, I 've seen Stake Presidents adopt the opposite philosophy -- intentionally letting Wards get really huge so everyone isn't so stretched, presumably. But I find this is the exception and not the rule.

Also, Stake leaders have cited ratios of active to total membership in considering which boundaries to set.

Last of all, if someone gets baptized in one Ward, but lives in another Ward, we try to transition them to the right geographical Ward, but there are exceptions -- we also want to do what's best for the individual -- sometimes a tough balance to achieve.

Edited December 8, 2009 by mormonmusic

[Flyonthewall]

With everything that has already been said, there is nothing to keep you from attending any ward you like. Your records will be with the ward in whose boundries you reside in, unless there is permission given to the contrary.

Usually, your home ward will be made up of your freinds and neighbors, more so in Utah, and will be the closest building to where you live.

[john doe]

With everything that has already been said, there is nothing to keep you from attending any ward you like. Your records will be with the ward in whose boundries you reside in, unless there is permission given to the contrary.

Usually, your home ward will be made up of your freinds and neighbors, more so in Utah, and will be the closest building to where you live.

Usually. I live a block away from my Stake house, but my ward meets in a building 2 blocks away.

[Wingnut]

Usually, your home ward will be made up of your freinds and neighbors, more so in Utah, and will be the closest building to where you live.

Usually. I live a block away from my Stake house, but my ward meets in a building 2 blocks away.

I was going to comment to the same, JD. My parents have some close family friends who live in the foothills in Provo -- they have to pass three chapels, the MTC, and a temple in order to get to their building.

[bytebear]

In another thread concerning interpersonal struggles, I suggested that if somebody struggled too much with other ward members (especially leadership), perhaps relocating to a new ward could resolve conflicts. The responses were that such could happen, with permission, but that it was not a common solution. Another Protestant on the string remarked that for us it is very easy to simply find another congregation, if we have troubles in the one we attend.

My question here is: How are wards assigned? Is it purely geographical? What if, for example, my LDS friend at work invites me to his Ward in SeaTac (near work), and then I end up converting. My home is in Federal Way. Will I be baptized in SeaTac, or told to attend meetings in Federal Way, and have my baptism and callings there? When I member moves, and makes good friends in a new location, can his family join the friend in his ward, or must he go to the one nearest his home? Enquiring minds wanna know!

A ward becomes a family, and just like your family, you can't just kick out uncle Bob because he's weird. But, fortunately, if leadership is lacking, remember, it will change quite frequently, as Bishops are only in that position for several years, and the turn around in leadership in all positions is frequent. You may even find yourself in the reverse position one day. Also, we don't want our wards to compete with each other, where people are shopping for the best "family" they can find. Instead, we are supposed to build up the ward family we are given, and help each other out, instead of taking the easy way out. The Lord has already shown what he does with those who run from difficult situations - i.e. Jonah.

By the way, sometimes the geography is odd. Most buildings house several wards, and even here in California where there isn't a ward on every street corner, I have two buildings closer to me than the one I am assigned.

[Guest mormonmusic]

To bear on the Title of this Thread "Choosing a Ward" -- a lot of people think really hard when they buy a house, and consider the Ward they are moving into. They consider the Ward along with the location of the house, proximity to work, house prices, schools etcetera.

One gentleman who moved into our Ward has a test that he does. He goes to the various Wards that are candidates as a visitor, and waits to see how many people come up and welcome him. He also looks at how long they stay around to talk to each other after the meetings. He said he wanted a social, friendly Ward, and that factored into the areas he considered when buying a home.

Edited December 9, 2009 by mormonmusic

[prisonchaplain]

As FYI, in the chapel I lead, the folks don't really have choices either. :-)

[miztrniceguy]

I will tell you my experience. When I moved to MO and married my wife we lived in the place she had been living for 3 years. The ward boundaries changed once, then we moved 4 years ago to a house. The house just across a small wooded area from the stake center where we had been all along, that houses 3 wards. With the last boundary change the ward we are now assigned to is part of a different stake whose stake building is 10 or so miles south. We did not like that we were no longer in the ward as my wife's mother and many longtime friends, but we just dealt with it. Over the last 4 years we have struggled with things the leadership has done, taking away agency in various ways.

Eventually things got to a point that we did not like being there at all. We no longer felt the spirit, and spent the entire time each Sunday wishing it were over so we could just go home.After considerable thought we decided to just attend the other ward, what we considered our "real" ward. So we did just that. The first couple of weeks when people asked, we stated we were "visiting". Certain people we knew for many years we gave a brief explanation that we were just attending there for now. Week 3 we were asked to meet with the bishop, as we expected. We told the bishop the reasons, not initially giving specific examples, because we didn't want to be seen as gossips or troublemakers. We did not ask our records to be transferred. We simply stated we felt it would be better for us to attend this ward, than to stop attending altogether. He was very understanding, ans said he would speak to the Stake President (who was in attendance at out wedding in Nauvoo Temple) about moving our records. We expressed that we were not asking him to do so, but he said he would. A couple weeks later I happened to run into the SP after meetings. We had a private conversation in the chapel, just the 2 of us. I brought him up to speed. He expressed his love and concern for us, especially my wife, who I think he has a soft spot for (perhaps because the stood up to him one day long previous when he was her bishop). He said he would see what he could do. We talked about the consequences of not attending our designated ward(no callings, tithing difficulties, unable to renew Temple Rec etc) A couple weeks later, we were told he was not able to get the approval for the records to be moved. We understand. We still attend the ward of outr choice. We know lots of people there are a lot happier.

Do I think this is what everyone should do? NO!. Am I advocating it? NO! But a person has to do what he or she thinks is best for his or her family.

[RachelleDrew]

Before my husband and I moved the last time, we were in the ward boundaries of one ward, but it was actually closer to go to a ward in a different stake. It made no sense at all, but that's just kind of how the boundaries were set up. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but where I live almost everyone is a good 45 minutes to an hour away from a meetinghouse of any kind. So it was really important that we attended the ward closest to us, even if we should have technically been somewhere else.

We didn't ask special permission or anything, we just went to the closer one and nobody said anything otherwise. We were there for almost two years. But I think stuff is a little more tightly organized in LDS-heavy populations.

[Guest mormonmusic]

Before my husband and I moved the last time, we were in the ward boundaries of one ward, but it was actually closer to go to a ward in a different stake. It made no sense at all, but that's just kind of how the boundaries were set up. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal, but where I live almost everyone is a good 45 minutes to an hour away from a meetinghouse of any kind. So it was really important that we attended the ward closest to us, even if we should have technically been somewhere else.

We didn't ask special permission or anything, we just went to the closer one and nobody said anything otherwise. We were there for almost two years. But I think stuff is a little more tightly organized in LDS-heavy populations.

Rachel: did you have callings in the Ward you decided to attend?