My Bishop

[shyguy]

I have asked my Bishop a few question which I feel he has blew me off. I asked him all by email or by text?

I sent him my tithing in the mail and It's been two weeks. I email him and waited four days after asking him did you receive it yet no response. I text him no response. I had my wife to text him he answered right back.

I asked about having a Book of Mormon class once a week for investigators and members and inactive member he said he would have to look it up in the manual. No reply. Three months.

Asked him about how long has fast and testimony meeting been in the church no answer. Three months

He said I was getting a new calling.

I emailed him a week later when no answer.

What should I do?

Shyguy

[Mahone]

Try calling him instead, or better yet, ask his councillors or secretary. I prefer to text or e-mail as I'm so busy during the day that I forget the full details of phone conversations so it's nice to have the logs to refer back to.

But an SMS message and e-mail are equally easy to ignore when you're busy - not necessarily on purpose, but I know bishops are usually overwhelmed with the amount of people trying to get in contact with them (work life and church), and some questions/messages have to be considered low priority with everything else going on and they end up getting forgotten. If it's a question his councillors/secretary can answer, try them as a first point of contact - a lot of people forget these guys exist. If not, phone him - it's less easy for him to put off and then forget.

Edited October 20, 2012 by Mahone

[Guest]

It sounds like he's getting a lot of little questions from you here and there. I'd make an appointment with him to try and get it all out of the way. Like Mahone said, he's got a lot of demands on his time and energy and he's probably doing his best to prioritize, with his family to care for on top of it.

Maybe try asking some of your questions like the one about fast Sunday to your ward's Gospel doctrine teacher. Let them take the project of finding out, or better yet, dig into some research yourself. Your bishop probably doesn't know and doesn't really have the time to figure it out. Bishops are just guys filling a calling, too.

[applepansy]

Be patient. Bishops are the busiest people I know.

Don't let go of your questions just be patient. There are others who can answer some of your questions, such as, the one about fast and testimony meeting. Maybe the Gospel Doctrine teacher can help you find that answer.

[NeuroTypical]

I've been involved in ward tithing in two different wards under three different bishops. None of the bishops were ever involved in the actual process. You'd have much better luck bugging the ward financial clerk to see if your tithing arrived.

It sounds like your bishop doesn't do email very much or well. You might want to consider email as a not-good way to communicate with him.

[skippy740]

Just to share a perspective:

We had a sister in our ward some time ago who was schizophrenic... but we didn't know it at the time. Everything that happened to her seemed to be an emergency. She'd call everyone she knew to get help. My mother, who has dealt with people with special needs didn't fall for it and set boundaries. However, this sister eventually pestered the Bishop by cell phone multiple times a day.

It simply isn't appropriate as Bishops have their families and careers to worry about as well.

My advice: Don't pester your bishop. There's a reason why the Bishop has a secretary. Set an appointment with the bishop through the secretary and bring all your concerns to him at one time.

Bishops cannot know every single detail of everything that happens in the ward. Asking him if he received your tithing is inconsequential. You should either send a money order or a check and just wait for it to clear.

You are asking too much too often of your Bishop.

[MorningStar]

Some questions can be easily answered by other members. Remember that bishops get many, many calls and emails and probably forget a lot of things when there are very weighty matters to handle, plus issues with their own families, jobs, etc..

If you don't know if your tithing was received, check your bank statement online and see if it went through yet. If it didn't after a long period of time, maybe ask the ward clerk instead of the bishop.

[shyguy]

Thank you for answering my question. I need to have more patience.

SHYGUY

[tubaloth]

I have come to learn there are e-mail people there are text people. And there are nether.

I needed to get some numbers to turn over to the Ward Clerk. I e-mails 2 times, the second time one answered and said he would get them to me the next morning. nothing. I finally send a text (to two people) finally got answers and called me back. The last guy I had to call two days later to get the info.

I have learned I can send a million e-mails and they won't really respond.

If you really need to talk to the bishop, just make an appointment. You could even try to grab him on sunday and see if you can meet sometime then. He might not know all the answers right then, tell him lets me another appointment in two weeks.