Not enough callings

[Fether]

So In our ward we have gone on in Elders Quorum for a while with a healthy ratio of active Elders Quorum Members and Callings that really do something.

Well after reactivating a few and and some move ins, we now have more elders than actual callings... so what do we do in this situation?? We have 2 brothers in particular in the quorum that are putting forth an effort to be active again and we feel they need a calling, but We can’t find any more spaces for callings besides Home Teaching.

we have:

a presidency

secretary 

two teachers

activity coordinator

and the rest are either Sunday school teachers, ward missionaries, young men advisors or in primary. No shortage of callings anywhere.

Thoughts???

Edited February 18, 2018 by Fether

[Sunday21]

@Fether. You could teach some additional classes eg teacher training, temple class. Ward history person? Family home evening organizer for singles? Does your local temple need help? Ward bulletin? Greeter?

If that does not work, please send someone to my ward!

[laronius]

Moving coordinator. Always need for that. Or home teaching supervisor.

[paracaidista508]

Be careful what you ask for.

I was in a ward where we had enough people to staff everything except we had tons who refused to do anything. I ended up with four callings. I hated it. It sucked and I learned to say no. Enjoy while it lasts.

Edited February 19, 2018 by paracaidista508

[JohnsonJones]

7 hours ago, Fether said:

So In our ward we have gone on in Elders Quorum for a while with a healthy ratio of active Elders Quorum Members and Callings that really do something.

Well after reactivating a few and and some move ins, we now have more elders than actual callings... so what do we do in this situation?? We have 2 brothers in particular in the quorum that are putting forth an effort to be active again and we feel they need a calling, but We can’t find any more spaces for callings besides Home Teaching.

we have:

a presidency

secretary 

two teachers

activity coordinator

and the rest are either Sunday school teachers, ward missionaries, young men advisors or in primary. No shortage of callings anywhere.

Thoughts???

If you have that many elders, perhaps it's time to separate your quorum into districts, where you have two district leaders which coordinate home teaching reports, activities, and other things among the various districts.

[Guest]

My mother in law complained to the bishop about not having a calling.

The ward gave her the calling to clean the kitchen.

Careful what you ask for . . . 

 

[omegaseamaster75]

16 hours ago, Fether said:

So In our ward we have gone on in Elders Quorum for a while with a healthy ratio of active Elders Quorum Members and Callings that really do something.

Well after reactivating a few and and some move ins, we now have more elders than actual callings... so what do we do in this situation?? We have 2 brothers in particular in the quorum that are putting forth an effort to be active again and we feel they need a calling, but We can’t find any more spaces for callings besides Home Teaching.

we have:

a presidency

secretary 

two teachers

activity coordinator

and the rest are either Sunday school teachers, ward missionaries, young men advisors or in primary. No shortage of callings anywhere.

Thoughts???

I personally am against having a calling for the sake of having a calling. I can see how you might think that a calling would help with reactivation, but I would tread lightly.  There is nothing wrong with going to church to just be preached at. If your full up start grooming one of these guys to be a teacher, or a member of the presidency. No one holds a calling forever.

[Fether]

42 minutes ago, omegaseamaster75 said:

I personally am against having a calling for the sake of having a calling. I can see how you might think that a calling would help with reactivation, but I would tread lightly.  There is nothing wrong with going to church to just be preached at. If your full up start grooming one of these guys to be a teacher, or a member of the presidency. No one holds a calling forever.

We aren’t using it as a tool to reactivate, but rather a tool to retain those reactivated. One of which is young, my age, and just started coming back to church with his new wife. Both are putting an effort. The other is an older man who recently healed from a major sickness and wants to return to church. We feel they need a calling, just like Pres. Hunkley’s instruction that every member needs a responsibility, friend, and nourished by the good word of God.

[Sunday21]

16 minutes ago, Fether said:

We aren’t using it as a tool to reactivate, but rather a tool to retain those reactivated. One of which is young, my age, and just started coming back to church with his new wife. Both are putting an effort. The other is an older man who recently healed from a major sickness and wants to return to church. We feel they need a calling, just like Pres. Hunkley’s instruction that every member needs a responsibility, friend, and nourished by the good word of God.

I think a calling is dandy for either reactivation or maintaining. Many people love a gentle teaching assingment and others hate it. Hard to know.

We never know what to do for the teacher meetings. Give someone an assignment to do a presentation for a teacher meeting? How about serving on activities committee? How about something to do with older singles, arrange a movie ocassionally? Or if you live in an area where there are nonmormons, any type of ‘get people into the building’ activity? I can give some suggestions, if interested.

Edited February 19, 2018 by Sunday21

[Guest]

There is no such thing as an unimportant calling, or one that was uninspired.

Except for the calling to clean the kitchen.

[zil]

1 hour ago, Fether said:

We aren’t using it as a tool to reactivate, but rather a tool to retain those reactivated. One of which is young, my age, and just started coming back to church with his new wife. Both are putting an effort. The other is an older man who recently healed from a major sickness and wants to return to church. We feel they need a calling, just like Pres. Hunkley’s instruction that every member needs a responsibility, friend, and nourished by the good word of God.

Often, the ward council ends up doing work the ward council doesn't really need to do.  Planning activities, coordination people, communicating, etc.  Perhaps look for some of that for these guys to do.  Also, there are probably people whose home teachers aren't diligent - perhaps their calling is to be the "overflow" home teachers - they've got their own normal routes, but they also pick up folks who haven't been visited in the past three months (there's a report for that).  Assign them to be a HT coordinator (or whatever they're called) and they'll have the right to pull these reports - or you could just have the EQS run them at the start of every month...

[seashmore]

20 hours ago, Fether said:

So In our ward we have gone on in Elders Quorum for a while with a healthy ratio of active Elders Quorum Members and Callings that really do something.

Well after reactivating a few and and some move ins, we now have more elders than actual callings... so what do we do in this situation?? We have 2 brothers in particular in the quorum that are putting forth an effort to be active again and we feel they need a calling, but We can’t find any more spaces for callings besides Home Teaching.

we have:

a presidency

secretary 

two teachers

activity coordinator

and the rest are either Sunday school teachers, ward missionaries, young men advisors or in primary. No shortage of callings anywhere.

Thoughts???

How long have they had those callings? (Could it be time to give someone a break after a couple of years?) You mentioned an activity coordinator, do you have a committee the newbies could be placed on? What about a stake activities committee? You can have more than one family history consultant, greeter, etc. in a ward. 

[ldsguy422]

Obviously this would be outside of your stewardship, but Ward Missionaries can be a good calling - provided the WML actively involves them with the full-time missionaries, recent-converts, and less-actives. 

[Namaskar]

What if you ask them if they want a calling?

I am not really active right now and recently was asked to come in for a couples calling. I politely declined. Even when I was active, I’ve declined callings for various reasons and without a calling felt just as invested I my religion and my relationship with God. 

Im just throwing out the idea because some people might not want a calling. Instead of focusing on the worry or fear of them not staying active, focus on getting to know them and serving them through love. 

[Namaskar]

On 2/19/2018 at 8:05 AM, omegaseamaster75 said:

I personally am against having a calling for the sake of having a calling. I can see how you might think that a calling would help with reactivation, but I would tread lightly.  There is nothing wrong with going to church to just be preached at. If your full up start grooming one of these guys to be a teacher, or a member of the presidency. No one holds a calling forever.

 

On 2/19/2018 at 8:52 AM, Fether said:

We aren’t using it as a tool to reactivate, but rather a tool to retain those reactivated. One of which is young, my age, and just started coming back to church with his new wife. Both are putting an effort. The other is an older man who recently healed from a major sickness and wants to return to church. We feel they need a calling, just like Pres. Hunkley’s instruction that every member needs a responsibility, friend, and nourished by the good word of God.

Pres Hunkley (lol to that typo) words are a nice suggestion but I think are treated too literally. 

I for one take my responsibility with my divine as number 1 priority. I take my responsibility to treat others with love seriously. I believe that responsibility to connect with each other on a personal level gets over looked too often. 

I see Jesus as a great example of taking the time to converse with all people. He was so aware of people around him to notice someone touching his garment. I’d love to one day know how to be more in tune and aware that we can truly see others and their needs more clearly. 

[Traveler]

On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 3:25 PM, Fether said:

So In our ward we have gone on in Elders Quorum for a while with a healthy ratio of active Elders Quorum Members and Callings that really do something.

Well after reactivating a few and and some move ins, we now have more elders than actual callings... so what do we do in this situation?? We have 2 brothers in particular in the quorum that are putting forth an effort to be active again and we feel they need a calling, but We can’t find any more spaces for callings besides Home Teaching.

we have:

a presidency

secretary 

two teachers

activity coordinator

and the rest are either Sunday school teachers, ward missionaries, young men advisors or in primary. No shortage of callings anywhere.

Thoughts???

 

Quick thought – callings are not your problem.  They come from the L-rd.  I suggest you ask him what he has in mind for each individual.  I am grateful that you are concerned.  I am convinced that callings are given because we otherwise would not serve to the degree we will with a calling.

 

The Traveler

[e-eye]

I would meet with the bishop and discuss with him that you have individuals that need callings.  He can put them where they are needed.  You can always use an extra advisor or dual sunday school teacher just to name a few areas that would give more opportunities.

[mordorbund]

Assignments also serve the "responsibility" role. You don't have to create callings. There's enough that already needs to get done, just make sure they're included in the assignments that are already getting made (assignments are made, aren't they? you aren't relying on a volunteer system to get things done?). Assign them to clean the church building, set up chairs before an activity, clean up after an activity, go with an experienced elder who is administering a blessing, pass the sacrament (for student and singles wards), bring food to activities, substitute teach, etc.

[Rob Osborn]

Ive never been in a ward that didnt have enough callings for everyone. A well ran bishopric who are properly training realize there are always more callings than people to fill them. There are ever increasing layers and depths to organizations and what they can accomplish. 

[Guest MormonGator]

You don't need a calling to be a helpful person. Just say "Hey Bishop, what can I do? Nothing official, just want to see where I can help?" You don't need to be a home teacher to visit someone. You don't need to be in charge of cleaning the church to volunteer to clean the church. So there are lots of ways to help out without it being official. 

[Fether]

3 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

You don't need a calling to be a helpful person. Just say "Hey Bishop, what can I do? Nothing official, just want to see where I can help?" You don't need to be a home teacher to visit someone. You don't need to be in charge of cleaning the church to volunteer to clean the church. So there are lots of ways to help out without it being official. 

But people who are coming back into the fold aren’t always “go-getters” like this. Often times they need official callings like that

[Guest MormonGator]

Just now, Fether said:

But people who are coming back into the fold aren’t always “go-getters” like this. Often times they need official callings like that

If you need a calling to be a decent and helpful person, that's not really a good sign. Seems very superficial to me. 

[Sunday21]

3 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

You don't need a calling to be a helpful person. Just say "Hey Bishop, what can I do? Nothing official, just want to see where I can help?" You don't need to be a home teacher to visit someone. You don't need to be in charge of cleaning the church to volunteer to clean the church. So there are lots of ways to help out without it being official. 

A sister and I arrive early at church weekly to set up chairs. I noticed that she was doing this a few years ago and I elected to help. No one notices our performance of this task, unless we are both awol on the same week! Some day, years from now, we will both move and no doubt they will call someone to set up chairs. In the meantime, I find all the grumbling about ‘those guys who set up the chairs’ to be mildly amusing! 

[Guest MormonGator]

Of course, it's always better to help out someone no matter what your motives are, but if the only reason you are doing that is because it is your calling, you might have some stuff to work on. 

[Vort]

1. Talk to your bishop, privately and in ward council. Let him work his magic.
2. Home teaching is not a calling. Let me repeat: HOME TEACHING IS NOT A CALLING. It is a Priesthood responsibility. Every Priesthood holder in every adult quorum should have someone for whom he is responsible to check on and take care of.