Age Change Announcement


dahlia
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21 hours ago, Colirio said:

What a great new policy! 

This potentially allows several new deacons to enter the program at the same time. They will also transition to the next Priesthood office at the same time in two years. Stronger bonds can be formed by quorums who are together for the full two years and then transition into the next quorum together. 

I can tell you of story after story of how the staggered system we have had made it very difficult to set up Aaronic Priesthood leadership and so forth.  It was pretty hard to keep up.  This will allow it to be much more stable.

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Some thoughts:

  • As far as I can tell, this change is motivated by the issue of what to do with kids when they turn 12 under the new two-hour block.  According to the Handbook (ignoring Friday's announcement), children turn 12 and continue going to primary class, then attend their young women or priesthood quorum instead of sharing time.  The two hour block created some consternation about how that looks when there is no sharing time (only singing time), and the young men and and young women classes meet every other week (don't ask me why it was an issue.  but it appears that this was a big deal on Primary Facebook groups).  
  • Whatever your solution to that problem was, if you had 11 year olds leave Primary after their 12th birthday, inevitably, your Valiant 11 class begins to deteriorate until there is just one lone kid left behind.  That's the scenario that this change seems to be addressing.
  • No, it isn't a perfect solution.  But honestly, I don't think there's a better solution.

Some other thoughts

  • Priesthood ordination ages are, and have always been, arbitrary (meaning, they are because we say they are).  While it may seem odd (and young), the alternative under this system is to advance the boys at the start of the year and then wait until their birthday to ordain them.  That means you have some of them attending a quorum where they are not able to participate fully.  That seems worse than ordaining them a few months early. 
  • Importantly, the letter states that children "will complete Primary" at the start of the year, but "young men will be eligible for ordination." It does not say "will be ordained" (for hopefully obvious reasons).  If one of these young men is deemed unprepared to receive the priesthood, there is no obligation to ordain him. 
  • The letter expressly states "Some children or youth may not move between organizations, classes, or quorums according to the typical schedule due to personal circumstances. The bishop and parents counsel together to decide what is in the best interest of each child or youth." In our ward, and in some of the discussion I've seen online, there seems to be a trend that children with fourth quarter birthdays in particular are a little freaked out by this.  In our ward, we have one girl in particular that does not want to go to young women yet.  We aren't going to force her.
  • I really hope this comes with another change.  Specifically, tithing settlement is going to be an even worse nightmare for the bishopric if they don't make changes to how we do tithing settlement (as it stands now, the bishop is supposed to do tithing settlement with each family and interview each youth advancing to a new class/quorum between 15 October and 31 December...so much for lightening the load :) )
  • My bishop and I just had a discussion about possibly moving our transition to August, since our youth programs run their program year with the school year.  We may or may not pitch that to the Ward Council and/or stake.  But on the face of it, it doesn't seem like a bad idea.
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On 12/16/2018 at 4:41 AM, Still_Small_Voice said:

So with all these changes will seventeen year olds be ordained to the priesthood office of Elder on the year the turn eighteen?

No.  Men will be ordained to the office of elder when the bishop recommends the ordination to the stake and the stake approves the recommendation.  Age is not a direct consideration.

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On 12/16/2018 at 1:41 AM, Still_Small_Voice said:

So with all these changes will seventeen year olds be ordained to the priesthood office of Elder on the year the turn eighteen?

No. These changes were specifically for the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood quorums and young women of that same age.

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One thing that is nice regarding this change is there will be no more questions specifying, "My daughter/son turns 14 in September can she/he go [fill in blank]"? As they are now considered in to be with the Mia Made class and Teachers quorum this question is nullified.

Also, as with any ordination a person must be worthy and prepared. Up to the bishop's discretion and spirit within. This hasn't changed. This actually simplifies a whole lot within the Church, especially for bishops. Take the last quarter, look who will be attending what classes, and setup interviews.

Edited by Anddenex
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