Positive Relationships with Active Leaders

 

How the Children and Youth Program Strengthens Families

By President Steven J. Lund

Young Men General President

One of the most surprising and helpful things we have learned as a new presidency came to us from a multiyear Church study that asked active adults what important things happened in their youth that helped them identify as active members of the Church.

The key finding is surprising: those youth who grow up to identify within themselves as active members of the Church—as members of the crew rather than as tourists passing through—tell researchers that more important than the quality of activities, more important even than Sunday School lessons, which are very important, was the formation of positive relationships with active leaders who helped them develop a relationship with the Savior and with their Heavenly Father. It is about those second witnesses, about our young people’s ability to connect with them.

Don't Condemn God's Chosen Servants

The Power of Sustaining Faith

By President Henry B. Eyring

Second Counselor in the First Presidency

1. Have I thought or spoken of human weakness in the people I have pledged to sustain?
2. Have I looked for evidence that the Lord is leading them?
3. Have I conscientiously and loyally followed their leadership?
4. Have I spoken about the evidence I can see that they are God’s servants?
5. Do I pray for them regularly by name and with feelings of love? ...

President George Q. Cannon gave a warning that I pass on to you as my own. I believe he spoke the truth: “God has chosen His servants. He claims it as His prerogative to condemn them, if they need condemnation. He has not given it to us individually to censure and condemn them. No man, however strong he may be in the faith, however high in the Priesthood, can speak evil of the Lord’s anointed and find fault with God’s authority on the earth without incurring His displeasure. The Holy Spirit will withdraw himself from such a man, and he will go into darkness. This being the case, do you not see how important it is that we should be careful?”...

I speak to the younger priesthood holder who lives in a home with his father. Let me tell you from my own experience what it means for a father to feel your sustaining faith. He may look confident to you. But he faces more challenges than you know. At times he can’t see the way through the problems before him.

Your admiration for him will help him some. Your love for him will help even more. But the thing that will help the most is sincere words like these: “Dad, I’ve prayed for you, and I have felt that the Lord is going to help you. Everything will work out. I know it will.”

#EQuce

Greet Everyone

The True, Pure, and Simple Gospel of Jesus Christ

By President M. Russell Ballard

Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

April 2019 Conference

As we minister in a higher and holier way, please consider how essential it is that we greet everyone who comes to our Church meetings, especially new members and visitors. We should all enjoy singing the hymns and listening carefully to the words of the sacrament prayers with an open heart and mind....

As we keep our testimonies simple and focused on the gospel of Christ, He will provide spiritual renewal as we share our testimonies with one another....

Let’s not complicate things with additional meetings, expectations, or requirements. Keep it simple. It is in that simplicity that you will find the peace, joy, and happiness I have been talking about.

For years the leadership purposes of the Church, as stated in Handbook 2, are outcomes that are clear and simple, from which I quote:

“Leaders encourage every member to receive all essential priesthood ordinances, keep the associated covenants, and qualify for exaltation and eternal life. …

“Adults: Encourage each adult to be worthy to receive the ordinances of the temple. Teach all adults to identify their ancestors and perform vicarious temple ordinances for them.

“All Members: Help priesthood and auxiliary leaders, ward councils, ward and full-time missionaries, and members work cooperatively in a balanced effort to rescue individuals, strengthen families and Church units, increase priesthood activity, and gather Israel through conversion, retention, and activation. Teach members to provide for themselves and their families and to assist the poor and needy in the Lord’s way.”

Be A Great Soul Here

"In order to be great souls in heaven, we need to be great souls here. At every age, we should be leaders in righteousness, leaders in accepting responsibility, leaders in excellence, leaders in industry, leaders in kindness, leaders in obedience, leaders in example. It is just as important for a deacons quorum president to be a good leader in his sphere as it is for the President of the Church to be a leader in his. No nation would have a very good army if only the generals were faithful."

Elder Sterling W. Sill

Don't Judge Servants of the Lord

The Lord Leads His Church

By President Henry B. Eyring

First Counselor in the First Presidency

 It takes faith to believe that He knows the people He calls perfectly, both their capacities and their potential, and so makes no mistakes in His calls.

That may bring a smile or a shake of the head to some in this audience—both those who think their own call to serve might have been a mistake as well as those who picture some they know who seem poorly suited to their place in the Lord’s kingdom. My counsel to both groups is to delay such judgments until you can better see what the Lord sees. The judgment you need to make, instead, is that you have the capacity to receive revelation and to act on it fearlessly.....

Without their faith, the bishop, who was called of God, will find it harder to get the revelation he needs to help them. He will not succeed without the faith of the members to sustain him.....

For a leader to succeed in the Lord’s work, the people’s trust that he is called of God must override their view of his infirmities and mortal weaknesses. ...

I try not to judge servants of the Lord or to speak of their apparent weaknesses....

It takes faith and humility to serve in the place to which we are called, to trust that the Lord called us and those who preside over us, and to sustain them with full faith.

********

"..... their spirit of criticism and jealousy spread like a plague." (DON'T DO!)

Believe in Christ and Deny Him Not

We are taught to “believe in Christ, and deny him not” (2 Nephi 25:29); to “look unto [Christ] in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:36); and to “talk of Christ,” “rejoice in Christ,” and “preach of Christ” (2 Nephi 25:26). Two ways we can do this are in our private prayers and in our personal greetings.

In our private and family prayers, we should ask God to help us and our neighbors and leaders recognize God our Creator and the right and wrong established by His commandments. We should do this for the good of His children everywhere.

Dallin H. Oaks, "Stand as a Witness of God," Ensign, Mar 2015, 33.

Criticizing Leaders

President George Q. Cannon (1827–1901) knew President Brigham Young (1801–77) well, working closely with him for many years, both as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as his counselor in the First Presidency. After the death of President Young, President Cannon wrote in his journal: “I never criticized or found fault with [Brigham Young’s] conduct, his counsel or his teachings at any time in my heart, much less in my words or actions. This is a pleasure to me now. The thought that ever was with me was: If I criticize or find fault with, or judge Brother Brigham, how far shall I go; if I commence, where shall I stop? I dared not to trust myself in such a course. I knew that apostasy frequently resulted from the indulgence of the spirit of criticizing and faultfinding.

George Q. Cannon, Journal, Jan. 17, 1878; spelling modernized.

It Begins at Home

“The responsibility of building leadership in the Church belongs to the father and the mother. As youth grow and mature through their teenage yours and move toward adulthood, the Church picks up an important role in this process of giving youth an opportunity to lead, but it begins in the home.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard, “Tending the Flock: Teaching Leadership Skills to Youth,” Ensign, June 2008, 16. 

Why is a Man Called to Act as President?

 “Why is [a] man called to act as president over a people?” President Snow once asked. “Is it in order to acquire an influence and then to use that influence directly for his own aggrandizement? No, but on the contrary, he is called to act in such a position on the same principle as the priesthood was given to the Son of God, that he should make sacrifices. For himself? No, but in the interests of the people over whom he presides. .  .  . To become the servant of his brethren, not their master, and to work in their interest and welfare.”

Teachings: Lorenzo Snow, 219. 

Urgent Need for Capable Leaders

“As time and conditions change and become more complex, there seem to be fewer and fewer individuals capable of shouldering the responsibilities of leading positive change. I issue a challenge to you who are leaders and future leaders to recognize that the world is changing rapidly. There is an urgent need for leaders capable and bold enough to take on the immense challenges that face us today.”

Elder L. Tom Perry, “The Tradition of Light and Testimony,” Ensign, Dec 2012, 33.