Council with Those You Minister To

• SEPTEMBER 2018
• COUNSEL ABOUT THEIR NEEDS

• PREVIOUS
• NEXT

MINISTERING PRINCIPLES

Counsel about Their Needs

• Find out how and when they prefer to be contacted.
• Learn about their interests and backgrounds.
• Come with suggestions for how you could help, and ask for their suggestions.

• What are the challenges they face?
• What are their family or individual goals? For example, do they want to be better at holding regular family home evening or be more self-reliant?
• How can we help them with their goals and challenges?
• What gospel ordinances are coming up in their lives? How can we help them prepare?

God Walk With Us

“God walks with us along the covenant path as we seek Him through prayerful pleadings, scriptural searchings, and obedient strivings.”

Elder Brian K. Taylor of the Seventy, “Am I a Child of God?” Ensign, May 2018, 14.

Ponder This...

Ponder This …

“What will I teach, or what am I teaching, my children by my acts and attitudes of obedience?”

Devin G. Durrant, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, “Teaching in the Home—a Joyful and Sacred Responsibility,” Ensign, May 2018, 44.

White Shoes After Labor Day

• SEPTEMBER 2018
• I THINK I’LL BE MYSELF

• PREVIOUS
• NEXT

AT THE PULPIT

I Think I’ll Be Myself

By Jutta Baum Busche

I could have benefited at this time from the story of a six-year-old who, when asked by a relative, “What do you want to be?” replied, “I think I’ll just be myself. I have tried to be like someone else. I have failed each time!” Like this child, after repeated failure to be someone else, I finally learned that I should be myself. That is often not easy, however, because our desires to fit in, to compete and impress, or even simply to be approved of lead us to imitate others and devalue our own backgrounds, our own talents, and our own burdens and challenges. … I had to learn to overcome my anxious feeling that if I didn’t conform, I simply did not measure up.

Totally Unfair

Keep Trying

By Elder Marvin J. Ashton (1915–94)

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

From “If Thou Endure It Well,” Ensign, Nov. 1984, 20–22.

When family members disappoint us, we especially need to learn endurance. As long as we exercise love, patience, and understanding, even when no progress is apparent, we are not failing. We must keep trying. …

… Greatness is best measured by how well an individual responds to the happenings in life that appear to be totally unfair, unreasonable, and undeserved. …

#aang

Use During Ministering Interviews

It Is All about People

By Bishop Gérald Caussé

Presiding Bishop

President M. Russell Ballard taught, “What is most important in our Church responsibilities is not the statistics that are reported or the meetings that are held but whether or not individual people—ministered to one at a time just as the Savior did—have been lifted and encouraged and ultimately changed.”3

My dear brothers and sisters, are we active in the gospel, or are we merely busy in the Church? The key is to follow the example of the Savior in all things. If we do that, we will naturally focus on saving individuals rather than performing tasks and implementing programs.

Have you ever asked yourself what it would be like if the Savior visited your ward or branch next Sunday? What would He do? Would He be worried to know if the visual aids were good enough or if the chairs were positioned properly in the classroom? Or would He find someone He could love, teach, and bless? Perhaps He would seek out a new member or a friend to welcome, a sick brother or sister in need of comfort, or a wavering young person who needed to be lifted and encouraged....

I promise you that as you strive to be on the Lord’s agenda, nothing will become more important than finding those people you can help and bless. At church you will focus on teaching individuals and touching their hearts. Your concern will be to foster a spiritual experience rather than organize a perfect activity, to minister to your fellow members rather than check a box for the number of visits you have made. It will not be about you but about them whom we call our brothers and our sisters.

Sweep the Earth

In a CES fireside in 2009, Elder Bednar warned against the “potentially stifling, suffocating, suppressing, and constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions and experiences upon our souls” and pleaded with members “to beware of the sense-dulling and spiritually destructive influence of cyberspace technologies that are used to produce high fidelity and that promote degrading and evil purposes” (“Things as They Really Are,” Ensign, June 2010, 20).

Elder Bednar invited members to “sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth” following these four guidelines:

1. Be authentic and consistent.
2. Seek to edify and uplift rather than to argue, debate, condemn, or belittle.
3. Respect the intellectual property of other people and organizations.
4. Be wise and vigilant in protecting yourself and those you love. (Remember, the world will have access to your messages and photos for all time).

“Too much time can be wasted, too many relationships can be harmed or destroyed, and precious patterns of righteousness can be disrupted when technology is used improperly,” he later warned. “We should not allow even good applications of social media to overrule the better and best uses of our time, energy, and resources” (“To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood”).

#aang