Mormon Dilemma 433

11 November

Callings in the Church

 “The Weak and the Simple of the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 2007, 6-7; “Everything that is done in the Church–the leading, the teaching, the calling, the ordaining, the praying, the singing, the preparation of the sacrament, the counseling, and everything else–is done by ordinary members, the ‘weak things of the world.’

“We see in the Christian churches their struggle to fill the need for clergy. We do not have that problem. Once the gospel is preached and the Church is organized, there is an inexhaustible supply of faithful brothers and sisters who have that testimony and are willing to answer the call to serve. They commit themselves to the work of the Lord and live the standards required of them.” – Boyd K. Packer

 

Matthew 20:25-28; “But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

There’s a difference between commanding and demanding. Commanding leadership is to earn respect from those who work for you so that they’ll find it difficult to say no when you ask for help.

Demanding doesn’t earn you respect from those in your charge and always leads to resentment. The work area becomes intolerable for everyone, including the person in charge. Requests go unfulfilled, are done haphazardly if done at all and the level of satisfaction for everyone involved goes south in a hurry.

Likewise in ministry the same can be said of leaders. In the Mormon Church it’s frowned upon to turn down a calling. You won’t be earning any brownie points with the bishop if you say no and your next temple worthiness interview will be anything but pleasant.

Members aren’t allowed to make their own decisions when it comes to working in ministry. You can’t just go to the bishop and say “I’d like to be in the choir” or “I’d like to work on the men’s ministry team”. You’re not there to invent what you want to do – you’re there to feed the inexhaustible machine of Mormonism. 

Furthermore, I’d be interested in finding out what Christian churches are having a difficult time filling the need for clergy. This sounds like another unsubstantiated claim by the Church to make Christianity look bad to those who read their monthly magazine Ensign.

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