Posts Tagged ‘ leadership ’

The headline is clear. Community of Christ will provide sacramental ordinances of marriage, commitment ceremonies, and ordination independent of sexual orientation in the USA. Specifically, after two days of discussion, the USA National Conference formally approved by a required 2/3rds majority the following recommendations to the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve: The 2013 USA [...]

The week from 17 March saw the inauguration of both the new Pope, Pope Francis, and the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. To mark that historic occasion the BBC broadcast a debate entitled Christianity at the Crossroads. The panellists were: Matthew Parris (MP) – former Conservative MP; Dr Anna Rowlands (AR) – Catholic theologian; [...]

How much detail is appropriate in a confession?  When does a leader go from being helpful to being pruriently interested in the lurid details of a confessor’s love life?  Where do you draw the line? Discuss.

It’s tough to be the leader trying to fill volunteer assignments in the ward:  food to take to the sick or bring to an activity, helpers for a scouting drive, people to clean the church, people to feed the missionaries. It always seems like the same handful of people do all the work. Some leaders [...]

Who determines worthiness in the temple recommend interview?  The bishop?  The individual?  The questions? Other methods of discernment?  Can the bishop rightly withhold a temple recommend based on nothing more than a hunch or the Spirit even if probing reveals no wrong answers? I recently read a blog post written by a group of ex-Mormon [...]

The LDS church with some 14.7 million members is a fraction of the size of  the Roman Catholic church with over 1.2 billion. As with my last post however, I feel drawn to the similarities in the hierarchical organisations, and the institutions that assist with the day to day running of both organisations. The Catholic [...]

Salt Lake City sees General Conference every six months. In the CofChrist, “World” Conference occurs every three years, and 2013 is the lucky year. A Community of Christ World Conference is far more of a legislative exercise than its Utah LDS analogue. It features worship, of course, and normally will have approval to changes and [...]

Today’s post is by new perma and longtime commenter, Hedgehog.  On 10 January, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf addressed young single adults at the firstCES devotional of the year.  The title of his address is ‘What is truth?’.  This has also been addressed by David Taymon who was rather quick off the mark. Truth, as a topic, [...]

“Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.”  Tom Stoppard How old is too old?  Is older always wiser?  We retire GAs, but not apostles or prophets.  Should we? Discuss.

“Maps are powerful tools”, said John Hamer at the 2011 John Whitmer Historical Association meetings. His remarks have be published in the latest issue of the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal (Fall/Winter 2012). He goes on to say Beyond their capacity to dazzle, maps allow historians to organize information in a completely different way than [...]

A friend of mine serves in a Stake Relief Society Presidency and recently shared with me her concerns about an upcoming leadership training. One suggestion is a lavish, pampering evening in one of the nicer homes in the stake to nourish the souls of the women who nourish other women’s souls. It’s a suggestion borne [...]

In two short weeks this leader changed an ingrained reactionary culture to an open, trusting platform. Discuss your thoughts about sharing stewardships and creating relationships that make things happen.

The Community of Christ has begun “crossing the Rubicon” on LGBT issues, and there can be no reversing the action taken. CofChrist is committed to the theological precedent that priesthood can be compatible with participation in a legally recognized same-sex sexual relationship. On June 2nd, the Australian National Conference approved the following recommendation to the [...]

At the end of April, Community of Christ released to the church at large a “Draft Statement on Sexual Ethics” for public review and invited comments to be made by e-mail to the First Presidency. This Statement will be considered by the International Leaders Council (which has no strict equivalent in the LDS) in May [...]

Recently, Julie Beck asked Mormon Mommy Blogs to bring her whatever questions they had.  A blog post went out to ask the questions women in the church had, whether about polygamy or women and the priesthood or any other topic.  Below are the questions I came up with based on my experience in the bloggernacle.  As [...]

 I always wondered how a General Authority could just show up at a Stake Conference and select a new Stake President (SP) in just 24 hours, most of the time not knowing anybody in the stake prior to his arrival.  With a Stake President selecting a new Bishop, he at least knows the people in the ward, [...]

During a fast and testimony meeting, a new sister gets up to bear her testimony.  She starts off pretty good, but then delves into her past, and explains that her father sexually molested her, and that the church didn’t do anything about it and he still holds his recommend.  You have heard this story before [...]

Your local community has a ballot initiative to uphold the traditional definition of marriage, and you’ve been asked as bishop to support the measure.  During this same time frame, you notice a reliable elderly couple has suddenly stopped coming to church. They had previously been very active, but are now conspicuously absent from the pews during sacrament meeting. You drop [...]

Something a little different from Bishop Bill this week: The other day I was thinking about all the “inactive” Mormons I’ve talked to over the past 30 years. In that time, I’ve been an Elders Quorum President twice, a bishop’s counselor twice, and a bishop. By inactive, I mean people that haven’t been to church [...]