What is a Mormon? Post 2

Local congregations are led by volunteer, unpaid members. Both men and women serve in assigned leadership positions. Membership in the church requires commitment and dedication, and great time and energy is given to serving fellow church members. I have personally been asked to serve as a teacher to children in our church primary, as a leader over the teenage girls (Young Women), as the compassionate service leader (organizing ward members to meet the needs of fellow members when babies are born, or in illness or tragedy…), as the ward activity leader-party planner ☺ , as the seminary teacher (seminary is an early morning scripture study class for kids ages 14-18. They meet each school morning at 6 a.m. for an hour of spiritual instruction before heading off to High school). I’ve also served as a training leader (Stake primary presidency) to help train newly called teachers and leaders of children, and most recently I’ve been asked to serve in our Relief Society Presidency. I am one of two counselors to the President, whose responsible for the spiritual and temporal welfare of all the women in our ward age 18 years and older. More on Relief Society and its mighty work in a later post.

Because service in our congregations is volunteer and unpaid, you’d think it would be sketchy at best. Quite the contrary; church members are dedicated in doing the best they can in the calling they hold-no matter what that calling is. In the Mormon church you may have a call to teach children for a time and then be asked to lead the entire congregation as the bishop. No one is elected to their position, each is asked to serve by the ecclesiastical leader-or bishop-of the congregation. Assignments to serve as bishop come from the local hierarchy of local church clergy, and so on. This system of service is marvelous, because we all lift and help one another knowing we aren’t perfect but that we all are doing the best we can-and knowing that sooner or later we may be standing in the service responsibility of one of our fellow ward members!