Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to post again now to bring you some additional Church news stories which have been reported recently. Earlier today, the Church held a news conference to pass along information about the first of a four-volume set containing the new narrative history entitled Saints.
Speakers during that news conference included Elders Dale G. Renlund and Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (who spoke respectively at the beginning and the end of that news conference), Elder Steven E. Snow, a General Authority Seventy who is also serving as Church Historian and Recorder, and Matthew J. Grow, who serves as the Director of Publications for the Church History Department, and who oversaw the publication of this volume.
The entire news conference, along with corroborating comments from the conference, can be found here, and those resources are well worthy of your time and attention. I can endorse them without the slightest hesitation.
The other news of which I spoke was published by the Church News, and includes this article highlighting tips from the Sunday School General Presidency about 3 easy things all of us can do to get more out of Sunday School, and this article, which provides more information about the home curriculum which Church members will be invited to use next year.
Based on these two articles, we have now received confirmation that the goal of the new home curriculum is to supplement and enhance rather than replace the Sunday School hour, which should put to rest any rumors about a 2-hour Church block possibly being announced next October.
As I previously mentioned, the intent of these new resources seems to be to place greater emphasis on the individual preparation each of us do for Church every week. And it appears the manual for home use will actually be replacing the "Class Member Study Guides"which each of us receive at the beginning of each year that did not previously go beyond suggesting which scriptural passages to study in advance.
I also wanted to report one additional temple development which has come to my attention. The Facebook page for the (now-renamed) Church of Jesus Christ Temples site (which site, as previously noted, is currently anticipated to be back up and running again on the last day of this month) has shared a picture taken on September 2 of this year which shows the continual progress on the meetinghouse adjacent to the Lisbon Portugal Temple. That temple, as I previously noted, is currently anticipated to be dedicated in mid-2019, and I have offered my opinion that that could occur in mid-to-late August.
All of these developments are most significant, and it will be interesting to see what will occur in the coming days, weeks, months, and years as more news comes in, and as the new resources which the Church has recently provided are more fully utilized by the entire membership of the Church. I continue to monitor all Church news and temple developments and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive them.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Miscellaneous Church News Reported
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
19 comments:
In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I disagree that this disproves the two-hour block rumor. Most iterations of that rumor I've heard say that all three "hours" right now will stay, but be shortened. And given it is clear our Sunday worship now begins with our study at home, this model would make it easier to go to the two-hour block. ("Teachers will still have manuals, but they are meant to be an additional reference to the home study.")
ReplyDeleteAnd this states that the new manuals won't be available until after conference, which is absolutely what would be required if the new manuals reference any changes announced at conference.
But since I've decided I believe the rumor, I see things through a different lens.
Michael Worley, thanks for stopping by to comment. The Church News has put out several articles over the last 3-4 months or so highlighting the new curriculum, and what has been said in those articles seems to indicate that the new curriculum is more for the purpose of having a universal curriculum that is used around the Church and to encourage each of us as Church members to be better prepared for Church each week than it is about moving towards a shortened schedule. Why would the Church release such a curriculum on a Church-wide scale which will be used by all organizations if the intention is to shorten the Church schedule, which might also shorten the capacity for more Church members to participate in such meetings?
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly free to believe whatever you desire to believe, and I would not try to persuade you to believe anything else. My point was more that, until any of the rumors are verified as true through either an official announcement or through statements from Church leaders, in General Conference or anywhere else, they are nothing more than rumors, and should not be taken as gospel truth.
That said, some particular comments made on an earlier thread on this blog pointed to the problem with this perpetual rumor. I will try to find that thread and post a link to it here, if that might be helpful to you or anyone else. Thank you for stopping by to comment. I appreciate hearing form you.
In 2004/2005 I lived in Queen Creek Arizona. It was rapidly growing and there were not enough buildings to meet in. There were 16 wards in my stake and we had 1 building in our stake boundaries. Many of the wards were farmed out to neighboring chapels. There were 5 wards per building. Sacrament stayed at the 1 hour 10 minute. Sunday School and Priesthood, Relief Society were shaved down to 40 minutes each. Total block time was 2 1/2 hours. I am praying for the 2 hour block!
ReplyDelete10 years ago I was a mistake that had a building going under renovation and so we had to shorten the meeting times on the other buildings to about two and a half hours to fit four or five words in one building until the other delayed completed at renovation.
DeleteChris, I was responding to Eric S. below when your comment came in. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have, as noted in other comments, been in wards where a shorter schedule was utilized as needed, but that was more because there was no other choice than because it was more convenient.
DeleteIf the Church is placing more responsibility on us as individual members and families for what we learn each week in Church (and that certainly seems to be the case), the feasibility or reasonableness of shortening Church on a worldwide scale may interfere with our ability to gain all we can from such meetings.
As i said, if something like that is in the works, then we will likely hear about it in October. Until that time, I see more to the argument that it is about individual and familial preparation for Church than to the argument that a shorter schedule will soon be initiated.
And the recent comments here seem to bear that out. In certain situations, Church schedules have been shortened by necessity. But doing so by design might undercut our ability to have the best and most complete experience we can as we attend Church each week.
That said, I trust the Brethren, and I trust the process whereby they receive revelation to direct the worldwide Church. If they do make the determination that a 2-hour block would provide a better experience, I am sure that all who are prepared for that prospect will be very happy about it.
But I would hope that all of us as Church members will also continue to use our testimonies of the inspired direction Church leaders give us whether or not that counsel is what we are hoping for or anticipating. Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts, Chris!
And my comment above I meant I was in a stake not a mistake.
DeleteI knew what you meant, Chris. No worries. Thanks.
DeleteOne of the branches I served in during my mission operated on a 2-2.5 hour block. It was a small building where the main room we had sacrament meeting in had dividers that could separate the main room into much smaller rooms for classes. The other half of the building had the kitchen, restrooms, and a couple of other classrooms all located in U-shaped hallway. Sacrament meeting generally lasted about 45 minutes to an hour depending on how many speakers there were/how long they spoke. Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society were each about 45 minutes and if I remember right, Primary and the youth classes were also split into the 45 minute classes.
ReplyDeleteThis was in Virginia. Obviously, this shortened church schedule was mainly due to the size of the branch (and I imagine there are many other branches around the world that do something similar), but I could see it potentially work for larger wards as well although sometimes it takes several minutes to get everyone where they need to go for classes and such. It would take a while for everyone to get used to it logistically, but it could certainly work.
Nephi, thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts. When I was a teenager, the building in which my ward met was being renovated and expanded to accommodate the anticipated future growth of our stake. At that time, we met in another ward building, and our block was shortened in a similar way as you have described. When our ward building was rededicated and we moved back to it, our ward kept the shortened schedule for a time until ward leaders were sternly told by the stake presidency that we were to go back immediately to the 3-hour block.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that a 2-hour block could be implemented? In our current situation, where our Church president has repeatedly gotten up in the night to write down detailed instructions from the Lord about what he should do, anything is possible. The one question is how likely it might be that a 2-hour block would be instituted Church-wide.
And for those of us not privy to the discussions taking place at Church headquarters, we either have the unsourced speculation or rumors of others, or reliance on what is publicly released. As I indicated in my comment above, the volume of articles published by the Church News leads me to believe that this new curriculum for Sunday School is more about encouraging greater personal responsibility for what each of us gets out of Church than it is about moving towards a prospective situation where the Church block would be shortened by an hour.
That said, anyone who would like to do so is more than welcome to read the Church News articles I shared above (and others on the new curriculum) and to let me know if I have in any way misinterpreted that particular content.
The links to much of that coverage can be found at the address below.
https://www.ldschurchnews.com/search?q=new+curriculum
In the meantime, thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts. I appreciate hearing from you. And i also want to send out an open invitation to any who are hoping and praying for the 2-hour block to come back and remind me that you all called it if the Church confirms that during the next General Conference.
That said, it is a little awe-inspiring to me that I am getting more comments lately here on this blog from people who either have not commented in a while or who are making their first comments on the thoughts I offer here. I appreciate any continuing comments from any of you at any time on any subject. Thanks again to you, Nephi, and to the rest of you who have read and commented here.
Eric S., I must have been replying to Nephi above as you posted your comment. Thanks for stopping by to share your thoughts. As mentioned above, I have served in a Sunday School Presidency (in a situation where at times, I was the one functioning member who was able to be at Church on a weekly basis).
ReplyDeleteAt the time of my service, one of my main responsibilities was making sure the youth got to their classes in a timely manner. At times, because I was just a few years older than the youth I was trying to "herd" to their classes, many felt they did not have to comply, and it was only at times when members of the bishopric or other presidency members who were there backed me up that they would then head to class.
My point in sharing this is to concur with you that getting to the next Church class takes time, especially in larger wards. Depending on how long that takes and how organized the efforts to move through the halls get, that certainly cuts into time for Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society.
Same thing goes for Primary. My wife and I, in serving together as Primary teachers a couple of years ago, watched the way the children got to their classes, which does take time.
So the matter of time spent getting to class would certainly play into any consideration of whether and in what manner any Church schedule should be abbreviated. Thanks for your great observations. I appreciate hearing your thoughts.
I just wanted to post an apology here to all of you who have previously commented, as I worry I might have been unduly dismissive of your excellent feedback. It is true that no one knows what is being deliberated at Church headquarters. It is likewise true that all of us are free to believe anything we want on any subject upon which the Church has not officially spoken out. In a similar manner, we are all free to advance our own opinions or interpretations of what has and has not been said. But I would hope that we would all take time to prepare ourselves for two scenarios in each case: times when the Lord verifies that our theories, hopes, or desires are in harmony with His will, and times when the Lord demonstrates to us the truth of his statement to Isaiah that His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts. That is all I hoped to convey by the comments I have shared in response to you all today, and I hope that was not misunderstood. Thanks to you all for your amazing and inspiring insights and experiences. I appreciated hearing from each one of you today. May the Lord continue to bless us all in our ongoing dialogue on such subjects.
ReplyDeleteHere, here! Let us be happy with either outcome.
DeleteThank you, Michael! I have often remarked that if one has a testimony of the validity of the process by which apostles and prophets have been called, and a testimony that what they say will always be in harmony with the Lord's will, then whatever might be counseled, advised, or announced, we should not have a problem accepting it. Either way, I have prayed to know in advance to know that whatever is said in General Conference is in harmony with the Lord's will, and I know that it will be.
DeleteI am also equally as sure that the days, weeks, months and years ahead will be filled with unprecedented developments. We have a prophet who knows how to receive and respond to the revelation of the Lord, and who has reportedly been woken up more frequently by such impressions since his ordination as such in January. So perhaps we are entering uncharted waters in terms of what will be occurring. And I for one can't wait to see it all unfold. Thanks again, Michael.
The matter of dropping Sunday School has been a source of rumor since at least the late 1970s if not earlier, but its role in helping support teaching by parents is crucial. The meetings of the Sunday block can likely be catogorized this way but my words may not be the best description:
ReplyDeleteSacramentL Partake of the Sacrament, it is an ordinance of the Church and a saving ordinance and that is why it is also presided over by the bishop or other leader in his absence. Talks teach doctrines, often experiences of successes and even failures in living the doctrines and the teachings are shared and the entire family is present for that.
Sunday School we divide by age groups and learn doctrine from the scriptures, studied sequentially. That sequential pattern will continue in the new program. Seminary teachers asked in the 1990s if sequential teaching might be included in Sunday School, not realizing it was largely already there but since we go through the major teachings too that is not always obvious.
Priesthood and RS: Learn doctrines by major topic and use the teachings of living prophets and that has developed over the last three decades from studying from a set manual to teachings of Presidents of the Church to now just conference talks, having a council meeting to discuss how we can do specific things better and the last Sunday being a topic the First Presidency and Twelve select. The first two were the sabbath-day emphasis and ministering.
Primary will now adopt the scripture teaching model for classes but the teaching will be more simplr and basic but the matter of teaching scripture more directly may be a real first and game-changer there.
None of the new manuals and materials are up as of now and from this date won't likely be up for at least another month so we will see on those then.
When I was in that Ward with the reduced hours because of their building renovation. They only reduced the meeting of priesthood Relief Society by half an hour because Sunday school is where more doctrine is taught. Sacrament and Sunday school maintained the full hour.
DeleteInteresting. I know that during our building renovation, Sacrament Meeting was an hour, followed by half an hour each for Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society, if memory serves me correctly. It was interesting that my ward did not go back to the full 3-hour block after the rededication of our building until the stake presidency called us on it.
DeleteEither way, I know beyond doubt that the extensive travel undertaken by those of the apostleship as they minister worldwide and the connections they have through the various chains of command to Church members around the world uniquely qualify them to understand exactly how any decisions at that level will impact the members worldwide. And that has been an interesting process to observe, especially recently. Thanks for this additional comment, Chris!
Thank you, James Anderson, for that overview and additional context. I for one agree with your assessment. If it has been a rumor since the 1970s (which is well before I was born) and nothing has come of it as of yet, then perhaps nothing will come of it in the near future either.
ReplyDeleteThat said, none of us who comment here (as far as I know) are privy to the discussions that are occurring at the general Church level, so while we all have our own feelings on this subject, I am content to wait and see what the Lord will reveal in General Conference. Whatever might occur, it is wonderful to have a prophet that has been woken up so frequently in the night to write down the revelations he is constantly and consistently receiving, and I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for us next month in General Conference. Whatever might occur in that regard, all of you can count on my bringing word of it to you all here. Thanks.
I guess I should also add that the branch I was in during my mission was about five years ago, so this was recent and as far as I am aware it is still on the 2-2.5 hour block. Great people and memories in that branch.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you and others here have said. If it is eventually shortened, great. If not, I'm perfectly fine with that, too. Just like with temple predictions, it is all speculation until something is confirmed one way or another. It makes for great and fun discussion.
Lastly, you can just call me Eric. I found Matt's blog about a year or so ago and began to follow it and then came across yours shortly thereafter. So I have been a reader for quite some time and just a little while ago decided to take part in the discussions. I noticed on Matt's blog that there is someone else named Eric so I thought it would be best to add in another letter just to differentiate.
Thanks for your updates and the efforts you put into this blog and thanks to all those who participate in the discussions.
Eric, thanks for this additional comment. I am glad you decided to contribute to the conversation, and I am touched that you have been reading for as long as you have. Anytime you would like to chip in to the conversation here, I would appreciate hearing from you. I was fortunate enough to acquire a Google account at a time when I could just go by my first name here on Blogger. I know that my current situation, to which I have previously referred, has at least one upside: I have the free time enough to catch developments within the Church almost as soon as they are reported. I could echo my thanks to all those who participate in these comment threads. The feedback shared by you all has contributed greatly to the ongoing dialogue on the issues I cover, and often, I find myself realizing that things I have said may have left certain aspects of things unconsidered. So I especially appreciate all who comment to correct, query, or clarify things I have previously said. I hope that my thoughts, which are just as imperfect as I myself am (if anything, I am perfectly imperfect), can continue to be helpful to all who read them. Thanks again to you all.
ReplyDelete