BREAKING NEWS: Adjustments Announced to Youth Programs

Hello again, everyone! During the Saturday Afternoon Session of General Conference, Church President Russell M. Nelson announced infrastructural changes to Aaronic Priesthood Quorums and young women groups. As subsequently outlined by Elder Cook, young men presidencies at the ward level will be released effective immediately. Bishops will take oversight to lead and mentor the Priests' Quorum, as specified in scripture, and his two counselors will oversee the work of the Teachers' and Deacons' Quorums respectively. To assist the ward bishopric, adult advisers to the young men will continue to be called and serve.


In the meantime, the young women president in each ward will now report directly to the bishop. And young women presidents will take a greater role in counseling with the young women with whom they serve. Young men presidencies will continue to serve on the stake and general levels, but the Stake Young Men's President will now be one of the stake high councilmen. Additionally, another member of the stake high council will now serve as the Stake Sunday School President.

The traditional Bishopric's Youth Committee will be discontinued and replaced by a Ward Youth Council. Weekly activities for young men and young women will continue, but the descriptive phrase "Mutual" will now be retired, with the activities being called "Aaronic Priesthood", "young women" or "youth" activities. The ward budget for youth will be equitably divided between young men and young women, with an additional budget allotment to be made available for Primary activities.

Additionally, at all levels, the usage of the word "auxiliary" will be replaced. Those serving on a general level in the Relief Society, Sunday School, Young Men, Young Women, and Primary General Presidencies will now be known as "General Officers",  while those leading on the ward and stake level will be called ward or stake officers.  The details specific to organizational changes in the young women will be outlined more completely by Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President, tonight during the Women's Session of General Conference.

I know that I, as recently as this week, had noted my feeling that the infrastructure of wards and stakes would not be changed as far as the Sunday School, Young Men, Young Women, or Primary was concerned, but as soon as these adjustments were announced, I received instantaneous confirmation that they were in harmony with the Lord's will for His Church at this time. Clearly President Nelson, his counselors, and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are very concerned about the youth and children of the Church, and are making these adjustments to enable the youth to reach their fullest potential, and to bring all organizations of the Church into harmony with the revelations by which they were originally governed. And that is wonderful to see occurring.

I will have further analysis on this tonight. In the meantime, that does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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.




(Added at 6:31 PM): Tonight during the Women's Session, Sister Bonnie H. Cordon presented changes to the Young Women theme to a more individual basis, and announced a new flexibility with the organization of the Young Women classes according to local circumstances, and at the discretion of the ward Young Women president, with the approval of the bishop. Class presidencies will continue to serve, but the names of the groups as they previously existed (Beehive, Mia Maid, and Laurel) are discontinued and retired, effective immediately.

Each young women group will have a class presidency, which will be mentored by ward and stake young women presidencies and those called as advisers. As soon as these changes were announced, I felt the Spirit testify to me that they are in harmony with the Lord's will for young women at this time. And I cannot wait to see how these changes impact the faith and strength of youth groups going forward. It is also worth noting that the originally-cited source from the Newsroom has now been updated to reflect this information as well. Aside from these developments, I anticipate that, at least, there will be new temples announced at some point tomorrow, but I don't know when that might occur or if there will be anything else announced.

But I continue to monitor all such developments, along with other Church news and temple updates, and will bring word of those to you all here as I become aware of such things. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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.