True and Living Church

This coming Sunday our ward will be having a change in the Bishopric. For anyone that has been a member for any length of time will know this means we will be getting a new Bishop and Counselors.

Why would I bring this up?  For most people of the church this is obviously a big deal but, we don't get all bent out of shape when this happens.  Why?  Because we know as part of the true and living church things have to change.  People are rotated around in their callings, and things are meant to change.  Things are not stagnant in the true and living church.  The Prophet will keep getting revelation specific to our day and time.  Right now that mostly means new temples and similar things.

However, once in a while something that will have a bigger effect on things happens.  The Prophet within the last 2 years received revelation that the age for missionary service was to be changed.  This change has had a large impact on the number of current full time missionaries.  The impact of this revelation will be felt for years to come.  Changes to the meeting schedule also had a profound impact back in the day.  Consolidating meetings spread over the whole week to primarily a 3 hours block.  Much better use of buildings meant more units per building.

Sometimes the revelation is so great and will have such a profound impact on the church it has been codified in the Doctrine and Covenants.  Such as the 2 official declarations regarding the ending of plural marriage and the fact that all worthy males could now hold the priesthood regardless of race or origin.
See Official Declarations for additional information

So for this reason we as member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are not surprised when change occurs.  Some are hard to understand and others make sense right from the first moment you hear about it.  Sometimes people are in a calling for a brief time.  Others may be in their calling for years.  I heard of people in the past that were Bishop for 24 years.  Now it is common that a Bishop is only in for around 5 years.  Stake Presidents also know that they will only be in their calling for around 9 years.   Why the change?

In the church the Bishop, his counselors and for that matter anyone else with a calling is not being paid to do what they do.  I was cub master for about 3 years.  I never received a dime in remuneration for all my service.  Naturally I could have rejected the calling when it was first extended.  Few people do.  There are circumstances at times that everyone does not know that will make such a calling hard to fulfill for the person being called.  When presented with this new information sometimes the calling is no longer extended.
Think about a person that is working the night shift.  He will not be able to properly fulfill a calling with the youth where weekly activities held in the evening are a major portion of the program.  Now if this person is called as a Sunday instructor it might work.  If people did know the full extent of the employment circumstances they likely would not have extended the call in the first place.

Because the church is made up of volunteers, things have to change.  The Bishop can not be Bishop forever.   He has a job to support his family and the 30+ hours a week he may put in does effect his family.  So after a period of time a new person is called.  This sets off other changes and so on.  When people move or change employment they also may need to change callings.

So no one is ever really surprised when changes in leadership occur.  They occur all the time in the true and living church.
This is not so much the case in other christian churches.  It appears to be a big deal when the pastor decides to leave the congregation.  They are fixtures at the local meeting house.  They also generally derive their income from that congregation.  If membership dwindles, their income is likely directly effected.
Not so much a big deal in the true and living church.  Boundaries of units change when circumstances change.  New units may be created, and units may be dissolved.

But, that is also the wonderful things.  The meeting houses are not stagnant.  The units that attend the meeting houses are not stagnant.  As circumstances change so do the units, buildings and other supports of the church.   As the population changes so does the church.  Less people usually means less members and therefore less units, and buildings.  The reverse may also be true.

In my current unit over the last 50 years they have divided the unit multiple times, moved from meeting in a rented warehouse to a permanent building, and also merged in a unit as attendance and overall membership dwindled.  All that in just one little city.  Think of what is happening on a regular basis all over the church.
As needs change so does the church.
I served my mission in Northern Brazil.  Many of the locations I  served in back some 20 years ago were very new to the church.  In some cases the church had been present for around less then 3 years.
Units had to be split as the membership increased.  Eventually, new meeting houses had to be built to accommodate the increase in units.  Now in one location they have gone from just one small branch to a whole stake with 5 units spread over the city and a neighboring town.

As one person said in a fireside I recently attended - God stopped communicating back in the day (dark ages) because the "church" stopped asking questions.  Basically, this is what defines the true and living church.  The flow of information, the flow of revelation, the flow of questions and the flow of response to said questions.

This is why we are not so shocked there is going to be change.  It is necessary.  And the Lord will not do anything until he reveals it to his servants - Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

So if you have questions about your church or churches in general, why not ask.  And the who better to ask the the Lord himself.
That is what Joseph Smith, Jr. did and I'm not totally sure he was expecting have happen what  happened.

But, you too can get your answers and then you will not be so surprised when change comes along.  You'll understand the church is to be dynamic and ever changing.


Buaidh - NO - Bas