Ministering
Through ministering assignments, the needs of family members and individuals are known to the ward. 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Mary Richards, Church News
Once, during a leadership conference in North Carolina, an elders quorum president asked for advice on ministering in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, responded, “Love the people and pray for them. The Lord will tell you what to do.”
During his remarks that day, President Eyring said ministering to others is a precious gift and opportunity. And every leader is charged with answering a similar question: “What can I do to help the Savior have people come unto Him?”
Ministering includes identifying needs, extending the Savior’s relief and inviting others to make and keep covenants with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, explained Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson in a recent episode of the Church News podcast.
President Johnson was joined by Elder Robert M. Daines, a General Authority Seventy who is assigned to the Church’s Priesthood and Family Department. They hoped their conversation modeled for the membership of the Church how Relief Society and elders quorum leaders counsel and work together.
Connecting Needs With Resources in the Bishops’ Storehouse
Elder Daines said in the New Testament, the Savior’s interactions and healings were often focused on connecting that person to somebody else.
“When He healed the leper, he said, ‘Go show yourself to the priest so that you can start joining in the community and you can attend with other people’ (see Luke 17:14),“ Elder Daines said. ”I think that’s a lot of what I’m supposed to do. So anything that can help me connect the person I’m to minister to, either to me or to others in the ward, I think that’s a win.”
Those connections to others in the ward and identifying the needs of members can be discussed in ministering interviews — which should be held at least once each quarter — and then brought to the ward council.
President Johnson said during ministering interviews, Relief Society and elders quorum presidencies learn what’s in the bishops’ storehouse, so to speak.
“The bishops’ storehouse isn‘t just about temporal, physical kinds of resources. It’s about people resources, too, and skill sets and experiences that we bring to bear to address one another’s needs,” she said.
The assets in the bishops’ storehouse include the attributes and the skill sets of the members of the unit, she explained.
Ministering
Two young women sit together at a chapel in Paraguay. Youth can also be part of ministering assignments.2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.One example of matching a need and a resource in the bishops’ storehouse is discovering that there is a woman in the ward who wants to go to the temple but doesn’t drive anymore, and there’s another woman who goes to the temple by herself every week and can minister to the other woman by taking her to the temple.
Inviting to Make and Keep Covenants
Ministers can remember their spiritual responsibility and covenant opportunity and privilege to invite people to prepare for and make and keep covenants with God and Jesus Christ, President Johnson said.
Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a talk he gave on ministering in 2023 said that “inspired invitations change lives. When invitations help us make and keep sacred covenants, we draw closer to the Lord and each other.”
So as ministers, President Johnson said, “I hope we’re also issuing invitations to be prepared for the next ordinance, the sacrament on Sunday. If a person to whom I minister has not yet been endowed, I hope that I’m asking the right kinds of questions to help them think more seriously about being endowed and perhaps help in the preparation for endowment.”
Ministering brothers and sisters are key to preparing members for and keeping them on the covenant path, she said.
And when assignments are made, ward leaders can carefully consider young men and young women and how to give them an opportunity to succeed in ministering as well.
Being Receptive to Ministers
Elder Daines said while much is said about what people should do as the minister, there is also a lot Church members can do as the person being ministered to.
Once he took a survey of his elders quorum about ministering. He found the only thing that predicted whether the members were able to do their assignments was whether their assigned families were receptive.
“I think there’s a lot we can do to help people feel comfortable and open the door a little bit,” Elder Daines said.
It can be easier to say “I’m doing fine” than to accept help or a visit, President Johnson said.
“And yet, when we receive relief, we’re giving someone else an opportunity to fulfill their covenant responsibility,” she said.
Elder Daines said he is grateful when he knows what he can do for others. “If somebody says, ‘This would help me, Rob,’ I’d really like that.”
More information about ministering is found in chapter 21 of the General Handbook and at ministering.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
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