He Said: Should We Always Accept Church Callings?

An issue that members of the LDS Church grapple with from time to time is the release from a calling. Callings are issued with no advanced discussion of how long they might last nor why they were even extended. Sometimes a member will turn down a calling but for the most part people accept callings particularly leadership callings. Callings like primary particularly the nursery are many times turned down. LDS Church leaders frown on people who don't accept callings.

Dallin H. Oaks said on the matter of callings:

We have a great tradition of unselfish service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... This is the way men and women prepare for the ultimate blessing of eternal life.

Still, there is room for improvement in the commitment of some. When I ask stake presidents for suggestions on subjects I should treat at stake conferences, I often hear about members who refuse Church callings or accept callings and fail to fulfill their responsibilities. Some are not committed and faithful. It has always been so. But this is not without consequence... My brothers and sisters, if you are delinquent in commitment, please consider who it is you are refusing or neglecting to serve when you decline a calling or when you accept, promise, and fail to fulfill.

Sometimes a calling lasts for several months and other times for years. I would say the average length of time I have seen is two to four years in a calling. The expectation by an LDS leader when giving a calling is that the person will stay in the calling until the leader decides to release you at some indeterminate date.

The ward leader called the bishop or the stake leader called the stake president make the final determination after consulting with their two counselors and an organization's leader usually called a president. Sometimes a president of an organization consults with his or her two counselors but many times they don't. A member of the bishopric or the stake presidency usually extends the calling. A rare exception is for secretaries when the president of the organization can extend the calling or in the relief society or priesthood when you are called to visit other members as a visiting teacher or home teacher.

The bottom line is that in making a calling it is to be based on revelation or a gut feeling by inspiration. So the leader may or may not use any rational thought process in the calling. It is supposedly from God and the member accepts that the person receiving it is inspired in making the calling and in releasing or changing a person in a calling. Mormons like to joke that it is

Sometimes in filling a calling it is based on availability. An opening occurs and from the pool of available people the position is filled. Then you have to get clearance from the ward or stake leadership. Once as a high priest group leader I suggested ten men to be an assistant group leader and was turned down all ten times. In the end I told the leader just to pick someone and I would work with whoever was called. He called a less active member who came on the week he was in charge of priesthood meeting which I rotated every three weeks.

Only every two to five years is there a major reorganization in the groups or organizations. Then people are fully considered for all the positions. However during the remaining time in-between many times a new move-in fills a position. In making a calling a leader might consider such things as the person's family life, moral worthiness, skills sets, knowledge of the area or potential knowledge about the calling, health, financial condition, etc. Many times the leader calls a person because they just like them or feel good about them. I have issued callings mostly based on disrupting the least amount of people in an organization. I would look at the availability pool which might be a few people and say which of these men would be able to fill calling and not turn me down.

Since I move quite a bit like thirteen times in the last 25 years I have served in every organization at the ward level except Bishop or a bishop's counselor nor in the relief society which is a woman's only organization. I have served in all other callings including in the bishopric as an executive secretary and all other clerk positions (ward, financial, membership), as well as elder's quorum presidency, high priest group leader, young men's leader, Sunday School presidency and teacher (all classes every age), primary teacher and nursery leader, ward mission leader, family history coordinator, seminary and institute teacher, temple worker, ward librarian, etc. I even served at the stake level as an executive secretary for four years.

One of the best ways to understand what constitutes a calling and how they work is to read Rachel Woods LDS Church Callings at About.Com. Her basic definition is:

In the LDS Church a "calling" is a position or assignment in which members have been asked to serve or perform. Members are called of God to serve each other, and all callings are important. Callings are voluntary, are issued by the proper authority, and are usually for a few years.

In the LDS Church which is a voluntary organization a calling is extended to a member to serve in various organizations which are broken down in a congregation or ward into ten groups: Bishopric (administration/leadership), priesthood, relief society, young men, young women, primary, ward mission, family history, and Sunday School. A calling may also be extended at the stake (synd/diocese) level in the same ten groups and an additional group called the High Council (men who oversee ten groups as well as the wards and priesthood groups under direction of the Stake President): Stake Presidency, High Council, Stake Relief Society Presidency, Stake Young Men's Presidency, Stake Young Women's Presidency, Stake Primary Presidency, Stake Family History Coordinator, and Stake Sunday School Presidency. To fully understand the organization of the church check out Wood's Organization of the LDS Church to understand the discussion if you are not a member of the church.

Members of the church do not ask for callings nor are they consulted by the ward Bishop or the Stake President who consults with their two counselors and leaders of the various groups in the issuing of a calling. The expectation in the LDS Church is that a member will accept whatever calling is extended or given to a member. A calling is supposed to be by revelation.

In my church life I have never turned down a calling that has been extended to me. I only questioned a calling once when they called me to be a boy scout leader. I told the man issuing the calling did you know that I have never been a boy scout and don't even know how to put up a tent. I suggested he might want to consider that since he had numerous eagle scouts there might be a person better suited. The next week I was called to be an assistant ward librarian.

In home teaching assignments which change more often than other callings it is not unusual for the high priest group leader or elder's quorum president to discuss the two to five families and the effectiveness of the two home teachers. So from time to time new families are assigned. The expectation in the LDS Church is that you will be a home teacher from the age of fourteen until you die. LDS leaders resist not giving all priesthood holders an assignment since there are hundreds of members and only about one hundred active priesthood holders.

Recently I became ill with diabetes and high blood pressure with a respiratory infection and asked for a few months off from my assignment. The bishop was understanding and talked to my high priest group leader. Instead of agreeing the man ignored my request and only mentioned the bishop had told him about my request. No more communication ensued so I kept home teaching the one or two families I was assigned that I could get in to homes. I have another lady that is in a rest home but I don't have permission to visit her.

I have on a couple of occasions mentioned to leaders something like if you want to release me I don't have a problem. One of them said no that is alright you are doing a good job and the other one said I guess it is time to think about calling someone else. I have had a couple of other occasions where I was released when a bishop didn't like my personality. I was serving as a gospel essential class in Vernal, Utah when a less active young man came in to my class for the day. I made a quote by Joseph Smith which he questioned. I was right across from the library so I stopped my lesson and walked over and got a manual which I gave him saying he could read it himself. He reported me to the bishop. The bishop told me I was not a loving person and released me the next week. I found that interesting since I was teaching for several months one student who had some real issues and had three very active sisters who came so he wouldn't be alone. We seldom got any other new convert baptisms or returning less active people.

I feel if a person has something happen in their life that affects them physically or emotionally that they should be able to consult with their leaders in continuing in callings. In the end in the LDS Church it is the leader's decision to retain or release a person. If you are also not worthy sometimes it is necessary to clear the air. Also if you are burned out and feel you are not being effective I think leaders should know so they can consider other options.

I think ninety percent of the time people can stay in callings without anything impacting them but ten percent of the time things come up after a year or two from job problems to family problems to psychological issues that might make releasing a person necessary. I think most leaders don't always communicate well enough nor hold interviews to determine where people are in life so there are times a person needs to ask to be released.

She Said: Should We Always Accept Church Callings?

Basically I agree with Dr. B. on this subject. The lifeblood of the Church is those faithful members who are willing to serve and do their part to build the kingdom. But there are always circumstances in our lives that might make it difficult to fulfill a calling. I think members should try to accept callings that are extended to them, seeing them as opportunities for growth and service, but that they should also feel free to discuss with Church leaders their personal situations and any reservations they might have.

I had an experience several years ago which taught me something about service in the Church. We attended Stake Conference one year and the Stake President urged all of the members of his Stake to commit to performing 4 hours per week of community service in addition to whatever they were already doing in the Church. For me, this instruction was completely overwhelming. I had 5 children at the time, and they were 7 years old and younger. I also had a demanding Church calling. I couldn't see any way I could find the time to do as he asked. Surely I should be exempted from such a task! The week following the conference, I was distressed as I pondered what I could do to fulfill the what our Stake President had asked of us. One afternoon, I was taking my daughter to her dance lesson when I passed our neighbor's house. I saw their young daughter sitting on the steps and I stopped to see if she was OK. She was locked out of the house and I was able to call her mom who had been detained from getting home on time. I offered to take the daughter to dance with me. I thus gave an hour of appreciated service with very little effort on my part. From this simple situation, I had an epiphany. I realized that, just going about my week, that there were many small things I could do as service in the community if I kept my eyes open. It wouldn't have to disrupt my normal routine, but it would just take a discerning eye.

I learned that if one is willing to accept callings and perform service, it is possible that a way will be provided for us to fulfill these obligations. Perhaps it will not be in the way that the previous holder of the calling did it. But maybe we can find a way to give this service that will fit with our talents and our other obligations.

I remember a man in our ward who was called as a Young Men's President. He was in his 70's at the time. I'm sure he could have been quite overwhelmed by such a calling. He wasn't able to play basketball with the boys, or go on long hikes with them, as other YM Presidents do. But he was able to call counselors who were younger, and he was able to contribute much time to the calling, a listening ear, and years of Church experience.

I hope Ward members will be sensitive to these things, also. Sometimes members aren't very good at recognizing that their brothers and sisters who serve are performing their callings without remuneration. These members have their own ways of doing things; they bring their weaknesses and life baggage as well as their strengths to the calling. They are often stretched to the limit with their family and vocational responsibilities. If you see something you don't like in the way someone is performing their calling, offer to help!

I see callings and lay leadership as one of the great strengths in our Church. Perhaps we will never be able to go to India and do Mother Teresa-type service. Most of us do not have millions of dollars to contribute to charitable causes. But we can be open to accepting callings outside of our comfort zones and put our drop of water into the bucket. Hopefully we will feel comfortable sharing our hesitations and our frustrations and our situations with our leaders, and they will be sensitive in making these callings and releasings.

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