181st Annual General Conference — Church News coverage
In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Church Welfare Program, President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency invited all members worldwide to plan and participate in a "Day of Service."
"Our Heavenly Father hears the prayers of His children across the earth pleading for food to eat, clothes to cover their bodies and for the dignity that would come from being able to provide for themselves," President Eyring said during the Saturday morning session of general conference. "Those pleas have reached Him since He placed men and women on the earth. ... Because the Lord hears their cries and feels your deep compassion for them, He has from the beginning of time provided ways for His disciples to help. He has invited His children to consecrate their time, their means and themselves to join with Him in serving others."
President Eyring said that although the official name associated with service has changed over the years — the Law of Consecration, the United Order or the current name of the Church Welfare Program — the principles remain the same.
"The names and details of operation are changed to fit the needs and conditions of people," he said. "But always the Lord's way to help those in temporal need requires people who out of love have consecrated themselves and what they have to God and to His work."
President Eyring spoke of the opportunities members have — provided by the Lord — to help others in need and mentioned his hope to help renew and strengthen individuals' commitment to act.
"The Lord regularly sends wake-up calls to all of us," President Eyring said. "Sometimes it may be a sudden feeling of sympathy for someone in need. ... All of us have been touched with feelings of sympathy for others we don't even know."
It is through turning feelings of sympathy into a decision to act on an individual's covenants that will bring blessings into the lives of those who are served, as well as to individuals who seize the opportunity to give, he said.
"Wherever you live, you have seen that miracle of sympathy turned to unselfish action," he said. "It may not have been in the wake of a great natural disaster. I have seen it in a priesthood quorum where a brother rises to describe the needs of a man or a woman who seeks an opportunity to work to support themselves and his or her family. ... What happens in that priesthood quorum and what happened in the flooded houses ... is a manifestation of the Lord's way to help those in great need become self-reliant. We feel compassion and we know how to act in the Lord's way to help."
The principles at the foundation of the Church Welfare Program are not only for one time or one place, President Eyring said, but they are for all times and places.
"Those principles are spiritual and eternal," he said. "For that reason, understanding them and putting them down into our hearts will make it possible for us to see and take opportunities to help whenever and wherever the Lord invites us."
President Eyring shared four principles to guide individuals in helping in the Lord's way.
First, individuals are happier and feel more self-respect when they can provide for themselves and their family, allowing them to then reach out and take care of others.
"I have been grateful for those who helped me meet my needs," he said. "I have been even more grateful over the years for those who helped me become self-reliant. And I have been most grateful for those who showed me how to use some of my surplus to help others. ... When I am generous to Heavenly Father's children in need He is generous to me."
Second, the power and blessing of unity.
"The increased feeling of brotherhood is true for the receiver as well as the giver," he said. "When we join hands to serve people in need, the Lord unites our hearts."
As individuals work together they are able to form a common bond and experience blessings and opportunities in life that come only from working in unity with others.
Third, drawing family members into the work so they can learn to care for each other as they care for others.
"Your sons and daughters who work with you to serve others in need will be more likely to help each other when they are in need," he said.
Forth, seek out the poor.
"It is the duties of the bishop to find and provide help to those who still need assistance after all they and their families can do," he said. "I found that the Lord sends the Holy Ghost to make it possible to 'seek and ye shall find' in caring for the poor as it does in finding truth."
President Eyring invited all members to plan a service project as they reach out to others. He said that in planning a project individuals must prepare spiritually, choose recipients whose needs will touch the hearts of those who will give the service and draw on the power of the bonds of families, quorums, auxiliary organizations and people in the communities. As individuals follow those guidelines, the good effects of the service are multiplied, causing a lasting legacy long after the project ends.
"For the Master I extend thanks for your work to serve the children of our Heavenly Father," he said. "He knows you and He sees your effort, diligence and sacrifice. I pray that He will grant you the blessing of seeing the fruit of your labors in the happiness of those you have helped for the Lord."
