The upcoming adjustments to the Sunday class meeting schedule in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will allow Relief Society and elders quorum meetings to take place every week again.
Instead of meeting every other week for about 50 minutes, these meetings will be 25 minutes long and take place after Sunday School classes.
In a post on the Relief Society Worldwide social media accounts, Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson said, “We are really enthusiastic about the change that’s coming in September, the opportunity we’re going to have every single Sunday to meet together as Relief Society sisters.”
The general presidency has been receiving a lot of questions about what this will look like — including counseling together, considering the best use of time on Sundays and preparing at home. President Johnson and her counselors, Sister J. Anette Dennis and Sister Kristin M. Yee, addressed this in their social media video and in an interview with the Church News.
Meeting weekly will focus more on the teachings of Jesus Christ, strengthen gospel learning at home, increase fellowship and belonging for women and help them feel that they have a voice in the Church, President Johnson said.
Counseling in Relief Society
For several years now, women have been counseling at the beginning of Relief Society by choosing a particular topic and then talking about it, with a focus on Jesus Christ.
“And the beautiful part of this is, that practice that we had, we are going to put to use during our lesson time in Relief Society,” President Johnson said.
Relief Society and elders quorum meetings will continue to teach from selected addresses from the most recent general conference. As local Relief Society presidencies and ward councils prayerfully consider which conference talks to use each week, President Johnson hopes they will choose talks with the needs and concerns of the sisters in mind.
Then, the Relief Society teacher will draw upon the doctrine and principles in the conference talk and have an open discussion — a counseling — with the Relief Society sisters about how those principles have application to them today through the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Sister Dennis said the last few years have been practice for what is coming now.
“We can make this counseling time or the discussion time really a council, which can deepen our relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ,” she said. “We want to always make sure that the focus is on Him. And as we counsel together as sisters, we are still going to feel like we are participating and have a voice. And we haven’t lost anything, really, through this change.”
A council and discussion rather than a lesson
It is crucial that local Relief Society presidencies let the sisters know the schedule of which talks will be discussed each week so that home study and preparation can take place.
President Johnson said that thinking about the Sunday time as a council or discussion, rather than as a lesson, will lead to the most productive and spiritually filling use of the time. Teachers will be more like discussion leaders, coming with good questions and guiding the responses to use the time wisely.
President Johnson said if she were leading a discussion in Relief Society on Sunday about the last general conference talk from Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, titled “Because of Jesus Christ,” she might begin the class this way:
“‘Sisters, I know you’re juggling lots of balls — the yellow ball, the green ball, the red ball, the striped ball and the polka dot ball. What daily acts of devotion are you engaging in to help you stay focused on Jesus Christ?’
“You see, with a question like that, the discussion is opened up, and we draw upon the principles so beautifully taught by Elder Renlund and seek to have application of those principles to the needs of our sisters.”
The teacher does not have to share everything from the talk nor feel like they have to continue using the same talk the following week. Meeting every week will allow members to study and counsel together about more talks, especially from the 15 prophets, seers and revelators who lead the Church.
Announcements in different ways
Sister Yee said it will be important to use the 25 minutes to counsel about these principles in the general conference talks, which means announcements have to look a little bit different.
“Sometimes you see that we take a quarter of the time in the meeting to do announcements. We’ve got to think about what’s most important to say, what’s brief and important, or maybe not at all, that we can share,” she said.
Other communication channels can be used such as email, text messages, WhatsApp groups, fliers, the chalkboard or whiteboard, the ward website or social media pages.
The presidencies should find communication channels that work for their sisters so that there is more time on Sunday.
“The Lord is teaching us here that He wants us to focus on those things that matter most, which is counseling about the things that matter to the sisters and their needs,” Sister Yee said.
