Near the end of her recent Conference address, Sister Bonnie Oscarson noted that “our young women are amazing. They have talents, unlimited enthusiasm, and energy, and they are compassionate and caring. They want to be of service. They need to know they are valued and essential in the work of salvation.”
We are, I think, in the early days of identifying assignments and tasks and ways for young women to contribute to their wards and congregations. Accompanying older women as “ministering sisters” and performing housekeeping tasks in temple baptistries are officially mandated assignments toward that goal, as are the local, more unofficial assignments like ward greeters in sacrament meetings and computer assistants in Family History Centers with which wards are experimenting.
Maybe someday service assignments to young women will seem as obvious and routine and natural as those assigned to young men. The assignments of the Aaronic Priesthood – some of them scripturally mandated – seem so obvious and natural to us now that it might be hard to imagine a time when “What should we do with our boys?” was as much a problem for leaders as today’s question of “What should we do with our girls?” But it’s so …
Early in 1899, George Q. Cannon answered the query of an Idaho Latter-day Saint who wanted to know “Why do we ordain boys twelve or fourteen years old to the office of Deacon, when Paul says to Timothy in his first Epistle, 3:12, ‘Let the Deacons be the husbands of one wife’?” President Cannon’s response recognized that boys needed to gain experience, but his vagueness also hints at some uncertainty as to exactly what experience the boys needed in order to prepare for their future priesthood roles. In the Juvenile Instructor, he wrote:
Paul in referring to the branches of the Church as then organized, had in mind adults who had been ordained. Probably in those branches, he most of the members, if not all, were newly converted; none had been born in the Church who were at that time old enough to hold the Priesthood. With our Elders, even in these days it is a very uncommon thing to ordain, while out in the world [i.e., in the mission field where nearly everyone was a convert], very young men to any office. Mature men are frequently ordained as Deacons and act as such.
But the circumstances which surround us here in Zion are entirely different from those which surrounded the Saints in the days of Paul, and of which he wrote. Thee is no impropriety whatever in young men, even as early as at the age of twelve or fourteen years, acting as Deacons. They receive a training that is very valuable to them, and we know of many who have been and are greatly benefitted by acting in this position, meeting with the Deacons’ quorum and receiving such instructions as are proper to be imparted to them in this capacity.
The cases to which Paul refers, therefore, and those that exist in Zion, are not at all parallel. All who have had experience among the young Deacons of the Church are doubtless convinced of the propriety of ordaining our boys early, if worthy, that they may become thoroughly familiar one by one with the duties of the various offices and grads of the Priesthood.
Okay, but what duties? what training? what actions? what instructions? It’s all very vague …
It must have seemed just as vague to at least some of his readers, because one, an unnamed former bishop, wrote in to the Juvenile Insructor to outline what he had done to provide specific training to deacons in his ward – incidentally demonstrating the absence of guidance from the Church itself as to details we take it for granted today should be standard.
As soon as a boy was eight years old I tried to see that he was baptized, and soon after that, say from two to six months, I invited and urged him to attend the Deacons’ meetings. If he seemed to take an interest and to be regular in his attendance, I ordained him a Deacon at the age of nine or ten years.
I had three brethren of my ward to whom I gave a mission to meet with the Deacons, not for the purpose of presiding, but to help the presidents of the quorum in getting up their program and in instructing them and the quorum generally in their duties. One of these brethren was also to be present each night that the meeting house was open to direct in providing fire and fuel, dusting, attending to the lighting, etc., – to be with the boys and teach them heir duties. I had four Deacons’ quorums and these quorums took turns in presiding over this part of the work in the meeting house.
When the boys reached thirteen to fifteen years of age I ordained the presidents of the Deacons’ quorums to the office of Teacher. My reasons for taking the presidents as a rule was that other boys could thus be permitted to be president and gain the experience and enjoy for a time at least that post of honor. At seventeen to nineteen years of age, faithful Teachers I considered worthy to be ordained Priests.
I found no difficulty in interesting the little fellows in their work. As a rule they were faithful and anxious to do their duty.
While President Cannon was dubious of the propriety of ordaining deacons at age nine or ten, he was “in entire accord” with the rest of the former bishop’s plans. “The Priesthood,” he replied, “might almost be considered a graded and progressive educational system.
It seems irregular, and generally cannot be attended with the best results, to ordain men Elders and Seventies who have never acted as Deacons, Teachers or Priests. The late President Woodruff always regretted that he had not been a Deacon and a Teacher. His first ordination was to the office of a Priest, and while holding that office he went upon hi first mission. …
We certainly think it would be excellent training for all our youths if they would act for a time in the offices of the lesser Priesthood before being ordained to the higher.
The same with our girls as with our boys, I say. Our daughters need an equivalent opportunity to act in small things, learning to act in greater ones, building to be missionaries, auxiliary leaders, and women in homes of their own. Whether experience teaches that our Young Women need a program as organized as that of the Aaronic Priesthood, or that it is best to provide a host of opportunities to serve guided by more general principles, hasten the day when it will be taken for granted that our girls are known as “valued and essential in the work of salvation.”
I think that replacing Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching with this new Ministering concept is a step in the right direction. While it was being explained in General Conference, my wife and I both cheered that it is to include the young women. Then I turned to my wife and grinned and told her: “I think a wise Elder’s quorum president is going to call a Compassionate Service Leader, just like Relief Society has.”
Amen, amen, and amen. Including the young women in ministering visits is such a great idea. In our ward, we have primarily enjoyed having sister missionaries. They continue to amaze me with their maturity, understanding of the gospel, and ability to reach people that the elders seem unable to connect with. A new sister missionary of only four months service gave one of the best talks on service and charity this last Sunday in Sacrament meeting. I hold great hopes that as these sisters return to their home wards, that they will be able to help find new ways for young women to serve and contribute in meaningful ways, and show examples of leadership that they have learned on their missions.
This is gold.
I had the sister missionaries (because that’s who is in my ward) visit my seminary class to act as investigators and pose questions to which the students were then supposed to give a scripture-based answer. (I put them into groups of three for moral support and gave them five minutes prep time just because.) The kids loved it, and the way they rose to the challenge was impressive, but what really struck me was that when the class was over, some of the girls swarmed the missionaries, exchanging contact information and arranging to do splits. This was with no prompting whatsoever. The next morning someone who had slept in the day before said, “I missed the missionaries? Aw, man!” and a young woman replied, “Dude! You missed the BEST lesson!” To which I could only say, “Hello? Ouch?” But to your point, yes: they are willing and eager and thrive under example and opportunity. (Okay, now that I’ve typed that, I’m realizing it’s just really self-evident, isn’t it?)
Bruce: You must be inspired about having a compassionate service leader in Elders Quorum, because I was just thinking that this morning. But at the same time, I wonder if that would compartmentalize it too much or if the leader would help the quorum stay focused on service? I guess I don’t know enough about how the Relief Society does it to guess…
The new EQ will have a lot to learn from the RS.
Self-evident after the fact, maybe, but not at all obvious until we’ve seen it work, Cate. Thanks for typing that out!
Oh, by the way – my 13-year-old absolutely amazing daughter was so excited about the opportunity to formally minister. She already does a lot on her initiative (like her mother and grandmothers), but she is excited to get to do this too.
The Lord will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, and ministering certainly counts as one of them.
One of the difficulties in rolling out new programs is that certain scriptural mandates clash with modern practice(like Paul’s married deacons). In this case, the office of Teacher in the Aaronic priesthood has the duty to “watch over the Church and strengthen them, and see that there is no iniquity among them.”(which is why deacons don’t home teach, and why block teaching, ward teaching, and home teaching all involve the word “teacher.”)
Is ministering to be like missionary work, where it’s an essential priesthood duty, but sisters are welcome to participate if they want? Or does the Church go the way BCC recommends and give up altogether the notion that members watch over one another spiritually?
I’m interested to watch this unfold, and as the father of a daughter who is keenly aware of being left out of her brother’s cub scout pack, have a personal interest in seeing the daughters of Zion grow to the full stature of their potential.
Just wanted to say that the tasks in the temple baptistry are (or will be— software upgrades, equipment, and training have to be put in place first if not already there) more than just housekeeping tasks. It has been thrilling to watch here at my temple the girls actively and enthusiastically perform the scripturally mandated recording process which has been rolled out where I am over this past couple of weeks. This is a big deal, wherein what they record on earth is recorded in heaven. I don’t think this has been fully recognized. I know, from having spent the last 18 months recording ordinances of all kinds that it is no small thing, and I am thrilled to know that the young women can share in this real and meaningful service.
I had not heard of this development, Coffinberry, That IS significant.
I hadn’t realised fully that the young women would be sharing in the recording duties in the baptistry, so that is good to know.
While agreeing with all the foregoing comments, I wonder why nobody has mentioned Young Women class presidencies, which have been around since at least the early 1970s. These are (at least on paper) parallel to Aaronic Priesthood quorum presidencies and sit with them in Bishops’ Youth Councils. While not being assigned to do exactly the same tasks, they have been given organisation and leadership experience.
Speaking personally, as a young woman in the 1970s I was called as YW Secretary, and many other girls I know had Primary callings. More recently, the focus on temple and family history consultants has been to call youth, girls and boys both, to serve in this area particularly due to their technology skills. So while I applaud the newest assignments, I don’t think that the girls have been devoid of formal service opportunities – or if they have, it’s not been because the programmes didn’t allow for it.
Alison, thanks for the reminder. I suppose we really should include those callings.
For myself, I tend to overlook that kind of opportunity because it was never extended to me. I lived in three different states during my MIA years, and I was never a member of a class presidency. In two of those wards, there were five girls my age: The other four were class officers, and they would meet and do whatever they did (I never knew), and then I would be invited to join them for class, after waiting in the hallway for them to finish their secret meetings with advisers. I was never a member of a Bishop’s Youth Council, or even a visitor at one. To my mind, service/leadership opportunities, at least for youth, don’t really exist when you have to wait to be called — or not — by a bishop. They count when everyone who wants to serve is allowed to serve. I mean, what if the only deacons allowed to pass the sacrament for a full year were the three who were called by the bishop and given those special privileges while all the other boys could only sit and watch?
I know what you mean about not having the opportunity to serve on a class presidency or on a bishop’s youth council, Ardis! And I take your point about a blanket opportunity via the priesthood not being available to the girls. But in reality, don’t young men require at least assigning or mentoring in their priesthood duties such as home teaching or preparing/blessing the sacrament? They can’t just up and do those things without some form of direction or supervision. For youth (or anyone) serving in family history consultant callings, they are free to do as much – or as little – as they wish in that calling, with input from ward leaders who are made aware of members who need help. And those callings, just like advancement to an office in the Aaronic Priesthood, are instigated by an interview with a priesthood leader.
You’re touching on what is an achingly painful point, Alison, and I don’t trust myself to say much more. But I have to clarify that I wasn’t referring to girls sitting and watching the boys — I was trying to draw an analogy to my own situation by supposing what it would be like for the leftover boys to sit and watch the favored few boys. I have to make that clear so that nobody supposes that anything in this post is a demand for ordaining women.
I don’t back down, though, from the position that it is not an opportunity to serve when you have to wait to be invited to be allowed to serve, and nobody ever invites you no matter how ready, willing, and able you are. The interview is not the barrier — being seen by a priesthood leader in the first place and being given that interview is the barrier.
Then I have to say that an invitation, in almost all of those cases, would be necessary for someone to serve – ministering young women, home teachers, any calling. I know of one situation where there is a young man aged 12 who is not involved in specifically Aaronic Priesthood duties because although he is a member of the Church one of his parents is not and has not agreed to him being ordained at this time. That, to me, must be the most difficult situation of all, and given your experience as a youth I’m sure you will agree.
Also, while it has been the subject of some derision, the YW Personal Progress programme, when used as it was intended to be used, is a wonderful gateway for Young Women to serve in many ways as well as gaining new skills and building themselves spiritually. They choose what they want to do, when they want to do it, and even who they would like to teach/mentor/support them. It’s a fantastic framework for them.
Ardis, one of my sons was the 5th member of an Aaronic Priesthood quorum where he was the odd one out. That was a difficult time for him, so I have empathy for your situation. All in all, though, I view these recent developments for our YW as nothing but a positive, and a step in the right direction. Now it has me wondering what a Title IX provision might look like in the church to promote even more equity between genders.
Ardis — your high school years must have been frustrating. No one should have to go to church and feel invisible. I can see you as a good YW leader, because you would see the invisible ones and make sure they were seen.