Ministering brothers and sisters will
have a ministering interview with their local leaders
at least once each quarter.
These quarterly interviews will be focused
on individuals and families.
The purpose of the interview, as President Russell M. Nelson
has explained it this morning, is to counsel
together about the well-being of assigned families
and individuals.
Present Nelson, again, has stated something of what
the agenda might include.
I copied off the questions he said would typically be raised
in a ministering interview.
How are the families and their individual members
getting along temporally and spiritually?
What are their challenges?
How are those challenges being met, and how can we help?
Are there current efforts and long-range plans moving them
closer to the Lord?
That really distills the essence of what
we're wanting to talk about, counsel
together about in this ministering interview.
So the focus will be on individuals.
It'll be on that kind of issue or progress,
I guess we could say, in their lives and the challenges
they face and what we can draw upon, what resources can
we draw upon to help them move forward.
It's really an effort to seek divine guidance together on
how best to minister in the Lord's way.
Simple as that sounds, my friends,
those interviews are absolutely crucial.
Without that information, the bishop
will have no way to receive the information he needs regarding
the spiritual and temporal conditions of his people.
One of the other benefits is the opportunity
to encourage ministering brothers and sisters,
to teach them, to help them to see ways
that they can minister differently and more
effectively.
That's an opportunity that the leaders have
that can also benefit everyone.
The frequency of ministering interviews
will vary considerably, but they should occur as often as needed
and as circumstances reasonably permit.
Once per quarter is a floor, not a ceiling.
Brothers and sisters, I fear that if ministering interviews
are not held routinely and as envisioned,
we could well end up making the situation worse
and that the added flexibility and scope that we envision
for ministering could result in less attention rather
than more.
"Have you done your home teaching?"
could be replaced by "Did you have any contact?
What?
Oh, sure, a text is good enough."
Those ministering interviews, when quorum and Relief Society
leaders hear reports and provide counsel,
may come to seem to you like the return of the sons of Mosiah,
when they shared joy in seeing what the Lord had done
in their missionary service.
Those periodic reports can be sweet highlights
in the leader's service.