I was planning on doing a General Conference review, looking at 8 or 10 talks from the recent Conference — but I’m not quite up for that today, and another week of reflection will probably improve the post. So let’s think more broadly and more generally about how things are going in the Church. What’s doing okay, what doing better than okay, and what is not even doing okay? How is the new Presidency of Pres. Nelson and Pres. Oaks changing things for the better or not so better?
I’m mostly thinking in terms of church governance and practices, not so much at doctrine or policy, but y’all can chime in with an opinion on any topic, I suppose. Here are five areas and my subjective grade of how things are going.
- Missionary Program: Okay. The change to 18 for young men and 19 for young women has had mixed results. It seems to be good for the young women, many of whom want to serve and being able to serve at 19 is good. It seems to be tough for the young men to serve at 18, and I attribute the spike in ERMs (early-returning missionaries) mostly to the age change for young men. Another self-inflicted crisis. Changes to allow less formal missionary attire in the field and more frequent contact with family back home via phone or Skype are steps in the right direction. I still think they need to work on making the whole missionary experience more enriching for the missionary and less of a grind.
- New Curriculum: Not Okay. We all had high hopes for an improved curriculum. I was hoping for manuals that actually helped teachers and students by, you know, putting more and better content into the manuals that could actually help teachers teach and students learn more facts and details about the scriptures. The new curriculum goes in the other direction: application, application, application. It’s Mormon Socialization 101, masquerading as a scripture course. For me, my home-centered, church-supported study course is reading the New Testament, using Wayment’s translation and other scholarly (not LDS) commentaries to learn more about the NT, and ignoring the LDS manual. That’s probably not what the LDS curriculum gurus want from the home-centered church-supported program, but the Church isn’t really providing much support.
- Change Is In the Air: Better Than Okay. I think over the past decade or two Church programs and practices were pretty much stuck in a status quo holding pattern. Suddenly under the direction of Pres. Nelson, change is in the air. You might not agree with all the changes, but at least change is a possibility now. The reversal of some or all of the November Policy only three and a half years after doubling down on it even shows they will reverse course if a program or policy isn’t working. This seems like a positive change in how things are running at the COB. It should certainly encourage leaders or staff who are tasked with planning or proposing changes and improvements in various programs. Their plans might actually get implemented now. The new two-hour block on Sundays seems like the best evidence of a new willingness to enact positive changes. I’ve heard talk about this change for twenty years. Pres. Nelson finally made it happen.
- Temples: Okay. Elder Bednar’s talk encouraging the membership to talk more openly about the temple was surprising. It runs counter to a century of counsel to the contrary. We all remember what happened to people who publicly praised the last round of temple changes in 1990 (several were called in and reprimanded by their local leaders for talking publicly about the temple). The problem, of course, is what you or I think of talking about (honest discussion of temple activities, the history of the temple liturgy, the good things and bad things about the current presentation, the nature of the recent changes) are not what the leadership thinks we should be talking about (it’s so wonderful, it makes me feel so wonderful, everyone should get a recommend and attend weekly, etc.). So I’m not going to talk about it in any detail. But I will say that I attended the Salt Lake Temple last week and I think the most recent changes are a good thing that most people who attend the temple will be happy with. I would have graded this topic better than okay except the Church still does a terrible job preparing people for their first temple experience and in addressing honestly the sources and history of LDS temple liturgy.
- Bishops and Interviews: Not Okay. The Church absolutely needs to provide bishops and stake presidents better training in pastoral skills and interview procedures. Additional upgrades to interview procedures and practices should certainly be part of this. Just allowing a parent to attend if they so request is a first step, not a final solution. I hope they can be proactive about this instead of waiting for more and more bad media coverage to force their hand at some point. So often LDS management at the senior level consists of doing nothing until a crisis forces some sort of action, then putting in half-baked changes cooked up while in crisis mode. I thought these guys were skilled managers from their years of experience in government, education, and business? Why can’t we get out ahead of problems and needed changes instead of waiting for a crisis?
So you, dear reader, can agree with my grades in these areas, you can disagree and point out a different way to look at things, or you can offer your own grades on topics I did not propose. Diverse opinions welcome, of course. You certainly don’t have to agree with me if you see things differently.
Wheat & Tares 
I’m going to riff on this game with “Agree or disagree”
Missionary Program: Mostly Agree. I don’t think the age change is as big a factor for young men as many presume, and I know more than a few young men who have really benefited from it. That’s not to say it hasn’t worked for others. My hope is that bishops and stake presidents (hopefully as trained and directed by regional and general leadership) will really focus on who is and who isn’t ready to go at 18, and work with prospective missionaries to determine when is the best time for them to go, not the soonest they think they can go.
New Curriculum: Wholeheartedly Disagree. The Church creates its Sunday School materials to be usable by the widest base of membership as possible, as it should. A bricklayer in Honduras with no education who is trying his hardest to teach his children the gospel doesn’t have much time or use for the type of material you would like, but he can read the assigned scriptures and think about the issues in the manual, and discuss those with his family. Those who are interested in a deeper dive are free (and encouraged) to do so using other resources. The Come, Follow Me manual names a number of specific resources, all of which are published by the Church. But the manual also references “other study helps”, and I can’t find any indication that what you’re doing is somehow not in keeping with the spirit of the program. Although I’m sure sources from outside the Church are perfectly consistent with the purpose of the program, I would also recommend the BYU New Testament Commentary as an excellent Latter-day Saint-oriented resource for further study.
Change is in the air: Agree.
Temples: Agree. I was well prepared for the temple, but I realize there are many who are not. The future looks good though.
Bishops and Interviews: Mostly Agree. I hope shorter church is a step towards improving this, as it gives the bishop more time for pastoral care and/or time with family. The most important role a bishop can play is as a facilitator: recognize what kind of problem the member has, and then connect him or her with the appropriate person. Sometimes that will be counseling with the bishop himself, sometimes connecting the member with another member of the ward, and in serious cases, that will mean connecting people with professional help. But it does take some training to be able to recognize problems and know the available resources.
My hot takes on your items (BTW, I LOVE list posts:
1) I think the ERMs are more to do with so much anxiety & depression in the rising gen, and that seems linked (correlated if not caused by) screen time and them being born with a phone in their tiny little hand. Our program hasn’t evolved nearly as much as the psychology of the iGen has. But sending the boys at 18 is not an improvement in any way I can see. If they were trying to prevent the natural attrition between 18 and 19 that was occurring, I think they’ve also forced many who would have been better prepared at 19 to feel pressured to go when they are younger and less effective. Personally, I’m not sure how we solve for social media in the missionary program. You can’t have kids checking their phones during a discussion, but going even one day without it causes anxiety. I wonder any of them go given how compelling their online lives are.
2) I don’t understand why CES seems to churn out such un-curious work. They don’t seem to understand the point of human progress, instead opting for application (which is OK, but really overdone), and indoctrination (not OK and also really really overdone).
3) Mostly agree, but I fear that the changes to the temple were really just cosmetics, hiding polygamist beliefs in plain sight (New & Everlasting Covenant, wink, wink).
4) I’m really not convinced on this one. Temples have become something different than what they were originally intended with all the focus on regular attendance beyond one’s own ordinances. Too much focus on them makes them both less special and also shines a light on the potential that there’s no there there. I’m not sure they really meet the expectations set out by our rhetoric. I get more uplift, instruction, and reflection from reading really good non-fiction or watching an average TED Talk, and there’s no emperor’s new clothes aspect to those activities.
5) Huge problems, so I totally agree, and I would add two other things to your summary: the oppressive role of an annual ecclesiastical endorsement at BYU that results in so many abuses of power and coercive behavior, and you opine that such smart business people as your average bishop should be able to navigate the shark infested waters of worthiness interviews with more common sense. Let me just note that since we have no women considered for these roles, we have to dig deeper into the eligible pool of men, and we are often pulling up chum, not fleshy tuna steaks. Plus, men have been socialized in our church to think that their every stray thought and unquestioned assumption and bias whispering in their heart could be inspiration from God. How could that possibly go wrong?
1) Okay. I believe the trend toward a practical relaxation of some rules, and an expansion of opportunities to serve is positive.
2) Okay. As ward SS president I have taken heart that the Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families states that the manual should be used “any way thay is useful to you” The weekly study plan encourages members to study beyond the BoM in bite size bits, while encouraging adaptation to the articular needs and interests of the family or individuals. Your version of studying falls fully within the scope of Come Follow Me, and I welcome those who study beyond the manual to comment in class.
3) Indifferent? Change is good when it leads to improvement. Change for the sake of change, while exciting, can often lead to unintended negative consequences. I prefer thoughtfully planned change. I’m concerned RMN may not be studying things out in his mind adequately.
4) Okay. The recent changes are an improvement, but Angela is right that the plural marriage doctrine is still strongly present. Still feels a bit “culty” though. baby steps, I suppose.
5) Wash. I think there is some effort to provide better training to leadership, but too many ignore the handbook and rely on their “gift of discernment”. So far, I have had mostky good leaders, so lucky me?
1). Church leaders need to recognize and acknowledge publicly “sales” jobs and “sales” boot camp is not for everyone and can be harmful to some. We set a bar that all YM should serve a mission (resul—if they don’t they aren’t suitable marriage material). It is good they have loosened family communication restrictions.
Lowering the age for YW likely net positive.
2) Curriculum not okay. I teach the youngest class in Primary. Please develop something useful.
3) Changes overall have been good. Especially the change involving how we treat LGBT families.
4). Temple change was good. More needed.
5).Bishops and interviews not okay—especially for YW.
General topic of our public perception: not okay. It’s ironic that poor publicity likely played a major part in the change in the Nov 2015 Policy, and yet the way we’ve handled that course correction hasn’t really improved our image.
I agree with your take(s) otherwise. I almost want to submit a guest column about the atrocious Primary curriculum. We had a chance to make a real change, maybe even by bringing in some people with Actual Education Credentials, but we’ve somehow made Primary even worse quality than it was before (although at least it’s shorter).
Angela C: As a man, I feel objectified and hurt when you refer to people of my gender as fish to be caught. I am *not* a fleshy tuna steak! I call you to humble repentance. 🙂
Church leadership suffers from an ever-reactive rather than pro-active mode of operation. They sit on their duffs until the crisis is overwhelming then impulsively try to pull a rabbit out of the hat to make it go away. The result is a herky-jerky mode of leadership that is ever playing catchup with bandaids that never cover the problem.
How about this instead?:
1. Make missionary calls truly optional starting at age 19 for intervals of the missionary’s choosing. Given the increasingly dismal ROI on door-knocking instead look to focus on meaningful community service projects. (Not as substitutes for church employees.) Drop the shaming and guilt-tripping for those that choose not to go.
2. Make the curriculums actually interesting and informative and relevant to our current world. (DOH!)
Stop the endless recycling of the same old watered down milk – how about some meaningful meat for once? The old Relief Society manuals from the 60’s brought sisters into the outside world in a way they would not otherwise experience with poetry, examples from great authors, etc. Lessons should be new, interesting, uplifting, encouraging and free of guilt-trips for not being good enough. Stop the endless infantile repetition of simplistic mundanity. Drop the ‘application’ stuff. If we’re smart enough to apply a TEDD talk, and we are, we’re smart enough to apply a gospel lesson on our own.
3. Change is good, but not of the knee-jerk ‘change for the sake of change’ kind. It shouldn’t be an outlet for the pent-up pet peeves of whoever happens to be the new prophet.
4. The whole temple scene needs a MAJOR revamp. The very idea of an exclusive (and expensive) club where you do a cosplay dress-up in goofy costumes reciting warmed over Masonic silliness in obscenely expensive real estate is just ludicrous. Excluding families from marriages, or penalizing couples if they marry first outside the temple, is profoundly barbaric and needs to stop NOW!
If the church is too embarrassed at the silliness of the temple rites that they have to keep them secret then that’s a clue the temple ceremony needs a complete makeover. The cat is out of the bag, (thanks NewNameNoah), no use playing hide-and-seek anymore. Clean this shit up!
5. Personal and intrusive ‘interviews’ must come to a Full Stop NOW! God knows our hearts, and that’s all that’s necessary. The local bishop does NOT have any say in my ultimate salvation. His job is to aid, support and facilitate my religious experience – not to get his voyeuristic rocks off extracting sexual ‘confessions’ from young children.
6. Hire the janitors back – the church has the money, spend it on the members instead of more damned shopping malls!
7. Install MANDATORY emeritus status for ALL upper church leadership at a certain age, say 75. ENOUGH of this geriatric, senile, out-of-touch, depends-wearing nonsense!
I actually think the primary curriculum is a plus. My wife and I have been an off an on primary teachers, and we rarely followed the manual, but my wife felt guilty about it. Not any more. She takes 2 or 3 of the suggested activities and then adapts them for the age. For example, for the walking on water lesson, my wife had her CTR 4 class play a game of “Peace Be Still”, a variation of stop/go withich success. Be creative. Have fun. Don’t worry about the manual.
I agree that change in the air is good, even when the change itself is not great, because it reduces the worship of the status quo.
But I don’t like it when every single change is said to be revelation, as if the leadership gets together and has revelation for breakfast. That is not okay.
1.missionary changes- okay
I think many missionaries are too young and wish there wasn’t pressure for allot leave at 18/19. I think we need to seriously look at the Ammon model (service) rather than direct proselytizing.
2. New curriculum- no opinion
3. Change in the air- not okay.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that things are changing,and am glad to see several positive and long needed updates. I don’t think most are Revelation with a capital r and worry that they are being discussed as such. Some are inspired administrative changes- not “this safety the Lord” and some are logical corporate work. I agree with the concern above that going through a list of pet peeves as prophet isn’t necessarily a good president and point out that not all changes have been unanimous among the brethren, enlightened, or positive (e.g. the POX, which fortunately has been reversed.)
4. Temples- so not okay
I’m deeply saddened to think that the old Utah pioneer temples will be re-dedicated- likely with open houses. Don’t get me wrong- they all need renovation and historic preservation including earthquake protection, removal of unnecessary anachronistic updates, etc. However, the fire at Notre Dame should be a warning to us- that renovation frequently results in such disasters- however unintentional. The idea of non-members tromping through the SL Temple as construction workers and then tourists deeply saddens me. I don’t mean to be crass, but I feel that if we are exposing ourselves, this isnt like showing a few inches of ankle or even skin above the knee- this is the bikini bits. Can’t we have anything sacred? These temples were built as our spiritual sanctuaries. I lament letting that go of that. Spiritually, I don’t think the SL temple was ever meant to be rededicated. It was meant to stand uninterrupted through the second coming. Brigham and Wilford are rolling in their graves.
If we need to renovate, let’s do it ourselves with temple-recommend-holding members, Let the SL Temple continue to be the craftsmanship and skill of the Mormon people. Let us worship through temple building, through our hands, and let us continue uninterrupted with our special connection to the edifice and our highest form of worship. Unpaid-a sacrifice.
We’ve always taken so much pride in the design and hand-hewn craftsmanship of our early tabernacles and temples. They aren’t just buildings, but manifestations of our unique talents and vision, our voice, our spirit. This sweat and toil, like shaker barn building, was more than simply producing the end product- it was the exercise of our faith. The unique way we organized, we taught one another, produced, was epitomized in our temple-building. The fact that we did it together and that our ancestors left their mark for us, deeply matters. In contrast, the new temple near me was constructed by J.E.Dunn construction LLC and I have yet to meet a single LDS construction worker or hear a testimony about hammering a single nail. The decor, furniture, art, blueprints, etc. came from SL’s cookie cutter factory and none of the locals were involved in the temple- it just appeared. I lament that I won’t say to my grandchildren, “we built this for you-sacrificing along the way – leaving our stamp and testimony in the details.” I can only say, “I showed up to the open house – ate a cookie.” A zen idiom says that life is not about the destination, but the journey. I think we focus today too much on the destination (a completed utilitarian building) and not about the journey- the spiritual act of building. The 40 years building the SL Temple were spiritual. The century spent building Notre Dame was spiritual. The world thought as all stood horrified watching it burn. I want to partake in the spirituality of building as well as maintenance and renovation, and protect that history- even though today- that element of our faith is essentially gone.
I’m trying to articulate that I lament that temple building is no longer a participatory act of devotion and that there was something so essential about it in our history. It is part of my testimony- part of my connection to my ancestors and this faith tradition. Outsourcing it feels horrible, a betrayal of all it was meant to be. Opening it up to the outside feels like a cheap stunt, disloyal, irreverent.
5. Bishops and interviews- not okay
I think allowing parents to attend interviews of minors was like rearranging chairs on the titanic. We need to move completely away from bishops as judges and pastors, quasi therapists, social workers, and ward CEOs. We can’t keep spinning our wheels trying to train them into all these roles. Radical idea- what if instead of making bishops acquire yet another crazy super-human set of skills, we re-framed them as simple servants with limited roles as temporal facilitators with specific and limited ecclesiastical responsibilities? Stop interviews altogether. Stop a lot of superfluous functions.
“For example, for the walking on water lesson, my wife had her CTR 4 class play a game of “Peace Be Still”, a variation of stop/go withich success. Be creative. Have fun. Don’t worry about the manual.”
Yes. I’ve thought of playing that game too. But where? No room in the small classroom. Can’t keep 7 hyperactive 3 yr olds under control outside.
(It’s good we only have 20 minutes of class time).
The thing that has kept their attention the best is the Bible videos.
Lon, laying down the truth bombs. Wow. #3 is spot on.
Bro. Jones: Plenty of other fleshy tuna in the sea, my friend.
Lon, laying down false bombs. Wow. The temple is not silly. That’s my religion you’re mocking there.
But I do agree about the shopping malls, one hundred percent.
“Laying down the truth bombs???” Yes, of course, because if you write NOW! NOW! after everything it must be true. And yes, I agree with Billy Possum. Calling the Temple rites “silly” and “shit” is very disrespectful. Funny how the progressive mormons are always screaming about tolerance and not making anyone feel bad, but they can’t seem to show the same respect for others.
I’m not indicating agreement with Lon’s points (except #3), just using the term “truth bombs” to refer to the style of his comment. Using “wow” without exclamatory punctuation was meant to come across as deadpan. Clearly my intent and tone doesn’t convey. A casualty of the medium.
Folks, please except my deepest sincere apology for my over-the-top comments. That was a thoughtless intrusion into your forearm and I am very sorry that I interrupted in the manner that I did. Best wishes to all Of you.
Lon, don’t leave on my account. I simply thought your tone was a bit over the top. So long as people aren’t making personal attacks, we try to mod lightly. I didn’t feel your comment was out of line, and you made some good points. I just thought you were a bit . . . strong . . . as noted by commenters Lily and Billy Possum as well.
It’s always hard to hit the right tone on a new forum. Don’t take it too much to heart.