Organizing Hometeaching

ORGANIZING HOME TEACHING EFFICIENTLY DOCTRINAL FOUNDATION The Lord has commanded us in the Doctrine & Covenants our duties and responsibilities pertaining to home teaching: 1. To preach, teach, expound, exhort, and watch over the church (D&C 20:42) 2. To visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties (D&C 20:47) 3. To watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them (D&C 20:53) 4. To see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking (D&C 20:54) 5. To see that the church meet together often, and also see that all the members do their duty (D&C 20:55) THE HOME TEACHING MODEL The ideal home teaching program is organized as follows: 1. Bishop assigns to elders’ quorum president and high priest group leader their respective families.

2. EQ President & HPGL organize the brethren into companionships with Aaronic Priesthood members acting as junior companions with their respective assigned families.

3. Bishop approves the assignments and makes appropriate modifications to these assignments.

4. Brethren are given their assignments and encouraged to make the visits.

5. Brethren report to the quorum or group leaders after the assignments are fulfilled.

6. Action is taken to address the needs of the families.

In order to organize home teaching efficiently is to allocate a big block of time, say a whole day or one afternoon, where all the priesthood leaders concerned are present. Prior to the meeting, the bishopric should have already reviewed members’ list and have made assignments of families between EQ and HP. The first part is the opening exercises. The second part is the orientation which can be done by a high council representative or the Bishop to review home teaching procedures as outlined in the Church Handbook of Instructions. The third part is for the EQ presidency and HPGL to proceed with separate meetings to organize their respective companionships and families. Members of the bishopric can assist in this activity. The fourth part is to present the output of the quorum or group leaders to the Bishop. The fifth part is for the Bishopric to evaluate the assignments and make the necessary modifications. The sixth part is for the Bishop to return to the group to present the approved HT assignments and of course congratulate yourselves if you gone this far.

Finally, you can conclude with the closing exercises.

Organizing Home Teaching

I am sure that this one time meeting will not take care of everything. Sometimes the work load in our units is just too big. However, this meeting can and should cover the bulk of organizing home teaching. The long and tedious process and the inherent delays that come along with it can be so discouraging at times that we freeze and stop. At that point, it’s so hard to pick ourselves again after losing our momentum. Our usual tendency is to procrastinate. But by employing all our best efforts at one time, concentrating on the task at hand, and not leaving it until we are satisfied that it has been done, we can experience a great sense of accomplishment. DO IT! In organizing home teaching, we ought to remember to concentrate our efforts where we can immediately experience success. Nothing breeds success like success. Among the less active are quite a good number who require only a minimal effort on our part to facilitate their return to Church activity. When they return to Church activity, they can augment our home and visiting teaching forces. The handbook also states that the best home teachers are assigned to the families that need them the most. High priests may be assigned to prospective elders.

Our job can be overwhelming when we consider, that in some of our units for example, we have to reactivate over hundreds of members. But instead of attempting to bring them all at once, we can focus our efforts on a few promising families and moving on to other families when they have already returned to full church activity. Too often I see priesthood leaders spreading their forces too thinly. Based on most of our local circumstances, the ideal is sometimes so unrealistic and impractical. It is critical to consider the best use of our limited resources where they can create the most impact. However, where the ideal can be implemented in our units, by all means we must do so.

SAMPLE PROGRAM FOR ORGANIZING HOMETEACHING 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. Saturday Those to attend: Bishopric, EQ Presidency, HPGL, Ward clerks, Ward executive secretary, YM President, Ward Mission Leader, Quorum, and Group secretaries. Stake Presidency representative and Stake High councilor representative may be invited to attend.

I. Opening Exercises Presiding: Conducting: Opening Hymn: Opening Prayer: II. Orientation Review the Home Teaching Procedures Present Workshop Activities III. Separate Quorum and Group Activities

Bishop Bishop’s Counselor The Spirit of God Like a Fire By invitation Stake Presidency Representative Bishop EQ Presidency HP Group leadership Bishopric, Stake HC

Break IV. Presentation of EQ & HP Output V. Bishopric Meeting Evaluate HT Assignments VI. Presentation of Approved HT Assignments VII. Closing Exercises Concluding Remarks: Closing Hymn: Closing Prayer:

EQ President, HPGL Bishopric Bishop’s Counselor Bishop Battle Hymn of the Republic By invitation

Copyright © 2005 Randy F. Rubio All rights reserved “Being Anxiously Engaged in a Good Cause”

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Organizing Home Teaching

HOME TEACHING FLOW CHART Bishop assigns each member household either to Elders Quorum or High Priest group

If household head is an Elder, he is assigned to the Elders Quorum

Elders Quorum presidency assigns elders as home teachers

Elders Quorum presidency assigns home teaching companionships to the members assigned to the quorum with Aaronic Prieshood as junior companions

If neither Elder or High Priest, the Bishop assigns to either Elders or High Priests Bishopric assigns priests and teachers as home teachers

Bishopric reviews and approves home teaching assignments

Elders Quorum Presidency extends assignments to home teachers

If household head is a High Priest, he is assigned to the High Priest group

High Priest group leader assigns high priests as home teachers

High Priest group leader assigns home teaching companionships to the members assigned to the group with Aaronic Prieshood as junior companions

High Priest Group leader extends assignments to home teachers

Home Teachers conduct visits to respective families. Most effective home teachers are assigned to the families that need them the most. New converts are assigned home teachers just before they are baptized.

Home Teachers report to the Quorum President

Bishopric receives verbal and written reports from Quorum & Group leaders

Home Teachers report to the Group Leader

Stake Presidency receives monthly home teaching report from the Bishop

Copyright © 2005 Randy F. Rubio All rights reserved “Being Anxiously Engaged in a Good Cause”

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Organizing Home Teaching

SIMPLIFIED APPROACH TO ORGANIZING HOME TEACHING Here is another approach in organizing home teaching in your ward or small branch.

Step 1.

Obtain from the ward clerk the most recent membership directory. Have it photocopied from the first to the last page.

Step 2.

List down all the names of active Melchizedek Priesthood holders and Aaronic Priesthood holders.

From this you may now proceed to organize home teaching companionships. Designate as senior companions those who are mature in the gospel and match them with junior companions who are likely to work with them harmoniously. The possible companionships could be fathers and sons, elder and prospective elder, elder and priest, high priest and teacher, elder and deacon, etc.

Step 3.

Divide the entire ward or branch area into logical geographical areas. For example, if your ward boundaries include eight barangays, you may designate them as eight zones.

Step 4.

Identify all the families within those zones using the membership directory and assign them to a corresponding home teaching companionship. Each companionship may have between 5 to 8 families assigned. If possible, assign companionships within their own neighborhood.

Step 5.

You are now ready to present the list to the Bishop or branch president. Once approved, you can then proceed to extend the assignments to the brethren. Special assignments may be given by the Bishop to the most effective home teachers to the families that need them the most.

Step 6.

DO IT! In order to make home teaching work, you must be consistent, forceful, and require a regular report.

(Please refer to Guerrilla Home Teaching for some other ideas)

“So goes the home teaching, so goes the ward.” This was the battle cry I often heard from church leaders when emphasizing about the home teaching program in the 70s. If you are a church leader, you will realize sooner or later that home teaching is the key to “watching over the flock.” When home teaching is done as the Lord has commanded, you will experience sustainable growth in your unit. If you neglect it, you will surely find members going into inactivity. Remember, preventing members from becoming inactive requires less effort compared to reactivating inactive members into the Church. PREVENTION IS ALWAYS BETTER AND EASIER THAN THE CURE. Copyright © 2005 Randy F. Rubio All rights reserved “Being Anxiously Engaged in a Good Cause”

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