ESTABLISHING THE GOSPEL CULTURE IN THE WARD “The bishop holds the priesthood keys to preside over a ward and direct the work of the Church in the ward. He and his counselors minister to ward members in love, helping bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” [Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1, p. 11] “……..and be a bishop unto my people, saith the Lord, not in name but in deed, saith the Lord.” [D&C 117:11] “My servant _____________ also, a bishop of my church, hath need to be chastened, and set in order his family, and see that they are more diligent and concerned at home, and pray always, or they shall be removed out of their place.” [D&C 93:50] As the bishop, you have the great privilege of helping families in the ward adopt the family gospel culture in their homes. In fact, a solemn responsibility rests with you and your counselors to achieve this. If all you did throughout your tenure is to teach the “family gospel culture basics” and succeeded in doing so, it would be considered great success. Of course, your teaching will be most powerful by example. If the gospel culture is not being practiced in your home and in the home of your counselors, now is the time to do so. In early Church history even the prophet Joseph Smith and his counselors were chastised for not setting their homes in order. [D&C 93:43] Even the most diligent and obedient among us are guilty of this sin of omission at some point of our lives. Whenever it happens, we repent! If the Church in the Philippines has not been established according to Elder Dallin H. Oaks, it is partly because the basics of gospel practices and church governance have not been sufficiently learned and applied. Ask yourself these questions: how many families in your ward have daily family prayers, regular scripture study, weekly family home evening, monthly fast, etc. Do we really have to know? Don’t you think it is our business to know as ‘watchmen of the tower’? Until we have learned and practiced the gospel culture daily in our homes, then the Church will have not have established a solid foundation in our country. Perhaps this is the reason why Church programs outside of the home (Public Affairs, Family History, Temple) cannot be sustained because we have not acquired the discipline that begins at home necessary to make such programs succeed. We have to persist in the work of teaching the family gospel culture and determine the means to motivate the members. BUILD ON THE BASICS. Any coach will tell you that the means to achieving excellence in any sport activity is the proficiency of the basic skills and competencies of that sport. When one has not acquired the basic skills in the beginning of training, one cannot achieve superior performance. Applying this same concept in the Church – families must first be taught and then challenged to apply the basic family duties before they may be expected to commit and magnify Church callings and in time willingly sacrifice everything that they have for the building of the kingdom of God here on earth. Once the basics are learned, the rest of the gospel culture will be easier to follow. The practice of the family gospel culture in our homes is the foundation of a strong and enduring testimony of the gospel.
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