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BOBBY - I'm trying to explain to someone in some kind of doctrinal way that when a person visits a particular Ward, they have the same privilege as those who have records within the Ward to express his/her opinion about an issue within Ward. Within other religions this is a very big Policy that if you had nothing to do with the creation of building or church or congregation that you cannot express your opinion about a certain topic or issue(The members of the congregation fund-raise to help build a building for their Church Meetings etc) The problem is, this same sort of understanding or Policy from other religions are being rumored and even believed by alot of members of the Church which I feel is not true? my understanding is "all are equal" either new to the gospel/Ward or not we can help share opinions and thoughts to help progression. So going back to Tithing its distributed to help build buildings then eventually allow the creation of wards so therefore a person visiting a ward could have had assistance through tithing to help create that particular building or ward? hopefully makes sense, more doctrine will probably help better rather than my imperfect thoughts? JOEL - It is true that because our tithing is used for the building of all church buildings, we can feel a certain sense of ownership (besides the fact that it truely belongs to God) whereever we might go to attend our meetings; even if we are not on the membership rolls of a particular ward in that building. However, I would say that only applies to the building and contents itself and not necessarily to the ward that meets there. A ward is made up of a particular group of church members who are lead by a Bishop, who has been set apart to lead and receive inspiration and guidance for the people living within his ward boundaries. The ward is also made up of other auxillary leaders and teachers who have also been set apart for their callings within the ward and meet with the Bishop to decide on activities and policies for the ward. They have the right and obligation to do that by virtue of the stewardship they have within their ward callngs. Someone who is just visiting the ward does not have that right or responsibility. When people within the ward are given callings they are sustained by the congregation by raising the right hand; a visitor would not have the right or responsibility to raise his hand to approve the calling because it is not his ward. Even though we are all fellow saints throughout the world, one who is not a member of a particular ward does not fall under the stewardship of the members or Bishop of that ward, nor does he have stewardship for that ward and so as a matter of courtesy and sense of propriety, he should probably not impose his or her opinions on how a ward he does not belong to should conduct business; unless perhaps he is specifically asked by the Bishop of the ward for advise on something. Someone who has just joined the ward would have the right to express his opinion, although out of courtesy he might want to wait a while to do so until he has become better acquainted with the members and what is already working best for them. So I guess the doctrine that would apply in this case is one of stewardship. While a visitor might have stewardship generally as a member of the Church and can voice his opinion on matters of church doctrine, he does not have stewardship within a ward he does not belong to and therefore should probably keep ward related opinions to himself. |
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DIRECTORY