Bishopric Third Counselor

[jeffoldham]

I am in a Ward that, because of some unique circumstances, has a 3rd Counselor in the Bishopric. The 3rd Counselor has been added, but as a Custom Calling. Because of this he has almost no access to the tools a counselor in the Bishopric needs in order to effectively magnify his calling. As an example, he can not count tithing, he can not see member information in LDS Tools or in LCR on LDS.org, he can not issue limited-use recommends, etc. What is the best way to work with this situation?

[russellhltn]

I can pretty much guarantee that if word of this reaches the area authority, the word will come down "release the 3rd councilor". The Handbook does not give local authorities latitude to make those kinds of changes.

LCR enforces the Handbook, and since there's no provision for a third counselor in any organization, it's not supported.

[Elenium]

Sorry to necro this thread, but what about the situation where you have a smaller group that meets as part of a larger ward? For example, in our ward, we have a Mandarin Group and a third counselor in the bishopric that helps oversee the Mandarin Group. Right now the third counselor is a custom calling that has no permissions to LCR. We need some way to give that third counselor elevated permissions so that he can effectively administrate the Mandarin Group. Is there another calling that he should have instead that is more appropriate for the Mandarin Group's situation? They still fall under the bishop of our ward.

[lajackson]

. . . we have a Mandarin Group and a third counselor in the bishopric that helps oversee the Mandarin Group.

This situation is not supported by LCR. As far as access to information goes, you might suggest to your stake president that he let you give him the calling of assistant ward clerk, which should give him access to everything he needs.

As for his actual calling, you could make him the Mandarin Group Leader or something similar. I lived in a ward that was asked to do that for a Spanish speaking group, rather than a calling of additional counselor in the bishopic. He would still be invited to bishopric meetings and serve with them.

[russellhltn]

I'd suggest reading Handbook 1: 9.1.4, in particular the 5th paragraph. It seems there's an attempt to assign responsibility that exceeds what's outlined in the Handbook. The fact there is no standard calling suggests there is no special keys or rights as a group leader.

[Elenium]

Thank you for the replies. I'll bring this information to the bishopric and we'll review that section in the handbook.