Ministering Circles?

[ckmcdonald]

We had a ward RS presidency member ask if there is a way to assign more then 3 people together in LCR as ministering companions so they could implement "Ministering Circles". Poking around a little it appears there are wards implementing something called "Ministering Circles", which are groups of 10 or so sisters grouped together and minister to each other. References to "Ministering Circles" are few and I'm not able to get much information about them. A quick read of the Handbook would suggest that "Ministering Circles" aren't a Church support thing. Can anyone shed some light on this subject? Thanks.

[russellhltn]

Not sure what they're talking about. Given a finite number of sisters, It's all going to get circular at some point. Companions A minister to Companions B, who minister to C, who ministers back to A. That can be set up. But it's not going to support a large number of companions.

Personally, I'd ask the person making the request to show where that came from and if it's church approved.

[BrianEdwards]

I'd also consider the importance of the "companionship principle". Companionships of two are what's "normal" (GHB 21.2.1), with three approved as mentioned previously. There's a lot of good things that come from two brothers or two sisters working together as a companionship, with stewardship over specific members -- and they can always coordinate additional support from a larger community, if that's what the ward desires. But receiving that specific responsibility as a companionship, is much different than having a shared responsibility amongst many. Just another thing to consider.

[Hardy95]

A member of our Presidency had a dream about these "circles" and felt strongly about it. We prayed about it and talked with our Bishop who felt that the inspiration for ministering comes from the R.S. Presidency and that we can be inspired for our ward. With this, we took a lot of time and energy to create "Sister Circles", which we just kicked off a few weeks ago with a combined RS Lesson that all the Sisters and young women joined with. We had a chair for every sister whether present or not, and our President shared some things and our Bishop gave a great lesson on the oak tree and ministering. We gave each sister who was there, a program with every "Sister Circle", which consists of 8-10 sisters, both attending and not, including our yw 14+. It went great and we have done some follow-up since and may have to do some tweaking.

We started with 2 strong ministering sisters, creating 14 groups. We then spent the next few hours making the circles, considering the different phases/stages of life. We also will choose a leader of the circles that we can send information to, who will then pass the information on to her "circle". This is a brief run down of how we're trying this.

[davehilliard]

I am concerned that circles is not in alignment with the Prophet. I am all for creative solutions... and actually really like the idea. But there are a few issues I see... but correct me if I am off, please let me know. If assignments are made geographically, or by line-of-sight, it eliminates those key-holders that have been set-apart to ponder and pray about specific needs of individuals matched with inspired people to minister to them. Also, ministering as a group makes it difficult if not impossible to conduct effective ministering interviews. It's hard for me to see the benefit of a group watching over the one... because inevitably, someone in the group will figure someone else in the group is ministering to the others... and possibly 1 or 2 in the group of 10 are carrying the load for the group. I know there are some that have moved to circles because they felt inspired to do so. I know that all good things come from God. Circles may have been a better solution than what was previously happening (or not happening). I don't question the inspiration, but wonder if it's a good, better, best scenario. Best being what we have been taught by Prophets, Seers and Revelators/Handbook. Forgive me if I have caused offense, and teach me if I am not seeing circles clearly. Thank you.