Tech Forum

Hi, new bishopric member here, trying to get my ward "on the same page" via technology and the church calendar app. I've created a new private ward calendar for the bishopric for our meetings and interviews but have been unable to find a way to add our High Council representative. Because he is not a member of the ward his name does not come up in the Name list, and I don't see a Calling selection for our Stake High Council rep. Any advice? It's key for him to have access to this calendar with the bishopric as he strives to attend most of our meetings.

Short of adding him to the ward as a out-of-unit member, I don't think there is a way.

Thanks Russell. Is that something the Ward Clerk has to do? Also, does that mess up anything for him in his home ward, or is he allowed to exist in both places?

Unfortunately private ward calendars will only allow you to add ward callings or members of your ward to be viewers.

I have not tried this, but you could try creating an out-of-unit record for the high councilor to get their name added to the list of ward members. The down side to this is when the high councilor assignments change you will have to manually remove the previous high councilor out-of-unit record and create an out-of-unit record for the new high councilor assigned to your ward and then add him by name as a viewer. Another down side is bishopric counselors cannot manage out-of-unit member records. Either the bishop, ward clerk, assistant ward clerk, or assistant ward clerk - membership would have to manage the out-of-unit records.

Seems like something the Church should consider addressing (adding the Stake High Council representative as a ward calling, even though it technically isn't) in order to resolve this issue.

chriswirick wrote:Thanks Russell. Is that something the Ward Clerk has to do? Also, does that mess up anything for him in his home ward, or is he allowed to exist in both places?

An out-of-unit record only creates a copy, or links to, the real membership record. It has no affect on the real record.

For more information see Out-of-Unit Members and Callings.

jdlessley wrote:

chriswirick wrote:Thanks Russell. Is that something the Ward Clerk has to do? Also, does that mess up anything for him in his home ward, or is he allowed to exist in both places?

An out-of-unit record only creates a copy, or links to, the real membership record. It has no affect on the real record.

Thanks!!!

Turns out this didn't work. The Ward Clerk added the High Councilman to the ward as an out-of-ward member. He is not set to Private in the directory; both the clerk and his wife are able to see his name there, as am I. But his name still won't appear when I search for it in the Add Viewer or Editor search box.

Any other suggestions?

chriswirick wrote:Turns out this didn't work. The Ward Clerk added the High Councilman to the ward as an out-of-ward member. He is not set to Private in the directory; both the clerk and his wife are able to see his name there, as am I. But his name still won't appear when I search for it in the Add Viewer or Editor search box.

Any other suggestions?

It used to be that for an out-of-unit member to have access to ward tools, they needed to not only have a record, but also be put into a calling in the ward. If that's still the case (I'm not sure if it is), you could try adding the high councilor to a calling, for example ward missionary or something else that might describe his work in the ward.

sbradshaw wrote: It used to be that for an out-of-unit member to have access to ward tools, they needed to not only have a record, but also be put into a calling in the ward. If that's still the case (I'm not sure if it is), you could try adding the high councilor to a calling, for example ward missionary or something else that might describe his work in the ward.

Great suggestion. I will try that.

Perhaps the Church should add Stake High Council Representative to the list of available ward callings just for this type of scenario.