Bishopric presiding in a baptism outside their boundaries

[gpship]

I am the 1st Counselor of a Bishopric. My niece is being baptized in another Stake a few hours away. We just found out that all of the Bishopric in their home ward are going to be out of town that day and will not be able to preside. My sister is asking since if I am a Bishopric member, could preside over the baptism (with permission from the Home ward Bishop of course).

I know that if they wanted to be baptized in my ward (with a cousin for example), that would be acceptable if proper procedures were followed and in that instance, I would be presiding over an baptism of an individual who is not part of my Stake.

However, does the authority to preside specifically only stay within geographical stake/ward boundaries?

[BrianEdwards]

I am the 1st Counselor of a Bishopric. My niece is being baptized in another Stake a few hours away. We just found out that all of the Bishopric in their home ward are going to be out of town that day and will not be able to preside. My sister is asking since if I am a Bishopric member, could preside over the baptism (with permission from the Home ward Bishop of course).

I know that if they wanted to be baptized in my ward (with a cousin for example), that would be acceptable if proper procedures were followed and in that instance, I would be presiding over an baptism of an individual who is not part of my Stake.

However, does the authority to preside specifically only stay within geographical stake/ward boundaries?

I'm only aware of the language in the Handbook, and Section 18.7.2 is pretty specific that "a member of the bishopric conducts the service". I suppose that could be interpreted as any bishopric worldwide, wherever geographically the baptismal service was being held -- although I had always interpreted it as the bishopric with stewardship over the child of record, regardless of where the baptism might be physically held. And I do know that it's fairly common for children of record to be baptized outside their home ward. So I'd suggest the home-ward Bishop consult with his priesthood leader (the stake president), as stated in GHB 0.4.

Perhaps others have additional insight.

[russellhltn]

We don't know if this is a child-of-record or convert baptism.

For a convert, it could be a ward mission leader or EQ presidency.

If a large number of child-of-record are involved, it might be a member of the stake presidency.

For a child-of-record, I'm going to guess this may require the services to be rescheduled. The idea of a bishopric member operating outside of their boundaries without anything in the handbook permitting it doesn't sound right.

As far as timing, the Handbook says "These children should be baptized and confirmed on or as soon after their 8th birthday as is reasonable". The key words being "after" and "reasonable".

[lajackson]

We just found out that all of the Bishopric in their home ward are going to be out of town that day and will not be able to preside.

When the entire bishopric is temporarily gone from a ward, the stake president is able to appoint another Melchizedek Priesthood leader to preside at meetings, including sacrament meeting. Often it is the elders quorum president, but it does not have to be.

Whoever that person is will be able to preside at the baptism. But a bishop never presides at anything outside of his own ward boundary. Someone from the ward where the ordinance takes place would need to be designated.

[BrianEdwards]

Whoever that person is will be able to preside at the baptism. But a bishop never presides at anything outside of his own ward boundary. Someone from the ward where the ordinance takes place would need to be designated.

Hmmm. What about a unit that attends in a building outside their geographic boundaries? There's occasions where an assigned building is even in another stake boundary (we have that right now).

Perhaps that situation is implicitly okay, in that a Stake President is aware of this condition, and thus approves of the exception. But I wasn't aware of any Handbook language proscribing this type of occurrence, and had thought that the Bishop's stewardship was specific to the members who geographically belong to the unit, and usually was less specific to the geography where the stewardship is exercised. But if that's incorrect, and a ward cannot have an official meeting outside their geographic boundaries even with appropriate permissions, that's helpful to know.

[russellhltn]

and had thought that the Bishop's stewardship was specific to the members who geographically belong to the unit, and usually was less specific to the geography where the stewardship is exercised.

Reading OP's question, it appears the niece is being baptized into her home ward and they're asking if a bishopric member from outside the stake can preside. If correct, then it's outside of both geographical and membership stewardship.

[lajackson]

Hmmm. What about a unit that attends in a building outside their geographic boundaries? There's occasions where an assigned building is even in another stake boundary (we have that right now).

Well, that would be an exception I had not thought of. If a ward is assigned to attend a meetinghouse outside the physical boundaries of the ward, then the bishop will certainly be able to preside at that extended location, but I do not believe he would be able to just pick any other building and preside there.

[russellhltn]

But a bishop never presides at anything outside of his own ward boundary.

I'd change that to a bishop never presides outside of his own unit. It's not boundaries as much as what unit is meeting.

For example, a bishop can preside over his ward even if the building is outside of the ward boundaries. (Which happens anytime you have more than one unit in a building.) But just because the building is within his ward boundaries, he can't preside over any other ward(s) that meet in that building. (Unless it's a joint meeting.)

So, the idea of a bishop presiding over a baptism taking place in a different stake for a member of that stake doesn't sit right with me.