Priesthood Lessons (47 in the JS manual)

[dobrichelovek]

We (I) have had a hard time getting the Stake administrator to actually put the P/RS lessons on the Stake website, the argument being that it's an imperfect system and confusing to wards that are not on the same schedule as the others. I was told that if the Priesthood authority directed that it be done, it would be. I have written a letter to the Stake to politely ask that this be done, but I noticed that the JS manual has 47 lessons instead of the 24 or 48 or the previous manuals. Although I realize that the decision lies with those with callings, I wanted to see if there is a general understanding as to how these lessons should be laid out.

Is the introduction lesson now considered one of the lessons to make a total of 48, or is there some other design here? I simply would like to know so that if I am asked to propose the schedule in light of this situation, I will be able to address it. If they never ask, I'll just be happy that it's been done, even if it's not quite how I would've done it.

Oh, my basic understanding of how it's supposed to work is two lessons per month on the second and third, and the exceptions in the individual wards will work around the rule. If there were 24 (or 48) I would assume lessons 1 and 2 for January, 3 and 4 for February, etc. This way the Stake (and likely the Church) is unified in which lessons are being taught which weeks, and unfortunately some of the lessons just don't make it in when a ward has a conflict.

Thanks for any feedback you might have.

[nbflint]

My understanding is the same, two lessons a month on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays. Is it left up to the ward or stake which lessons they choose out of the manual for those Sundays?

[thedqs]

From my ward we just go in order lessons 1, 2, 3, etc. on the 2nd and 3rd Sundays. This past Sunday I had to combine 2 lessons so that we would finish them all. Maybe that was the problem they are adjusting for next year.

[dobrichelovek]

I guess I should be clear that I was trying to figure out how others intend to implement the 47 lessons instead of 48. 48 makes it fairly clear that it would be 2 per month for 24 months. 47, gives almost the same, but one month is left with only one lesson.

I thought someone might be in the 'know' as to why there was one missing lesson this time (compared to previous manuals) and I was speculating that it may be the introduction lesson that would make the final lesson. If my speculation were true, then it would be a departure from the previous manuals which contained enough numbered lessons for the two-per-month rule.

If the lessons are followed at the stake level as previously proposed, then in December 2009 there would only be one lesson.

Silly for me to stress about, but I want to be able to give the Stake a proposal to make it easier for them to give the aforementioned stake administrator the direction he is requiring/requesting.

[russellhltn]

Before getting too wound up, what Sunday(s) does Stake Conference(s) fall on?

If nothing else comes up, schedule a "5th Sunday" in January.

But above all, this is needs to be run by the SP.

[thedqs]

From what I can tell every Stake is different so you can have Stake conference land on any Sunday. You just know that every stake 2 conferences and every ward has 2 conferences.

[nmecantwin73]

I have put together the teaching schedule for the past couple of years - on a ward level, and we have always only been able to use 21 or 22 of the lessons - never all 24, because of Conferences, etc.. As well, I have "moved" some of the lessons out of order to correspond with various holidays (like Mother's Day - this year had a great lesson on 'The Women of the Church' Chapter 20).

[bhofmann]

I have put together the teaching schedule for the past couple of years - on a ward level, and we have always only been able to use 21 or 22 of the lessons - never all 24, because of Conferences, etc.. As well, I have "moved" some of the lessons out of order to correspond with various holidays (like Mother's Day - this year had a great lesson on 'The Women of the Church' Chapter 20).

We've never been able to finish them all either. We usually have a snow day or something during the year to throw us off.

[rmrichesjr]

I wasn't able to find the exact wording I thought I remembered hearing when the manuals were introduced in about 1997, but I (and some others I talked with) recall that a big part of the week 2 and 3 program was to have the whole Church studying the same lesson each of those weeks. The obvious corollary is units should catch back up after stake conference or other break in the schedule.

A few years ago, I sent a suggestion to the Curriculum Department that they restate the schedule instructions to try to get more people back on the same page (or lesson). The reply said that the lessons should be studied in the same order as in the book, but it didn't really address the issue of getting back in sync after stake conference.

In my current calling in elders quorum, I usually teach the fourth week, and several times I have combined a "Teachings of the Presidents..." lesson that got missed with the conference talk selected by local leaders for the fourth week in order to catch up.

[russellhltn]

I wasn't able to find the exact wording I thought I remembered hearing when the manuals were introduced in about 1997, but I (and some others I talked with) recall that a big part of the week 2 and 3 program was to have the whole Church studying the same lesson each of those weeks. The obvious corollary is units should catch back up after stake conference or other break in the schedule.

If that's the case, then why is it up to the stake to input the schedule? And why isn't there a suggested schedule? And wasn't that at the same time they were going to go with just 4 manuals and re-use them? I think that died off when they went to the "Teachings" series.

Looking at the 2007 schedule, in addition to the 24 chapters, there's also "Introduction", "Historical Summery" and "The Life and Ministry of Spencer W. Kimball". So that's 27 items to choose from and only 24 allocated Sundays. Combinations can not be selected. They would have to manually be entered.