Home teaching statistics on how/why?

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chriswoodut
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#11

Post by chriswoodut »

dannykos wrote:One of my goals is to have me (bishop) and my counsellors go home teaching with various priesthood holders kind of 'splits' thing. What I hope we will achieve is:
• Get them out home teaching!
• Show an example (hopefully) of a good quality visit.
• Help them to feel the spirit, and have an increased desire to do it again.
• Allow the bishopric to get a closer look at each family in the ward - and identify directly anything that needs to be addressed at an executive level.

I figure that people won't not bother to turn up for visiting, if one of the bishopric is going with you?
That's an interesting idea. I schedule visits for the bishopric with families occasionally. A more systematic approach such as this could be interesting.

I've been wondering if there is a rule that says Elders only have Elder companions and HP only have HP companions. I've been reading a book that talks about peoples phases of life and it says younger people (<40) are so caught up in careers that they naturally have to neglect some things. They eventually get to the point where their focus changes to more spiritual things. I think this explains the difference between the percentages between EQ and HP. Would mixing the companionships be such a bad thing?
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aebrown
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#12

Post by aebrown »

chriswoodut wrote:I've been wondering if there is a rule that says Elders only have Elder companions and HP only have HP companions.

No, there is no such rule, either in the Handbook or in MLS. MLS has no problem at all with combining a High Priest and an Elder as home teaching companions. You do have to decide which quorum the companionship reports to (it can't report to both), but that's no big deal.

Handbook 2, section 7.4.2 says that elders "usually" home teach households headed by an elder, and HPs "usually" home teach households headed by an elder, but all sorts of adaptations are possible if it will best meet the needs of the families being taught.
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jegbert
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Home Teaching success?

#13

Post by jegbert »

Having served as an EQ President for several years, finding a "successful" method of encouragement to get Elders to Home Teach is a daunting task.

I found that the most successful method was frequent (at least quarterly) short Home Teaching Interviews (sometimes mislabeled as PPIs), to specifically discuss their assigned families.

Do not let Home Teaching Interviews "cross over" as PPIs. Too often these two important and separate meetings get combined which decreases the effectiveness and purpose of both meetings.

Keep the faith President!
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brado426
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#14

Post by brado426 »

Today is ReturnAndReport.org's five year anniversary. I can't believe it has been five years!

I received a call from someone in the Priesthood Department last month who was checking out ReturnAndReport.org and had questions about it, which I answered. I don't know if this means the Church is considering investing some resources in this or not.

Anyhow, my point for posting here was to say that RAR is a tool for Presidencies to use. It doesn't replace face to face communication. If a Presidency uses the tool properly, it will assist in increasing Home/Visiting Teaching numbers and decrease the amount of time the Presidency spends doing administrative work. Presidencies can focus that extra time on performing additional service for Church members.

In the past five years, I have learned that Relief Socities seem to get the greatest benefit from RAR because they are more likely to use the tool properly. I have received countless letters from RS Presidents and VT Coordinators who have told me how the tool is a life saver.... how they couldn't even imagine going back to the old way they were doing things. My wife is a VT Supervisor right now, so she has also expressed how much time it has saved her.

We need to find a way to get the Brethren to follow up on Home Teaching as well as the sisters follow up on Visiting Teaching. I hate to admit it, but I see a distinct difference.

Brad O.
chriswoodut
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#15

Post by chriswoodut »

brado426 wrote: We need to find a way to get the Brethren to follow up on Home Teaching as well as the sisters follow up on Visiting Teaching. I hate to admit it, but I see a distinct difference.
It's true. When we get to that point in Ward Council where we need to know what is happening in the ward and who needs help, we all turn to the RS president. She knows -- the priesthood quorums don't most of the time. Is that a societal thing where men just don't talk about anything important with each other?
mwgrover
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#16

Post by mwgrover »

chriswoodut wrote:It's true. When we get to that point in Ward Council where we need to know what is happening in the ward and who needs help, we all turn to the RS president. She knows -- the priesthood quorums don't most of the time. Is that a societal thing where men just don't talk about anything important with each other?
Yes, that's probably part of it. As a general rule, men are less inclined to talk about themselves and their problems than women are. That's ok, it's a learning process for all of us.

A boss I once had was fond of saying, "The checker gets what the checker checks." In other words, if there is not constant, regular followup, results will become continuously worse. It is an unfortunate fact of life that for most of us, if there is no accountability, we have a tendency not to fulfill whatever duty we need to fulfill.
esok
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#17

Post by esok »

sachsen wrote:Yes, that's probably part of it. As a general rule, men are less inclined to talk about themselves and their problems than women are. That's ok, it's a learning process for all of us.

I think that this is part of it, but is not the whole story. As a husband and father of four, as well as a Ward Clerk and occasional community cub scout pack volunteer, I find that I don't have time to talk to anybody about anything meaningful, other than the occasional quick "hello how are things going" with various church members before Priesthood meeting starts. I do have more meaningful conversations with people I home teach. My wife does not have a wage-paying job and stays with the children at home but routinely gets together with other women and their children for play groups, and they do get a chance to talk at more depth. Plus they have their weekday Relief Society meetings once a month which I imagine gives them another opportunity, and visiting teaching, etc. So I think that women generally have more of an opportunity to share these things with others than men do, in addition to having a greater inclination to share their troubles with others.

I was an Elders Quorum President for almost four years and it was difficult to motivate members in my quorum to go out and visit people, even to visit the active members, even with personal invitations, home teaching interviews, etc. Our current Elders Quorum President faces the same challenges.
dannykos
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#18

Post by dannykos »

"Teach with the spirit, and then invite them to act." Elder Bednar, 2011.
robartsd
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#19

Post by robartsd »

I think a quorum leader should very carefully and prayerfully consider companionships. I know that my companion has had an influence on my motivation to do HT. If my companion is someone I genuinely enjoy being with, I am more likely to go home teaching. The other big factor for me has been having a good home teacher. I know that I sometimes have thought my active families are doing well, so I should focus on less-active families in my home teaching effort; however, as I reflect on how home teachers visiting my home has influenced me and contrast that with times when I don't even know if I have a home teacher assigned to me, it becomes clear to me that home teaching active families is vital to improving home teaching. I also agree with the sentiment that the quality and timing of follow-up from quorum leaders would make a big impact—too often it is just the phone call a week into the month to get the prior month's numbers—leaders showing a genuine interest in families takes time, but it also shows that they really care. Last night I ran into my quorum president at the church building (he arrived shortly after us as my wife went to get VT reports in), he had a great positive reply to my poor report, encouraging to move forward and improve in October.
michaelnorman
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#20

Post by michaelnorman »

I found this blog from a bishop who has some good ideas on how to improve home teaching:

http://www.leadinglds.com/my-blog/2011/ ... art-1.html
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