Stake presidencies, bishoprics, and mission presidents follow instructions and guidelines in the General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when interviewing and issuing temple recommends.
When a member enters the temple and presents their recommend at the temple recommend desk, the temple worker will scan the bar code on the recommend. The temple worker will see confirmation that the recommend has been activated.
The membership record of the member must be assigned to a ward or branch in the stake before a recommend can be activated. If needed, you can view the membership list in Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) to make sure the member’s records have been assigned to your stake.
It may become necessary to change the status of a temple recommend if it is lost, damaged, or stolen, or if the bishop and stake president determine the status should be changed.
Be aware that when interviewing a member for a proxy baptisms and confirmations recommend (formerly known as a limited-use recommend), the recommends are issued and printed by the bishopric or branch president.
Temple recommends are issued using one of these processes:
The stake or mission presidency designates the process used for each unit (digital or physical signature) on a printing preferences page. The stake or mission should communicate with the ward or branch regarding their printing preferences and capabilities. Be aware that when interviewing a member for a proxy baptisms and confirmations recommend (formerly known as a limited-use recommend), the recommends are issued and printed by the bishopric or branch president.
Temple recommends are issued using one of these processes:
Note: If the printing process for your unit is changed by the stake, recommends issued using the previous process will continue until they are activated; newly issued recommends follow the new process. For example, if a recommend was issued using the digital signature process and the unit’s preference changed to using physical signatures, the recommend issued would continue to use the digital signature process. However, new recommends would use the physical signature process.
Note: This option is only available to stake and mission presidencies.
Note: “Membership” is only available to bishoprics, branch presidencies, stake presidencies, mission presidencies, clerks, and executive secretaries.
Steps 1–4 are usually done by a member of the bishopric or the branch president. Steps 5–8 are completed by a member of the stake or mission presidency.
Completed by bishopric or branch president
Note: The system automatically provides the type of recommend (“Temple Recommend” or “Proxy Baptisms and Confirmations”). Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the bishop or branch president must conduct the interview rather than a counselor, will appear.
Completed by stake or mission presidency
Note: Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the interview must be conducted by the stake or mission president rather than a counselor, will appear.
Because mission presidencies issue and activate recommends for missionaries, only one screen indicates which mission leader interviewed the missionary. After selecting the mission leader, click Issue Temple Recommend. Print the recommend and have the missionary physically sign it.
Steps 1–5 are usually done by a member of the bishopric or branch president. Steps 6–10 are completed by a member of the stake or mission presidency. If needed, a ward leader or clerk can issue and print the recommend before taking it to the stake interview. A stake leader or clerk can activate the recommend after the stake interview.
Completed by bishopric or branch president
Note: The system automatically provides the type of recommend (“Temple Recommend” or “Proxy Baptisms and Confirmations”). Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the bishop or branch president must conduct the interview rather than a counselor, will appear.
Completed by stake or mission presidency
Note: Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the interview must be conducted by the stake or mission president rather than a counselor, will appear.
Note: If the ward or branch interviewer was not identified, indicate who conducted the interview at the ward or branch level.
When mission presidencies issue and activate recommends for missionaries, only one screen will appear to indicate which mission leader interviewed the missionary. After selecting the mission leader, click Issue Temple Recommend. Print the recommend and have the mission leader and missionary physically sign the recommend.
There are several ways to print a recommend. If you need to reprint a recommend, it may be reprinted by the stake within the same day the recommend was originally printed. If a recommend is marked lost, damaged, or stolen, the ward or branch can reprint the recommend if the signatures were recorded in LCR. If the recommend has digital signatures, it may be reprinted without reinterviewing the member.
Select Print.
The Physical Signature PDF has an extra section below the recommend where priesthood leaders can indicate who conducted the interviews. This detail is important if a stake clerk will activate the recommend after interviews. You cannot reprint a recommend without the priesthood leader interviewers being identified.
After conducting temple worthiness interviews at the ward or branch and stake or mission levels and signing the recommend, the recommend will need to be activated. The person activating recommends, typically the stake clerk or executive secretary, usually receives canary copies of signed temple recommends from the stake presidency. Once he has the canary copies, he should use the LCR to activate the recommends.
Activate recommends as soon as possible. If the recommend is not activated, the member could be delayed at the temple while a member of the temple presidency or the temple recorder contacts the member’s priesthood leaders to make sure the recommend is valid. Use one of the methods below.
The temple recommend information will be available within a few minutes unless there is an error. Click Send/Receive Changes again to see if there are any error messages about the temple recommend activations.
Recommends that were issued online may be canceled or reported as lost or stolen on the Temple Recommends page in LCR.
Select a status and click Save. The change in status will immediately be added to the member’s record, and the temple recommend information will be available to all temples.
If you experience problems with issuing a recommend, please contact the Global Service Center for your area by going to Contact Information. A contact page will display where you may select your country and view the contact numbers.
You can view recommend status on the Recommend Activations page in LCR. From this page, stake leaders can quickly activate or print recommends.
Note: The information icon next to a name has notifications, such as for living ordinances. The square with a pencil icon indicates units with physical signatures. Those without an icon use digital signatures.
If you need to reprint a recommend (this can only be done on the same day the recommend was originally printed), under Recently Activated, select Print and click Print Temple Recommend. See the section “Printing a Recommend” in “Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends” for more details.
Only stake or mission leaders will see the Activate action.
Use Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) to activate the recommend. See the instructions on issuing or activating recommends in the section “Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends” of this page. If you are using digital signatures, the recommend can be printed at the ward or branch. Only the member physically signs the recommend.
You can change the status or cancel a temple recommend. Follow the instructions in the section “Changing Recommend Status” in the “Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends” section of this page.
The stake presidency member should activate the recommend using Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) from his home following the instructions in “Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends.”
If the recommend is not activated before the member arrives at the temple, the temple presidency or temple recorder will need to call the member’s priesthood leader to verify the worthiness of the member to enter the temple. The temple presidency can activate a temple recommend after determining the worthiness of the recommend holder.
Yes. When activating recommends in Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR), there is an option to enter the barcode numbers manually. See the instructions in the section “Activating the Temple Recommend Using a Recommend Book” in “Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends.”
Yes.
The bishop should report the lost or stolen recommend as soon as possible to prevent it from being used by an unauthorized person. However, activating the new recommend will automatically cancel the old one. Follow the instructions in the “Changing Recommend Status” section of “Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends” on this page to report a recommend as lost or stolen.
Yes. The stake may reprint a recommend within the same day that the stake printed it. If a recommend is marked lost or stolen, the ward or branch can reprint the recommend. If the recommend has digital signatures, it may be reprinted without reinterviewing the member.
A copy of these instructions is available for printing from the Temple Recommends page in Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) or from the Member and Leader Services (MLS) software.
To print instructions from the Temple Recommends page in LCR, click Membership, Temple, then Recommend Activations. Click a member’s name to show the details of their recommend. Click the instruction link to display the instructions, then click the Print button.
To print the instructions from MLS, click on the Help menu in MLS and select Print Instructions for Activating Temple Recommends.
If possible, make a photocopy of the white copy of the recommend and give it to the clerk to activate in Leader Resources or Clerk Resources on ChurchofJesusChrist.org or in MLS. If you can’t make a photocopy, write on a piece of paper the information found on the recommend (name of the holder, gender, membership record number, recommend number, month and year of issue, ward name, and stake name). Sign the piece of paper and give it to the clerk. Keep this paper with the canary copies of other temple recommends.
Verify that this recommend is actually for the person displayed on the screen.
In Leader Resources or Clerk Resources, do the following:
1. From the Temple Recommends section of LCR, find the member by entering their name and select the member from the list.
2. The membership record number is listed at the top with the member’s name. Write down the correct membership record number and use it to finish activating this recommend. Click the browser back button to return to the LCR menu page.
In MLS, do the following:
1. Cancel out of the activation process and click the member’s name. The membership record number is found on the Member Record screen that appears.
2. Write down the correct membership record number and close the Member Record screen.
3. Use the last four digits of the number you wrote down to finish activating this person’s recommend.
Generally, do not refuse to activate a recommend because of an incorrect or illegible membership record number. However, if there is any doubt, you should call the bishop to make sure before activating the recommend. If a bishopric member consistently prints wrong membership record numbers on recommends, notify the stake president.
If you get an error message:
1. Most error messages will require you to contact the member’s priesthood leader before going on.
2. You should cancel the activation of that recommend and write yourself a note about the particular problem.
3. Contact the priesthood leader when you are finished with your activation session.
4. If the error reveals something you may be able to correct yourself, such as an incorrect temple recommend number, try again to activate the recommend.
5. If you would like additional assistance, please contact the Global Service Center.
Before you can activate or cancel a member’s recommend, his or her membership record must be assigned to a unit in your stake. Make sure you have the latest membership information. In MLS, on the main menu, click Send/Receive Changes to download any new membership records. If the member you are trying to find still does not appear on the Activate Recommends or View/Edit Recommends screens, notify the stake president.
If you are using LCR on ChurchofJesusChrist.org:
1. On the home screen, click Membership and then Member List.
2. When the Member List opens, click the name of the ward or branch that appears above the list. A list of units in the stake will appear.
3. Click the correct unit name.
4. If the member’s name is not on the list, contact the bishop or ward clerk and request the member’s record. (See the Request Records page for instructions.)
Yes, but only the stake can activate a temple recommend. Both a ward and stake can cancel a recommend but should have the stake president’s approval.
If you are on an MLS Member Record screen for an individual, click Temple and Mission on the left side of the screen. Then, in the top right of the Temple Recommend section of the screen, click Edit. (If the individual does not have a recommend, you will click Add.) Enter the requested information.
If you experience problems with issuing a recommend, please contact the Global Service Center for your area by going to Contact Information. A contact page will display where you may select your country and view the contact numbers.