What is the doctrine of ministering? Elder Christofferson? For me, it's simply discipleship. We're following the Savior. We're trying to do what the Good Shepherd did and follow the example that He set. And our doctrine is to follow Christ and be His disciples in every way. He gave His life, and to a degree, we want to give our lives in service to one another as we follow Him. To me, that's the doctrine. We're looking to be of service to our fellowman. This is from the Book of Mormon, in Mosiah 23:18: "Therefore they did watch over their people, and did nourish them with things pertaining to righteousness." In our extra focus on ministering now, it would be wonderful if we kept that in mind. We're here to save souls. We're here to get families to the temple. We're here to get a united family, the children of God, back home. How precious is one soul? When we really understand the Atonement doctrinally, how precious is one soul? The Lord made it clear over and over, "to bring souls unto me on conditions of repentance." And that's what He has called us to do. What God wants is immortality and eternal life for His children. Eternal life with Him is a conditional gift, conditioned upon faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and covenants weekly made in the sacrament experience and the covenants of the temple and the sealing ordinances of the temple and then being faithful to those covenants made.

So keep that objective in mind as you teach how to minister. Minister for what purpose?

So they can be reunited with God and with Christ and with their families forever.

For ministering to be the most effective, it needs to be individualized. When we think about ministering the best, of course, we start out prayerfully seeking guidance. That's how we know how to individualize, is when we have that affirmation of the Spirit, what each person needs. Then we can truly minister. We know that we know their needs. Do what works best. We've got lots of tools. We have visits. We have many means of contacting people to look after their welfare and help them in this path of return to their Father in Heaven and eternal life. What works? What's needed? And I hope the focus will be on outcomes, not just on tasks or things that are done in a given moment to fill time or something. There is an outcome we're looking for. There is hope and help we're trying to convey. Ministering is led by the Spirit. It is flexible. And it is customized to the needs of each member. Every form of communication is available to respond to the promptings of the Spirit and meet the needs of those we serve. The voice of caution that I would say is, be very, very careful that we keep this simple. We have a tendency in the Church, when we get something, to hold some meetings and then start putting a lot of things around it. This doesn't need that. All this needs is the power of the Spirit of God. All this needs is to have us see who we are and what it is we're trying to do in a loving way without putting program around the simplicity of understanding what it means to be a minister, serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ministering brothers and sisters will have a ministering interview with their local leaders at least once each quarter.

These quarterly interviews will be focused on individuals and families.

The purpose of the interview, as President Russell M. Nelson has explained it this morning, is to counsel together about the well-being of assigned families and individuals. President Nelson, again, has stated something of what the agenda might include. I copied off the questions he said would typically be raised in a ministering interview. How are the families and their individual members getting along temporally and spiritually? What are their challenges? How are those challenges being met, and how can we help? Are there current efforts and long-range plans moving them closer to the Lord? That really distills the essence of what we're wanting to talk about, counsel together about in this ministering interview. So the focus will be on individuals. It will be on that kind of issue or progress, I guess we could say, in their lives and the challenges they face and what we can draw upon, what resources can we draw upon to help them move forward. It's really an effort to seek divine guidance together on how best to minister in the Lord's way.

Simple as that sounds, my friends, those interviews are absolutely crucial. Without that information, the bishop will have no way to receive the information he needs regarding the spiritual and temporal conditions of his people. One of the other benefits is the opportunity to encourage ministering brothers and sisters, to teach them, to help them to see ways that they can minister differently and more effectively. That's an opportunity that the leaders have that can also benefit everyone. The frequency of ministering interviews will vary considerably. But they should occur as often as needed and as circumstances reasonably permit. Once per quarter is a floor, not a ceiling. Brothers and sisters, I fear that if ministering interviews are not held routinely and as envisioned, we could well end up making the situation worse and that the added flexibility and scope that we envision for ministering could result in less attention rather than more. "Have you done your home teaching?" could be replaced by "Did you have any contact? What? Oh sure, a text is good enough." Those ministering interviews, when quorum and Relief Society leaders hear reports and provide counsel, may come to seem to you like the return of the sons of Mosiah, when they shared joy in seeing what the Lord had done in their missionary service. Those periodic reports can be sweet highlights in the leader's service.

Brethren and sisters, the strength of this enhanced ministering effort is that it is one work to minister to and care for the families and individuals of the wards and branches. Combining such Relief Society efforts with the now-restructured elders quorum will bring a unity that can yield astonishing results. Ministering becomes one coordinated effort to fulfill the priesthood duty to "visit the house of each member, and ... to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them," as well as to achieve the Relief Society purpose to help one another prepare for the blessings of eternal life. Perhaps for the first time, it may be possible for the bishop of the ward to find relief from most of the Melchizedek duties he has had to shoulder in the past, leaving him free to attend to those bishopric duties which cannot and should not be delegated. Thus, while the bishop is freed up to preside over the Aaronic Priesthood and the Young Women, to be a common judge, to watch over the finances and temporal affairs of the Church, and to care for the poor and the needy, the elders quorum leadership and auxiliary presidencies, especially the Relief Society president, can take primary responsibility for missionary work, temple and family history work, the quality of teaching in the ward, watching over and ministering to the members of the Church. The bishop remains, of course, the presiding high priest of the ward. But this new alignment should let him preside over the work of the Melchizedek Priesthood and the Relief Society without requiring him to do the work of either of those bodies.

Brethren and sisters, we must be united. If we are united, we are unstoppable. If we are divided, Lucifer can create havoc in this work. The uniting of priesthood quorums unifies priesthood holders. The ward council unifies ward leaders. So these adjustments will help elders quorums and Relief Societies become united in their ministries.

I invite you to study 3 Nephi by identifying every reference to the word minister in any of its forms and every reference to the phrase "one by one." Once you have thoroughly identified these words and phrases, please consider what the Book of Mormon teaches about ministering. I also invite you to seek the Lord's help to understand how ministering applies. All leaders and members of the Church need to be careful not to just minister to those names on a list, but to minister to all of Heavenly Father's children. My brothers and sisters, I testify that this is the work of the Lord. May He bless you to implement with power the counsel from the First Presidency. I have prayed and have been assured that our Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, intend to bring to pass a great change that will come in the hearts of the shepherds of Israel and that we all have opportunities to help. Indeed, our help will be at the heart of the coming miracle of improved ministering to our members.

In all of this, our ministering brothers and ministering sisters will be following President Brigham Young's inspired teaching that (quote) "the building up of the kingdom of God is to be done by little acts" (end quote). Brothers and sisters, let us remember these vital words spoken by President Russell M. Nelson in his concluding remarks this morning. "I testify," he said, "that these adjustments are inspired of the Lord." I pray that each of us will have a witness of that. I have that witness.

This general conference marks the beginning of a new era of ministering. The Lord has made important adjustments in the way we care for each other. Sisters and brothers, old and young, will serve one another in a new, holier way. Our message to the world is simple and sincere. We invite all of God's children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life.