Released but Not Obsolete: Purposeful Service at any Age

By Norman C. Hill

Heartfelt ministering, encouraging, and lifting others don’t require a formal Church calling. We are all called to this kind of Christlike service.

Julie Bangerter Beck knows plenty about Church service. In addition to serving in stake and ward callings, she served five years as a counselor in the Young Women General Presidency and later served five years as the Relief Society General President from 2007 to 2012.

“I traveled more than a million miles during those 10 years,” she says. “It was tiring, but the Lord renewed me and gave me the energy I needed when I needed it.”

After being released, Sister Beck served on various Church and education-related boards for several years. She guided Utah Tech University as a trustee during a difficult transition. Now she has finished those assignments and doesn’t have such a formal Church calling.

People sometimes ask her if she misses these callings and assignments. “I miss the associations,” she says, “and I miss going into people’s homes to watch them interact with their families.” But Sister Beck likes to remember the words of President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency: “We do not ‘step down’ when we are released, and we do not ‘step up’ when we are called. … There is only ‘forward or backward,’ and that difference depends on how we accept and act upon our releases and our callings.”

Jump the Fence

Now that she is without such formal Church or civic assignments, Sister Beck says that she has more time for children, friends, and quiet service. “I’ve always been more like Ammon than Captain Moroni anyway,” she says. “Let me tend the sheep.” (See Alma 17:25.) With unstructured time that she hasn’t had for years, she enjoys opportunities to eat with grandchildren, talk to old friends, exercise at the gym, and savor the free time that she has now.

Sister Beck also looks to the example of her father, William Grant Bangerter. “My father said that he didn’t want to miss anything mortality had to offer,” she says. “This included growing older. After he had served as a General Authority, a temple president, a sealer, and in other callings, he was asked to be a family history consultant in his ward.”

He was then in his 80s and didn’t know how to use a computer. “He had to learn,” Sister Beck explains. “He called a deacon in his ward to help him. Then they taught the other deacons how to do family history research. The deacons then taught the rest of the Aaronic Priesthood holders in the ward. Eventually, they and the ward took over 10,000 names to the temple.”

Sister Beck and her husband, Ramon, focus on what’s ahead of them, not what’s behind them. “We don’t talk much about what we’ve done. We have too much to do. It’s unstructured time now. We get to decide,” she says. “When someone says they’ve been put out to pasture, we say, ‘You get to decide whether you stay to graze or jump the fence.’ Most barriers are artificial anyway. Service, friendship, family, ministering—none of these have any boundaries.”

Teens and Tunes

Sister Beck says one of the best ways to stay relevant is to connect with youth in your family or ward. This can include getting to know their favorite music, their interests, or their habits. Youth can benefit from connecting with someone who will listen, share experiences, and offer a long-term perspective.

There are a variety of community programs that pair teens and retirees. Seniors can also informally make time to be with youth either in their own extended family or in their wards, benefitting both groups.

“There is an older guy in my ward who comes to my high school basketball and soccer games,” Kimball Carter says. “He’s even a substitute seminary teacher in the area. Kids like him because he asks a lot of questions but doesn’t give a lot of advice. He even listens to our music and knows some of the latest artists. He’s not a youth leader; he’s just a neighbor. Other than my family, I think he must be my biggest fan.”

Looking for Opportunities to Serve

Former mission president Steven Fox emphasizes that regardless of our age or circumstances, there are many opportunities for service—formal and informal, big and small, individual and civic. The important thing is to follow the Lord’s command to “be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27).

After being released as a mission president, Brother Fox said that he felt emotionally and spiritually “out of place.” Going from a demanding calling to no assignment at all was a big change.

He says, “It is up to me now to make things happen on my own rather than relying on the daily demands from a mission to fill my calendar. It’s no longer about a calling; it is instead about looking around to see opportunities to serve.”

F. Melvin Hammond, an emeritus General Authority Seventy, says that genuine ministering has always been about looking for those opportunities. At age 91, he serves in the temple, teaches once a month in elders quorum, and stays updated on local and national sports teams so that he can find common ground for conversations with younger men in his ward.

He knows all of his neighbors and visits them often. He tries to follow the Savior’s example, who spent time with people from all walks of life. “I like visiting with people regardless of their situation or gospel allegiance,” Elder Hammond says. “One neighbor is a recovered alcoholic, another neighbor hasn’t been to church for years, while another has dementia and his wife asks me to sit with him while she runs errands. We both like cowboy shows, so we watch them together.”

After serving in the temple one evening, Elder Hammond stopped at a fast-food restaurant. He began visiting with a worker who was cleaning tables. The worker asked Elder Hammond why he was wearing a suit. “I told him about the temple,” Elder Hammond says. “We talked for more than 30 minutes. I don’t know if he’ll find out more about the Church, but he knows there is someone who doesn’t just see him as kitchen help.”

Elder Hammond’s wife, Bonnie, passed away two years ago. While Elder Hammond misses her terribly, he decided to do something nice for his neighbors on the anniversary of her death. He and other family members made cards for his neighbors acknowledging this anniversary. On the cards, he included a picture of a cherry atop a delicious dessert with the words “She was always the cherry on top.” He gave a bag of fresh cherries with each card. “I want my neighbors to know how much I love her and that I look forward to spending eternity together,” Elder Hammond says.

Heartfelt ministering, serving, encouraging, and lifting others don’t require a formal Church calling. We are all called to this kind of Christlike service regardless of our age or circumstances.

The author lives in Utah, USA.