Part 3

The Bishop Participates in the Stake Bishops’ Welfare Council

As you participate in the bishops’ council, you will—

1. Receive training in such welfare duties as seeking out the needy, analyzing needs, rendering assistance, and assigning work. Occasionally, the stake presidency may attend and give instruction.

2. Exchange ideas and experiences that will help you learn your duty and find solutions to difficult cases.

3. Screen community resources and determine those to which you can appropriately refer members.

4. Review trends in fast offerings, welfare needs, and assistance. Be alert to changing needs and possible misuse of Church welfare resources.

5. Discuss how to encourage welfare service among all Church members, making a special effort to find ways of involving young men and women in personal acts of compassionate service. Consider ways of using Aaronic Priesthood holders to collect fast offerings.

6. Evaluate the services, management, and operation of Church welfare resources (where they exist). Identify opportunities for welfare recipients to work in these facilities. Arrange for volunteer labor and other needed resources.

7. Identify work opportunities and discuss ways to ensure that members work to the extent of their abilities for what they receive.

8. Discuss ways the priesthood quorums and the Relief Society can work with those who need welfare assistance.

Instructions: Please view Part 3 of the videocassette Caring for the Needy.

Review Questions

After reading Part 3 of this study guide and viewing Part 3 of the videocassette Caring for the Needy, write answers to the following questions. You may also want to record promptings you have felt while reviewing the material. These notes will help you recall and apply your thoughts after the training is completed.

1. What welfare concerns would you like to discuss in the stake bishops’ welfare council?

2. What have you learned in stake bishops’ welfare council that has helped you fulfill your welfare responsibilities more effectively?

3. List topics that you feel need to be addressed in discussions or training during council meetings.

Exercise

List work opportunities that have been effective in helping welfare recipients. (You may want to consult the following list of suggested work assignments.) Completing this exercise will help you prepare to participate in a future stake bishops’ welfare council meeting.

Suggested Work Assignments

This list of work suggestions has been compiled to help bishops assign suitable work for persons assisted by the Church. Review this list to delete any suggestions that do not apply in your area, and add possible work assignments available locally.

1. Work on Church Meetinghouse and Grounds:

   1. Painting and repairing

   2. Building projects

   3. Tending heating plant

   4. Assisting custodian

   5. Trimming shrubbery

   6. Mowing and caring for lawns

   7. Planting and growing flowers

   8. Shoveling snow

   9. Giving custodial help for social activities

2. Other Suggestions:

   1. Assisting ward clerks with clerical and record work

   2. Assisting librarians

   3. Caring for homes of sick, poor, and aged

   4. Assisting young students who may be faltering in school subjects

   5. Gathering and compiling important ward historical data of church and ward functions

   6. Teaching trades and skills to others in the ward

   7. Taking care of children for working mothers and during special meetings

If you have access to bishops’ storehouses, production projects, canneries, Deseret Industries, and employment centers, contact the unit manager to determine work assignments in these facilities.