Is the Ward Clerk Technically a member of the Bishopric?

The question is, who are technically members of the Bishopric? I'm thinking it is just the Bishop and his two councilors based on what I see in the handbook.

For example, the past several bishoprics have had the ward clerk read in the names of new members that move into the ward and welcome them in sacrament meeting. Seems that the prior bishoprics felt that the ward clerk was a member of the bishopric.

Page 146 in Handbook 1, and in the section "Records of New Ward Members", It mentions that a member of the bishopric should do this.

On page 21 it does not indicate that the ward clerk or executive secretary are part of the bishopric except that the exec. sec. is an assistant to the bishopric.

On page 13 under "Bishopric" it starts out by referring to "He (the bishop) and his two councilors".

Please include reference to information that supports a conclusive answer when replying if possible.

Thanks.

elderlarryhawkes wrote:The question is, who are technically members of the Bishopric? I'm thinking it is just the Bishop and his two councilors based on what I see in the handbook.

The bishop and his two counselors form the bishopric. Although the ward clerk and the ward executive secretary are intimately involved in the work of the bishopric, they are not members of the bishopric, and that term does not refer to them.

You provided a pertinent quote from page 21 of the Church Handbook of Instructions in your question. Both of the following statements are on page 21.

Ward clerks and assistant ward clerks . . . are trained by the bishopric.
The executive secretary is an assistant to the bishopric.

In other places in the Handbook, reference is made to the bishop and his counselors who conduct the work of the bishopric.

A clerk does not normally present a matter to the congregation that requires a sustaining vote. That said, however, this is not an unknown practice, although it was more common many, many years ago than today.

But, according to the handbook, it is proper for a member of the bishopric to present business to the ward members for their sustaining vote. At the stake level, the stake president and his counselors, or an assigned high councilor are authorized to present business for a sustaining vote. Check out the instructions at the top of the Sustaining of Officers form in MLS or at your next ward conference.

Thanks,

That clarification is very helpful. your time is greatly appreciated.

Larry

For me the clarification comes from describing who attends meetings like PEC and Ward Welfare meeting. The handbook usually states that the bishopric should attend AND the ward clerk AND the executive secretary. Since they are listed separately, that indicates to me that the ward clerk(s) and executive secretary are not considered part of the bishopric eventhough they attend almost every meeting that the bishopric does.

Another thing to consider is that when the bishop is released, that action automatically releases his counselors but not the ward clerk(s) or the executive secretary. They might happen to be released at the same time as the bishop, but would be coincidental rather than automatic.

jbh001 wrote:For me the clarification comes from describing who attends meetings like PEC and Ward Welfare meeting. The handbook usually states that the bishopric should attend AND the ward clerk AND the executive secretary. Since they are listed separately, that indicates to me that the ward clerk(s) and executive secretary are not considered part of the bishopric eventhough they attend almost every meeting that the bishopric does.

Another thing to consider is that when the bishop is released, that action automatically releases his counselors but not the ward clerk(s) or the executive secretary. They might happen to be released at the same time as the bishop, but would be coincidental rather than automatic.

Same goes for Elders' Quorum Presidencies, Relief Society Presidencies, and so on with their Secretaries.

In my opinion, Presidencies should try to remember to utilize their Secretaries like Secretaries and not a 3rd Counselor. Every Presidency should read the Church Handbook to figure out what place each member should play in serving their auxiliary.

Also bear in mind that the bishop and his councilors must be ordained to the office High Priest (if they're not already an HP), whereas the executive secretary and the clerks do not.

Also as a note, the Bishop must be ordained to the priesthood office of Bishop in the Aaronic priesthood (if not already a Bishop in the Aaronic priesthood) and then set apart as the Bishop of the Ward to which he will preside as the set apart Bishop. The Bishop's councilors are not ordained to the priesthood office of Bishop.

kh_design wrote:. . . Bishop must be ordained to the priesthood office of Bishop in the Aaronic priesthood (if not already a Bishop in the Aaronic priesthood) and then set apart as the Bishop of the Ward to which he will preside as the set apart Bishop.

The bishop actually presides over the ward as the set apart presiding high priest, not as the ordained Aaronic Priesthood bishop. As the ordained and set apart bishop, he does preside over all of the Aaronic Priesthood functions of the ward.

When you sit down to analyze it, the bishop holds a most complex and fascinating calling.

I don't know if this is relevant for the discussion any more, but in the Church directory, for districts outside of stake boundaries, the listed officers are District President and District Clerk.

I surmise that has something to do with the fact, that the clerk should be the one to know everything about the unit he is clerking for. Of course, the same goes for all secretaries of all quorums/auxiliaries.

Responding to several points made in the above threads.

The "bishop" in a ward has actually three callings. (1) Presiding high priest; (2) Bishop; and (3) President of the Quorum of Priests.

Counselors in a bishopric are not always ordained high priest, they can also function as an elder. This is done in student wards where the two counselors are younger than usual. Ordination to high priest is general in a regular ward since there will be other high priests not in the bishopric.

The executive secretary is actually an executive of the Priesthood Executive Committee (PEC), and not the bishopric.

A District is organized under a Mission. The minimum requirement for a District is a district president and a clerk. However, neither the district presidence, council, or branch presidencies require, or are ordained, top the office of high priest. The priesthood executive is the mission president who has the same presiding authority over the membership as a stake president. The two Europe Areas account for a quarter of all the branches in the Church. Most of the branches are organized into districts, however, there are several branches directly reporting to the mission outside of the organized districts.

I was just ordained as the ward executive secretary here in Pisa Italy. In the LDS tools app when you click on "bishopric" my name appears along with the bishop and his counselors. While I don't see the ward clerk listed, his name is not listed in the directory, as privacy laws in Italy are pretty strict and only those that want to be listed are listed.

Actually, I just logged into LDS.org and under organizations and "bishopric" in addition to the bishop and his counselors, the ward executive secretary, the ward clerk, and even the assistant ward clerk's are all listed.

The listing of bishopric under the LDS tools app and LDS.org are to help with contact information, it would be irritating to have to look under 2 different organisations for the Bishopric and those that help the bishopric, namely clerks and exec sec.

This is a different issue to roles and responsibilities where the Bishopric is the Bishop and counsellors as described by lajackson

According to the "Getting Started for Ward Clerks" on the official Church website, in the "Ward Clerk's Introduction" video (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/hel ... n?lang=eng) it is stated: "A bishopric is comprised of not just the Bishop and counselors, people need to remember, bishopric is clerks and executive secretary. Each has a role, a bishopric, a bishop and his counselors are only effective if they can spend a preponderance of their time ministering to members of their ward. The clerks and the executive secretary role is to eliminate as much of the administrative function as possible to allow that to happen for a Bishop and his counselors."

Good catch. The first two quoted sentences are conflicting. There is no question that a bishopric cannot function well without a clerk, an executive secretary, and assistant clerks.

The current General Handbook (6.0) clarifies that "The bishop . . . and his counselors form a bishopric," and "The ward clerk and ward executive secretary work closely with the bishopric, but they are not members of the bishopric and do not need to be released when the bishopric is reorganized."

Yeah, I just read that in the handbook too. When I was a clerk 15+ years ago I read they were, so maybe policy has changed, but their video hasn't.