Boundary Re-alignment and New Records

Fellow Clerks,

Our stake recently re-aligned the boundaries of our ward, which resulted in some records leaving our ward, and others coming to our ward. We gained about 40 families.

My question is whether the records of the families now in our ward as a result of the re-alignment need to be read in as new members of the ward to be accepted in full fellowship. I am inclined to believe that we would need to read those records in, but I recognize that it will take some time in Sacrament Meeting to read in all of those families.

Section 18.2.2 of Handbook 2 just states that:

"When membership records are received in a ward and when converts are baptized and confirmed, a member of the bishopric introduces and welcomes the members in the next sacrament
meeting. He reads each person’s name, invites the person to stand, and asks members of the congregation to show by the uplifted hand that they accept the members in full fellowship
in the ward. Records of family members are read together. If a member knows any reason why a person may not be entitled to full fellowship, he or she should talk to the bishop privately."

Any guidance on the issue would be helpful. Thank you.

mrbrutus111 wrote:"When membership records are received in a ward . . . , a member of the bishopric introduces and welcomes the members in the next sacrament meeting.

Yes, that is what it says. And that is what we do. You can have one welcoming vote at the end, and you should be able to read through the names in less than the time it takes to sing a long opening hymn. A mention that they are all coming into the ward as a result of the recent boundary change will key everyone in that this welcome may go a little quicker than most. "The Jackson Family, John and Mary, and their children, Adam, Brenda, Charles, Deborah, Emily, and Frank." 8-10 seconds each for 40 families, six minutes total.

If you really want to make them feel welcome and make a big deal about it, cancel the 7-minute youth speaker and use that time, or ask the concluding speaker to plan on having a few less minutes to present his message.

Doing it will also clue any new members that their records have not made the jump to their new home.

You can prepare for reading all the names by watching the sustainings and releases from general conference.

When a new ward is created, are all 400 or so names supposed to be read in during the first sacrament meeting?

chrisgrant wrote:When a new ward is created, are all 400 or so names supposed to be read in during the first sacrament meeting?

In my own personal opinion, no. If you cleanly divide a ward, everyone knows everyone, and I do not believe there is a reason to do it.

On the other hand, if you split a ward and bring in some members from another ward, I would read in the new ones as if they had moved into the ward.

This is my own personal opinion, but I think it makes sense.

chrisgrant wrote:When a new ward is created, are all 400 or so names supposed to be read in during the first sacrament meeting?

We definitely didn't when our ward was created a couple years ago.