Ministering assignments

While I can see my ministering assignments from my entry in the Directory on the LDS Tools mobile app, I cannot find a way to get this information from lds.org. As a resident ward geek, I have been approached by a representative of the relief society responsible for communicating this information who is finding some members who do not have access to LDS Tools, but do have access to the Directory on lds.org, and is aware of the admonishment from the pulpit that there will be no more "little strips of white paper".

There is no way for a member to view their assignment on lds.org at this time.

Personally, I didn't think the comment about slips of paper meant that you couldn't hand out printed assignments. Rather I thought it meant that the leader should talk to the brother or sister and talk to them about their assignment rather than JUST giving them a piece of paper. But that doesn't mean they can't give out a printed assignment during that talk. If the leader just tells the brother or sister to look in LDS Tools and nothing else, that's really no better.

eblood66 wrote:Personally, I didn't think the comment about slips of paper meant that you couldn't hand out printed assignments. Rather I thought it meant that the leader should talk to the brother or sister and talk to them about their assignment rather than JUST giving them a piece of paper.

That's the way I interpreted it as well. The point is that they are to talk, not just pass out assignments and check off boxes.

I don't think the code for the directory had been updated in some time. Perhaps on the next update - whenever that will be.

msd360 wrote:I cannot find a way to get this information from lds.org.

That would be because it is not there to be gotten by individual members. I do not know if this is on the radar as a future feature or not.

msd360 wrote:I have been approached by a representative of the relief society , , , who is , , , aware of the admonishment from the pulpit that there will be no more "little strips of white paper".

Just as with the former home and visiting teaching system, you can make assignments without "little strips of white paper". The expected way is that a member of the presidency will visit with each ministering companionship and the companionship will take notes (unless they have excellent memories).

Incidentally, you shouldn't need to be getting information for the Relief Society. The presidency has access to all the information they need to conduct ministering interviews and to make ministering assignments.

"Little strips of white paper" have never been needed in the process of these assignments. I have been at this for over 45 years and have never been given such a thing.

lajackson wrote:Incidentally, you shouldn't need to be getting information for the Relief Society. The presidency has access to all the information they need to conduct ministering interviews and to make ministering assignments.

Excuse me for giving the best assistance I could when approached by someone with a legitimate question and with the proper authority who was unable to resolve the problem through the available channels. The previous responses are appreciated and were sufficient without your comments. If my editorial comments were offensive to you, I apologize for that, however I do not apologize for stepping in to help when asked for assistance.

msd360 wrote:Excuse me for giving the best assistance I could when approached by someone with a legitimate question and with the proper authority who was unable to resolve the problem through the available channels. The previous responses are appreciated and were sufficient without your comments.

I apologize. I did not intend for my comment to be critical of what you are doing. I wrote it poorly and I am sorry it came across that way.

I deal more often with a different set of circumstances than you described. I should have been more careful and not have imposed my experience upon yours.

The RS & EQ Presidencies have the ability to view and edit the ministering assignments. On the screen where the assignments are edited, they can be printed out for each ministering brother / sister.

I am a RS President - on what page can I do the editing as I have not been able to find it on LDS.org or LDS Tools. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks

t.gauge.klein wrote:I am a RS President - on what page can I do the editing as I have not been able to find it on LDS.org or LDS Tools. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks

LCR = Leader and Clerk Resources

http://lcr.lds.org

I agree. I can not see any ministering assignments via the LDS.ORG webpage. I can using the LDS Tools app. However, I am using an Android and can view, but can not copy any of the data to send, print, etc. My friend who uses an iPhone, can easily do that. How do I copy, send, print etc. these assignments using an Android device? I don't see any such functions on my phone.

Can ministering assingments be edited in the LDS tools app or from a smart phone?

I don't think they can be edited from LDS Tools. You can probably do it from a phone via the LCR web page.

lajackson wrote:

msd360 wrote:I cannot find a way to get this information from lds.org.

That would be because it is not there to be gotten by individual members. I do not know if this is on the radar as a future feature or not.

msd360 wrote:I have been approached by a representative of the relief society , , , who is , , , aware of the admonishment from the pulpit that there will be no more "little strips of white paper".

Just as with the former home and visiting teaching system, you can make assignments without "little strips of white paper". The expected way is that a member of the presidency will visit with each ministering companionship and the companionship will take notes (unless they have excellent memories).

Incidentally, you shouldn't need to be getting information for the Relief Society. The presidency has access to all the information they need to conduct ministering interviews and to make ministering assignments.

"Little strips of white paper" have never been needed in the process of these assignments. I have been at this for over 45 years and have never been given such a thing.

Thanks for clarifying the matter.

My takeaway from all this discussion is that it seems that ministering assignments are not accessible to non-presidency members of elders quorums and relief societies.

BTW, your 45 years without little strips of white paper (LSOWP) must surely be anecdotal. In my years as a Church member since MLS then LCR were fielded, I've only ever been given LSOWP during interviews with my quorum/group leaders.

lelarso wrote: My takeaway from all this discussion is that it seems that ministering assignments are not accessible to non-presidency members of elders quorums and relief societies.

Individual members can see their own assignments as well as the Ministering Elders and Ministering Sisters assigned to them in the LDSTools app.

lelarso wrote:My takeaway from all this discussion is that it seems that ministering assignments are not accessible to non-presidency members of elders quorums and relief societies.

Things do change. Ministering assignments are now available in LDS Tools. Perhaps at some point the assignments will be available on lds.org. We know there are changes to lds.org (at least LCR) that are to come.

However, that should not be the primary way of communicating assignemnts. From the Frequently Asked Questions:

16. How do members receive their ministering assignment?

Leaders meet with ministering brothers and sisters—preferably as companionships—to share their assignments with them and to counsel about the strengths, needs, and challenges of those to whom they minister. This conversation could take place in a ministering interview (see question 20, below) or whenever needed.

lelarso wrote:BTW, your 45 years without little strips of white paper (LSOWP) must surely be anecdotal. In my years as a Church member since MLS then LCR were fielded, I've only ever been given LSOWP during interviews with my quorum/group leaders.

I have seen plenty of LSOWP, just never received any. I always preferred to take my own notes as I visited with my quorum and group leaders. It was my subtle reminder to those leaders that the stewardship (now ministering) interview was the key to successfully taking care of the members for whom we were responsible.

And for the record, as long as there is an interview along with it, I am okay with the LSOWP.

lajackson wrote:And for the record, as long as there is an interview along with it, I am okay with the LSOWP.

+1

It's when the slips of paper becomes a replacement for a proper interview that issues arise.

Attempts to replace the interview by electronic means is NOT recommended for privacy/legal reasons.

I mean this with the utmost respect, why are there ministering assignments in the first place? I am a faithful and active member and I am not very excited about being someone's project. Perhaps it is because I am a convert and did not grow up in the church, but I find showing up at someone's house unannounced and having someone assigned to "minister" me without my input to be rude and invasive,

wynnrichards wrote:I mean this with the utmost respect, why are there ministering assignments in the first place?

The scriptural basis for ministering (and its predecessors) comes from section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants, where in verse 47 we are instructed to "visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties." The bishop also has a scriptural mandate to seek out those in need, not just to wait for them to ask for help (see Doctrine and Covenants 44:6 and 52:40, for example). To do that, he needs to have some way of knowing how his members are doing, and the elders quorum and Relief Society help him with that responsibility.

I agree with you, however, that showing up at someone's house unannounced is more often than not inconsiderate and is not usually a successful way to minister. The example of the Savior to show love and caring suggests that there are better ways.

The instructions on ministering seem clear to me that inspiration and love will be the biggest factor in enabling members to show that they care for each other as the Savior cares for each of us. And the Savior is who we represent as we minister.

The difference between theory and practice provides the workshop in which we live to learn to become as our Heavenly Father and his son, as we prepare to return to them.

Thanks for the clarification, just concern on my part. I was excited about the "ministering" program because it seemed like a departure from following the same script/process and made allowances for nuances among all of us. But, in application I am starting to get concerned that this is going to become a ticket punch exercise where people will be projects, home visits will become "ministering" visits, metrics will be captured and reported up the chain. I realize it is up to all of us to do the work to prevent this from becoming just something we "have to do". This could be a great program; however, less process/metrics and more allowances for things to develop organically and in accordance with the differences among the membership.

wynnrichards wrote:metrics

I personally believe this will be one of the brilliant keys to the new program. There is only one metric. Did a member of my quorum presidency have an interview with me during the quarter.

I may have been asked to watch over two dozen families and not contacted a single one of them. But if the presidency visits with me the metric is met. There should be additional discussion during the interview, but it becomes discussion about individuals and families, and not about measuring embarrassing performance.

True ministering, of course, is much more than that. Though somehow I feel that there will be some benefit in not having to figure out what to do with quorum members who have been home teaching a family that moved out six months ago.

I just was prompted to sync my android version of LDS Tools. I am a YM prez.

I can no longer see who ministers to my family nor who my companion and I minister too.

I also do not see any ministering assignments for any male or female in our Ward.

I used to be able to see mine and any others, on LDS Tools.

Did an update remove all access to anyone?

Thanks!

Steve

ritterfamily wrote:I just was prompted to sync my android version of LDS Tools. I am a YM prez.

I can no longer see who ministers to my family nor who my companion and I minister too.

I also do not see any ministering assignments for any male or female in our Ward.

I used to be able to see mine and any others, on LDS Tools.

Did an update remove all access to anyone?

What version of LDS Tools are you running? Make sure you update to the latest, which was just released yesterday.

If you're not using the latest version of LDS Tools, you will not see ministering information. The data structures have changed quite a bit and the old version doesn't know what to do what the new data.

I remember reading something about new wine and old bottles somewhere....

My son is having a different problem. His Android device no longer shows the Ministering tab at all (it used to). He is having to rely on us or others to look up the contact information for him. He uses his device heavily for looking up information. I’m putting the info into the contacts on his phone for him, but what if he has a change in ministering assignment and I’m not around? I guess he can go to his EQ president, but it seems more convenient to allow him to look it up himself. Especially if he needs to contact one of his ministering families quickly in an emergency.

proud2b4family wrote:My son is having a different problem. His Android device no longer shows the Ministering tab at all (it used to).

See this post. What he was seeing wasn't real Ministering, but HT/VT with lipstick. That's been turned off. He needs to update to LDS Tools 3.5 to see the new/real Ministering. His phone will have to be on Android 5 or later to get it.

He has Android 7.0 and LDS Tools 3.5. But the problem still persists.

proud2b4family wrote:He has Android 7.0 and LDS Tools 3.5. But the problem still persists.

He should send feedback from within the app. Feedback from within the app will go to the developers whereas posts here likely will never make it to them. It looks like there are a few unanticipated bugs in 3.5 with some users and feedback will help the developers nail it down.

How do I look up to see who I am assigned for the ministering program?

TB1234 wrote:How do I look up to see who I am assigned for the ministering program?

Currently, that can only be done in LDS Tools, version 3.5. That requires Android 5 or iOS 10 or higher.

Otherwise, you'll have to get that assignment when you have the interview with the leaders.

I am the Elders Quorum President and no longer have access to Ministering Assignments for my Quorum... Where did they go?
My District Lists are gone and so I am no longer able to make changes.
Please advise ASAP.

Leader and Clerk Resources does not let you view the Ministering Assignments for the Elders Quorum... LDS Tools allows you to view the Districts and Report on Interviews. But I have no way to make changes to Companionships or Families.

Is anyone else having this problem?

Why is this not being addressed. It has been a problem since the update to LDS Tools?

Ok... it looks like I found the answer to my questions...

It works on Chrome but not on Safari...

dnwcook wrote:Ok... it looks like I found the answer to my questions...

It works on Chrome but not on Safari...

Where did you find that answer? Is the church only supporting Chrome now? In the past I think they said they officially supported Firefox, Chrome, IE, and Safari. I'm assuming that's the same now, except they might support Edge and not IE now.

I found it by accident. As far as I know we haven’t received any official notice saying that it doesn’t work on Safari.

Try visiting LCR.LDS.ORG then click Ministering botton

So it's not currently available on browser, but will it be available at any point in the near future?

writingqueen13 wrote:So it's not currently available on browser, but will it be available at any point in the near future?

Probably. The question is when. We rarely know in advance.

I am RS Pres. in my unit. While I can find assignments and even find proposed assignments they will not save until I publish. I can't publish because my Bishop wants to see the changes I make so that if he has information I should know about . So I can't publish until then and it won't save my changes if I navigate away from that page. Is there something I'm not seeing so that the proposed changes will stay until I'm ready to publish or is this another "we didn't know that would be a problem with this yet another change in the proceedings?

I am a Ward Relief Society President. I love the program, first of all for the ministering set-up. My question is how do I share with the Bishop proposed changes to ministering assignments? I looked and my daughter helped me find your question forum here search for my answer. Do I just copy and paste to an email.? I imagine you have designed a way that is smooth and functional.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Janiceharris1 wrote:My question is how do I share with the Bishop proposed changes to ministering assignments?

He has access to it on-line the same way you do. Just communicate to him that you want him to review/approve it.

Can the counselors edit and change RS ministering assignments or only the president?

The technology permits all the presidency to edit assignments. It is up to your RS president how she wants to work through the process of making assignments.