Ministering Companionships

I am a newly called RS president. Our Ward has ministering assignments set up as a family "assigned" to minister to another family who is generally their neighbor. I can't seem to find in the handbook if this is appropriate. I see the beauty in it but I also read most of what has been put out by the church using the examples of women with women in companionships and men with men. I want to be sure I am following the vision set forth by the first presidency.

Handbook 2: 9.5.3 says "The Relief Society presidency normally assigns sisters into companionships of two. A married couple may be assigned to minister together, if that would most effectively meet the needs of a sister and her family."

The same is true for the Elder's quorum. So, there is some wiggle room for what you describe.

However, I think the key word here is "normally". However, I'll also refer you to the introduction (0.3) which says "Leaders who have questions about information in the handbooks or about issues that are not addressed should direct the questions to their immediate presiding authority." Forum title not withstanding, my observation has no value above that of any other member reading the same Handbook.

we are a new ward and i am the relief society president. where can i find instructions on how to enter new ministering assignments?

Sonnatui wrote:we are a new ward and i am the relief society president. where can i find instructions on how to enter new ministering assignments?

Your ward clerk should be able to assist.

To enter the assignments, log in to Leader and Clerk Resources
Click on Ministering (at the top of the page) | Relief Society | Proposed Assignments
Make whatever changes or additions you want, then let the bishop know they are ready for his review.
After he approves, you can click the "Review and Publish Assignments" button to make them official - at that point they will be visible to ward members.

It is recommended that assignments should be issued to the ministering elders and ministering sisters in person rather than telling them to go look it up.

We have proposed several changes in Ministering assignments but for now we only want one to be transferred over to the Current Assignments. Can a single change be published or do we have to wait for all of the proposed changes to be approved?

misstories wrote:We have proposed several changes in Ministering assignments but for now we only want one to be transferred over to the Current Assignments. Can a single change be published or do we have to wait for all of the proposed changes to be approved?

The Proposed Assignments tools was designed to make mass changes or complex changes to assignments at once. If you want to edit just one companionship assignment or add one companionship assignment then the change can be sent to the bishop for approval outside the system (such as by email) and then the change or add made to the Current Assignments.

I am a new RS Secretary. We have made several changes to our ministering sisters in the Proposed Assignment area and need to make more. When I go under actions for a particular companionship I get Edit and/or Delete. When I select Edit all I get is boxes with X's. I can't see how to add to a companionship.

pat.leverich wrote:I am a new RS Secretary. We have made several changes to our ministering sisters in the Proposed Assignment area and need to make more. When I go under actions for a particular companionship I get Edit and/or Delete. When I select Edit all I get is boxes with X's. I can't see how to add to a companionship.

I think they are having a problem on this functionality at this moment, because I was trying to do something similar (OQ side), but an 'add' buttons seems nowhere to be found.

The 'Ministering' section also loads with an error: "Sorry, something went wrong loading the requested data. Try refreshing the page, or try again later."

Tried Edge (Chromium v 81.0.416.20) and Firefox (v 72.0.2), both same error.

pat.leverich wrote:I am a new RS Secretary. We have made several changes to our ministering sisters in the Proposed Assignment area and need to make more. When I go under actions for a particular companionship I get Edit and/or Delete. When I select Edit all I get is boxes with X's. I can't see how to add to a companionship.

I've been having the same issues! Tried to make changes this morning, and still can't 12 hours later. Frustrating! Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

I have been called as Elder's Quorum President and I am looking for the instructions on how to use the Ministering Brothers - Proposed Assignments tool online. I will be making several changes in the ministering assignments and I am looking for a simple tool to use to do this. Can someone help me with this?

The Ministering [Brothers/Sisters] - Proposed Assignments page functions as a sandbox to work out changes without those changes going public. Only those with permissions needed to edit ministering assignments can view or work through changes on the proposed assignments. Once the needed changes have been made then the bishop can be informed of the proposed assignments and he can review them and either publish them or you can publish them (click the 'Review and Publish Assignments' button).

Starting the process on the Ministering Brothers - Proposed Assignments page is done by either starting with a blank page or with the current assignments and working from there. If your predecessor was in the process of working changes the page may not be blank. You can start afresh by clicking the 'Start Over' button. This clears the page. You may find it helpful to begin by using the assignments on the Ministering Brothers - Current Assignments page by clicking the 'Use Current Assignments' button.

If you have any further questions your ward clerk should be able to help you. In the case he is not familiar with the ministering assignment tools then come back here with specific questions and we will be able to provide further assistance. There are other threads/topics discussing the ministering assignments tools in this (Leader and Clerk Resources) forum.

Is it possible for multiple families to minister to each other? Example, 5 different families are assigned to minister to each other and all are companions to one another.

Is it possible for multiple families to minister to each other? Example, 5 different families are assigned to minister to each other and all are companions to one another.

For a general answer, multiple companionships cannot be assigned to minister to the same family. Trying to do so will result in the following message in LCR upon trying to make the second assignment:
This Household has already been assigned to [names of companionship members]. Saving this assignment will reassign them to this companionship
I suppose you might be able to create a "mega-companionship" which includes all of the adult members of the five families in that single companionship, and then they are assigned to minister to those five families (I don't know if this is possible in LCR, never tried it). If the Bishop approves of this arrangement due to specific considerations, that might be an option. But given the fact that multiple companionships are unable to minister to the same family, it seems like this possible "workaround" may not be following the intended purpose of ministering companionship assignments.

There is a limit of 3 companions (2 if it's husband and wife)

kd7mha wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 1:14 pm There is a limit of 3 companions (2 if it's husband and wife)

And I would be surprised if the ministers could minister to their own family. It would be interesting to see if someone could minister to the family of someone who ministers to them.

It would be interesting to figure out what is the tightest "circle" of ministering that LCR allows. ("A ministers to B, who ministers to C, who ministers to A" type of thing.) I'm guessing that 5 families is too small unless someone can belong to two ministering companionships or you allow a "companionship" of one. Off the top of my head, I think minimum group size is 6.

- A and B minister to C and D.
- C and D minister to E and F.
- E and F minister to A and B.

russellhltn wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 1:23 pmAnd I would be surprised if the ministers could minister to their own family. It would be interesting to see if someone could minister to the family of someone who ministers to them.

I no longer am in a role to test, but I seem to recall that a companionship could be assigned to minister to the family of one of the members of the companionship. I could be remembering incorrectly, though.

davesudweeks wrote: Tue Mar 14, 2023 3:20 pm I seem to recall that a companionship could be assigned to minister to the family of one of the members of the companionship.

Yes, families have always been able to minister to each other and be recorded as such on the system.

And the same person can be in multiple companionships and have multiple ministering assignments.