Out of unit member to be assigned as a ministering sister in the ward

I was asked by the stake president if a sister could be assigned in LCR as the ministering sister for someone in a different ward in the stake. I told him that it would probably involve first making the ministering sister an out-of-unit member in the other ward and then the RS president of the other ward could make that assignment in LCR.

Am I correct that this is the best way to handle it? Do any of you have experience successfully doing something similar to this? Do you foresee any problems with it?

I thought I'd ask before I have the ward clerk try it out.

I'd be a bit surprised if it worked. By definition, an out-of-unit member is still a member of their home ward. That home ward would be assigning ministers and assignment to minister. I'm not coming up with a solid rational for why they'd deliberately allow out-of-unit to minister or be ministered to. At least not a global rational.

greggo wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 11:40 am I was asked by the stake president if a sister could be assigned in LCR as the ministering sister for someone in a different ward in the stake. I told him that it would probably involve first making the ministering sister an out-of-unit member in the other ward and then the RS president of the other ward could make that assignment in LCR.

Am I correct that this is the best way to handle it? Do any of you have experience successfully doing something similar to this? Do you foresee any problems with it?

I'd be a bit more inclined to consider that option, if the "ministering sister" (in ward "A") was already actively involved in some manner with the different ward (ward "B"). Even if the system happens to allow it for other circumstances, to me it doesn't seem like a cross-ward ministering assignment, in-and-of-itself, really fits into the purpose of an out-of-unit record.

Without knowing any details, my thought is to simply have a member of the RS Presidency of ward "B" be assigned as the ministering sister. And she would then in turn, delegate and coordinate much of the actual work to the sister in ward "A". Especially with the new paradigm of ministering vs home/visiting teaching, it's taught that the person assigned to minister, does not need to necessarily be the one doing a lot of the actual work, if there's others around who are actively engaged in that effort.

But if the stake president desires moving forward, and if LCR actually does permit it, could you post that update here in the Forum, so everyone here can see the results?

With the caveat that it may have changed, the last time I was involved with the out-of-unit process, LCR did not allow an OoU member to be assigned a ministering assignment in the unit away from home where they were temporarily serving.

I just checked the ministering assignments in our stake's YSA Branch, and in the Unassigned Ministering Sisters list, I see the names of the wives of the Branch Presidency. I'm assuming since they are on the list, and each are out-of-unit members, that they must be able to be assigned sisters in the branch to minister to.

I'll work with the ward clerk to create the out-of-unit member record and see if she can be assigned. I'll post again and let everyone know if we're successful or not.

From what I've seen, you can assign an out of unit individual to be the minister, but not to receive the ministering. We have two families that spend 6 months with us and 6 months in another ward. It is a bit annoying to not be able to assign them to be ministered to for the entire six months they are here.