Lesson 11: Strengthening Welfare Committees

Objective

Welfare committee members will commit to strengthen their welfare committee in its work of helping members and families become self-reliant and caring for the poor and needy.

Materials for This Lesson

Essentials of Welfare videocassette (53045) or In the Service of Your God DVD (54645)

Statement from Church Handbook of Instructions

Invite a participant to read the following summary:

The stake welfare committee meets to receive instruction, give reports, and coordinate stake welfare matters. The ward welfare committee meets to receive instruction and plan how to help prevent and meet welfare needs in the ward. (see Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1: Stake Presidencies and Bishoprics [2006], 70, 73.)

Scripture

Invite a participant to read the following scripture, and discuss how it applies to the work of welfare committees:

“And the church did meet together oft, . . . to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. . . . And their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit” (Moroni 6:5, 9).

Key Points

Help participants understand the following points, and discuss them as needed:

1. Leaders at each level of Church administration foster the spiritual and temporal well-being of the Saints in the following committees and councils:

• General Welfare Committee

• Welfare Executive Committee

• Area council

• Coordinating council

• Regional welfare committee

• Stake welfare committee

• Stake bishops’ welfare council

• Ward welfare committee

• Family council

2. Though the specific responsibilities of these committees vary, they all have essentially the same purposes:

• Identify welfare needs, including self-reliance needs

• Instruct leaders and members in welfare duties

• Coordinate efforts to help the needy

• Administer resources

• Plan welfare events and activities

• Prepare for emergencies

• Evaluate the effectiveness of welfare events, activities, and operations

3. Welfare committees are key sources of teaching and inspiration. President Thomas S. Monson has said: “I am grateful my welfare roots go deep into the soil of the Pioneer Stake and the Pioneer Welfare Region, where giants of our time. . . taught, testified and inspired. There is currently a pressing need for members of regional and area councils to assume their full responsibility and be similarly taught and inspired” (in “Roots of Modern Church Welfare System Tap into Early Stakes,” Church News, May 26, 1990, 8).

Invite a participant to read the following statement by M. Russell Ballard: “The ward welfare committee includes all of the members of the priesthood executive committee plus the Relief Society presidency. . . . While the bishop alone is responsible for the allocation of welfare funds, the committee plays a significant role in caring for the poor and needy by planning and coordinating the use of other ward resources, including the time, talents, skills, materials, and compassionate service of ward members. . . . Committee members should assist the bishop in administering welfare assistance, ensuring that families understand and are able to apply welfare principles, and helping to find solutions to long-term welfare needs” (Counseling with Our Councils: Learning to Minister Together in the Church and in the Family [1997], 101).

Invite participants to share something they learned at a recent welfare committee meeting.

4. A welfare committee is functioning properly if:

• It is fully organized.

• Its members understand welfare principles.

• It meets regularly.

• It addresses real needs.

• It makes and follows up on assignments.

• It involves priesthood and Relief Society leaders.

Video Presentation

Show part 1 of “Caring for the Needy” (part of the videocassette Essentials of Welfare or the DVD In the Service of Your God ), if available. Ask participants to assess how well the committee is functioning (based on the list above).

Case Study

Ask participants: How can the presiding officers of welfare committees assess the committee’s effectiveness? What steps can they take to strengthen the committee?

Read the following case study:

The Ojo Caliente Stake Welfare Committee is organized but meets only occasionally. When they do meet, members of the stake presidency usually give instructions with others just listening. Any discussion mostly centers on correlating upcoming events and activities. The stake Relief Society presidency and the chairman of the Stake Bishops’ Welfare Council feel their ideas are seldom heard.

Ask participants: What can the presiding officer or others do to strengthen this committee? (If necessary, use the information in Key Point 4 above to guide the discussion.)

Practice

Invite participants to think of ways they can strengthen their own welfare committee. Challenge them to make specific plans to improve their committee.

Bear testimony of the divinity of the work to which they are called as members of welfare committees.