2025, The Year of Ministering!

Recently I spoke in our ward's sacrament meeting. Here is a copy of my remarks. 😊

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When I was first called to serve as Bishop we set a vision for our ward. The vision was that each of us take steps to increase our faith. And as we did, we would see mountains moved in our lives. To help with this vision, we have set specific goals each year.  In 2023, our goal was for each of us to have a temple “experience” each month. And in 2024, the goal was to read the Book of Mormon together.

Each of these goals was designed to be inward facing. Making personal changes to increase our connection to Jesus Christ. This year our goal is going to be much more outward facing.   

But, before I get here, let me tell you a couple of stories.

Table top story – Drew tried to carry a table top our of a Uhaul truck by himself. He fell and the table top fell on his hand.  

BBQ moving story – Drew tied to move a BBQ by himself and smashed his face on the BBQ.  

Hopefully, you immediately recognize that my biggest mistake in both instances was trying to complete these tasks alone. Each of them would have been non-instances if I had just asked for some help. Which brings me to out topic for today – Ministering!

For out ward goal, we would like to make 2025 the Year of Ministering! But I’ll come back to that. Let’s first create the foundation.

Our prophet, President Nelson, said this in 2018: “A hallmark of the Lord’s true and living Church will always be an organized, directed effort to minister to individual children of God and their families. Because it is His Church, we as His servants will minister to the one, just as He did. We will minister in His name, with His power and authority, and with His loving-kindness.”

David L. Beck, said it this way “To minster means to love and care for others. It means to attend to their physical and spiritual needs. Put simply, it means to do what the Savior would do if he were here.”

Ministering is Christ-like caring for others.

I would like to divide the balance of my remarks today into 3 sections: (#1) The Goal, (#2) Why this is so important, and (#3) Tips to be an All-Star minister.

(1) The Goal

As I mentioned, we would like 2025 to be the Year of Ministering. But what does that mean? It would be tempting to give you a checklist of things to do each week or each month. But I think that would be contrary to the spirit of ministering our prophet is trying to instill in us.

Instead, we would like you to just do two things:

(1)   Pray everyday "Please God, inspire me how to minister today."

(2)   Ask each family you are assigned to minister to, “How would you like to be ministered to?”

Let me break down each of these sub-goals:

(1)   Pray everyday "Please God, inspire me how to minister today."

In 2017, Elder Ronald A Rasband, speaking of the great blessing “first responders” (Police, Fire, Ambulance) are, he counselled: “If we let the Lord know in our morning prayers that we are ready, He will call on us to respond. If we respond, He will call on us time and time again … We will become spiritual first responders bringing help from on high.” 

I promise that God will use us as his ministering angels if we seek his promptings and take action when they come. Just last week a member of our ward texted to tell me about how they had been “nudged” to contact two different people and in both cases they were in need of help.

(2)   Ask each family you are assigned to minister to, “How would you like to be ministered to?”

To start I’d like to share an experience: Bread to the  ______ family story – Drew visited a family for the first time and brought a loaf of bread as a gift. The family refused to take it.

For quite a while I was really put out by this. I mean who says no to a gift. I kept running the incident through my mind, replaying how they “should” have reacted. But eventually the spirit reminded me what the vision of ministering really is.

Sister Jean B. Bingham said in the April 2018 General Conference: “…when we consider how to minister most effectively, we ask, ‘What does she [or he] need?’ Coupling that question with a sincere desire to serve, we are then led by the Spirit to do what would lift and strengthen the individual.”

The most effective ministering means to do what they need. Obviously that family did not “need” a loaf of bread. I was trying to force my thought of what they needed on this family.

Ultimately the goal of all Ministering efforts is to help them feel loved and draw closer to Jesus Christ. We do this by doing what “they need”. And obviously that’s going to be different for everyone.

Bishop’s are not given a formal ministering assignment, as apparently he is supposed to minister to all 393 people on the records. But, when I did, I found great success in asking this question. I had families that ask me to visit every month, families that only wanted a periodic check-in text, and everything in between. I feel it shows that we really want to make a meaningful impact in their life.

(2) Why is this so important?

So, why would making ministering a priority within our ward family be so important right now?

(1) Reason #1. In 2024 we had 12 individuals join our ward family through baptism. 12! I’ve been in the Belmead ward since 2011, and I can assure you this is not typical. We are seeing miracles in our ward family. But each of those miracles represents a soul that needs shepherding. Individuals and families that desperately needs ministering. For those of you that were not raised in this church, I am sure you will remember what a huge adjustment it is join our faith. So much to know, so much that is different. We now need a ministering miracle in this ward.

Elder Gary E. Steveson recounts this great story: “In a recent conversation with a friend of mine, he told me that when he was a young, newly baptized member of the Church, he suddenly felt like somehow he did not fit in anymore in his ward. The missionaries who taught him had been transferred away, and he felt like he was on the periphery. Without friends in the ward, he found his old friends and with them engaged in activities that took him away from participating at church—so much so that he began to stray from the flock. With tears in his eyes, he described how deeply grateful he was when a fellow ward member extended a ministering hand to him and, in a warm and inclusive way, invited him to return. Within months, he was back in the safety of the flock, strengthening others as well as himself. Aren’t we grateful for the shepherd in Brazil who sought after this young man, Elder Carlos A. Godoy, who now sits behind me as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy?"

(2) The second reason was well explained by Elder Gong. In 2023 he explained that, “In some places in the Church, we have a ministering gap. More say they are ministering than say they are being ministered to. We do not want checklist concern. But often we need more than a sincere hello in the hall or a casual “Can I help you?” in the parking lot.”

As I had the privilege of meeting with many of you during Tithing Declaration over the past few months, we discussed ministering, and I can confirm that we have ministering gap in this ward. I don’t say that to make you feel guilty, but only to help us all recognize that we have work to do. And to testify that if we will do that work it will lead to a ministering miracle in our ward.

(3) My third, and final reason why 2025 needs to the Year of Ministering.

In 2023, the Surgeon General of the United States, put out an 82 page report titled “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.” A few key points in that report (*These are all US based statistics, but I am confident Canada is statistically:

Many studies indicate that “…one-in-two adults in America report experiencing loneliness.”

“The rate of loneliness among young adults has increased every year between 1976 and 2019.”

For the average American, from 2003 to 2020, time spent in social isolation has increased by 24 hours per month. And time spent with friends has decreased by 20 hours per month.  

In 1960, single person households accounted for 13% in the US. By 2022, that percentage had more than doubled. (Just in our ward, of the 186 household, 46% are one adult homes).  

“[Loneliness} is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death.  The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day…”

Sometimes I wonder if loneliness is the “desolating sickness” promised in the scriptures for those living in the last days (D&C 5:19-20, D&C 45: 31-36).   

If you're thinking to yourself, “Well, I don't feel lonely.” I promise you the one of the people on either side of you is. The stakes are high. But, the beauty of ministering is that it can help with this epidemic of loneliness in both directions.

Patrick Kearon tells a great story of putting this into action.

“When I was 15 or 16, I was deeply self-absorbed and going through many of those unsettled and uncertain and vulnerable feelings which can come as being part of an adolescent. ... I felt lost and self-conscious and awkward. It didn’t help that I was at boarding school on a desolate bit of coast in England. My parents lived far away in Saudi Arabia. In terms of the school, Hogwarts with Snape would have been more welcoming.

Bad weather was common along that coast, but one winter a particularly formidable storm blew in across the Irish Sea with winds gusting to a Force 12 gale. The sea crashed over the defenses and … around 5,000 homes were flooded in the surrounding area, and people were left cut off, without electricity or any means of heating and lighting their homes, and they were running out of food.

As the flood started to subside, we were dispatched by the school. I had not seen a natural disaster on that scale before, and I was astonished to experience it close up. Water and mud were everywhere. The faces of those who had been flooded were ashen and gaunt. They had been deprived of sleep for days. My fellow schoolboys and I went to work, moving waterlogged belongings to upper floors where they could be dried and pulling up carpet which had been ruined by the flood. I remember the sodden carpet was impossibly heavy, and the stench in the homes was dreadful.

What struck me next was the camaraderie that developed between those of us helping and those receiving help. There was just a wonderful, good-natured feeling between people united in a worthy cause under challenging circumstances. I later reflected that all those insecure feelings which consumed so much of my regular teenage thought left while I was involved in this great effort to assist our neighbors.”

He then states, speaking of ministering: “The beauty of this kind of service is that it helps others in ways too numerous to list, but it also transforms us by taking us away from our worries, fears, anxieties, and doubts. At first the service simply distracts us from our own problems, but that swiftly converts into something much higher and more beautiful. We begin to experience light and peace, almost without realizing it. We are calmed, warmed, and comforted. And we recognize a joy that comes in no other way. These gifts settle upon us out of all proportion to what we have actually done...”

Spencer W. Kimball described this as a divine paradox. He said: "Only when you lift a burden, God will lift your burden. Divine paradox this! The man who staggers and falls because his burden is too great can lighten that burden by taking on the weight of another's burden. You get by giving, but your part of giving must be given first." (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p 251) 

So many in our world are feeling isolated and alone and our ward family is not exempt. We need a ministering miracle in this ward. I promise that if we will strive to lighten the burden of those around us, our burden will in turn  get lighter.  

(3) Tips to be an All-Star minister

The final section of my remarks today includes tips to become an all-star minster. This is not an exhaustive list, and you likely have some even better ideas. But these are just a few that work for me.

(1) Pray for them. I was in a meeting with Bob Ackroyd last week, and he said something to the effect of, “You can’t help but start to love those you pray for by name.”

(2) I’ve hit on this already, but it is so important to continually ask them what they need from you. Because, of course, their needs will change over time.

(3) Put their names somewhere you can see them. I have a little whiteboard in our bedroom. I taped it to a spot I can see when I’m lying in bed. I wrote the names of all those families I am assigned to minister to. This became a daily way to keep these folks on my mind.

(4) I know ministering is not supposed to be a checklist, but if you’re like me, you might need a bit of a checklist for things that are important. So, each month, write down a reminder in your calendar or To Do list to make ministering connections.   

(5) Ensure your ministering always has two focuses: (1) Be a friend/Love this person, (2) Share the light of the gospel with them. 

Again, quoting Sister Jean B. Bingham, "As you have the privilege to represent the Savior in your ministering efforts, ask yourself, “How can I share the light of the gospel with this individual or family? What is the Spirit inspiring me to do?”"

(6) I know I repeated multiple times that you need to do what people need, but if it’s possible, I beg for you to be in these families homes. I testify, miracles happen in people's homes.

(7) Final tip. You’re not suddenly going to find the time.  You must make the time. Decide this is important and make the time.

All right, back to the beginning. Our ward goal for this year is to make 2025 the Year of Ministering! The ask is that you:

(1)   Pray everyday, "Please God, inspire me how to minister today."

(2)   Ask each family you are assigned to minister to, “How would you like to be ministered to?”

You might be thinking, “I sure hope my ministering brother/sisters are listening to this.” And I certainly hope they are, but please, each of us, needs to take this invitation personally. Whether you are actively being ministered to or not. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Ministering is not just a program; it is a way of being. It needs to be who we are. Besides saving ordinances, there is nothing more important that we are asked to do than ministering. Trust that God will support you in The good and the bad if you will sacrifice the time to provide Christ-like caring for others.

Can we make the Belmead ward family a family of ministering angels? Can you commit with me to make 2025 the Year of Ministering? If you can, stand up with me. Sing with me Hymn #223 - Have I Done Any Good?

My prayer today is that every person will leave this sacrament meeting with a renewed desire to bless the lives of those around us. To change the world through Christ-like love and service.

In the name of Jesus-Christ, amen.