What is up with the home teaching assignments being placed solely upon shoulders of the Elder’s Quorum? Sure, we elders have a scriptural mandate to “watch over the church” (D&C 20: 42), which includes home teaching, but so does the Aaronic Priesthood.
Take, for example, the priests, who have the duty to “visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties” (D&C 20: 47), i.e. a duty to do home teaching.
And also consider the teachers, who are “to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them; and see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking; and see that the church meet together often, and also see that all the members do their duty” (D&C 20: 53-55), i.e. they are to do home teaching.
And a teacher “is to be assisted always, in all his duties in the church, by the deacons, if occasion requires” (D&C 20: 57), which duties include home teaching.
So, why don’t we dump some of those home teaching assignments onto the heads of the priests, teachers and deacons and lighten the load somewhat for the Melchizedek Priesthood, so that the elders can focus on more important things, such as administering the sacrament, which is one of our scriptural mandates, for the Lord said that elders are “to administer bread and wine—the emblems of the flesh and blood of Christ—” (D&C 20: 40)?
And why don’t we free up the priests to sit in the congregation with their families instead of having them administer the sacrament in the presence of the elders, which is contrary to scriptural mandate, as that is the duty of the priests (see D&C 20: 46) only when the elders are not present: “But when there is an elder present, he [the priest] is only to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties” (D&C 20: 50-51)?
And while we’re at it…
…why don’t we dump the monthly home teaching visits in favor of bi-monthly, quarterly (every three months) or bi-annual visits, like some early saints did? Surely, then, our home teaching numbers will approach 100%, despite an ocean of inactives.
Just some thoughts in my head, of late…
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