Don't really understand Elder's Quorum. Any questions answered would be appreciated.

Does it meet in addition to the 3 Sunday meetings in every ward?
Is it always for 2 hours? Every week? Even on Fast Sunday?
What do they do? What do they talk about?
How is it different from Priesthood meeting?
All anecdotes welcome and appreciated.

Thanks.

I was elder's quorum president for several years.

The priesthood office (position/rank) of elder is distinct from the title elder. Only missionaries and general authorities are called elder as a title.

The rank of elder is usually held by men aged 18-40. It's the first rank in the "higher" Melchezidek priesthood (the "lower" being the Aaronic priesthood held by boys aged 12-17).

Elder's quorum meeting is included in priesthood meeting. Priesthood meeting refers to the one hour block in which most of the boys and men meet for a 10-15 min combined opening announcements, song, and prayer, then split up into their separate quorums or classes for the rest of the hour for lessons and business. Elder's quorum is just one of the classes (boys are deacons, teachers, or priests, men are elders or high priests), but usually the largest and most functional by virtue of it's most able-bodied age group.

The biggest item of business in elder's quorum is home teaching. The elders are paired up and assigned a list of families in the ward to visit monthly and otherwise keep track of needs/problems, then report back to the quorum presidency.

The quorum meeting is frequently a long chain of announcements and calling for volunteers to do batches of tasks, like moving jobs, pair-up with missionaries once a week, temple trips, babysit for Relief Society meetings during the week, etc.

The lesson is usually squeezed into the barely 30 min leftover, taught by an assigned instructor who is usually not in the presidency. They're notoriously either boring or tangential.

The elder's quorum presidency actually reports directly to the stake presidency, not just the bishopric.

Anecdotally, I've got to give credit where it's due. As EQP I did and saw some very able humanitarian interventions. I was on scene with police and fire dept more than once. I went to jails, cheap hotels, shelters, hospitals, halfway houses, psychiatric residences, etc., to deliver real-time aid. We did back-wringing service projects to bail people out of problems. I came home with blisters and cuts several times. Even as a home teacher, I mowed grass every week, drove to medical appointments, went shopping, etc. It was by far my busiest and most productive time in the church, even more important to me then my mission.

But I was lucky. We had a liberal-minded bishop who loved helping people and loved giving away church money. He was reprimanded by the stake many times for going over budget, but it didn't stop him.

Ok... Then what is this 2 hour meeting I keep hearing about every Sunday in addition to the 3-hour block?

I'm a nevermo. But interested...

Thanks.

I don't know of any "additional" meetings beyond the 3 hour block that the average mormon would go to. There may be other meetings that leadership folks may go to at various times.... or firesides later, etc.

Within the 3 hour block, members attend Sacrament meeting for an hour or so. The "other two hours" are meetings usually specific to age and gender. Perhaps that's what your hearing about?

Sacrament meeting lasts about an hour and 15 minutes. Sunday School and Priesthood take up the remainder of the 3 hour block. There is no two hour meeting.

But if you are an EQP you will have other meetings beyond the 3 hour such as priesthood leadership, ward council and welfare. It pretty much sucks being EQP. You have to be able to sit on your butt for hours and hours if you are in leadership in the Morg.

Is there any distinction in name for those men who DID go on a mission and those who did not? How would one know....surely they want to be rude and point this out.....

Once you get past a certain age, like 30 or so, I don't think anybody cares about who went on a mission and who didn't.

On a person's membership record, there is a field to show if/where a person served a mission. Beyond the basic membership record, the mission president annotates it somehow (there's more to a person's church history being tracked than just basic details shown on the member record!) stating how successful or obedient or leadership capabilities. So... when the church is considering finding people for leadership positions, a person's missionary history is significant.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2010 01:33PM by jpt.