I remember hearing the announcement that the Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching programs were being replaced with Ministering, and ministering wasn't going to have assigned families, assigned companionships, reporting, etc. I thought, wow, that sounds like a great idea where people will act charitably and socially without a corporate mandate. Well, I received the following email last night. Sigh...

"Brethren:

We are going to begin conducting ministering interviews next Tuesday night at around 7:30 pm. Brother [redacted] will be contacting some of you to begin scheduling these meetings. Our intention is to begin holding these meetings fairly consistently, and by meeting with a few of you every few weeks we can slowly work through all the members of the quorum.

We look forward to meeting you, getting to know you better, and to counseling together on ministering. In preparation for these meetings, we ask that you review the church's published guidance on ministering and ministering interviews.

In case there is still any lingering confusion with assignments, please note that if you have not been notified of any changes to your ministering assignment or companionship, then likely no change has been made. The latest version of the LDS Tools app now lists your ministering brothers, your ministering assignment, and your companion. If something does not seem right on your list please let us know. As always, if you have a question on your families, your companion, or the ministering concept in general, please reach out to a member of the Presidency.

Over the coming months, we are all going to have many opportunities to learn more about ministering. It is the subject for our 4th Sunday meetings until October and now we get to counsel together in ministering interviews. However, the greatest teaching tool you have is in following the promptings you receive. I invite you to continue to do what you have always done. Pray and act! Often times that simple formula brings great miracles to the lives of those who follow it. Remember what Nephi teaches us, by small means the Lord can bring about great things."
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He goes on to say how great we are and how this is a wonderful time to be a member of the church.

So, there you have it. The new program is the same as the old program. I read the email to my wife who is still active, and she was disappointed. She said that liked the new program as it was originally announced, and this is just the old program with a new name. I agreed.

This is the church's attempt to breath some life into a failing program. Change the name, make it easier to meet goals, and add something to do with JC to make the church look more main stream and Christian. SSDD

SAME SH!T, DIFFERENT DAY.

Did you copy that from George Orwell?

I was thinking the same thing. It reminds me of when Joseph Smith took control of the Relief Society. He turned a voluntary organization of caring people into a corporate tool of control. It's not that people can't do good deeds and be sociable to each other voluntarily. The part that rubs me the wrong way is the control of who is responsible for which families, who your companion is, and that you have to give a report to the corporate management of your activities and the standing of the families you are tasked with taking care of. It's like the church advertises a potluck dinner where everyone can hang out together and enjoy a meal together, but then some control freak says, "No, you have to bring this food dish, and you have to sit with that family, and you have to play these games, and you have to perform this skit, and you all have to come back to me when the dinner is over and tell me what you did, what you talked about, and what everyone else said." Yeah, the control freak just killed the party, even if everyone did as he/she asked and managed to have a fairly good time. The correlation and 1984-ish control is killing the programs and sucking the potential enjoyment of the church.

Brother, I'd love to meet you Tuesday at 7:30. However, I'll be at the bar chasing a shot of cheap tequila. So you'll need to come to me.

"Brother, I'd love to meet you Tuesday at 7:30. However, I'll be at the bar chasing a shot of cheap tequila. So you'll need to come to me."

Should be amended to say "I'll be drinking good tequila and and chasing cheap women"

Much more realistic.

this sounds worse. Now if they have the "inspiration" to love bomb us, then they will.

The Ministry of Ministering is located near the Department of Redundancy Department.