Q: Do women have leadership positions in the LDS Church?

A: Yes!

You can listen to some of those leaders tonight at the worldwide broadcast for young women, ages 12-18. (Access archives of past General Young Women Meetings.) Elaine S. Dalton, Mary N. Cook, and Ann M. Dibb will be speaking at this year’s General Young Women Meeting, as well as a member of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I recently attended a meeting where Elaine Dalton was the speaker. Not only did I feel the power and righteous influence she has for a worldwide audience of youth and their leaders, I also witnessed the personal love and concern she has for individuals. Watching her made me think of the Savior and His love. These women are called by Him to do His work, and are instruments in His hands to help and serve God’s children.

You can also access some recent interviews with Julie B. Beck (speaker in the header photo above), who is the worldwide president of the Mormon Relief Society, the organization for women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

-Read some of Julie Beck’s thoughts on what it’s like to be a leader of a worldwide organization for women. She commented that

I’m assigned to be here, and I speak for the Lord. I assist prophets, seers, and revelators who have specific assignments. They are the ones who set me apart for this calling, so when I speak, I speak in that way—as a general leader of the Church.

Again, I  have heard her speak on many occasions. She is bold and bright, as well as caring and concerned about people. For example, watch the videos on multiple links featuring a training meeting with over 10,000 people in Idaho last year. I was again struck not only at the clarity with which she taught a multitude of people, but also to see how she cares for the one. After the meeting, she was mingling with attendees, extending her love and support.

– A training meeting will be broadcast live online next week, where general leaders for Mormon women will be training local female Mormon leaders. More information here.

– Hear a recent interview on the topic of leisure time, blogging, reading, media. As you can see, this is Episode 15 in a series of interviews with general leaders of Mormon women. See the drop-down menu at the Mormon Channel Relief Society

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Something unique about the Mormon faith that has greatly enriched my life is the multitude of opportunities for service. Many churches do massive amounts of service, but in the LDS church we also serve each other in set responsibilities referred to as “callings.” This results in blessings all around.

In the LDS church there is no paid clergy. Each local congregation has a pastor, what we call a bishop or branch president, who volunteers his time and abilities. Actually, the entire congregation is asked to serve in varied positions of responsibility. We call these jobs or positions “callings.” We believe that these calls to serve are made with inspiration from God, for the benefit of the congregation, community, and the person performing the service. The time a person serves in a specific calling is varied. Members serve until they are formally relieved of duty – what we call “being released.”

The attitude we are encouraged to take in performing our duties is one shown in Mosiah 2:17: “And behold, I tell you these thing that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” (See also Matt 25:40.)

You might wonder how each person in a church congregation could hold a calling, as local congregations can range in size from 15 to 500. Teachers are the most common, and important, calling in the church. We need worthy, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic members to teach the gospel to our children, youth, new members, and adults. With three hours of meetings every Sunday and small class sizes for the children; it takes many hands to coordinate, supervise, and perform the teaching that takes place.

In addition to this each member that is willing and able is given the opportunity to be a visiting or home teacher. Women are visiting teachers who minister to the needs of individual women, while men are home teachers who minister to the needs of families. With people in the church receiving a monthly visit  from their home and visiting teachers, and additional help if needed, there is no shortage of work to be done. There are various other callings in the church, such as financial clerk (keeps an accounting of monies donated and spent), secretaries (assist those in leadership positions to keep attendance records, take minutes of meetings and etc.), and mission leader (coordinating missionary efforts in the area) to name just a few. In a macro sense, this system of responsibility is orderly and efficient. In a micro sense it blesses individual lives, both those serving and those being served.

I believe God has confirmed each calling I have received in the church. When there is a need for someone to fill a position those in leadership take an accounting of who is worthy and able to serve, and then they council together and pray for the guidance of God. If a spiritual confirmation of the calling is given then the person is asked to serve (see Acts 1:22-26).  It takes faith to accept a calling, to say, “Yes, I will take on that responsibility.” Once you take on that responsibility people depend on you to do it.

Every job I have performed in the church has been different. If I am asked to teach, there are variables that make each teaching positions unique. If I am teaching 2-year-olds it is much different than teaching a Sunday School class for adults. Because of this variety there is always something new to learn, new experiences to understand, and new friends to embrace. I’ve learned leadership skills from successful entrepreneurs and housewives. I’ve been taught gospel principles from a high school graduate with a stutter and a theological professor. I’ve been shown homemaking skills by a mother-of-the-year and a humble newlywed. This layman’s work shows me that God trusts us with the care of each other. He believes in our abilities, he knows we will rise to the opportunities that are given if we depend on him. And being dependent on God is an integral part of performing a calling well.

There are two things I find difficult about callings. It can be hard to get along with everyone. Trying to do what is required while working with people who have different ideas and personalities takes Christ-like attributes. Being put in these somewhat uncomfortable situations pushes me to be a better person. I learn more about Christ by realizing what it takes to serve in the manner that he would.

The other difficult thing about callings is that they don’t last forever. A calling can change at any time, although usually for continuity and ease, members are left in a calling for at least a year. There is a joke in the church that as soon as you master a calling it’s bound to change. We know one of the purposes of service is to learn, so if you’re doing well, it must be time to move on and learn something else. The hard thing is that often changing callings means changed relationships and a changed life.

When I work with someone I become attached to them, it can be a sibling-like relationship. I gain a love for those I serve. It feels like Christ is sharing his love of individuals with me. It is an amazing experience when you are sufficiently humble. But when the time comes to change callings it is hard to let go of those relationships that are built through service. It never really goes away because you still attend the same congregation, but you have less contact than when you were serving together. It is a life change as well, because your meeting schedule varies. The nights you might have previously been at home are now spent in service. This makes changes for your family as well as they adjust to your new schedule. These type of changes force me to be flexible and keep my priorities in line.

I often feel a confusing mix of emotions when my calling is changed. Those feelings can range from relief, shock, excitement, even dejection. Just as I must do in the calling, I must do when the calling changes. I have to rely on God, that he will help me through the changes. He will help the person who now has that stewardship to take care of those I have come to love through serving them. These frequent changes in callings keep me humble, which isn’t necessarily a comfortable thing.

As the congregation serves in these callings it develops unity, a loving reliance on each other. While I teach the younger children in Primary, someone else is teaching my teenage daughter, while my husband teaches the teenage boys. It creates a web of interconnectedness that brings everyone together.

I am a better person because I have been called of God to serve his children. It is an opportunity he wants everyone to have. The more I put my soul into the work, the better it is for me, and those I serve. I am grateful to the many people who have allowed me to serve them and to the people that have patiently taught me how to serve. These experiences are another witness to me that this is God’s church and that he has a wonderful plan to help us grow and progress.

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Now, I’m a self-confessed writer and a long time lover of fairy tales, so I can’t help thinking that the best stories start with “Once upon a time…” So what better way to start the story of my life?

Once upon a time…there was a girl named Kimberly. I was a good girl for the most part, except when it came to eating vast quantities of cookies and perhaps not being too quick to do my chores when I had a good book on the go.

I was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Though I was given opportunities to learn many things through church activities, I focused pretty much exclusively on my love of music and literature. Alas, anything I do with my hands tends to go amiss. Plants die. Thread knots. Baking burns. I find my greatest joy in writing, playing piano, and singing. At the age of thirty (that’d be now) it hit me that my talents fit well with motherhood. I’m finding ways to incorporate music and storytelling into the raising of my children.

I met my husband Neil at the age of twenty-two while sorting apples at a church welfare orchard. Talk about being blessed for giving service, eh? We were married the following year and awhile later moved to Forest Grove, Oregon where my husband attended Optometry school. We felt strongly, and had it confirmed through much prayer, that is was not yet time for us to have children. Now that was a tough prayer to accept the answer to! But as time passed the reasons for waiting became clear. Even so it was difficult to wait, but it was all the sweeter when Emma Ann arrived in June 2004 and Rebecca Lynn in January 2006.

When Neil graduated in May 2006 we moved to a small town in Northern British Columbia, where the church congregation [branch] ranges from 20-40 people attending each Sunday. Having grown up in a congregation of approximately 200, the change was a bit of a shock. Slowly we began to adjust, though it was difficult at first. There’s something about a small group that really hits home just how individual we all are. Dramas tend to escalate more quickly, rumours spread with a disturbing amount of speed, and if you want to avoid someone it’s awfully difficult to pull off.

I won’t deny it, I felt uncomfortable and out of place for quite some time. As the months went by though, I slowly came to know every individual in our congregation. Personality quirks began to make more sense, and as I learned the history of certain of our brothers and sisters, any frustrations I had had with them melted away and instead I was overcome by feelings of compassion and love. There are things I have learned here that I simply couldn’t have learned elsewhere. I’ve learned more about being Christ-like in the past three years than I learned in the rest of my life put together. Sometimes it takes extreme situations to help us learn what our Heavenly Father would have us learn. It’s been an amazing and awe-inspiring experience.

Last year was a year of intense changes for us. We bought our first house. We bought the Vision Clinic where Neil had been working. I had my first miscarriage. And then Neil was called to be the leader [branch president] of our small unit of quirky, but loveable saints. It hasn’t been easy for him. Neil is a kind, man with a generous heart, but he has little patience for unkindness in others. I’ve been able to share some of what I have come to feel and know about the people in our branch, to help him understand them better. This has strengthened our marriage exponentially, as I’ve felt the joy of helping him through a challenging experience, and he’s found new respect for me and the blessing my different perspective can be.

We are closer now than we ever have been, and as we look forward to the arrival of our third little girl this December, we know more than ever that the struggles we’ve experienced as individuals and as a couple have helped strengthen us for whatever might lie ahead. And as we teach our children a love of their Savior we experience afresh our own love for Him.

And I can’t help thinking…not bad for a chore-shirking, cookie-binging bookworm.

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For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

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