Sacrament Meeting First or Last in Block?

[kisaac]

....My observation in my own stake (YSA) is that those with sacrament meeting last have better attendance at the start of sacrament meeting. But based on Mormon-standard time, I imagine the same is true almost everywhere.

My wife reminds me of a previous ward that had sacrament last, and as she was in the primary presidency, tells me that opening exercises in Primary was at times difficult due to late attendance because it was right at the first of the block. She is once again in the primary with Sacrament first and notices the difference. She theorizes that perhaps people make more of an effort to make it to Sacrament on time then they did to primary or their Sunday school class.

[jonesrk]

Does anyone know what percentage of wards have Sacrament Meeting first throughout the church?

No, but since the meeting times are on the public part of LUWS, given enough time (or some scripting), you could compile a list - or at very least a sampling.

Since that data is stored in CDOL I just queried it.

Of those units with times entered:
There are 70% that start with sacrament meeting
There are 15-20% that end with sacrament meeting
For the rest the times don't line up easily.

[russellhltn]

Here is another question. For those who are in a Church building that is shared with three (or more) units, how do you rotate your three hour block times, clockwise or counter-clockwise?

In our stake, it tends to be everyone moves "back" one slot with the last ward becoming first. So, if the times are 9AM, 11AM, and 1PM; the 9AM ward moves to 11AM, the 11AM ward becomes 1PM, and the 1PM becomes 9AM.

[SheffieldTR]

Another "problem" with Sacrament meeting last is sustaining priesthood advancements. You would now either have to do them after the block (which I don't like because it is harder to involve the quorum) or delay it a week. I prefer Sacrament meetings first.
Troy

[gregwanderson]

Rumor has it that our stake has just been ordered to arrange the schedules so that every ward has Sacrament Meeting first, and that this will be the new requirement church-wide. I don't know if anyone can confirm that having Sacrament Meeting last is no longer an option anywhere. Supposedly, we have to make the change within 3 months, with the exact timing dependent on when the local leaders in each building can decide to make it happen in their building.

Perhaps by the end of our meeting block tomorrow it will not be a rumor anymore.

[lajackson]

Rumor has it that our stake has just been ordered to arrange the schedules so that every ward has Sacrament Meeting first, and that this will be the new requirement church-wide.

With overlapping meetings in a building, all units have to use either Plan 1 (sacrament meeting first) or Plan 2 (sacrament meeting last). In our stake, units were allowed to use either plan, but to facilitate visits for ward and branch conferences, units were asked by the stake president to hold sacrament meeting first. This always caused some confusion, especially if not well announced in advance, and most units finally gave up and started holding sacrament meeting first.

But if Plan 2 is going away, that would be news here.

[Mikerowaved]

Our area authority also recently asked that our sacrament meetings be first. He said it will be rolled out church-wide, except for units where it's not feasible.

[russellhltn]

I wonder why the change? I can only guess that the stats on attendance favors sacrament first.

I took at quick look. I think only a student singles ward is affected in my stake. Nothing in the neighboring stakes.

[sbradshaw]

There is a training emphasis on the Sabbath Day that was given to the area and general authorities at the General Conference Training the Thursday and Friday before General Conference. It's a two-part training: The first segment is "Sabbath Day Observance at Church" and the second is "Sabbath Day Observance in the Home."

The training will be given to each stake, and from the stake level, to each ward (I am pretty sure this is Church-wide, if not, at least within the United States). Our stake presidency received the training materials for the first segment a couple of weeks ago, and we're now in the process of getting the training and discussion down to the ward council level.

This is the first time that I know of that the Church has produced handouts, PowerPoint, and video recordings (© Intellectual Reserve) of the General Conference leadership training with the specific instruction to take the full set of materials to the stakes and wards for discussion in ward council.

Looking through the materials, I don't see anything that specifically states that Sacrament meeting needs to be held first. Perhaps your stake leaders have been reading the handbook more carefully recently about Sacrament meetings, and feel like having Sacrament meeting first will more closely align with the principles of Sacrament meeting and the Sabbath Day that are taught. Or perhaps the area authorities have received more specific instruction.

There's nothing earth-shattering in the training, but it's a very clear focus and very interesting how it's being approached. Based on this focus, it seems clear that the Sabbath Day is something we haven't been taking full advantage of as a Church.

[Mikerowaved]

Looking through the materials, I don't see anything that specifically states that Sacrament meeting needs to be held first.

We received the same training in conjunction with our stake conference earlier this month. The instruction regarding sacrament meeting being first was given by the visiting authority over the pulpit.