Lessons forwarded or skipped?

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rachbloo
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Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#1

Post by rachbloo »

When there is a ward, stake or general conference, should the R.S. lesson be forwarded or skipped? Either way, is this a universal decision or by ward,stake or auxiliary?
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aebrown
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#2

Post by aebrown »

rachbloo wrote:When there is a ward, stake or general conference, should the R.S. lesson be forwarded or skipped? Either way, is this a universal decision or by ward,stake or auxiliary?
The guidance given in HB 2, Section 9.4.1 is: "Lessons are generally taught in the order they are presented in the manual and on the same Sunday they are taught in elders quorum and high priests group meetings."

So at the very least, lessons are coordinated within a ward. In our stake, the lesson schedule is also coordinated across the stake. The fact is that given the number of Joseph Fielding Smith lessons (26), stake conferences (2), general conferences (2), 5th Sundays under the bishop's direction (4), 1st Sundays under the presidency's direction (12), and 4th Sundays for Teachings for our Times (12), there are 58 things we "should" be doing in 52 weeks for the year. So some compromises have to be made.

Before the beginning of the year, our stake presidency sets the overall schedule, specifying on which Sundays there will be which JFS lessons, when the presidency teaches, when we do TFOT, etc. We ended up this year with 24 JFS lessons (2 were skipped or combined), 10 presidency, 10 TFOT, 4 directed by the bishop, and 4 stake/general conferences.

Even with the best planning, some adjustments may need to be made because of snow days, conferences, or temple dedications that we didn't know about before the start of the year. In those cases, we generally just skip the planned lesson. Again, that would be directed by the stake president or bishop (EQ, HP, and RS should all do the same thing in general).
drepouille
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#3

Post by drepouille »

Back when the lesson schedules for EQ/HP/RS were on the LUWS, and were under stake control, we tried to coordinate those lessons across the stake. When the lesson schedule moved to lds.org, and the stake lost the ability to control it, our stake leaders stopped trying to coordinate lesson schedules across the stake. The only thing our stake presidency does is choose the General Conference talk for the TFOT lessons in May and November. Beyond that, we rely upon the local unit leaders to set their own schedule according to the general guidelines for lessons.
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
mevans
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#4

Post by mevans »

rachbloo wrote:Either way, is this a universal decision or by ward,stake or auxiliary?
aebrown provided the quote from the Handbook. It seems to be under the guidance of the stake president as to how much the stake dictates vs. the individual wards. For example, in my stake, it's up to the wards. I'd direct your question to your bishop or his designated counselor.
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sbradshaw
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#5

Post by sbradshaw »

mevans wrote:I'd direct your question to your bishop or his designated counselor.
Or the Sunday School president (who's responsible for all teaching in the ward).
russellhltn
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#6

Post by russellhltn »

sbradshaw wrote:Or the Sunday School president (who's responsible for all teaching in the ward).
I doubt if the SSP is responsible for EQ/HPG/RS lessons.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
lajackson
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#7

Post by lajackson »

russellhltn wrote:
sbradshaw wrote:Or the Sunday School president (who's responsible for all teaching in the ward).
I doubt if the SSP is responsible for EQ/HPG/RS lessons.
Technically, I suppose you are correct. The SSP is responsible for the quality of the lessons, though.
drepouille
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#8

Post by drepouille »

Several years ago, our stake Sunday School president sent spreadsheets to each unit, which laid out the lesson schedule for Gospel Doctrine (adults and youth), Gospel Essentials, and the other SS class for the younger youth. I think I mentioned once to the stake presidency that the stake has absolutely no control over the schedule of SS classes in the local units, and left it at that. It was definitely a sore spot in relations between the stake and the units.
Now that the stake has lost control of the EQ/HP/RS lesson schedule through lds.org, we have simply allowed the local units to do as they wish.
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
mevans
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#9

Post by mevans »

drepouille wrote:Now that the stake has lost control of the EQ/HP/RS lesson schedule through lds.org, we have simply allowed the local units to do as they wish.
I seem to remember that when the teachings of the presidents series first came out on 2nd and 3rd Sundays for EQ/HP/RS that church headquarters dictated the schedule for these lessons. That's clearly not the case now, but some people aren't aware of the guideline change, which may have occurred when the new Handbooks were published.
drepouille
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Re: Lessons forwarded or skipped?

#10

Post by drepouille »

The stake had control of the EQ/HP/RS schedule under the old LUWS system, but no more.

The standard curriculum schedule is posted here:
https://www.lds.org/callings/melchizede ... s?lang=eng
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
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