Assigning out-of-unit members as 'Ministering Brother/Sister'

[eblood66]

In LCR, select Ministering > Elders Quorum from the menu and then select the Assignments tab. Find the district for the companionship and go to the end of the list of assignments for the district and click the Add Companionship link. In the box labeled Search Members first find and select the husband. Then in the additional box that shows up find and select the wife. The wife won't be available until first the husband has been selected.

In the Relief Society you have to first select the wife and then the husband.

[russellhltn]

Of course, for that to work, the two records must properly reference each other. If you still can't get the spouse, it might be time to talk to the membership clerk. Just because bother members are married to someone of the same name and living in the same household, doesn't mean the computer understands they're married to each other. We usually see that when the wife is showing up in the household as "other" (as if she were a child) instead of spouse.

[dlwalton]

We have sixteen (16) out-of-unit couples assigned to our branch as ministering couples; I can assign the men as ministering Elders, but NOT assign their wives as companions. I can assign the women as ministering sisters, but only in the Relief Society context. How do I assign the COUPLES to be companions?

[jdlessley]

We have sixteen (16) out-of-unit couples assigned to our branch as ministering couples; I can assign the men as ministering Elders, but NOT assign their wives as companions. I can assign the women as ministering sisters, but only in the Relief Society context. How do I assign the COUPLES to be companions?

In the context of post #2 in this thread it is possible that is why you cannot assign out of unit couples to minister together.

However, if out of unit members are allowed, or intended, to minister in their out of unit calling units then it appears the linking, or the lack thereof, of out of unit records by marriage is the issue. When out of unit member records are created there currently is no marriage connection between any two out of unit records. The handling of home ward records with properly linked married couples is recognized by the ministering application. Since the ministering application does not recognize the marriage link between out of unit couples then it will not provide the spouse name as an available companion.

I recommend sending feedback through an LDS.org page feedback link. It is hard to impossible to tell if they are aware of the issue with out of unit couples and the need to connect married couple records for the ministering application. That of course assumes the Brethren intended for out of unit members to minister in the units they were called to serve in.

[russellhltn]

Previously, it was impossible to assign an out of unit member as a ht/vt. I don't know if that's changed or not with the new program.

I'm not aware of any official communication that would support calling people outside of the ward specifically for Ministering.

[lucianahervey]

In order to assign married couples as a companionship, they need to be in the same household. At the time the out-of-unit member record is being created, the leader has the option to assign them as a head of household or as part of a household. This cannot be edited after the fact, so the leader must decide on entering the information how it should display. If he assigns someone as a head of the household and then wants to change it later, he will need to remove the out of unit record for that person and go through the process again, as the information will not be editable.