Learning basic, fundamental principles can help us make better decisions. Principles can be applied in many different situations, so as we learn principles, we are better prepared to live those principles in any circumstance. But this can be challenging, because it requires ingenuity, creativity, and frankly, hard work to make the connection between the principle and the action.
In the general conference of April 2018, President Russell M. Nelson, newly sustained as the President of the Church, introduced ministering. He said, “We have made the decision to retire home teaching and visiting teaching as we have known them. Instead, we will implement a newer, holier approach to caring for and ministering to others. We will refer to these efforts simply as ‘ministering.’ . . . Gratefully and prayerfully we open this new chapter in the history of the Church.”1
The prior efforts of home teaching and visiting teaching had specific tasks to be carried out, such as visiting the assigned family or sister once per month. Ministering has no specific tasks or guidelines. Rather, we are to “care for one another in a bold, new, holier way.”2 It can be a struggle to know what that means and what we are to do. But as we learn the principles underlying ministering, we can be guided by the Holy Ghost in our ministering efforts.
This post is essentially a study guide with references that will help us understand the basic principles of ministering. As we learn these principles and seek to apply them, we will be guided by the Spirit to minister to others.
Principles are empowering
We are empowered to act as we learn basic, fundamental principles. One basic principle of the plan of salvation is that we have been given our agency, and God wants us to learn to use that agency. We see in the example of the Savior introducing his law that he teaches principles, then he lets us make our own choices with the guidance of the Holy Ghost.
See Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, “Chapter 24: Leading in the Lord’s Way,” 281. “I teach [my people] correct principles, and they govern themselves.”
God wants us to exercise our agency
Abraham 3:22-28. “[W]e will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.”
2 Nephi 2:25-27. “[We are] free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for [ourselves] and not to be acted upon.”
Elder David A. Bednar, “Seek Learning by Faith,” Ensign, September 2007, 60. “As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of agency—the capacity and power of independent action. Endowed with agency, we are agents, and we primarily are to act and not only to be acted upon—especially as we seek to obtain and apply spiritual knowledge.”
Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28. “[We] should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.”
The Law of Moses gave exacting requirements to be performed
The Law of Moses required the observance of specific performances and ordinances. The “carnal commandments” associated with the Law of Moses increased as the Jewish leaders added additional requirements to the law.
Mosiah 13:29-30. The Law of Moses was a strict law of “performances and ordinances.”
Galatians 3:19-26. The Law of Moses was given “because of transgression,” and was a “schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.”
Edward J. Brandt, “The Law of Moses and the Law of Christ,” in Sperry Symposium Classics: The Old Testament, ed. Paul Y. Hoskisson (Provo and Salt Lake City: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, and Deseret Book 2005), 133–153. “The law of Moses could not influence a person’s life unless that person had some measure and portion of the Spirit of the Lord in his or her life. The lack of that spiritual influence caused great difficulties in ancient Israel. They lost the spirit of the law, which is why the law turned into such a burden.”
“The Law of Moses,” Bible Dictionary. “The law of Moses consisted of many ceremonies, rituals, and symbols, to remind the people frequently of their duties and responsibilities. It included a law of carnal commandments and performances, added to the basic laws of the gospel.”
Jesus taught principles
By performing the atonement, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses. During his mortal ministry, he taught principles that would help people govern their lives once the Law of Moses was done away.
Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. “[A]ll things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
Luke 10:25-37. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”
Matthew 12:1-8. “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” See also “Shewbread,” Bible Dictionary. (“[T]he Lord drew from this incident the lesson that the law of charity overrides every ritual law.”)
3 Nephi 15:9-10. “I am the law, and the light.”
Ministering is based on principles of love and service
The Savior lived his life in service to others, and we are to follow his example. Our ultimate goal is to come to know the Savior, and we come to know him as we live our lives as he did.
2 Nephi 31. “[H]e said unto the children of men: Follow thou me.”
James 1:27. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
Matthew 25:40. “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Mosiah 2:17. “And behold, I tell you these things 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.”
Mosiah 5:13. “For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?”
John 17:3. “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
Principles of revelation can guide our ministering efforts
The Holy Ghost will teach us all things. As we seek to understand our duties as ministers, the Holy Ghost will guide us as we live principles of revelation. One of the principles of revelation is creativity: as we study our duties, as we ponder and reflect on what we should do as ministers, the Holy Ghost will inspire us with ideas that might not be common or ordinary.
2 Nephi 32:1-3. “[T]he words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”
John 14:15-28. “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
Doctrine and Covenants 124:97-100. “[H]e shall mount up in the imagination of his thoughts.”
Doctrine and Covenants 8:2-3. “[T]his is the spirit of revelation.”
Exodus 14:10-14. “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”
Jeffrey R. Holland, “Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence,” BYU Speeches, March 2, 1999. “Why would the Lord use the example of crossing the Red Sea as the classic example of ‘the spirit of revelation’?”
3 Nephi 19:24. “[I]t was given unto them what they should pray.”
D&C 9:7-9. “You must study it out.”
Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28. “[M]en should be anxiously engaged in a good cause.”
David A. Bednar, “Seek Learning by Faith,” Ensign, September 2007, 60. “Are you and I agents who act and seek learning by faith, or are we waiting to be taught and acted upon?”
1 Nephi 4:6. “I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.”
1 Nephi 15:8. “Have ye inquired of the Lord?”
Doctrine and Covenants 20:77. We keep our covenants, that we “may always have his Spirit to be with [us].”
Our covenants are principles that can guide our ministering efforts
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we make covenants with God. Those covenants are simple principles that can guide all our actions. If we will study our covenants and seek to live them, we will be guided to minister to others.
I have previously written about covenants. See my prior post, “A Covenant Relationship with God,” at https://discoverfaithinchrist.com/a-covenant-relationship-with-god/.
We learn from the ordinance of the sacrament that as we are willing to keep our covenants, we may always have the Holy Ghost to be with us. Therefore, focusing on living our covenants will invite the Holy Ghost into our lives, and will direct our ministering efforts. See my prior post, “The Sacrament: Conclusion,” at https://discoverfaithinchrist.com/the-sacrament-conclusion/.
Conclusion
We have been asked to minister in a higher and holier way. We are struggling to know what we’re supposed to do, but like Nephi said, why do we wonder what we should do? We have the Holy Ghost and as we feast upon the words of Christ, we will know what we’re supposed to do. (See 2 Nephi 32:1-3).
As we study the principles of revelation, we will learn how important it is to be creative in our approach to ministering. The Spirit will guide us, but the impressions we receive from the Spirit might be unique, and they might not follow what we consider “traditional” home teaching. But like the Law of Moses, home teaching has served its purpose: to guide us to a higher and holier way. Perhaps our struggles with ministering are because we are still trying to fit it within the home teaching model. But as we are flexible, and allow the Spirit to guide us, we will come to know the Lord as we keep our covenants to serve others.
References
- President Russell M. Nelson, “Ministering,” Ensign, May 2018, 100, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2018/05/sunday-afternoon-session/ministering?lang=eng. ↩︎
- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Be With and Strengthen Them,” Ensign, May 2018, 102, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2018/05/sunday-afternoon-session/be-with-and-strengthen-them?lang=eng&id=p12#p12. ↩︎