Ward and Stake Combining

[Linked]

It looks like my ward and a neighboring ward are combining, in addition to my stake and a neighboring stake combining. Attendance has been pretty sparse since covid, so this is an overdue change. This is in Salt Lake County.

I'm not looking forward to a bunch of new faces who may not know to just smile and say hi...

[DPRoberts]

I'm not looking forward to a bunch of new faces who may not know to just smile and say hi...

My ward combined with another a few years before COVID when I still attended. I would have liked to get to know the additional people better as they are our neighbors, just in another direction (I'm also in SLC county). That was when I realized how poorly church structure supports community. There is definitely community among leadership, but aside from increasingly rare socials there are few opportunities to interact with Ward members for the ordinary rank and file. The lecture format of our meetings is not conducive to meeting others, and you can't even make a positive impression with class participation if your comments don't sufficiently conform to the rules. Make supportive comments on the rehash of another conference talk?

My conclusion is that the church is structured to support itself; members need for community is barely an afterthought and only that if local leaders think to promote it.

[moksha]

The LDS religious services are based on the conveyor belt model. You need the Linger Longer concept of other churches, where they meet for refreshments afterward in the gym. I remember when my ward used to have quarterly potlucks—those were the days. I think those potlucks were deemed an inefficient use of the conveyor belt by the management.

[2bizE]

It looks like my ward and a neighboring ward are combining, in addition to my stake and a neighboring stake combining. Attendance has been pretty sparse since covid, so this is an overdue change. This is in Salt Lake County.

I'm not looking forward to a bunch of new faces who may not know to just smile and say hi...

Surely the combining actions are due to people just moving to the suburbs:)

[Linked]

I attended sacrament meeting yesterday and it was packed. For the believers there it seemed pretty special to have all the pews full again with the crowd filling half the gym. My DW had a 2 hour meeting as a primary presidency to review options because the number of children has tripled. It is nice for them. I still know my way to the door so I think I'll be ok

My ward combined with another a few years before COVID when I still attended. I would have liked to get to know the additional people better as they are our neighbors, just in another direction (I'm also in SLC county). That was when I realized how poorly church structure supports community. There is definitely community among leadership, but aside from increasingly rare socials there are few opportunities to interact with Ward members for the ordinary rank and file. The lecture format of our meetings is not conducive to meeting others, and you can't even make a positive impression with class participation if your comments don't sufficiently conform to the rules. Make supportive comments on the rehash of another conference talk?

My conclusion is that the church is structured to support itself; members need for community is barely an afterthought and only that if local leaders think to promote it.

The best relationships I built at church were in presidencies. The shared goals, working together, and simply having hours together made some real relationships. I'm not sure that the lack of developing relationships outside of leadership is all on the church here, there's just not that many ways to get people to form relationships. The leadership callings include the recipe for building real relationships, but I think that's by chance more than on purpose. I blame social media for the difficulty in developing relationships since we can find our own personal silos online that no real person could match.

The LDS religious services are based on the conveyor belt model. You need the Linger Longer concept of other churches, where they meet for refreshments afterward in the gym. I remember when my ward used to have quarterly potlucks—those were the days. I think those potlucks were deemed an inefficient use of the conveyor belt by the management.

I just wish we had enough people to play basketball again.

Surely the combining actions are due to people just moving to the suburbs:)

There have definitely been a lot of people moving out of the ward, I think that may actually be a bigger driver here than people ceasing to attend. Who knows if those move-outs are still going to church in their new neighborhoods though...

[Hagoth]

It looks like my ward and a neighboring ward are combining, in addition to my stake and a neighboring stake combining. Attendance has been pretty sparse since covid, so this is an overdue change. This is in Salt Lake County.

I'm not looking forward to a bunch of new faces who may not know to just smile and say hi...

That will count on the records as two new units created, rather than two units dissolved. Accounting magic!