Activities Committees

[Jeff Lebowski]

As you may have noticed, the LDS leadership officially eliminated activities committees from the standard set of church callings sometime in the last year. Presumably, the activities are supposed to be parceled out to the various auxiliaries on some kind of rotating basis.

As someone who has served on lots of activities committees, this seemed like a bad idea to me. First of all, the poor auxiliary leaders already have enough to do. Why add to their burden? Second, it is much more efficient to have a specific group of people do this on a routine basis because they learn how much food to order, how to manage the reservations, costs, etc.

Not too surprisingly, in our ward the auxiliaries are simply asking the same people who used to be on the activities committee (including yours truly) to do the bulk of the planning and organization of the activities. So basically nothing has changed, except for the fact that it becomes a second calling (albeit unofficial) on top of whatever else you have been asked to do.

Anyone else noticed this?

[Green Monstah]

As you may have noticed, the LDS leadership officially eliminated activities committees from the standard set of church callings sometime in the last year. Presumably, the activities are supposed to be parceled out to the various auxiliaries on some kind of rotating basis.

As someone who has served on lots of activities committees, this seemed like a bad idea to me. First of all, the poor auxiliary leaders already have enough to do. Why add to their burden? Second, it is much more efficient to have a specific group of people do this on a routine basis because they learn how much food to order, how to manage the reservations, costs, etc.

Not too surprisingly, in our ward the auxiliaries are simply asking the same people who used to be on the activities committee (including yours truly) to do the bulk of the planning and organization of the activities. So basically nothing has changed, except for the fact that it becomes a second calling (albeit unofficial) on top of whatever else you have been asked to do.

Anyone else noticed this?

I hadn't, but it all makes sense now. Last week, the EQ was in charge of a ward party, which was mildly successful.

[Tim]

It occurred to me this Sunday that we hadn't had any ward activities at all since the activities committee was disbanded. I emailed my bishop that night and offered to plan and organize a ward activity. He immediately took me up on it and asked me to have a plan to him by the end of this week. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity!

[Uncle Ted]

In my previous ward the monthly ward activity was the same every month: a potluck dinner. Everyone, besides their favorite dish, would bring their favorite board game to play after dinner. It was always the Nth Friday night of the month. Personally, I loved it. The ward felt like one big family and it didn't put any stress on anyone. It was just a nice causal get together and most everyone that was active in the ward would come.

I hate the activities we have in our current ward about as much as the folks that are in charge of putting them together. The activities are lame and the food is bad. My wife and I have stopped going to them years ago. We don't even go to the ward christmas parties any more.

[BigPiney]

Anyone else noticed this?

Yes and I don't like it.

[creekster]

I noticed. I think it is a mistake. Maybe it works somewhere for some type of ward, but for our ward it has been a huge problem. Our bishop has dealt with it by creating a subcommittee under the WML for activities which functions just like the old committee (the idea being that one goal of all activities is to fellowship and spread the Gospel).

[TripletDaddy]

Arent most ward activities the standard R, S, T, L and E? Most wards have the same few ward parties over and over each year.

4th July/Pioneer Day party
Summer ward social/back to school
Halloween/Trunk or Treat
X-mas Party

Beyond that, what sorts of activities are all these committees planning? Maybe I have had bad luck with boring wards.

[bluegoose]

It occurred to me this Sunday that we hadn't had any ward activities at all since the activities committee was disbanded.

Same with our ward. I thought this would eventually happen, but it surprised me how quickly it totally fell apart.

[creekster]

Arent most ward activities the standard R, S, T, L and E? Most wards have the same few ward parties over and over each year.

4th July/Pioneer Day party
Summer ward social/back to school
Halloween/Trunk or Treat
X-mas Party

Beyond that, what sorts of activities are all these committees planning? Maybe I have had bad luck with boring wards.

It sounds more like you have had little experience in being resposible for them, whether they are repetitive or not. They are always easy when all you do si show up, eat and then complain later.

[Surfah]

When this happened I immediately didn't like it. We have only planned 4 activities for the year. A spring activity (it never happened), a ward pancake breakfast (this Saturday), Trunk or Treat, and Christmas.

I forget why the spring activity was canceled but what we have done with this one coming up is assigning something to each auxiliary. The EQ and HP were to source cooking equipment, cooking pancakes and are in charge of setup and cleanup. The RS is in charge of buying food and preparing eggs and bacon. The YM/YW and Primary are in charge of the activities for the kids.

I really could use less on my plate, but I am not sure it'd be any different than when we had an activities committee. I'd still get a phone call from someone on the committee saying the EQ was in charge of setup or cleanup and ask if I could get 10 guys to help out. So things really haven't changed much.

One thing I will say is that without an activities committee things are much lower budget and practical. We had some women who would spend days decorating for activities. Our Christmas party had nativity displays from around the world that would rival Temple Square's. My mom was on the committee and spent 3 days setting everything up.

[TripletDaddy]

It sounds more like you have had little experience in being resposible for them, whether they are repetitive or not. They are always easy when all you do si show up, eat and then complain later.

Ok, but I don't understand the relevance of your response, grouchy. I didnt say that activities committee requires no work. I'm wondering what these "missing" activities are that are noticeably AWOL when, in my experience, most ward activities are limited to a few parties a year. I doubt very much that ward X-mas parties disappeared overnight because of this shift in policy.

Lighten up.

[The_Tick]

Our ward used to have a pancake breakfast on the 4th of July.

They haven't done this since I was released as YMP.

I am going to approach the Bishop and see if I can have that shifted from the YM to the EQ so that I can still make it happen.

I miss that activity.

[Sleeping in EQ]

In my ward, the activities committee budget has not been reallocated elsewhere in the ward. The EQ still has a shameful budget that reinforces the idea that the Elders don't do anything.

Is this a money grab by Salt Lake?

[kccougar]

Arent most ward activities the standard R, S, T, L and E? Most wards have the same few ward parties over and over each year.

4th July/Pioneer Day party
Summer ward social/back to school
Halloween/Trunk or Treat
X-mas Party

Beyond that, what sorts of activities are all these committees planning? Maybe I have had bad luck with boring wards.

Yes, you must have bad luck with wards:

Our ward doesn't do Trunk/Treat (+32!)

We have our Christmas Party at the lodge in Millcreek Canyon w/ tubing.

We have the annual neighborhood walk-about. This is quite common now but still one of my favorites.

EQ family swim parties.

Pickle Ball tournaments.

[TripletDaddy]

Yes, you must have bad luck with wards:

Our ward doesn't do Trunk/Treat (+32!)

We have our Christmas Party at the lodge in Millcreek Canyon w/ tubing.

We have the annual neighborhood walk-about. This is quite common now but still one of my favorites.

EQ family swim parties.

Pickle Ball tournaments.

Well, to clarify, your EQ stuff isnt planned by the activities committee, is it? Our EQs plan our own activities. So the shift in policy would have no bearing on EQ stuff.

My wards did Trunk or Treat, which we enjoyed. you are saying that your ward didnt even do that activity.

Your ward did a X-mas party, as did mine.

No idea about pickle ball or walkabout. Were those EQ or ward activity? I've never been in a ward that did those.

All told, looks like your ward does one more activity than mine, if my math is accurate.