"Getting It Done", Percentages, and the Real Needs of Children of our Heavenly Father

While preparing for a talk I gave in church today, I came across the following words in a talk from W. Grant Bangerter in the October 1975 General Conference, entitled The Power of the Priesthood:

"I would like to ask tonight, 'What kind of a testimony do you have concerning the power of the priesthood?'

"How many brethren here are home teachers? Would you please raise your hands. Those of you who are listening in may also raise your hands. Now since we have just closed out the month of September, how many of you home teachers 'got your home teaching done?' Well, brethren, that’s a catch phrase. You know, the devil taught us to say those words: 'Did you get your home teaching done?' That is a very poor way to refer to the comprehensive mission embodied in home teaching. By getting us to ask 'Did you get your home teaching done?' the devil destroys 90 percent of our effectiveness. All that question implies is a quick visit the last day of the month so that we can send in the report."  (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1975/10/the-power-of-the-priesthood?lang=eng&query=teach+in+home)

 

It strikes me that I've often heard the same language in reference to home teaching--"getting it done".  Before today it had never struck me that the devil had taught us those words.  I understand the attitude, though.  It's faulty to be concerned with whether or not someone made a perfunctory visit to someone's house during a given 28-, 30-, or 31-day period.

 

Part of the inadequacy of the "get your home teaching done" attitude comes when we ask the question, "Is there anything we can do for you?"  The answer, more often than not, will be something like, "No, we're fine."  I've found that it's much more helpful to appropriately probe a bit with specific questions.  "How is your car running?"  "Do you have plenty of food in your fridge?"  "Are you in need of a priesthood blessing?"  "How is your health?"  These sorts of questions allow us to A) show that we actually care, and B) serve as the eyes and ears of the elders quorum president (or high priests group leader) and bishop, who really shouldn't be the first people to hear about someone's needs.

 

We also talk about home teaching percentages and I think we often fail to inspire ourselves and others properly to perform one of the most important priesthood duties we have.  Here again, we miss the mark.  When it comes to percentages, the following are true: 1) The percentage of families visited by home teachers is an important part of quarterly reporting so that Church leaders can have a sense of how well the priesthood holders of a given unit are fulfilling their duties.  2) Having a high reported home-teaching percentage (and thus projecting an image of obedience) should not be our goal.  3) Any percentage below 100 indicates that families we know and love (or should love, at least) are being neglected.

 

Instead of setting percentages as our goals, what should we focus on?  People.  Real people.  Real children of our Heavenly Father, with real needs.  The underlying facts beneath some percentage of home teaching being conducted are that Brother X doesn't understand his responsibilities as a leader and teacher in his home or how to accomplish them; Sister Y is struggling financially and is critically losing faith; and the Z Family is passing year by year without any reason to believe that the Church of Jesus Christ inspires anyone, because no one from the Church cares enough to even stop by!  Home teaching is a vital priesthood service for both spiritual and temporal reasons, and is often the key to families resuming activity in the Gospel and in the Church.  Even if a given family has few evident needs during some month, we are still negligent as priesthood holders if we are not dedicating time to care for that family in their home.

 

Last thoughts for now:

It's perhaps easy for me to speak of home teaching mistakes we make in general when I haven't been assigned as a home teacher for months.  All the same, I know how important these assignments are, and I don't want to be found negligent by my God when reviewing my life with Him.  I don't want others to miss the blessings of the Gospel and of salvation because I failed to care.  I don't want to just "get my home teaching done".  The Gospel is about love, and if I am to show love to my fellow members of the Church I'll take the time to visit them and attend to their real needs.