How to Get Home Teaching Up

[mormonmusic]

Just wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to increase home teaching in a Ward, particularly when you have a lot of brethren who've been around for a while, and don't feel much enthusiasm about doing it.

It's a problem in most Wards, so it might be a worthy discussion topic.

[tubaloth]

PPI. It seems like two things effect how Home Teaching is done. Attendance in Quorum Meeting, and PPI's. The problem is I think the church allowed PPI's to only happen every quarter now I think. Those that are held accountable are the ones that want to do more.

[mormonmusic]

Unforunately, I didn't have much success with the PPI's with less active brethren. They would come out with different excuses every time. Also, the requirement that we couldn't hold them in Sunday School also made it so I had to physically drive over to their house to hold it. They also seemed to have a jaded attitude that i was like any other priesthood leader -- harping about home teaching.
I had marginal success with putting non-HT brethren with strong companions, but usually they would only go out to see one of the 5 families assigned to them, and the strong companion would have to find someone else to go with him for the other 4, or do it alone (bending the rules).

PPI's with active brethren strengthened the quorum, though.

I tried excalated PPI's -- first with an assistant, then with me, and then with myself and a High Councilor where the interview got a little more focused, and firmer. No success there either.

I also suggested the Bishop interview the Temple Recommend Holders who agree to "support their local leaders" and discuss the relationships between home teaching and temple recommends, but he was never willing to do this.

He did do it with one sister, and revoked her temple recommend because he refused to do visiting teaching for years. He told me she left crying and I think it stopped him from doing this ever again.

I have one temple recommend-holding person who hasn't done much, if any home teaching for 10 years. Don't know the answer to this one.....

So, I'm open for suggestions.

[skalenfehl]

The key to getting our Elders to do their hometeaching is to help them find/obtain their testimonies of it. We find time for the things that we most believe are necessary.

"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." (Luke 22:32)

[jadams_4040]

Originally Posted by mormonmusic

Just wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to increase home teaching in a Ward, particularly when you have a lot of brethren who've been around for a while, and don't feel much enthusiasm about doing it.

It's a problem in most Wards, so it might be a worthy discussion topic.

Just as family prayer,temple attedance e;t;c home teaching brings blessings into our lives, how so many brethern dont recognize this really bewilders me!

[FairChild]

I always do better, less crazy in the head when I have consistant home teachers.

[Danite]

I"m not there's any one answer to this question. Anyone who has done PPI's with High Priest or Elders will understand that the reasons we don't do our home teaching are numerous, some refuse to do it at all ,some are burned out by being rejected month in and month out so they only see the families that want them to come. I know that I've taught members that never came to church but would let me home them ,And have had active members did not want come at all. If the members don't home teachers It makes things that much harder And most priesthood leaders don't hold consistent or any real PPI's for them to be effective. They seem more concerned with number's the families I personally thing think we need to focus our priesthood quorums teaching on building relationship with our families first and then may be we can teach the gospel or work on reactivation. We tend to rush in the easy answers and church phases and give up on the real work it takes to build the kingdom

[mormonmusic]

I agree that brethren get burned out when no one wants to see them. It's a natural reaction to feel it's a waste of time when you never see any results.

AS HPGL, I therefore defined a visit as an attempt to meet with the family in their home. If they won't make themselves available, then show up with a message at the door. Talk to them there. If they won't let you in or aren't home, leave a message on the doorstep with a note indicating you were there. Home teaching is done for the month.

The D&C is clear that all you have to do is visit their home, so it counts.

That way brethren can feel they have done their part. I think this helps in motivating some of them (at least, it motivates me).

Personally, I no longer see 100% home teaching as an attainable goal. When I was HPGL, I saw hometeaching as a buffer between myself and the Bishop, and the families, whose needs were to far-reaching for us to meet them single-handedly.

Therefore, if there was a family with financial problems, they would get a home teacher who was capable of helping them do a needs analysis, etcetera. Same with needy elderly people.

If that home teacher already had a full slate of families, some of whom would not let him see them, I would put them on a mailing list. I would then count them as home taught if I sent the letter. (This was only if I didn't have another home teacher for the hard-to-see family).

I also got firm with some active families who wouldn't make themselves available. I had one person who put me off 3 times each month. Finally, I said "I'm only asking for 20 minutes of your time -- it's not like I'm asking for a 2-hour commitment. I promise we'll hold the visit to less than 20 minutes, and then be on our way". He started letting us come over, and I kept my word. Eventually our visits got longer, but only because he and his wife kept us there, culminating in some positive spiritual experiences, one about how the righteous face death - based on his experience helping a man who was dying and who had served faithfully in the Church his whole life.

[mormonmusic]

I always hate to respond to my own thread.

But I had another technique that helped with home teaching. When people would call me for last minute acts of service, I would tell them who to call -- usually one of the brethren or sisters that don't do their home teaching or visiting teaching.

For example, I got a call recently where an elderly couple needed someone to pick them up from the auto repair shop in the middle of the work day, on a moment's notice, interrupting everyone's day. They had tried calling all the same 10 people who always do everything, and no one was available, so they wanted me to do it .

I therefore went down the membership list and pulled off the name of every active or semi-active person who usually didn't help with visiting teaching or home teaching, and who I suspected was retired or free during the day and had a car. I gave the names and numbers to the elderly lady and her husband needing the sudden ride. There was a lot o f names to choose from!!!

It got to the point where the lady needing the help said "OK, I've got more than enough names here". I never heard back from them, so I assume they got the service they needed......and the people who don't normally help in the Ward got an opportunity to provide some meaningful service to someone.

Plus, it eases the burden on the same 10 people who are often maxed out in Ward's where you aren't teeming with committed membership.

[Mahone]

Originally Posted by mormonmusic

...If they won't make themselves available, then show up with a message at the door...

I understand the motive here for doing this, and it's all good intentions; but a lot of people consider this rude and forceful. Such a visit may be counter productive and do more damage than good. If they have respectfully declined each invitation that has been given to them and aren't suggesting any alternative times, I'd take that as a hint that they don't want a visit. So personally I wouldn't try and force it to happen against their will. Randomly turning up on someones doorstep is fine for close family, or people who you can consider friends of the family but other than that, generally an appointment is polite. This is the very reason I quit doing my home teaching about four years ago; I didn't like the methods they employed to simply add another number to their sheet.