Your First Calling In the Mormon Church

In the Book of Mormon we read:

And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Jesus Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.  And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.  And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus (Moroni 6:4-6).

All newly baptized members of the Mormon Church need to be remembered, nourished by the good word of God, and aided in staying on the right way.  Part of the way that the Mormon Church helps these people is through its lay clergy.  In the Mormon Church, everyone participates and helps as much as they can. This means, that after you have joined the Mormon Church, you will likely be given an opportunity to serve in some position.  Mormons call these positions, callings, because you are called, or asked, to perform a task.  There is no professional clergy as in most churches.  Instead, everyone participates.

Unless you live an area with few members of the Mormon Church, you will likely not be called to be a counselor to a Bishop or a teacher in the Relief Society right away.  Many new members are called to be “ward missionaries.”  As “ward missionaries” you assist the missionaries in teaching other investigators of the Church and other new members.  This will give you a chance to share your testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and to learn more about the teachings of the Mormon Church.  Other new members may be called to help out in the Sunday School program by being counselors to the local Sunday School president.  There are many other opportunities to help, such as the Relief Society service committee, or Primary, which teaches Sunday School lessons for young children.

Shortly after your baptism, your Mormon Bishop should meet with you.  He is a very busy man, so do not get upset if this takes awhile.  You can also be proactive and ask your Bishop for a meeting.  At this meeting, you will get to know your Bishop and he will learn about you.  He will ask about your talents, such as in music or computers, so that he can know where you can best serve.  If you feel you’ve been waiting awhile, go ahead and ask for a calling.

Another calling you may get soon is home teacher (for men), or visiting teacher (for women).  As a home or visiting teacher you will be assigned a companion from the congregation and the two of you will visit the homes of other members every month to share gospel messages and to ensure that they have everything they need for food, rent money, clothing, and so forth.  This is an important task and one of the ways Mormons take care of each other.

There are lots of other ways to serve.  The most important thing to remember is “that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17).  Just as Jesus served every one and “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), we should serve one another.  It does not matter where you serve, but how you serve.