The Quarterly Report provides Church leaders with an additional resource to help identify, locate, and shepherd young single adults residing in their units. Following are some suggestions for using the Quarterly Report:
Aspects of the Quarterly Report
- Provide a list of all young single adults in the unit to the elders quorum and Relief Society presidents. Ward clerks use Member and Leader Services (MLS) software to download the young single adult list. The few units that do not have MLS receive this list quarterly.
- Clarify which unit (conventional or young single adult) has responsibility for each young single adult. Where a young single adult ward exists in a stake, the stake president counsels with the bishops in the stake and determines whether to "authorize the young single adult ward to find and fellowship . . . young single adult members of the stake who are less active" (see Handbook 2: 16.4). The clerks from the conventional and young single adult units communicate to ensure that young single adult records are in the units authorized by the stake president.
- Take roll in elders quorum and Relief Society meetings. Use attendance information to complete the portion of the Quarterly Report regarding young single adult activity. The Quarterly Report requires (1) the total number of young single adults residing in the ward (from the ward list) and (2) the number of young single adults attending at least one priesthood or Sunday Relief Society meeting during the last month of the quarter.
- Organize to "identify, locate, and assume shepherding responsibility" for each young single adult. Based on information obtained from the Quarterly Report, elders quorum and Relief Society presidencies make assignments to invite less-active individuals to return to full activity; active young single adults are likely to have the most success in these assignments. The presidents may also request that the ward missionary committee and full-time missionaries, if the mission president approves, help with this effort. The bishop may assign one of his counselors to coordinate this effort by meeting regularly with a counselor from the elders quorum and Relief Society-a group like this constitutes a young single adult committee (see Handbook 2: 16.3.4).
Key Tasks for Ministering to All Young Single Adults
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Use ward council meetings to report on specific efforts to minister to young single adults, particularly to those who are not active.
Elders quorum and Relief Society presidents report to the ward council on efforts to find and minister to specific less-active young single adults. If the number of less-active young single adults is large, the ward council may also determine which young single adults to work with first, based on initial visits. After helping those young single adults return, leaders can then enlist them in expanded efforts to work with yet other young single adults.
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Invite each young single adult to serve in a meaningful calling or responsibility and participate in appropriate activities with their peers.
The best results in reactivating young single adults and helping them marry in the temple have come from inviting them to engage in the core work of the Church together-men and women. Based on reports to the ward council identifying interests, talents, and needs of young single adults, recommendations are made to the bishop for a meaningful calling or responsibility to be extended to each young single adult. Leaders could also invite the young single adults to specific opportunities to learn the gospel, to be of service, and to enjoy social interaction with other young single adults. For ideas, see Handbook 2: 16.3.5-16.4.
Additional Information for Bishops and Stake Presidents
- The bishop uses the ward council to focus on the progress of each individual by name. He instructs ward clerks to work with the ward young single adult committee to ensure that young single adults who have moved from his unit are encouraged to locate their new unit and that the new leaders take shepherding responsibility of the young single adults. A bishopric member also interviews each young single adult at least annually (see Handbook 2: 16.3.3).
- The stake president uses the Quarterly Report as a measure of overall progress. In his regular interviews with both bishops (see Handbook 2: 16.3.1) and elders quorum presidents, he holds them accountable for following the process described previously.
