Digital Only
Serving in Callings When and Where the Lord Needs Us
Although we can be released from callings, we’re never released from doing good.
Photograph posed by models
When I was young, my family moved and joined a new ward. My dad was called as the bishop shortly after. It was a bit baffling from our limited perspective—there were other qualified men in the ward, and my dad didn’t feel like he knew the members or their individual needs as well as he would have liked.
But he did his best and served faithfully, working hard to get to know those he was serving. By the time his service ended, he felt great love for the members of our ward.
And right after his release, he was called to the nursery.
It was remarkable to watch the transition. He loved the nursery children and was thoughtful about planning lessons and activities that helped them develop a strong foundation in the gospel. Even though his calling in the ward had changed, he stayed close to the members of the ward that he’d come to know and love and continued to learn new ways to serve his brothers and sisters.
He also had more time to devote to our family; shortly after his release, my mom followed a prompting to go back to school and earn an advanced degree, so his responsibilities in our home increased as she spent more time studying. It was truly a blessing for our family to have his help at that time.
My dad’s responsibilities had changed, but the significance and impact of his responsibilities had not. The Lord knew what was best for both the ward and my family. As President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, explained: “We do not ‘step down’ when we are released, and we do not ‘step up’ when we are called. There is no ‘up or down’ in the service of the Lord. There is only ‘forward or backward,’ and that difference depends on how we accept and act upon our releases and our callings.”1
Called to Serve, Assigned to Labor
When talking about missionary work, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made the distinction between being assigned to a location and being called to serve:
“Please note that the first sentence [of a mission call] is a call to serve as a full-time missionary in the Lord’s restored Church. The second sentence indicates an assignment to labor in a specific place and mission. The important distinction expressed in these two sentences is essential for all of us to understand.
“In the culture of the Church, we often talk of being called to serve in a country such as Argentina, Poland, Korea, or the United States. But a missionary is not called to a place; rather, he or she is called to serve.”2
It may be helpful to think of callings the same way. We are told in Doctrine and Covenants 4:3 that “if [w]e have desires to serve God [w]e are called to the work.” Regardless of where we are “assigned” and what our specific responsibilities might be, we are always called to serve the Lord and bless His children as part of our covenant responsibilities. We can be united in our purpose to “feel the joy of serving God by serving His children [see Mosiah 2:17],” knowing that “callings also help [us] increase [our] faith and draw closer to the Lord.”3 Whatever organization or calling we serve in, we are all part of the same work—the work of salvation and exaltation.
Being Part of “the Body of Christ”
President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, explained that all callings are given to help us become more like Christ and bless the lives of others: “Even the newest member of the Church can sense that a call to service should be primarily a matter of the heart. It is by giving our whole hearts to the Master and keeping His commandments that we come to know Him. …
“You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands.”4
When we are baptized and make covenants to act in the name of Christ, we become part of “the body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27). Different parts of the body do different tasks, but they are all equally important; the most essential thing is that the body works together to accomplish a unified purpose. According to the Come, Follow Me manual, “In this kind of unity, differences are not just acknowledged but cherished, because without members of diverse gifts and abilities, the body would be limited.”5
The Lord knows our different skills and abilities, and He also knows how to use them to bless us and the people around us, which includes inviting us to serve in different callings and assignments at different times. A calling isn’t about status, rank, or qualification; it’s about being willing to submit to God’s will and accept that He will call us where He most needs us at a specific time and place.
The Work of the Master
President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), in his first address after being called as President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, emphasized the importance of every calling in the Church:
“No calling in this church is small or of little consequence. All of us in the pursuit of our duty touch the lives of others. To each of us in our respective responsibilities the Lord has said: ‘Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees’ [Doctrine and Covenants 81:5]. …
“You have as great an opportunity for satisfaction in the performance of your duty as I do in mine. The progress of this work will be determined by our joint efforts. Whatever your calling, it is as fraught with the same kind of opportunity to accomplish good as is mine. What is really important is that this is the work of the Master. Our work is to go about doing good as did He.”6
President Hinckley’s words perfectly illustrate what my dad learned as a bishop, nursery leader, spouse, and parent: the Lord asks us to serve in different callings throughout our lives, but He never stops inviting us to become more like Him as we work to bless the lives of those around us.