How can I help those in my ward or stake feel that they are loved, valued, and needed?

People Need to Feel Needed

As Church members, we all have a responsibility to create a supportive and loving environment for all our brothers and sisters. Such a support network makes it much easier to live the gospel and to seek the Spirit while navigating any aspect of mortality.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever met anybody who didn’t want to belong to something that made them feel worthwhile, that made them feel that they had value.

“When people wonder, Is there a place for me? it may be any number of things behind that, and now they ask themselves, Do I fit? Do I belong here? Do they really need me? And I want to say emphatically, ‘Yes!’

“I think of the metaphor of Paul, which I love very much, [where] the Church is the body of Christ. And he says we are baptized into that body. And he says it’s one body. Many members but one body.

“I understand people’s feelings at times that they may not be needed. And sometimes others are guilty of saying we don’t need this person; we don’t need that person; we are fine as we are. Neither one is true. That’s not the Christian way. That’s not the way Christ sees us. He sees all of us with infinite worth. And whatever our condition at the moment may be, the body of Christ is there to sustain each member. When a person feels isolated—I don’t deny the reality of the feeling and why it’s so natural to feel that way—but each of us, whenever that sense may come upon us, needs to stop and think, Jesus Christ died for me. Jesus Christ thought me worthy of His blood. And He loves me. He has hopes for me. And He can make a difference in my life. His grace can transform me. And maybe this person sitting next to me, ignoring me, or even wanting to move away, maybe he or she doesn’t. But that doesn’t change the reality of what Christ feels toward me and the possibilities I have in Christ.

“It breaks my heart if someone comes and is very vulnerable and says, ‘I want to try it. I want to be here,’ and then get a cold shoulder or a lack of interest. And that’s tragic. It really is tragic. We have to be better than that.

“The diversity we find now in the Church may be just the beginning. Frankly, I think we will see greater and greater diversity. In the ancient Church there was tremendous diversity. And it’s not just diversity for diversity’s sake but the fact that people can bring different gifts and perspectives, and the wide range of experience and backgrounds and challenges that people face will show us what really is essential in the gospel of Christ. And that much of the rest, that has been perhaps acquired over time and is more cultural than doctrinal, can slip away and we can really learn to be disciples” (D. Todd Christofferson, “Is There a Place for Me?” ChurchofJesusChrist.org).