An Ancient Example But a Modern Dilemma
I served as a Financial Secretary in my Young Single Adult Student Ward when I first attended Brigham Young University (BYU). This was many, many years ago…
If you’ve not heard of that calling, you’re not alone. It doesn’t really exist. In a single adult ward, every individual is a “household” and clerking responsibilities are extreme. Generally, each ward had several Financial Clerks, each assigned a portion of the alphabet according to last names. Their duties were extensive and time-consuming.
There was a squad of Financial Secretaries, of which I was one. Essentially, we were typists. We supported the Financial Clerks. Tithing records had to be typed on a special form on a special typewriter. Every Sunday, the Financial Clerks would process the money and the tithing slips and then place the slip in my view so that I could type the name and amount onto the form. Once the forms were done, they would be sent off to Salt Lake. There, they were optically read and processed. Obviously, this was before the fully digital days.
Administrative Chaos
The problem was that people didn’t always put the same name on their tithing receipt. They might abbreviate their name one week or leave off their middle name or initial another week. Obviously. The Church didn’t know if these were all the same person. So, they would send us forms where the names were similar and ask us to “reconcile” them. This required more typing and comparison on our part.
We had a financial organization meeting with our Bishop once. He was a high-powered President/Manager over the local, and very large, E.F. Hutton & Co. office in town. He expressed concern over all the reconciliation forms we were being sent and asked if something should be done to standardize how we submitted things to reduce all the “reconciliation” we had to do. He wanted to know what the Church’s instructions were.
This was met by hemming, hawing, hedging, and equivocating by the Financial Clerks, who obviously didn’t know the answer. A strong man and manager, the Bishop yelled, “LET’S GET IT NAILED DOWN!”
Nailing It Down
Too timid to speak up at the time, I knew the answer but was as intimidated as the rest of the room. I stayed quiet.* The Church wanted us to standardize the names, no matter how they varied on the tithing slips, to reduce the reconciliation that needed to be done.
How did I know this? Simple. I read the instructions. Radical, I know.
Instructions?! What Instructions?!
This was an early and vivid experience that reinforced the fact that I could figure things out myself and do things properly. I couldn’t, and shouldn’t, depend on local church members or leaders to do it for me.
This early experience has been reinforced over the years. In fact, almost no one anywhere in the Church reads the instructions or follows them if they do. What’s more, people who aren’t inclined to follow instructions generally don’t take the time to read them anyway.
Reading and following instructions over the years has served me extremely well. I understand what needs to be, how to do things properly, and why this reaps benefits in the long run.
Contrast this with the more common behavior of “winging it,” which is all too common everywhere. I watch people mess things up time and time again. Things are so much simpler when you follow the instructions.
Instructions, especially in the Church, exist to help us save time, effort, and angst. Following them helps the Church function better, utilize tithing funds better, and serve the needs of members and others better. I’m certain that Jesus Christ is in favor of instructions, given that He has issued so many.
The “W”rest of the Story
Back to my story…
Prior to the meeting with the Bishop, one of the Financial Clerks had instructed me to just “type the name on the tithing slip,” whatever it was, and we’d worry about things later. This was his response when I inquired how the Church wanted me to handle the name variability I noticed very soon into my duties. I did as I was told, but I doubted the wisdom of it, given all the reconciliation forms we were being sent.
After reviewing the instructions, I decided he was wrong and I did need to standardize things myself when I typed up the forms. Quietly, I started doing so but said nothing to anyone. After the meeting with the Bishop, I did so more confidently.
What Relevance Does This Have Now?
Church members and leaders still aren’t accessing, reading, or following instructions. This still causes havoc, havoc I think Satan smiles at.
I’m just one person, and I’ll never be in a priesthood leadership position where I can have direct control over how things are being done. Few people are. We’re all basically in the same boat, struggling against human frailty and inertia.
I try and share the location, wisdom, and guidance of church instructions with the powers that be, often to no avail. They continue to “wing it” and do whatever they want, do what has been done in the past, or do what works for them personally.
My frustration is extreme.
When I am prevented or thwarted from doing my calling properly because of the incorrect actions of others, it is not just aggravating but demoralizing and destabilizing.
What would Jesus do? What would Jesus have me do? I’m still trying to sort that one out...
*A contributing reason for staying quiet was that I had a crush on one of the Financial Clerks, and I didn’t want to make him look stupid.
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