Visiting Teaching Message
Welfare
Prayerfully study
this material and, as appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the questions to help you strengthen your
sisters to make Relief Society an active part of your own life. For more information, go to reliefsociety.lds.org
Welfare
The purposes of Church
welfare are to help members become self-reliant, to care for the poor and
needy, and to give service. Welfare is
central to the work of Relief society. President
Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, has taught:
“[The Lord] has from the
beginning of time provided ways for His disciples to help. He has invited His children to consecrate
their time, their means, and themselves to join with Him in serving others. …
“He has invited and commanded
us to participate in His work to lift up those in need. We make a covenant to do that in the waters
of baptism and in the holy temples of God.
We renew the covenant on Sundays when we partake of the sacrament.”¹
Under the direction of the
bishop or branch president, local leaders assist with spiritual and temporal
welfare. Opportunities to serve often
begin with visiting teachers who seek inspiration to know how to respond to the
needs of each sister they visit.
From the Scriptures
Luke 10:25-37; James 1:27;
Mosiah 4:26; 18: 8-11; Doctrine and Covenants 104:18
From Our History
On June 9, 1842, the Prophet
Joseph Smith charged the sisters in Relief Society to “relieve the poor” and to
“save souls.”² These goals are still at
the heart of Relief Society and are expressed in our motto, “Charity never
faileth” (1 Corinthians 13:8).
Our fifth Relief Society
general president, Emmeline B. Wells, and her counselors launched this motto in
1913 as a reminder of our founding principles:
“We do declare it our purpose to [hold] fast to the inspired teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith when he revealed the plan by which women were to be
empowered through the calling of the priesthood to be grouped into suitable
organizations for the purpose of ministering to the sick, assisting the needy,
comforting the aged, warning the unwary, and succoring the orphans.”³
Today the Relief Society has
a worldwide reach as sisters extend charity, the pure love of Christ, to their
neighbors (see Moroni 7:46-47).
What Can I Do?
1. How am I prepared to care for myself and for
my family spiritually and temporally?
2. How can I follow the Savior’s example as I
help meet the needs of the sisters I watch over?
Notes
1. Henry B. Eyring, “Opportunities to Do Good,” “Ensign,
May 2011, 222.
2. Joseph Smith, in Daughters in My Kingdom: The
History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 63.
3. Daughters
in My Kingdom, 63
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