I was in ward council the other day and the Bishop was going on and on about how we all need to attend stake conference. He read an email from the Stake President encouraging all members to attend the meetings during stake conference weekend. I thought to myself, “Do members really think this is an excuse to skip church?”
I have to admit, that I have been tempted in the past. I have two small children who can barely sit still through one hour of sacrament meeting. One certain two-year-old boy will go un-named, but he knows who he is. So, it is tempting to not put ourselves through the wrestling. However, we went. And, as I looked back behind me in the gym, I would say only half of the chairs that had been set up were filled. “How sad”, I thought.
Growing up, we didn’t have the strictest rules about attending stake conference. Sometimes we did, and sometimes we didn’t. But, I think that many members of the church are looking at the day as a free Sunday where we get to stay home…or do whatever.
I went on the hunt to find out how many people were blogging out there about stake conference. Let me say I ran across dozens of blogs in just the first few pages of google search that were all about hating stake conference. Things such as “stake conference is a bore” and “I confess, I despise stake conference!” were just a few that popped up.
In the church leadership handbook it states, “The primary purpose of stake conference is to strengthen faith and testimony.” It goes on to say that it is for the purpose of conducting stake business.
There have been many stake conferences that I have attended where I have been spiritually uplifted. Others where I have barely been able to hear, or was just not that into listening. Like most meetings in the church, you will get out of it what you put into it, and I have to say, you aren’t going to get much out of it if you just don’t go at all.
Feeling the Spirit in Any Calling
April 2011 General Conference-Become as a Little Child