Is your ward struggling to have everyone feel included? Do you know a little bit about every sister in your ward? Are there cliques that do not seem to mingle with anyone else at all? There are things that you can do to encourage sisters to get to know each other. One fun way is to have a spotlight on one or two sisters. You can do this once a month, once a week or at the four major Enrichment activities. Here are five suggestions to help this run smoothly.
1) You should decide if you are going to do this as a surprise or just as interview. If you are doing it as a surprise to the sister you can interview her husband, or roommate to find out the information. You can also find out how well the husband did by having her confirm or deny the answers at the end.
2) Some wards like to have the spotlighted sister choose the next sister. This can lead to problems. If you are dealing with cliques, it will likely go all the way through the clique before moving on to a new group. You also might run into the problem of someone not completing the spotlight and then the whole thing falls apart. So you may want to have the Relief Society secretary call and do the interviews, and keep a list of the sisters that have been completed.
3) If you are worried about taking up too much time during announcements, it is easy to add this to your weekly announcement sheet or email. This still gives the sisters a chance to learn more about each other. It can also help the sisters see that other sisters have things in common with them.
4) Try to ask questions that tell something about each sister’s personality. Favorite author/book/movie can tell the sisters a little bit about her tastes. It is important to share a bit about family and work as well. You may also ask for fun things like most embarrassing moment or their dream vacation.
5) Finally you need to make sure that every sister is spotlighted. New sisters in the ward will also want to learn about the sisters that have always been there. You do not want to inadvertently leave anyone out and hurt her feelings.
Related Articles:
Relief Society: Welcoming Young Women
Relief Society: The Blessings of Diversity
Relief Society: Building Unity