I Have A Tremendous Feeling Of Inadequacy...

I have a tremendous feeling of inadequacy as I respond to the assignment of President McKay and seek for the strength of the prayers of the priesthood of the Church to the end that this few minutes might be informative and give you something of the plans which are now to go forward on this most vital subject. ¶

I should like to introduce the thoughts which I shall express by reading a text that to me has particular significance. ¶

I quote from the words of the Apostle Paul, speaking of the different organizations of the Church within what he called "the body of Christ," by which he meant the Church: ¶

"For the body is not one member, but many. ¶

"If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? ¶

"And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? . . . ¶

"But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. . . . ¶

"But now are they many members, yet but one body. ¶

"And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. . . . ¶

". . . but God hath tempered the body together, . . . ¶

"That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. . . . ¶

"Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. ¶

"And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, . . . then . . . helps (and) governments. . . ." (See 1 Cor. ¶

12:14-28.) In the great, modern-day revelation on Church government, the Lord concludes with this statement: ¶

"Behold, this is the way that mine apostles, in ancient days, built up my church unto me. ¶

"Therefore, let every man stand in his own office, and labor in his own calling; and let not the head say unto the feet it hath no need of the feet; for without the feet how shall the body be able to stand? ¶

"Also the body hath need of every member, that all may be edified together, that the system may be kept perfect." (D&C 84:108-110.) Obviously, as you think about those scriptures, they were given to impress the need for the constant and continued consultations and correlations of the various subdivisions, the priesthood quorums and the auxiliaries and all other units within the kingdom of God for at least four reasons: ¶

First, that each organization was to have its specific function, and it was not to usurp the field of the other, which would be like the eye saying to the hand, "I have no need of thee." ¶

Second, that each sub-division is of equal importance in the work of salvation, just as each part of the physical body is essential to a complete human being. ¶

Third, that all may be edified or educated together; and Fourth, that the system may be kept perfect, or in other words, that within the framework of the Lord's plan of organization for the salvation of his children, the Church will perform as a perfectly organized human body, with every member functioning as it was intended. ¶

Throughout the scriptures there runs a phrase, again and again repeated to remind us of the whole purpose of the Lord's plan. As he told his prophet, his purpose was ". . . to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man," ¶

(Moses 1 :39) or to be more specific and, putting it into the language of our present leaders as they have counseled us, "to plant and to make grow in every member of the Church a testimony of Christ and of the gospel and of the divinity of the mission of Joseph Smith and the Church and to bring the people to order their lives in accordance with the laws and principles of the restored gospel and priesthood." ¶

The repeated necessity for re-examination of the programs, the activities, and the prescribed courses of study has been apparent over the years to make certain that the original concepts relative to each organization were being adhered to, that each in its field was functioning up to its capacity, that one was not usurping the field of activity designed for the other, and that duplications and overlappings were reduced to a minimum. ¶

I found an apt illustration which illustrates the importance of this periodical re-examination and re-appraisal. In history there is found recorded the account of a famed debate known as the Webster-Hayne Debate in Congress in which Daniel Webster made this statement that seems to apply to the point I want to make. Said Daniel Webster: ¶

"Mr. President, when the mariner has been tossed about for many days in thick weather on an unknown sea, he naturally avails himself of the first pause in the storm, the earliest glance of the sun to take his latitude and ascertain how far the elements have driven him from his true course. Let us imitate this prudence and before we float on the waves of this debate refer to the point from which we departed, that we may at least be able to conjecture where we now are." ¶

There are several illustrations as we have studied the history of these surveys of the past, to illustrate why this is necessary. We found, for example, that some years ago a responsible head of one of the organizations asked the question as to whether or not a committee of the Council of the Twelve was not to be limited to the sole function of passing only on the doctrinal content of proposed manuals rather than to have anything to say on matters of policy in selecting the subject matter for the manual. ¶

Paraphrasing the words of Webster: ¶

"We are to again see how far we have departed from the true course, that we may at least conjecture where we now are." ¶

This whole problem of correlation grows and develops, if you will just stop to think for a moment what the rapid expansion and growth of the Church entails. Within each year by conversion or convert baptisms and natural increase, there are enough people being added to the Church to make from seventeen to twenty stakes each year. ¶

Since I came to be a member of the Council of the Twelve, twenty years and six months ago, we have grown from 138 stakes now to 335 or 336, whatever it be, in just that twenty year period. ¶

There is an increasing need for buildings, but with that an impressed need for using every economy possible to have nothing unnecessary in those buildings, which economies can come about by proper correlation. We have increased temple work, increased need for genealogical work with increased numbers of temples. We have an increase in welfare activities. We have an increase in tithes and offerings. And so we might go on to determine the great expansion of the Church. ¶

Within the memories of many of the present General Authorities, there have been surveys of this kind, or reexaminations about twenty years apart. ¶

One of the first comprehensive studies was undertaken under the general chairmanship of President David O. McKay, who was then the chairman of the general priesthood committee of the Church, and this was about forty years ago. To me it is a significant thing that this problem of proper correlation seems to have been in President McKay's mind through all of this time and perhaps as long as he has been one of the General Authorities. ¶

In 1920, the first such study was made, again in 1938, and after calling attention to the continued expansion of the fields of activity and increasing overlapping of the several Church organizations, President McKay, who by this time was now a member of the First Presidency, called attention to this, and I quote from a working copy that he has left with us: "The necessity to provide a course of study and of activities that shall bring the young people of missionary age to a substantial and rounded knowledge of the principles of the gospel all require that the work of the auxiliary organizations and of our educational institutions should be coordinated and as among the various organizations de-limited as well as unified and standardized to avoid duplication and overlapping and to provide the training which is required by the young people." ¶

In March of last year, 1960, the First Presidency wrote to the general priesthood committee and called our attention to the need for better correlation between and among the courses of study put out by the general priesthood committee and other responsible heads of other committees of the General Authorities for the instruction of the priesthood of the Church and an urgent need of correlation of studies among the auxiliaries of the Church, to avoid the necessity for new courses of study every year, having the ultimate objective of building up a knowledge of the gospel, a power to promulgate the same, a promotion of the growth, faith, and stronger testimony of the principles of the gospel among the members of the Church, and expressed the view in that letter to the general priesthood committee that if the whole church curriculum were viewed from the vantage point of what might be termed the total purpose of each and all these organizations, it would bring about such a collation and limitation of subjects and subject-matter elaborated in the various auxiliary courses as would tend to the building of efficiency in the auxiliaries themselves in the matter of carrying out the purposes lying behind their creation and function. ¶

That study, commenced early last year, has continued on for this last year and a half, going on now two years, under the direction of the educational committee, which is a sub-committee of the general priesthood committee, and we were authorized to select and set to work a survey committee to go back over all the history of each Church unit and to aid the educational committee in that study to determine the aims and objectives in the beginning of each organization and to review the expansions and changes which have taken place and to study all previous recommendations on the subject of correlation. May I say as well, that the key to what now we have to propose and which I will explain to you in a few minutes, and a guide to the educational committee and the research staff, was a communication from the First Presidency in one of these studies some while back when they called attention to the fact that "the home was the basis of a righteous life and that no other instrumentality can take its place nor fulfil its essential functions and that the utmost the auxiliaries can do is to aid the home in its problems, giving special aid and succor where such is necessary, that in aiding the home the auxiliaries may well consider thinking of home-life of the people as having three periods, the first, from birth to twelve years of age or the childhood period; then the youth period from twelve years up to the early twenties; and then adulthood, from the early twenties on to the end of life." ¶

With that as the key and the letter given from the First Presidency as the blueprint, it is the feeling now of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve, after reviewing these studies, that there should be presently more coordination and correlation between the activities and programs of the various priesthood quorums and auxiliary organizations and the educational system of the Church. They have decided, therefore, that there should be established an all-Church co-ordinating council and three co-ordinating committees: one for the children, one for the youth, and one for adults. This council and the three committees will correlate and co-ordinate the total instructional and activity programs of all auxiliaries and priesthood quorums which the brethren have now suggested should include missionary instructions and activities for the entire Church. ¶

This council and committees will be composed of representatives of the General Authorities, the executive heads of the auxiliary boards, and representatives of various agencies and auxiliaries of the Church. ¶

I will now indicate just what that personnel will look like, as it now gets into action: The all-Church co-ordinating council will be composed of a chairman, who will be one of the Council of the twelve, and three General Authorities, all of whom will be members of the twelve: one representing the children, one representing youth, and one representing the adults, and a secretary. The three General Authorities will be the chairmen of their respective committees. There will be a secretary and secretaries from each of the co-ordinating committees, the Presiding Bishop, a member of the Melchizedek Priesthood committee, an executive of the Church educational system, the president or superintendent of the following auxiliaries: Relief Society, Sunday School, YMMIA, YWMIA, and the Primary Association. ¶

The function of the all-Church coordinating council is to formulate policy which will govern the planning, the writing, co-ordination, and implementation of the entire Church curriculum. ¶

In addition to the organization of the co-ordinating council, three co-ordinating committees will be formed under the direction and policies of that council as I have said. The personnel of the children's co-ordinating committee, for example, will be made up of a chairman, one of the twelve; there will be a committee secretary, and the bestqualified people in the Church representing children, most of whom will be selected from the general boards of the Primary and the Sunday School. The function of this committee will be to plan, provide, write, and co-ordinate curricula and activities for children in age groups which do not overlap, including courses of study, activities, and materials for children to twelve years of age, and then these functions will be carried out under the co-ordinating council. ¶

The youth co-ordinating committee will be made up of a chairman, one of the twelve, a committee secretary, and the best-qualified people in the Church, representing youth, mainly selected from the Presiding Bishopric, general boards of the YMMIA and YWMIA, Sunday School, and the general church school system. The function of this committee will be to plan, write, provide, and co-ordinate curricula and activities for youth in age groups, using the Aaronic Priesthood age groups as a guide, including courses of study, activities, and materials. ¶

And the adult committee will be composed of a chairman, one of the twelve, a secretary, and the best-qualified people in the Church representing adults and should be selected from the Melchizedek Priesthood committee, the general boards of Relief Society, MIA's, Sunday School, church school system, etc., and it will be their function to plan and write and provide and co-ordinate the curriculum for adults. ¶

These heads of the various groups affected have been notified by the First Presidency of their appointment to this council, and they are now standing ready for the call to this important service. The auxiliary organizations of the Church in their present form will continue to implement the program on the Church level, on the stake level, and on the ward level. The co-ordinating committees will work under the direction of the co-ordinating council and will work in line with policies formed by that council. ¶

The auxiliary boards will carry out the program which is formulated by the co-ordinating committee. Now, you must bear in mind that the co-ordinating committees will be composed mainly of general board members who are already writing plans and programs for the Church. Such a program will make it possible better to correlate and coordinate the program of the Church and will prevent overlapping, thus making it possible to teach the gospel in a more efficient and effective way in harmony with the instructions of the First Presidency. ¶

In the adoption of such a program, we may possibly and hopefully look forward to the consolidation and simplification of church curricula, church publications, church buildings, church meetings, and many other important aspects of the Lord's work. ¶

With that brief statement may I conclude with just this one thought. ¶

Perhaps one of the most oft-asked questions, as we go about the Church, is "How, with the Church growing to the size that it is, can we hope for the present General Authorities to supervise and to keep in contact with the growing Church?" My answer has always been, "I am sure that by the time we arrive at the place where we need more revelations that the Lord will give that light and knowledge to the prophet whom he has put upon the earth for that purpose." ¶

Recently, President McKay, acting under the inspiration of his calling, moved to enlarge the activities of the seventies, by ordaining some of the presidents of seventies to the office of high priests, with the explanation that it would make them more serviceable and more effective in their work. I was in one of the Arizona stakes, and I had one of the brethren ask, "Was it not true that the Prophet Joseph had said that it was contrary to the order of heaven that a high priest should be in that position?" ¶

I merely said to him, "Had you ever thought that what might have been contrary to the order of heaven in the early 1830's might not be contrary to the order of heaven in 1960?" ¶

Sometimes we forget that today, here and now, we have a prophet to whom the Lord is giving instruction for our good. We say, "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." (Ninth Article of Faith.) Almost imperceptibly we see the hand of the Lord moving to do things, and this I construe to be a consolidation of the forces of the Lord under the direction of the prophet, just as in an army, in order to meet a superior force of the enemy in numbers, the forces of our opposition to the forces of evil must be consolidated in order to give them the most effective possible defense. ¶

We are in a program of defense. The Church of Jesus Christ was set upon this earth in this day ". . . for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it should be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth." (D&C 115:6.) This is a move, which, as I say, has lain close to President McKay's mind and now as the President of the Church he is instructing us to move forward, that we consolidate to make more efficient, and more effective the work of the priesthood, the auxiliaries, and the other units in order that we may conserve our time, our energy, and our efforts toward the prime purpose for which the Church itself has been organized. We must not forget what the Lord said, that he had given a parable to teach us a great lesson, and concluded the parable by saying, "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." ¶

(Ibid., 38:27.) When I remembered that, I remembered a revelation that President John Taylor received when the leaders were wondering about the relationship of the seventies to the high priests, and in a very pertinent, significant statement, the Lord gave this revelation to President John Taylor: ¶

"What ye have written is my will and is acceptable unto me and furthermore, thus saith the Lord unto the First Presidency and unto the Twelve, unto the Seventies and unto all my Holy Priesthood, let not your hearts be troubled, neither be ye concerned about the management and the organizations of my Church and Priesthood and the accomplishment of my work. Fear not and observe my laws, and I will reveal unto you from time to time, through the channels that I have appointed everything that shall be necessary for the future development and the rolling forth of my Kingdom and for the building up and the establishment of my Zion, for ye are my Priesthood and I am your God." (B. H. Roberts, Seventy's Course in Theology, Vol. I, p. 10.) To which I also bear my humble testimony, that the Lord is revealing to President McKay just as certainly here and now and this becomes an instruction as inspired as any instruction has been given and for us to remember as members of the priesthood if we will just keep our eye on the President of this Church and look to him today for God's revelations, we will see him moving to do the thing that will be for the salvation of the children of men in the most effective way possible, and I bear that humble testimony in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶