Mormon Church

March 17^th is the anniversary of the Relief Society, one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations in the United States. From its beginnings as an organization to assist women in serving others, it has also allowed women to gain a wide range of skills, including leadership skills.

The Relief Society today is headed by Julie B. Beck, born in Utah. She spent much of her childhood, until age nine, in Brazil, where her father served as a mission president. She has a degree from Brigham Young University. Today, she leads the Relief Society for the entire international church, serves on the Church Board of Education and the Boards of Trustees of Church schools and universities; and is on the executive and general councils for Welfare and the Perpetual Education Fund of the Church.

Sister Beck is assisted by two counselors. Her first counselor is Silvia H. Allred, who was born and raised in El Salvador. Sister Allred attended the University of Arizona, Brigham Young University, and the General Francisco Morazan Institute in El Salvador, where she studied mathematics and languages. The second counselor is Barbara Thompson, who holds a Masters Degree in social work. After retiring from the Utah Department of Human Services, she became an executive director for The Christmas Box International, which serves abused and neglected children. She has never married and has no children.

The three women work under the direction of the priesthood, but they have real authority to design programs and make decisions. Women also lead the Primary program for children and the Young Women’s program for teen girls, from the international level to the local level. In addition, women hold a variety of other callings—unpaid church work. They serve in Sunday School, Activities, and other necessary tasks.

Relief Society is the auxiliary for all adult women. It is a comprehensive program of service and education. On Sundays, the Relief Society conducts a meeting for the adult women in which a lesson is taught concerning scripture, doctrine, or fulfilling the roles of women.

The Relief Society also holds programs on weeknights. Each local branch of the auxiliary selects activities, clubs, and classes they feel will benefit the needs of their own organization. These can be as diverse as the membership. Classes often include ethnic cooking, crafts, home repair, parenting, foreign languages, computer skills, car maintenance, and blogging. All of these activities and planned and carried out by women.

Of course, the Relief Society, true to its name, also carries out an extensive program of service both within and outside the Church. One program that allows LDS women to serve each other is the Visiting Teaching program. Each woman is assigned a companion and the companionship is asked to visit several women each month. As they meet with the three or four women on their “route” they build close friendships with one another. The visiting teachers deliver a brief gospel message to the women they visit and take time to get to know them. If the women have a need, they turn first to their visiting teachers, allowing them to call on someone who wants to be called. Visiting teachers provide meals to the family during illness, pick up children from school in an emergency, babysit, and do whatever else might need doing. The program ensures women who have recently moved to the area have friends right away, women who are older are checked on, and someone is aware if a serious need arises that should be brought to the attention of leaders, such as unemployment or serious illness.

It is the Relief Society that helps to administer the food program for the church. The Relief Society president will meet with the wife after the family has been approved for food assistance in emergencies, to help her plan her food needs for the month and arrange for her to visit the Storehouse, similar to a food bank.

The Relief Society also operates a literacy program world-wide. Although men can serve as literacy teachers, only women can be assigned to run the program. The literacy leader works with the Relief Society presidency to assess literacy needs and desires and to develop programs and find teachers to help. In addition to teaching reading, the program helps with other aspects of literacy, including teaching members the native language of their country (such as English as a Second Language in the United States.) The literacy program can also teach computer skills, the writing of personal and family histories, helping parents raise readers, and even blogging.

Relief Society groups are often found doing service for their community or the world, creating supplies for the Church’s Humanitarian Aid program, volunteering for community events, and stocking food pantries in their community.

All of these varied projects help women, even those who are serving full-time in their homes as mothers, opportunities to develop leadership skills. They plan and conduct meetings and activities, carry about service projects, teach, preach, and pray. The women are an essential part of any functioning congregation and serve at every level of church leadership, from the congregational level to the international level.

Because most positions are assigned, rather than volunteered for, women often find themselves serving outside their comfort zones, requiring them to learn new skills and to accomplish things they never imagined themselves doing. A shy woman might find herself conducting a meeting or teaching a class. Someone most comfortable caring for the toddlers on Sunday might find herself on the Internet, trying to figure out how to teach English to a group of men and women at church. A woman who prefers to follow might find herself in charge of the entire program. Barbara Thompson, the second counselor of the Relief Society at the international level, for instance, admits she’s more comfortable wearing jeans and putting together hygiene kits for Humanitarian Services than she is in her dress suit leading women worldwide, but she has risen to the challenge to improve her skills. As women serve in the various callings of the church, they become more than they thought they could ever be. Many of the skills carry into the business world if the time comes for a woman to leave her home and take employment. Others simply widen the range of a woman’s experiences, and help her to see herself as God sees her—a woman who can do anything.

Learn more about Relief Society.

Watch a video about Relief Society.

Tags: Julie B. Beck, Julie Beck, LDS, Mormon Women, Relief Society, service

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