Bishops Meeting in Coventry Stake October 23rd

Bishops Meeting in Coventry -  a bit blurry but all we've got!

We met with the Bishops on a Thursday night after their Bishop's correlation meeting. Left to right:
President David Peterson (branch president of Warwick Branch), Bishop Paul Hughes (Rugby Ward),
Bishop Craig White (Coventry Ward), Mike Reynolds (Coventry Stake High Council over self-reliance, Bishop David Charmbury (Chelmsley Wood Ward), Bishop Joseph Gedge (Banbury Ward),
Bishop Matthew Grant (Nuneaton) John Taroni (Coventry Stake SR Specialist) was also there.

Bishop Grant initiated the meeting. A few days later, we received word from Brother Taroni that Bishop Charmbury requested us to teach November 30th in the Chelmsley Wood Ward joint Relief Society & Priesthood Meeting.

What we teach:
Self-reliance is not new - it was introduced in the Garden of Eden, but it is essential to our salvation. Can we return to live with our Heavenly Father if we're not self-reliant? NO!

Temporal and spiritual self-reliance are equally important to our salvation. There are new members all over the world who have never heard the word, nor learned the concept. It is the duty of all church members to strengthen and lift themselves after which they will be able to lift others. If we work together, there should be no poor among us. In Zion we are of one heart and one mind.

There are many longstanding members of the church who have forgotten that WORK is an important part of the Gospel plan. There is a new self-reliance initiative now available in many parts of the world, which comes complete with manuals for teaching, coaching and mentoring our brethren. This initiative has come through the 1st Presidency who have been inspired to take action to help all church members become self-reliant.

The booklet My Plan will be used to assess the direction needed by each member who is working to become more SR. According to the results of this assessment, each member will move on to lessons from My Foundation coupled with one of three other manuals. The booklet My Foundation contains a spiritual component while a companion manual will address one of three areas: Education for Better Work, Starting and Growing My Business, or My Job Search.

We're encouraging each stake to call a self-reliance specialist and to set up a SR committee. Each ward will have a SR specialist as well. Ideally it won't be the over-worked Bishop or R.S. President! Part of the work these specialists are helping to do is to identify the needs of the members in each ward. Once all the cogs are in place, those who need training should have access to resources in one of several places. They can come to the SR Model Centre where we will help them, or they can go to their own Stake SR Centre if they have one set up. They will become part of a Group who works together to help all members of that group. There is no leader or teacher. There is a facilitator who may be a ward or stake specialist, or SR missionary, etc. Each time the group meets, they will discuss one of the lessons in their workbooks. The group will assist each other to achieve their education or work goals.

If it sounds complicated...it IS! The whole thing has to take place in baby steps because we can't get ahead of the Priesthood leaders. The Stake President is in charge and it's his duty to get the ball rolling. We're here to assist. We're not the Ugly Americans coming in to take over! We do write letters and offer our services, but there are a couple of stakes that have never replied to our letters in the past 5 months. We may have to go in there with Self-Reliance pitchforks and coax them out of their hidey holes! haha

Ultimately, the goal is to become as self-reliant as possible, both temporally and spiritually. We will soon be sending out the SR "talk" that will be given to the Chelmsley Wood Ward the end of this month. It incorporates the 12 steps that are part of the SR lessons.