Boundaries?

[_Bond James Bond]

Forgive a long time nevermo board member for asking such a simple question. I've never seen this topic discussed.

Do LDS go to any church service they wish, or are they directed by their address/geographic location to attend a certain meeting?

As an example. I live at 123 Main St. (somewhere in Utah or wherever LDS are densely populated) which is located two miles from an LDS building (call it #1). But my good friend lives across town and attends the services closest to their house (call it #2). #2 is eight miles from my house. Does it matter if I attend services at #1 or #2? (Or #3 or whatever.) Any circumstance could lead me to want to attend a decently close service, but not the one closest to my house. Any problems?

(Forgive the ignorant).

[_beefcalf]

Any location with any sort of LDS presence is divided along some geographical boundary into stakes and wards. As a member, you are instructed to attend the ward the boundaries of which encompass your home address. As an investigator, you could certainly attend whichever one you wanted. Once you are baptized, you will be 'encouraged' to attend your own, assigned ward.

[_moksha]

Skip the Midvale Church entirely and go to one in East Draper, Utah. They serve artisan bread at their Sacrament Meetings.

[_Doctor Scratch]

Of course there are boundaries. This is the modern, bureaucratic LDS Church we're talking about, so of course there are boundaries, and they're strictly enforced. If you are traveling, or out of town, you're more than welcome to attend the local services, but in general you're expected to stick with whatever boundaries the Church has delineated.

I think the more important question to ask here is, "Why?" The sympathetic answer is that it makes it easier for the Church to organize everything and distribute resources, and the more cynical answer is that it allows the Church to control things more thoroughly and to more accurately keep tabs on all the members. So the actual motive is probably a combination of all of the above.

[_Bond James Bond]

Of course there are boundaries. This is the modern, bureaucratic LDS Church we're talking about, so of course there are boundaries, and they're strictly enforced. If you are traveling, or out of town, you're more than welcome to attend the local services, but in general you're expected to stick with whatever boundaries the Church has delineated.

Thank you Dr. Scratch, beefcalf, and moksha for the response. It seems the most simple of issues, and yet it had never been spelled out to me. So much arguing about what goes on in the Church, and no one had ever talked about where they attend.

I think the more important question to ask here is, "Why?" The sympathetic answer is that it makes it easier for the Church to organize everything and distribute resources, and the more cynical answer is that it allows the Church to control things more thoroughly and to more accurately keep tabs on all the members. So the actual motive is probably a combination of all of the above.

It would certainly appear so. Perhaps more importantly is how bad simple information like this looks to outsiders. When so much of religion is tied up in social ties (especially familial) being dictat...sorry "encouraged" to attend religious services in a given place might remove that social net when a family might be forced to move for any of a number of reasons.

When I was young my family drove thirty miles each Sunday morning to attend services at the church my grandparents and two uncles (and their families) attended as well as numerous family friends. Were I LDS I would be "encouraged" to not attend with my extended family, but the nearest ward. Does this to an outsider not sound...cultish?

[_MsJack]

As an investigator, you could certainly attend whichever one you wanted.

I was 16 the first time I visited an LDS church. Avatar4321 from MDDB had been trying to talk me into going for some time. Protestant churches usually have someone who works in the office, answers the phone, and can field questions about the church like what time services are, so I took it for granted that the LDS church must have someone like that.

I opened my phone book, looked up the closest LDS church, and called them on a Sunday morning when I was sure someone would be there. The person who picked up the phone sounded hesitant and confused. I asked him what time the local Mormon "congregation" meets because I would like to visit. He said he wasn't sure where to send me because he didn't know where I lived or what ward that would be in. Now I was confused, and I was like, "Um, really, I just want to come to a service." So he told me the time his ward met, and I hung up.

When I showed up and sat through Sacrament meeting, people came over to introduce themselves. I said I was just visiting and they would say, "Oh, she's an investigator." (Actually, I wasn't interested in joining the church at all, but I didn't know at the time what "investigator" means in a Mormon context.) Then I had people asking me where I lived. I thought it was a weird question, but I told them. "Oh, you're in the wrong ward," they said.

After I'd spent some number of weeks visiting the ward, I learned that the phone I had called, the one listed in the phone book, was linked to a phone in the hallway. The person who had taken my call had just been some hapless guy wandering by between meetings, not a secretary or a receptionist. No wonder he'd been so confused.

Anyways, yes, visitors and "investigators" can attend whatever ward they please, but they'll still be encouraged to attend the one for the boundaries they live in.

[_Inconceivable]

I've seen boundaries moved in strange ways just to get the right person in the Bishopric.

The only way that the church approves of a member having their records beyond their borders is if they attend alternative wards - ie foreign language (like Spanish), young adult (or whatever they call them now) etc.

But there is more to the policy than meets the eye. I talked with a former bishop friend some years ago about one of his ward "members" that insisted on attending his ward even though he was out of the boundary. My friend really thought this guy was a "jerk" for making his job difficult since the guy rarely attended anyways and was always thinking he could dictate policy. The jerk was my dad. If you know the right people, you can pretty much do whatever you want.

[_The Nehor]

Of course there are boundaries.

Yes there are.

This is the modern, bureaucratic LDS Church we're talking about, so of course there are boundaries, and they're strictly enforced.

Indeed, you can expect to be shot if you cross over.

If you are traveling, or out of town, you're more than welcome to attend the local services, but in general you're expected to stick with whatever boundaries the Church has delineated.

First, they were 'strictly enforced' and now they are just an 'expectation'. Hmmmm....which statement is hyberbole I wonder.

I think the more important question to ask here is, "Why?"

Indeed.

The sympathetic answer is that it makes it easier for the Church to organize everything and distribute resources, and the more cynical answer is that it allows the Church to control things more thoroughly and to more accurately keep tabs on all the members.

The actual answer is that it just plain makes sense. Multiple congregations share a building and setting up boundaries prevents bleed-over due to a desire to tailor meeting times to your preferences. It also simplifies Church programs like Home Teaching where Sister Elijah from out of town doesn't attend a far-away ward because the bishop is her second cousin and make the Home Teachers travel farther then they would otherwise need to. It consolidates help as a ward service project or help moving is more likely close by.

Of course in Scratchite thinking 'keeping track' of members is a bad thing. This is to be expected from a paranoid conspiracy nut like himself who (if he is active) is trying to hide things he does and says. Ignore that. He's trying to hide himself from everyone whether he is or is not active. It appears he is ashamed of his online activities and rightly so.

[_ludwigm]

Boundaries?
One of the many stupidities.

I know catholics (because - on the list - I were one) and the reformeds (because three of my four wives was of it - the fourth is Mormon and the same woman with whom I am in love as the third) and they don't care any boundaries.

Many times (many is many, horse is not tapir...) I have taken part in services with my (last) mother-in-law. The priest (protestant-minister-see-before-1990-version) has acknowledged me as unknown, then welcomed. He didn't ask about my geographic location.

More five centuries and Mormons can become normal...

[_bcspace]

Does it matter if I attend services at #1 or #2? (Or #3 or whatever.)

Yes. The boundaries are drawn to give wards a similar number of actives to draw from and inactives to help. Of course, it can't always be perfectly balanced and over the years, there is some shift and then boundaries are redrawn. But "parish hopping" or shopping around for wards you like without moving is strongly discouraged and actions are sometimes taken to make sure you attend the ward whose boundaries you live in.

For example, if you want a TR or financial assistance, you'll be directed to the Bishop of the ward you live in and if you aren't attending or serving, those things will likely not be available to you until you do. Some exceptions are granted, but those are very rare.