Boundaries?

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

I thought you were going to ask about personal boundaries. Mormons can be a little lacking in those.

[_cafe crema]

Multiple congregations share a building and setting up boundaries prevents bleed-over due to a desire to tailor meeting times to your preferences.

I don't see the problem with tailoring meeting times to work with ones family schedule, it is a good thing to be able to do things with your family and still attend church. Flexibility in "meeting times" has worked in many situations in our life but it's been a particular boon when any of our children has been sick. My husband and I have been able to tag team child care and church in a relaxed fashion, strangely the days with sick kids where we attended at different times were more calm than those where we all went together. I've actually been mulling this over lately as my oldest seems to be sliding into that stay awake late/sleep late teenage thing, thinking that it might work best to bust up family attendance into the "early bird" and the "slug a bed" groups. As a kid I spent the summer at my grandparents lake house along with all my cousins and on Sunday someone was going to church from 6am till noon, I have fond memories of all the "time slots".

[_ludwigm]

.... "parish hopping" or shopping around for wards you like without moving ...

Are these speshul features of the onlytrueone?

I may be a stupid european. I know no such thing in any churches here around us.

[_Doctor Scratch]

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.

What you're describing here is a needless and ridiculous level of control being placed on members' lives within the Church.

And since you seem to disagree with my above point about boundaries being "strictly enforced"... Why don't you describe the reasons why you abide by the boundaries?

[_gramps]

My most special memories of church attendance were holding sacrament meeting at The Pines, the family ranch on the Smith and Morehouse. Across the river from the cabin, in a beautiful grove of pines, the other family members from cabins nearby would all come together with us to hold sacrament meeting each Sunday morning.

Now, that was living. We had to stop when correlation took hold and we were told (read: commanded) we had to attend the Oakley ward. The kids stopped going and went fishing or horseback riding instead. Even half the adults, my aunts and uncles, stayed at the cabin, rather than dress up to go down to Oakley.

Correlation: the death of the Church, as I see it.

[_Joseph]

You may find more choosing to attend a different ward/congregation during football season when their ward meeting schedule conflicts with the time their favorite football team is playing on TV. This was especially troublesome in a few West Jordan wards we were in while Steve Young was playing for the San Francisco 49ers.

It is also a way to attend your meetings but not have any callings. Can be troublesome though when it comes time to get interviewed for a Temple Recommend.

[_The Nehor]

What you're describing here is a needless and ridiculous level of control being placed on members' lives within the Church.

Nope.

And since you seem to disagree with my above point about boundaries being "strictly enforced"... Why don't you describe the reasons why you abide by the boundaries?

Because if I 'go to' the 'wrong ward' the 'Gestapo' shows up and 'escorts' me to my 'proper ward'.

I go to the ward I'm in because those are my neighbors, the ones I should know and the ones I should interact with the most. I do my home teaching there, I help the missionaries there, etc.

It's not rocket science Scratch. I realize you've probably wanted to switch wards a few times to find people more sympathetic to your viewpoints. Let me assure you; the problem is that they've met you and that won't change no matter what ward you go to.

[_Doctor Scratch]

What you're describing here is a needless and ridiculous level of control being placed on members' lives within the Church.

Nope.

Sure it is. As I noted above, there have been times when wards were split up according to completely arbitrary geographical boundaries. And what real purpose does this serve? If a few people want to attend the "other" ward because they have friends there, what's the problem?

And since you seem to disagree with my above point about boundaries being "strictly enforced"... Why don't you describe the reasons why you abide by the boundaries?

Because if I 'go to' the 'wrong ward' the 'Gestapo' shows up and 'escorts' me to my 'proper ward'.

I go to the ward I'm in because those are my neighbors, the ones I should know and the ones I should interact with the most. I do my home teaching there, I help the missionaries there, etc.

If the Church decided to split up your ward, what would you do? Would you attend the ward that still contained the largest portion of your neighbors & etc., or would you go where the Church told you to go? Similarly, if you could drive twenty minutes each Sunday to attend a ward with your family, friends, and so on, would you do it? Or would you attend the ward that was assigned to you?

[_asbestosman]

It's not rocket science Scratch. I realize you've probably wanted to switch wards a few times to find people more sympathetic to your viewpoints. Let me assure you; the problem is that they've met you and that won't change no matter what ward you go to.

I'm not sure that's true at all Nehor. I imagine plenty of NOMinal members who hang out here would love to have their own ward--the MDB 1st ward. Harmony could be the bishop with Liz as first counselor and Scratch as second counselor.

[_Quasimodo]

Just as a contrast, when I lived in the South East US, my neighbor was a Baptist Minister. His wife was a Methodist. They each attended their own separate churches. No one in the community (other than me) thought it was strange. They were an elderly couple and had been living this way since they were young.