Workshop Summary

What a privilege it is to belong to the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith more than 160 years ago. In the early meetings of the Relief Society, the Prophet Joseph taught the sisters many doctrines and principles of the gospel. “If you live up to these principles,” he said, “the angels cannot be restrain’d from being your associates.”¹

Joseph Smith defined the focus of the Relief Society when he instructed the sisters that they were “not only to relieve the poor, but to save souls.”²

• What does it mean “to save souls”?
• The purpose of the Relief Society is “to assist priesthood leaders in carrying out the mission of the Church by helping sisters and families come unto Christ.”³ In what ways does this purpose reflect the counsel of the Prophet Joseph?

Consider four significant themes the Prophet taught the sisters to help them “relieve the poor” and “to save souls”:

• Practice Holiness
• Build Unity
• Care for the Poor and Needy
• Receive Temple Blessings

1. Practice Holiness

The Prophet Joseph taught the sisters that they were to become virtuous women:⁴

"I have come here to bless you. The Society has done well—their principles are to practice holiness.”⁵

• What does it mean to “practice holiness”? What words or concepts suggest the practice of holiness?
• What virtues reflect holiness?

Here are three of the many virtues that Joseph Smith taught the sisters of Relief Society.

Charity—The Prophet Joseph identified charity as the focus of the sisters of Relief Society:

“It is natural for females to have feelings of charity—you are now plac’d in a situation where you can act according to those sympathies which God has planted in your bosoms.”⁶

Mercy—The Prophet Joseph counseled the women to show mercy:

“If the sisters love the Lord let them feed the sheep and not destroy them. . . . Mercy should go hand in hand with reproof.”⁷

Compassion—The Prophet Joseph encouraged the sisters to reach out to others with the goodness of the gospel:

“The nearer we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are dispos’d to look with compassion on perishing souls—to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our back.”⁸

Part of practicing holiness is to focus on who we are becoming.

2. Build Unity

In the third meeting of the Nauvoo Relief Society on March 30, 1842, the Prophet stated, “ . . . All must act in concert or nothing can be done.”⁹

• What is the significance of the counsel to “act in concert”? What can we do to act in concert with our priesthood leaders? Why is this important?

Our early Relief Society sisters were a very diverse group of women, and so are we. Faith was fundamental to their unity. Speaking to the sisters, Bishop Newell K. Whitney stated, “We may have different views of things, still there is some criterion which all may come to, and by bringing our minds and wills into subjection to the law of the Lord, [we] may come to unity.”¹⁰

• In what ways will “bringing our minds and wills into subjection to the law of the Lord” build unity in our Relief Societies? In our ward councils?
• What can we do to unite with us those sisters serving in other auxiliaries, transitioning young adult sisters, and less-active sisters?

Joseph Smith stressed the importance of individual effort to bring unity:

“Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand and watch over them with tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what pow’r it has over my mind, while the opposite course has a tendency to harrow up all the harsh feelings and depress the human mind.”¹¹

• What personal experiences have you had which illustrate this teaching?
• How can stake leaders help ward presidencies build unity? How can ward leaders help build unity among the sisters?

3. Care for the Poor and Needy

The Prophet Joseph encouraged the sisters to care for one another by reflecting on the teachings of the Savior.

“Said Jesus, ‘Ye shall do the work ye see me do.’ These are the grand key words for the Society to act upon.”¹²

• How can this counsel be applied to visiting teaching? to sisters transitioning from Young Women? to sisters or families whose problems are not obvious to us?

Joseph Smith further taught that care of the poor and needy is the work of the heart.

“Let your hearts expand—let them be enlarged towards others.”¹³

• What does it mean to you to “let your hearts expand” and “be enlarged”? In what ways is this different from being hard-hearted or past feeling?

Joseph Smith knew that the poor and needy would “never cease out of the land.”¹⁴

“Let your labors be confin’d mostly to those around you in your own circle; as far as knowledge is concerned, it may extend to all the world, but your administrations, should be confin’d to the circle of your immediate acquaintance, and more especially to the members of the Society.”¹⁵

• What are the implications of Joseph Smith’s words for our Relief Societies and our sisters? for our young single adult sisters? For our newly baptized sisters? for our families?

4. Receive Temple Blessings

At the sixth meeting of the Society on April 28, 1842, the Prophet established what has been called “a charter” for the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:¹⁶

“This Society is to get instruction thro’ the order which God has established—thro’ the medium of those appointed to lead—and I now turn the key to you in the name of God and this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time—this is the beginning of better days to this Society.”¹⁷

Elder Dallin H. Oaks has said that with the turning of the key, the Relief Society officially became part of the Church and kingdom of God. Relief Society is “an integral part of the Church, not a separate church for women.”¹⁸

• How is each sister of the Church, each family member, impacted by the Relief Society?

In the temple, adult members receive the fulness of knowledge and intelligence. The “Society [was] raised by the Lord to prepare [them] for great blessings . . . in the House of the Lord.”¹⁹ Joseph schooled the sisters in preparation for these blessings and “the sisters express’d their feelings one by one,” manifesting a unanimous “desire to assist in forwarding the Temple and in aiding the cause of Zion.”²⁰

• How does your Relief Society focus on the blessings of the temple? In what ways can temple worship be enhanced?

One of the six objectives of Relief Society is to “help sisters become full participants in the blessings of the priesthood.”²¹ Joseph Smith taught the importance of temple worship:

“It is an honor to save yourselves—all are responsible to save themselves.”²²

• How can we involve those who are not yet endowed in temple worship? Think of new converts, less-active sisters, older sisters, young single adults, and sisters with spouses who are not members of the Church.
• In what ways can we impress upon the sisters that it is through the temple we bring sisters and their families to Jesus Christ?

Just as the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society and shaped its legacy, President Gordon B. Hinckley, our living prophet, has extended that vision with the following:

“God bless the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. May the spirit of love which has motivated its members for more than a century and a half continue to grow and be felt over the world. May their works of charity touch for good the lives of uncounted numbers wherever they find expression. And may light and understanding, learning and knowledge, and eternal truth grace the lives of generations of women yet to come, throughout the nations of the earth, because of this singular and divinely established institution.”²³

Notes