A question about Mormonism and service and/or church function attendance (St. George: how much, place to live)

[nettoarbeit]

I'm narrowing my focus on a place to live to Southwestern Utah.

I'm not currently a member of any religion. However, I have long found myself attracted to Mormonism. I've learned a bit about it from various sources (including temple visits in SLC and elsewhere in the area, reading about it, watching film series such as The Work and the Glory, etc.), and I'm interested in learning far more about it when I move to Utah. I'm interested in attending services, and I'd be interested in officially becoming a Mormon.

However, I have one concern. I keep reading about how much time, how many days per week Mormons in good standing typically spend with church functions.

One of the big reasons that I'm moving out west in the first place is so that I can spend a lot of time enjoying "outdoors" activities. I will also need to work full time. I hope to be able to arrange my work schedule so that I routinely have two days off in a row, so that I can travel to various national and state parks, forests, etc., and be able to spend the night there (to enable visiting places that are a further drive--including locations in surrounding states even).

I also have other hobbies that take time.

That would conflict with necessarily having to go to church every Sunday, having to attend church functions a couple nights every week, etc. I would want to be involved with the church, I would want to attend services, other functions, and especially volunteer for things that help out or benefit the community. However, I would be stressed out with a commitment to have to do those things every week for multiple days (or even one day every week). That would negate a lot of the reason that I'm moving to Utah in the first place.

So my question is this: practically/realistically, what is the church's and fellow church members attitudes to being a Mormon but not going to church or church functions every week (and maybe only going every other or third week instead)? The impression I've gotten from what I've read is that that would be responded to in a more negative way than simply not being a member of the church in the first place. I can understand that it would be seen as not pulling one's weight, but it seems to me that even being involved "part time" or more casually would be better than just avoiding involvement altogether due to a negative reaction like that. The last thing I'll want is others being upset with me there, though.

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by nettoarbeit

I'm narrowing my focus on a place to live to Southwestern Utah.

I'm not currently a member of any religion. However, I have long found myself attracted to Mormonism. I've learned a bit about it from various sources (including temple visits in SLC and elsewhere in the area, reading about it, watching film series such as The Work and the Glory, etc.), and I'm interested in learning far more about it when I move to Utah. I'm interested in attending services, and I'd be interested in officially becoming a Mormon.

However, I have one concern. I keep reading about how much time, how many days per week Mormons in good standing typically spend with church functions.

One of the big reasons that I'm moving out west in the first place is so that I can spend a lot of time enjoying "outdoors" activities. I will also need to work full time. I hope to be able to arrange my work schedule so that I routinely have two days off in a row, so that I can travel to various national and state parks, forests, etc., and be able to spend the night there (to enable visiting places that are a further drive--including locations in surrounding states even).

I also have other hobbies that take time.

That would conflict with necessarily having to go to church every Sunday, having to attend church functions a couple nights every week, etc. I would want to be involved with the church, I would want to attend services, other functions, and especially volunteer for things that help out or benefit the community. However, I would be stressed out with a commitment to have to do those things every week for multiple days (or even one day every week). That would negate a lot of the reason that I'm moving to Utah in the first place.

So my question is this: practically/realistically, what is the church's and fellow church members attitudes to being a Mormon but not going to church or church functions every week (and maybe only going every other or third week instead)? The impression I've gotten from what I've read is that that would be responded to in a more negative way than simply not being a member of the church in the first place. I can understand that it would be seen as not pulling one's weight, but it seems to me that even being involved "part time" or more casually would be better than just avoiding involvement altogether due to a negative reaction like that. The last thing I'll want is others being upset with me there, though.

Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

That's an interesting question. I kind of wish you'd asked it on the "Lowdown on us Mormons" thread over in the general Utah forum instead of here in the St. George forum. If you were to become a Mormon, you would be encouraged to attend church services every Sunday. If you chose not to do so, that would be your decision. Nobody would say, "Look, we expect 100% attendance. If you're not going to attend all the time, don't bother." That would be the last thing on earth that would happen. I suspect that once you started getting involved, you might end up deciding to skip every third week instead of just attending every third week, but of course that's just my guess. I consider myself an "active member of the Church." I went to bed last night fully planning to go to church this morning. Well, I ended up waking up at 2:30 A.M. and I couldn't go back to sleep. I took a sleeping pill and it really knocked me out. I was so sleepy this morning when it was time to get up and ready for church that I just told my husband to go without me. LDS worship services are three hours in length, but they are divided into three one-hour sessions, the last two being classroom study. I ended up going to just the last hour today. Two weeks ago, I was out of town (Bryce and Zion) and skipped church altogether, even though I could have found a ward down by Zion to attend. My plans right now are to attend every week in October, but if for some reason I don't, nobody's going to say a thing about it. I hope that helps.

[nightnurse613]

I would remind you that the Church is comprised of non-paid clergy and leaders. In order for things to happen; classes to be taught, meetings to run, the sick and afflicted to be ministered to, SOMEONE has to do it. The Church is comprised of many individual groups (Relief Society, various quorums, classes) and someone has to lead and teach. If not you, who? I would hope that you, as a new member, would be anxious to broaden your horizon, learn more about the Church and actively participate. Obviously they take participation and service seriously. There are literally hundreds of callings (jobs) in the Church some of which do involve a seemingly never-ending round of meetings and commitment; others not nearly so much! I would say Sunday attendance should be especially important to a member of the Church but, as someone pointed out; you will not be hunted down but-- you will be missed (and after an appropriate time, I hope you may miss the companionship, too!). I am pretty sure you will be taught lessons about the Church by the missionaries and most of these answers should become apparent to you.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by nightnurse613

I would remind you that the Church is comprised of non-paid clergy and leaders. In order for things to happen; classes to be taught, meetings to run, the sick and afflicted to be ministered to, SOMEONE has to do it. The Church is comprised of many individual groups (Relief Society, various quorums, classes) and someone has to lead and teach. If not you, who?

Excellent point. I never stopped to consider that. One thing the LDS Church would not be able to function without is its members.

[oldtrader]

The Mormon Church does not have evening meetings, and does not hold services any day but Sundays as some churches do.

There are meetings for the youth on other days during the day.

[irman]

Your membership in the LDS church is a matter between You and God.

It has *absolutely* NOTHING to do what the people think of you, *including* those who *think* they should *judge* you.

When you *know* what you need/like/want to do, then go for it.
At your own pace.
If you think that you must be a perfect person, to join, you are way out in left field, and so are those who *think* you need to be perfect to join.

The reason that you *must* join, is what keeps most people, who want to do the right thing, away from becoming a member of the LDS Church.
Just a matter of a few of the *rules* that particular religion has.

So, if you know those very few *requirements* and fully agree with them, then become a member, and do what YOU think you must do to feel good *inside*.

I know many LDS members who *think* they do the right thing, but then act different when NOT around Church ...
I know many NON-LDS people who, in my view, are better Christians than many LDS members I know !!!

If you are still in the *Ask the missionaries stage*, keep asking.
Decide that you need to try really hard to *become perfect some day*, then accept the challenge and do what you need to to do.

The worst thing you can do to yourself, is to put up a *façade* that is NOT your true self, but is one that YOU think would please your neighbour.

Whether you believe it or not, *Practice makes Perfect* is still valid these days.

I just noticed an interesting phenomenon in the word processor I use to write this message.
I spelled *Practice* wrong, and it suggested *Participate* ...

[InSandy]

I have been a member of the church my whole life, so can't speak as someone who was on the outside looking in. There is certainly a time commitment involved in being an active member. And what matters in the end is where you place your priorities. If joining the church for all the right reasons is important to you then I don't think the time commitment will be an issue.

I manage to find plenty of time to enjoy the great natural wonders of this state on short day trips, longer 3 day weekends and holidays and still work and go to church as well.

[Utahooligan]

Originally Posted by nettoarbeit

One of the big reasons that I'm moving out west in the first place is so that I can spend a lot of time enjoying "outdoors" activities. I will also need to work full time. I hope to be able to arrange my work schedule so that I routinely have two days off in a row, so that I can travel to various national and state parks, forests, etc., and be able to spend the night there (to enable visiting places that are a further drive--including locations in surrounding states even).

I'm not LDS, & in fact I'm a devout Agnostic, but one thing any intelligent person here in SW Utah realizes pretty quickly is that the Mormon pioneers sure spent a lot of time "outdoors" here, making tremendous personal sacrifices and having huge strength & perseverance to create the communities which we all live in.

If you chose to be religious, be a shepherd, not a sheep -- quit worrying that the church might not appreciate your rather normal values & interests. If you're away from church for a couple weeks and you think you're getting dirty looks, tell 'em you were on a mission to spread the Book of Mormon to some elk or lizards!