How the Structure of the Mormon Church Enables it to Give Help Quickly

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is structured uniquely following the pattern of Christ’s ancient Church.  This structure enables the Church to quickly assess needs at the time of emergencies or disasters, and to quickly provide aid.  Here are some insights into how that works.

Like the ancient church, the Mormon Church has a lay clergy.  Remember that Christ called His apostles not from the body of priests or scribes of the day, but He called them from their walks of life to serve the Church.  They were fishermen, even tax collectors.  When the early church grew to the point that it was too large for the ministrations of the Twelve, seventy men were called to assist them.  The New Testament cites many lay members who gave service unselfishly to the Church.  Members nurtured and kept track of each other.  Revelation through the Holy Ghost to the highest leaders, and personal revelation through the Holy Ghost to lay members, helped them to minister for the good of all.  This is how the Mormon Church works today.  The structure holds all over the world, so every Latter-day Saint knows how to organize for the good of his neighbor and his area.

On the most personal level, there are what is known as “home teachers” and “visiting teachers.”  Home teachers are a pair of men who hold priesthood power in the Church (as most men do).  They are assigned two or three families to watch over.  Once a month, the men visit the families, give them a spiritual message, and assess their needs.  Should an emergency occur in a family, the home teachers are their first point of contact for help.  Visiting Teachers are a pair of women affiliated with the relief society, or women’s auxiliary.  Like the home teachers do for entire families, they visit and care for the women in the ward or branch.  A ward is a congregation organized from a neighborhood area.  Branches are organized when there are not enough local Latter-day Saints to form a ward.  A branch is run by a lay member called as a Branch President.  He calls two counselors to help him.  A ward is run by a bishop and his two counselors.   A group of wards is managed as a stake by a stake president and two counselors.  All of the auxiliaries for youth, children, priesthood holders, and women also have leaders.

In an emergency, a bishop can assess the needs and welfare of the members in his ward by having the home teachers and visiting teachers check on the families they are responsible for.  When the bishop has a full report, he passes it on to his stake president.  The stake president can then assess the needs of the members in the stake and pass on the report to the area presidency.  The area presidency can then pass on the report to the central leadership of the Church.  The mission president can also mobilize the missionaries in the area after local needs have been assessed.

Church members are trained to be self-sufficient and to lay aside stores of food, water, clothing, tools, and fuel as they are able.  Thus, they are usually better prepared for emergencies than their non-member neighbors.  They assess the needs in their neighborhoods among their neighbors who are not Mormons, and report on these needs to their home teachers and visiting teachers, who can relay the report to the bishops.  Once the information is relayed to the central leadership of the Church, action can be taken, and help is given from the top down.  Because everyone knows his responsibility, aid is organized and delivered where it needs to go very quickly.

An example is the aid given after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Local Mormon leaders played a critical role in getting relief to their congregations and their neighbors.

“Immediate help was sent by the church to members and non-members and was distributed under the direction of the local priesthood and Relief Society leaders,” said Elder Francisco Viñas, the church area president based in Santo Domingo. “They not only received medical aid, food, water and other basic supplies, but they also received counsel, guidance and comfort from their local leaders.”

“After the earthquake I got all the bishops together for a meeting. I knew that we needed to organize the local priesthood leaders and work together,” said Prosner Colin, president of the Port-au-Prince Haiti Stake, one of the two stakes in Haiti.   “The nine chapels in and around Port-au-Prince were mostly undamaged — another remarkable miracle,” said Elder Wilford W. Andersen at the recently concluded 180th Annual General Conference of the Church. “During the weeks that followed the earthquake, they became shelters for over 5,000 Haitians and bases from which food, water, and medical attention were distributed. Basic needs were met, and order began to emerge out of chaos.”

“We let the members know that even if the situation is difficult…we (as leaders) need to go out and help them,” said Colin. “We taught our members about self-reliance. We let them understand that because we are alive we have to take care of ourselves. We need to continue to work to bring food for our families and for others.”

In response to the Haitian requests, “Emergency response supplies, including water, water purification supplies, food, tents and tarps were shipped by air from the United States,” explained Reese. “Other needed items were already on the ground in the Dominican Republic.”

Relief supplies were delivered to a rented Haitian warehouse, a facility made available by a local contractor who had done previous construction work for the church. The contractor also provided trucks and vans to help distribute the essential supplies. Teams of priesthood leaders assisted in the distribution of the supplies.

Getting back to work is a significant part of the recovery process now, explained Ferron Squires, director of Agricultural Production Services for the church. “An employment specialist, Noel Mackenson, organized an office in the Centrale (meetinghouse) in Port-au-Prince,” Squires said. “He works with bishops and other church leaders to get names of people seeking work opportunities and is able to pair the job applicants with positions primarily in the United Nations-sponsored “cash-for-work” program. Other support groups such as Catholic Relief Services and MercyCore hire workers at a basic wage, enabling them to earn some income to support their families.”