The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced another advancement for women: they can now serve as a local ward Sunday School president, a position previously open only to men.
Before this, women could only lead organizations for women or children. Sunday School in the LDS Church is for all adults and older kids.
The change is exciting and a little surprising to historian Jana Riess, a columnist with Religion News Service and author of “The Next Mormons.” She has heard of bishops recently calling women to be in a ward’s Sunday School presidency, but this is the first time it’s getting the universal green light. It hasn’t necessarily been forbidden in policy, she said, but rather in practice.
“This important change gives bishoprics additional options as they prayerfully consider who should lead the effort of teaching and learning in their wards,” said Sunday School General President Paul V. Johnson in a press release. “There are many capable women and men who can help strengthen gospel instruction and foster spiritual growth.”
If a woman is president, her counselors must be women as well. A male president must also have male counselors. The church did not cite a reason for this policy, but it does discourage married women and men from being alone together with someone who isn’t their spouse. Still, Riess called the change a “big step forward.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Ciara Hulet: What will the change mean to women in the church?
Jana Riess: Well, I will say I don't know how long it will take for this to roll out in practice. I think there may be a lag between the policy and its implementation at the local level, but let's just assume, for purposes of argument, that it's embraced wholeheartedly everywhere, and suddenly we see thousands of women being called as Sunday School president.
It is a calling that is largely behind the scenes. Many people who serve in this calling do so, where they're in communication with the bishop, and they're in communication maybe with the members of ward council, but to ordinary members of the ward, it's not a calling that has you up on the stand, highly visible to everyone in the congregation. You're kind of serving a little bit quietly. It's just a quiet kind of calling. So I see this as a bit of a test balloon for the church. It's not necessarily going to ruffle the feathers that it might among conservative members who would object to more visible female leadership.
CH: Only men are allowed to hold the church’s priesthood, an authority to act in the name of God. Women can't hold most top callings because they require the priesthood. So what's different here?
JR: You know, in 2014, Neylon McBain wrote a wonderful book called Women at Church, in which she said, look, there are actually a lot of callings in practice in the church that do not require the priesthood, or should not require the priesthood because they're not dealing with specific priesthood functions like blessing the sacrament or giving a blessing for healing. These are things like being the ward clerk, and counting money, and dealing with membership records, and also leading classes and leading Sunday School. So this is something that she suggested back in 2014 and received some flak for suggesting, I would point out.
I would say this is going to happen more and more, and practically, especially in areas where the church is struggling or not growing. This is great, because it opens up these callings to more potential people. And if you do have callings that do require the priesthood, for example, Elders Quorum president or something, you no longer have this tiny pool of people from which to draw. And you know, I speak as someone who has lived outside of Utah my whole life, and we don't have an abundance of people to fill every calling where I am, an abundance of priesthood holders in particular. So something like this can really help a local ward or branch that may be a little smaller.
CH: Why do you think the church is making this change now?
JR: Well, I think Dallin Oaks has demonstrated a certain pragmatic flexibility about women and about service. He's an interesting leader in that he holds very conservative views in many cases, but is also pragmatic. He has been the prophet and president since the fall, so he's still in his first six months as president of the church, and he's made a couple of changes, and I'm sure there are more on the way. But some very interesting possibilities exist, and there are many callings that women could hold in the church that are not bound to priesthood, and I would expect that we're going to see more opportunities along those lines in the years to come.
