Request of RS and EQ presidencies to teach about ministering in their 2nd-hour meeting

12 July 2019

TO: Relief Society and Elders Quorum Presidencies

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The book of Acts that we’re currently studying in the Come, Follow Me curriculum offers wonderful insights and guidance into living the gospel today.

One story in this week’s reading can help (1) keep ministering in the forefront of our discipleship and (2) continue to focus us on home-centered gospel learning.

It’s the story of Philip teaching the Ethiopian eunuch found in Acts 8:26-40.

Will you please consider using this incident to conduct a brief (8-10 minutes) discussion about ministering in your Relief Society or Elders Quorum meeting during the second hour this Sunday, July 14? The outline below may help. This is not to replace your study of a General Conference talk, but simply to provide a brief supplement to your instruction to emphasize the importance of ministering.

Thank you for giving this your consideration.

The Stake Presidency

True Ministering: Phillip and the Eunuch

• See the Bible Dictionary to learn more about Philip and what is a eunuch.
• Read together: Acts 8:26-40

Discuss:

• How are we, as ministers, sometimes sent to a “desert” place?
• Is Philip directed by a prompting or by an assignment? How does he respond?
• What are evidences that the Lord had already been preparing for Philip’s visit?
• Why is it significant that Philip was sent to a eunuch, one who is consigned to a very lonely life—no spouse, no posterity, denied access to the temple (see Deut. 23:1) so he has no “faith family”?
• What does the phrase “they went on their way” in verse 36 tell us about Philip’s ministering?
• What other insights about ministering do you see in this story?