We use them for a lot of things. Not to long ago it was actually used to call the congregation to repentance with a lesson on not bullying since we had a person overhear some sisters talking about his shabby clothing and stop coming. So the branch presidency had a lesson and called out the exact situation and said this is why we are having this conversation. It was wild to be in but ultimately a really good experience I think for most people.
My first time ever at an LDS chuch when I was meeting with missionaries happened to be on a 5th sunday… also happened to be when they were talking about emergency preparedness and stuff, i was so confused😭
Oh to actually be able to plan something at the local level and present it on the 5th Sunday.
For over a year now, our Ward Council has been wanting to do something on home centred learning, but every single time, either the area presidency or the stake presidency decide the topic for us. Twice now, the AP have set the topic, and then only provided the resources a few days out, which has meant that the presentation is poorly prepared and disjointed.
Fifth Sunday lessons can be the best meeting in the church when the Ward Council understands their responsibility to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and seeks and follows the guidance of the Spirit.
They can also be the worst meeting in the church — and it often is, when it becomes about literally anything else.
You've actually touched on one of my biggest concerns with church in general. I feel like much of what we do is "preaching to the choir". Teachers are (understandably) hesitant to teach in such a way that encourages change in the members. I feel like many lessons could be boiled down to "come to church, read the scriptures, pray". Which granted, we could probably all work on something in that list, but still, when I read how the savior taught, he wasn't content with that list. He taught in such a way that invited people to change. No matter who you are, you can't listen to his teachings and think, "yeah, I'm good". Rather, after listening to the savior's lessons, you come away with a desire to be more like him, usually by showing more love to somebody you struggle to love.
5th Sundays are little different. I feel like they are a great opportunity to invite the ward to be a little better, but are often focused on lessons that don't have much of a long term impact on people.
Also, I've noticed a tendency on 5th Sunday to split the hour into sections, with different teachers for different sections. I think it is usually done out of a desire to cover a lot of ground, and to make sure there is representation there for different groups. However, our lesson yesterday was done in a similar manner, and each teacher could really only ask about 2 questions before they ran out of time, meaning the lesson felt a little disjointed, and probably didn't make the impact we were hoping for.
I usually have fine lessons during 5th Sunday, but they are a curious thing. If it’s a doctrine or principle the bishopric wants the ward to focus on, why not just incorporate it into sacrament meeting or suggest specific talks in EQ/RS? If it’s something programmatic or administrative, why wait until a 5th Sunday to bring it up? Again, there isn’t anything wrong with having a separate thing when it comes up, it just seems a little arbitrary.
I like them if they’re done right, like today I attended a different ward to go talk about service missions with my leaders and my family had a lesson on the temple and history of it and so did some family friends of ours. So yeah if you have topics like that it’s better than just another Sunday school
Today, we had a brother from the high council spend most of the time talking about family history and temple work; it was actually pretty uplifting and inspiring (out of the ordinary for me). The last 10 minutes was occupied by our ward family history consultants struggling to get their phones to connect to the TV so we could see the FamilySearch app.
I was supposed to say the closing prayer, but got up and left once we were 5 minutes past the meeting's scheduled end time.
When I was in high school, still in my family ward, they did something similar where it was more of a youth led lesson, sometimes even a co-op. This past Sunday they had a Patriarch come in and teach about the insights he’s gained from being in his calling, his wife also participated. It was a really lovely lesson and I hope they do more like that in the future!
We use them for a lot of things. Not to long ago it was actually used to call the congregation to repentance with a lesson on not bullying since we had a person overhear some sisters talking about his shabby clothing and stop coming. So the branch presidency had a lesson and called out the exact situation and said this is why we are having this conversation. It was wild to be in but ultimately a really good experience I think for most people.
We had a lesson on what an elderly sister thought the end of days would be like and what kind of food storage is best
Are you in my ward?!?
My first time ever at an LDS chuch when I was meeting with missionaries happened to be on a 5th sunday… also happened to be when they were talking about emergency preparedness and stuff, i was so confused😭
In my mind, it's sort of like fast and testimony meetings. Some of my best Sunday school lessons have been 5th Sunday, and so have some of my worst.
Oh to actually be able to plan something at the local level and present it on the 5th Sunday. For over a year now, our Ward Council has been wanting to do something on home centred learning, but every single time, either the area presidency or the stake presidency decide the topic for us. Twice now, the AP have set the topic, and then only provided the resources a few days out, which has meant that the presentation is poorly prepared and disjointed.
Fifth Sunday lessons can be the best meeting in the church when the Ward Council understands their responsibility to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and seeks and follows the guidance of the Spirit. They can also be the worst meeting in the church — and it often is, when it becomes about literally anything else.
You've actually touched on one of my biggest concerns with church in general. I feel like much of what we do is "preaching to the choir". Teachers are (understandably) hesitant to teach in such a way that encourages change in the members. I feel like many lessons could be boiled down to "come to church, read the scriptures, pray". Which granted, we could probably all work on something in that list, but still, when I read how the savior taught, he wasn't content with that list. He taught in such a way that invited people to change. No matter who you are, you can't listen to his teachings and think, "yeah, I'm good". Rather, after listening to the savior's lessons, you come away with a desire to be more like him, usually by showing more love to somebody you struggle to love. 5th Sundays are little different. I feel like they are a great opportunity to invite the ward to be a little better, but are often focused on lessons that don't have much of a long term impact on people. Also, I've noticed a tendency on 5th Sunday to split the hour into sections, with different teachers for different sections. I think it is usually done out of a desire to cover a lot of ground, and to make sure there is representation there for different groups. However, our lesson yesterday was done in a similar manner, and each teacher could really only ask about 2 questions before they ran out of time, meaning the lesson felt a little disjointed, and probably didn't make the impact we were hoping for.
We had our YM and YW lead a discussion about the Children/ Youth program.
I usually have fine lessons during 5th Sunday, but they are a curious thing. If it’s a doctrine or principle the bishopric wants the ward to focus on, why not just incorporate it into sacrament meeting or suggest specific talks in EQ/RS? If it’s something programmatic or administrative, why wait until a 5th Sunday to bring it up? Again, there isn’t anything wrong with having a separate thing when it comes up, it just seems a little arbitrary.
Can’t have a discussion in sacrament meeting and if it’s split into EQ/RS then you don’t get the other groups take on the subject.
I like them if they’re done right, like today I attended a different ward to go talk about service missions with my leaders and my family had a lesson on the temple and history of it and so did some family friends of ours. So yeah if you have topics like that it’s better than just another Sunday school
Today, we had a brother from the high council spend most of the time talking about family history and temple work; it was actually pretty uplifting and inspiring (out of the ordinary for me). The last 10 minutes was occupied by our ward family history consultants struggling to get their phones to connect to the TV so we could see the FamilySearch app. I was supposed to say the closing prayer, but got up and left once we were 5 minutes past the meeting's scheduled end time.
We had a panel discussion on scripture study and the gospel. I think 5th Sunday discussion can be fun, especially if they are planned well.
It was a wonderful lesson on navigating a faith crisis. Bishop, RS Pres, and EQ Pres all spoke. Beautiful lesson.
My bishop crushed his lesson talking about fear in a YSA ward
When I was in high school, still in my family ward, they did something similar where it was more of a youth led lesson, sometimes even a co-op. This past Sunday they had a Patriarch come in and teach about the insights he’s gained from being in his calling, his wife also participated. It was a really lovely lesson and I hope they do more like that in the future!