Helping Out Latter-day Saint Singles Includes Supporting The Widows and Widowers

“Marital status has nothing to do with one’s capacity to serve and bless the lives of others. The Lord honors those who wait upon him in patience and faith. We can do better at providing opportunities for our single members to serve.” - President M. Russell Ballard.

In recent months, the topic of Latter-day Saint single members has been discussed heavily, especially in the last General Conference with Elder Gerrit Gong saying:

"The majority of adult church members are now unmarried, widowed, or divorced. This is a significant change. It includes more than half our Relief Society sisters, and more than half our adult priesthood brothers."

With all of this being said, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been putting out content and many messages on how to include single adults in the many congregations around the world. The focus however, with a lot of the messages, has been directed towards the young single adults. One thing to remember is that single adults also include widows and widowers. In a comment made on the Church's website, one member stated:

"I think it is also important to remember the elderly singles, that is, the widows and widowers in the ward. I recently spoke with a widow who mentioned that too often she did not know who her ministers and, before that, home teachers were. She said that she felt like the church has an aversion to single sisters. That is a sad commentary. We all need to be better at reaching out to others and living what we profess to believe."

In a talk given by Earl C. Tingey of the Presidency of the Seventy, he said:

The doctrine of the Church is very clear regarding widows.

In the early Church, the leaders were chastised for neglecting their widows. “Seven men of honest report” were called to assist.

So as the Church continues to put an emphasis on helping out the single adults in our congregations, also remember the widows and the widowers who also need support and love. 

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments!