Ward Family History Consultants: Support, Training, & Duties

Introduction

In a single year, a ward family history consultant can guide scores of members and hundreds of their dead to the temple. To reach this potential, though, ward family history consultants rely on training and support which comes from high priests group leaders, stake family history consultants, and the stake high councilman. This article details the support, training, and training materials needed to help the ward consultant guide members to the temple.

The quotations used in this article are official. They come from "Temple and Family History Work," Book 2, Section 9 of Church Handbook of Instructions, (Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 1998), Publication 35709, pp. 266, 269 and 270.

Prerequisites, the Call, the Supervisor, & the Trainers

According to the Church Handbook, a prospective ward consultant should be a "skilled teacher who works and communicates well with members." Because the consultant plays a vital role in motivating members to do temple work for their families, he or she must maintain temple worthiness. The achievement of these prerequisites enables "one or more" consultants to be called and set apart by the bishop or an assigned counselor.

The ward family history consultant’s supervisor is the high priests group leader, who also provides "instruction and assistance." The ward consultant’s job is vital enough to merit instruction and assistance from two other individuals – the stake family history consultant and the high council advisor. This redundancy of support and training seems designed to ensure the anxious engagement of the ward consultant.

Responsibilities

Ward consultants do a variety of tasks. The Church Handbook instructs them to....

• "Study A Member's Guide to Temple and Family History Work."
• "Become knowledgeable in temple and family history work."
• Learn how to use family history computer programs.
• "Meet with members in their homes."
• Teach a Sunday school class when assigned by the bishop.
• "Help members identify ancestors for whom information is readily available."
• "Help members...provide temple ordinances for...three to five generations" of their ancestors "as a beginning." This is the ward consultant's "main responsibility."
• "Teach by example.... Identify [your] own ancestors and provide temple ordinances for them. This will help them understand the needs of others."
• "Share success experiences."
• Direct members to the local Family History Center for advanced training.

Where to Get Training

Family history consultants obtain basic training from three sources. The first is A Member's Guide to Temple and Family History Work (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1993), publication 34697. This guide serves as the curriculum for Sunday School classes.

The second source of a ward consultant’s training is the local Family History Center. A Family History Center is a branch of the Family History Library. Members can visit these centers to obtain genealogical training, organize their records, search computer databases, submit names for temple ordinances, and view millions of microfilmed records available from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

The main source of a ward consultant’s training is the stake family history consultant. The stake consultant’s main duty is to train the ward consultants.

Advanced Training

Many ward consultants like to go beyond the minimal curriculum found in A Member's Guide to Temple and Family History Work. Rather than merely introducing members to their temple and family history duties, these consultants help members by teaching them how to do genealogy research. The best manuals to use for such training are detailed below:

• A Guide to Research, 3rd ed., (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1994), publication 30971. An excellent guide introducing readers to the research process, basic genealogy forms, various record types, the Family History Library, and Family History Centers. Includes a chart which allows beginners to select record types based on the information they seek.
• Research Guidance, at www.familysearch.org (Salt Lake City: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2000). A wonderful tool allowing beginners with no genealogical experience to identify specific records which will help them learn about their ancestors. Users select a state, a time period, and a record type (birth, marriage, or death), and Research Guidance lists the appropriate records to search. These records are available at the Family History Library and at 3,000 Family History Centers worldwide.
• Research Outlines are published by the church for each U.S. state, each Canadian province, and many nations. They are also available for certain record types (like U.S. military records) or groups of people (like immigrants). They introduce each type of record available for a locality and list the most valuable records under each type. For instance, one section of the New York Research Outline introduces census records, explaining their content and availability. It then lists the most valuable census records for the state, helping the user locate them in the Family History Library, Family History Centers, or other repositories.
• A Resource Guide explains how to use a single record source. For example, a Resource Guide may teach how to use one of the Church's FamilySearch genealogy databases, how to use the AIS census index, the Parish and Vital Records List, the Periodical Source Index on microfiche, the Early [LDS] Church Information File, or other records.

In addition to these fine manuals, another resource exists to train ward consultants. LDS-WARD-CONSULTANT is an Internet e-mail list where consultants can post questions, and share ideas on how to gain support and motivate members in temple and family history work. This e-mail list is not run by the church. To subscribe to this mail list, simply send an e-mail message to lds-ward-consultant-d-request@rootsweb.com which contains the word "subscribe" in the subject line and the message body.

Where to Order Manuals

There are three good sources for training manuals. Those with Internet access can simply visit the church's family history Website at www.familysearch.org. Some manuals appear within Research Guidance. However, if you want paper copies for use in members' homes or in Sunday School, click on the link titled "Order Family History Resources."

The most commonly-used method of obtaining manuals is to call the Church Distribution Center. Members can reach the Distribution Center at 800-537-5950 (U.S.), 240-5274 (Salt Lake City area, or (800) 453-3860 ext. 2031 (Canada).

Many genealogy manuals are also found at the Family History Library and at local Family History Centers. Members worldwide can locate their nearest Family History Center by visiting www.familysearch.org. Our stake’s Family History Center is the Family History Library, which is located on West Temple across the street from Temple Square.

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