Partnership in Councils

                Women and priesthood holders work together to build the kingdom of God.  They form a partnership in which men and women are both essential to helping Heavenly Father bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all mankind.  Priesthood holders and women meet together under the direction of those who hold priesthood keys and decide how to bless the lives of God’s children in their stewardship.  Men and women work together in councils on many levels including general, stake, ward, and family.

                “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World” describes some ways that husbands and wives work together as equal partners in caring for their families.  “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children….  Husbands and wives – mothers and fathers – will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

                “The family is ordained of God.  Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan.  Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.  Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.  By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.  Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.  In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.  Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation.  Extended families should lend support when needed.”

                Priesthood holders meet in quorums to learn their duties while sisters meet together in Relief Society to learn their duties; both learn how to strengthen homes and families, a fundamental purpose of the priesthood.  Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated:  “Priesthood authority has been restored so that families can be sealed eternally.”  Elder Richard G. Scott also of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “The family and the home are the foundation of the righteous life.  The priesthood is the power and the priesthood line is the means provided by the Lord to support the family.”  “Relief Society assists in this work by helping women and their families live the gospel in such a way that they can receive promised blessings of the priesthood.”