Sometimes, a closed window can become an opened door. That’s the opportunity now for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding the visibility of its women’s leaders in the wake of a recent directive to some wards and stakes to stop inviting Relief Society presidents and other female leaders to sit on the stand in Sunday meetings. The directive has prompted considerable discussion about women’s leadership in the church, including an open letter to church leaders with more than 2,000 signatures urging that the women be invited back to the stand.

I believe that women leaders should sit on the stand for the same reasons men leaders do. I learned the value of sitting on the stand in my nearly 17 years of doing so while serving as a bishop for more than five years and then as a counselor in the stake presidency. We were trained that sitting on the stand (even when we weren’t conducting the meeting or speaking) was important to serving effectively. Sitting on the stand meant we could easily see who came that day and who didn’t, who was new, who was visiting, who was sitting alone. We were told to be open to inspiration as we looked out into the congregation, that we might see in someone’s face a need we could help address. I remember often jotting notes to myself as I sat there about whom I needed to talk to when the meeting ended.

Read more at: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2023/12/19/opinion-former-bishop-i-support/