Fulfilling the Purpose of Relief Society

We have sought inspiration from the Lord to know how to assist the priesthood in building up the kingdom of God on the earth.

Through Relief Society, women have an official role in the Church with great responsibilities, “including working in the temple and teaching the gospel.” Further, Relief Society is to help women “plant and make grow . . . a testimony of [Jesus] Christ and of the Gospel,” “strengthen the family and the home,” and “attend to all family duties.” It has responsibility to take care of the “necessities of the poor, the sick and the needy,” but President Joseph F. Smith said that the larger part of its work is “to look after the spiritual welfare [and salvation] . . . of all the female members of the Church.”

To summarize, the purpose of Relief Society, as established by the Lord, is to organize, teach, and inspire His daughters to prepare them for the blessings of eternal life. I would like to say that again. The purpose of Relief Society, as established by the Lord, is to organize, teach, and inspire His daughters to prepare them for the blessings of eternal life.

the Lord has commissioned each Relief Society sister and the organization as a whole to:

1. Increase in faith and personal righteousness.
• Early pioneer women did it because the fire of their faith burned in their souls. These remarkable women were not seeking fine clothing, greater leisure, large earthly mansions, or more possessions. Like you, they had a conviction and a testimony that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was true and that the Lord needed them to do their part in establishing His kingdom on the earth.
2. Strengthen families and homes.
• Children being born now are growing up in an increasingly sinful world. Our homes are to be their refuge from the daily encounters they have with evil.
3. Serve the Lord and His children.
• President Boyd K. Packer taught us that “just as [the service of many brethren in the Aaronic Priesthood] strengthens the Higher Priesthood, . . . to unselfishly render this service [in Young Women and Primary] is to show devotion to Relief Society.”17 When we serve in another auxiliary, we are not released from the sisterhood of Relief Society.
• We simply cannot afford to squander your youthful and energetic power by suggesting you sit by, watching older and more experienced women do all of the planning, organizing, and work of Relief Society.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught us that receiving revelation for our calling and in our personal lives “requires serious mental effort on our part. . . . Revelation is not a matter of pushing buttons, but of pushing ourselves, often aided by fasting, scripture study, and personal pondering.

“Most of all, revelation requires us to have a sufficient degree of personal righteousness, so that on occasion revelation may come to the righteous, unsolicited.” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Revelation,” First Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 11, 2003, 5)

President Spencer W. Kimball stated a number of years ago that “there is a power in this organization that has not yet been fully exercised to strengthen the homes of Zion and build the Kingdom of God – nor will it until both the sisters and the priesthood catch the vision of Relief Society.”21 Relief Society was established by the Lord to organize, teach, and inspire His daughters to prepare for the blessings of eternal life.