Mormon Congregations are called "Wards". Each ward is a geographical entity made up of about 300 members plus all the non-members who reside therein. If you live in the geographical boundaries of the ward, you are a member of that ward. You belong. Your name is known. You are needed--we are a lay ministry and everyone has a job--(more about a lay ministry later)! When you aren't there, it is noticed and you are missed. When something goes wrong in your life, you have this whole "extended family" to support you, and when things are great, they celebrate with you. It so so clearly inspired of God and a manifestation of His love for us.
There is no shopping around for favorite congregations, pastors, etc. There is no sitting in the back in complete anonymity. No ward is perfect but there is great potential in the idea of being assigned to a geographical ward family. If you move, you have a new ward family. Your church records move with you and if you don't come to church the leaders of the ward will come to you and invite you to be a part of your new ward family. Our two married daughters both recently moved out of state (Texas and California); they were immediately enfolded in the arms of their "ward family". It warms my heart as mother to know that they have "family" when their own family is far away.
A really cool way that a Ward Family takes care of each other is through "Home Teaching" and "Visiting Teaching" which is basically monthly visits to everyone to make sure all is well with each individual in the ward.
There are wards or "branches" (small wards) everywhere in the world. They are made up of different individuals but they are all organized exactly the same way and the same truths are taught throughout the world. When we travel, we love to go visit the local ward. It feels like home, even when they are speaking in a different language (ie Italian and French).
Here is a link to a great talk (speech) given by a general authority in our church about the strength that comes with being part of an LDS ward: https://lds.org/general-conference/2007/10/enduring-together?lang=eng&cid=email-shared.
Invitation: Come visit a an LDS church near you. Everyone is welcome! Find a LDS church near you at Mormon.org. (LDS Temples are different from a LDS Church--temples are closed on Sunday). I can help you find one!FYI: In order to preserve family time, we hold all of our meetings together in one block. On Sundays, we have (1) Sacrament meeting in which we take the emblems of Christ's sacrifice to remember and worship Him. We sing Hymns of praise and usually have two youth speakers, and two adults speakers prepare and share messages to about Gospel Doctrines and Principles to uplift and edify; (2) Sunday School--we split into age groups and study the scriptures together; (3) Then we split by gender for Relief Society (women), Priesthood (men and young men), and Young Women's (12-18 years olds). The children stay with their age groups for the third hour. You can come to just one meeting or all three! I love all of them!
