It's NOT the Old Lady Club!

Today in church a Sister asked Shelbylyn and another Sister who had also just graduated from high school, how they liked coming to the OLD LADY CLUB?  I think that this woman and others I know who I attend church with who do a disservice to the young adult women who attend.  When women turn 18 and graduate from high school, they begin attending Relief Society. Relief Society is the oldest women's organization in the world.  I joined the church 19 years ago, when I was just 19 years old.  I have had various callings, but for all but six of the past 19 years I have had callings in Relief Society or a calling that allowed me the privilege to attend Relief Society each week.  Guess what, I'm not an old lady!  Then or now.  So what is this disservice this other sister is doing?  She is putting a negative connotation out there that you must be OLD to attend Relief Society.  When I look around our Relief Society room I find that old is not a word that can be used to describe the sisters in my favorite  "club".  I see lots of young moms, with sweet babies and toddlers, I see newlyweds, I see Sisters with beautiful tummies growing new babies, I also see Sisters who have teenagers and young adults serving missions, Sisters who are loving grandmothers.  It is a wonderful place to be, not one that should be looked down upon.

Attending Relief Society and being with my Sisters, is a pleasure.  It's a great "club", and I want my daughter to learn to love it as much as I do.  So all you negative nelly's out there, keep your opinions to yourself!


Here is some history of the Relief Society.

On Thursday March 17, 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The Relief Society would be the woman's organization of the Church.  Joseph's wife Emma was appointed as the first president of the Relief Society, she was 38, also not an old lady.

As the sisters held meetings the Prophet Joseph would instruct them on the things that they should do to help themselves and others.  The following is from a book entitled Daughters in My Kingdom.  It is a wonderful book and if you would like a copy just ask, I'll get you one.

Joseph Smith’s Instructions

The Prophet Joseph Smith instructed Relief Society sisters.

Detail from Come Let Us Rejoice, by Walter Rane. Courtesy Church History Museum.

In the first meeting of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Sister Eliza R. Snow was appointed to be the secretary of the organization. In that capacity, she took careful and detailed notes, which were called minutes, at each Relief Society meeting she attended. Joseph Smith told the sisters that these minutes would become the “constitution and law” of the society.¹⁷

In most Relief Society meetings, the sisters devoted time to receiving instruction. The sisters were blessed to be taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith in six of their meetings. As he taught, they felt rich outpourings of the Spirit. At the end of one of these meetings, Sister Snow recorded, “The Spirit of the Lord was poured out in a very powerful manner, never to be forgotten by those present on that interesting occasion.”¹⁸

Of all the minutes Sister Snow recorded, her notes of the Prophet’s discourses were the most influential. The Prophet’s teachings in this setting guided the work of the Relief Society sisters and the priesthood leaders who served with them. Those teachings continue to influence the work of the Church today.

Joseph Smith taught principles that helped Relief Society sisters “relieve the poor” and “save souls”—foundational principles upon which the society was built.¹⁹ Established on this foundation, Relief Society has endured and increased in its influence. Since the early meetings of Relief Society, sisters have applied the Prophet’s teachings in their efforts to increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek out and help those in need.

Increase Faith and Personal Righteousness

“The future of the [Relief] Society is full of promise. As the Church grows, its field of usefulness will be correspondingly enlarged, and it will be even more potent for good than it has been in the past. If all the sisters will rally to the support of the society, it will accomplish a mighty work and be a continued blessing unto the Church.”

Lorenzo Snow

Deseret Evening News,July 9, 1901, 1

Joseph Smith taught sisters that they had a solemn obligation to seek their own salvation. He said, “We can only live by worshipping our God—all must do it for themselves—none can do it for another.”²⁰ He taught them to be righteous individuals, to become a holy people, and to prepare for temple ordinances and covenants. He encouraged them to be at peace with the Lord, with those around them, and with themselves: “Sisters … , shall there be strife among you? I will not have it—you must repent and get the love of God.”²¹“Not war, not jangle, not contradiction, but meekness, love, purity, these are the things that should magnify us.”²²

In one Relief Society meeting, the Prophet Joseph discussed chapter 12 of the book of 1 Corinthians, emphasizing that each sister, fulfilling her own role, was important to the entire Church. He gave “instructions respecting the different offices [in the Church], and the necessity of every individual acting in the sphere allotted him or her; and filling the several offices to which they were appointed.” He also warned against the disposition to “consider the lower offices in the Church dishonorable and to look with jealous eyes upon the standing of others.” This, he said, “was the nonsense of the human heart, for a person to be aspiring to other stations than appointed of God.”²³Through such teachings, he helped the sisters walk “in holiness before the Lord.”²⁴

“If we would come before God,” Joseph Smith told the Relief Society sisters, “let us be pure ourselves.”²⁵

Strengthen Families and Homes

“Bring up your children in light and truth” (D&C 93:40).

Statue titled In Her Mother’s Footsteps by Dennis Smith.

Although the early Relief Society sisters were involved in their community and ready to serve their neighbors, they never lost sight of their responsibilities toward their own families and homes. They were true to their innate gifts as mothers and nurturers. They were also true to revelations the Lord had given through Joseph Smith about family responsibilities:

“The office of thy calling shall be for a comfort unto … thy husband, in his afflictions, with consoling words, in the spirit of meekness.”²⁶

“Inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.

“For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized.

“And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.

“And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.”²⁷

“I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth. …

“… First set in order thy house. …

“What I say unto one I say unto all. …

“… See that [family members] are more diligent and concerned at home, and pray always.”²⁸