Leadership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church) follows a similar pattern. God calls prophets to lead the people spiritually, and the prophets, under God’s inspiration, share that responsibility with others in a hierarchy of leadership. The prophet (or President) holds responsibility for the entire church, and he assigns General Authorities to help direct the affairs of the Church. General Authorities are often assigned to a specific geographical region of the world and appoint additional leaders in smaller geographical areas called stakes. Each stake is led by a stake president, who aims to increase the Church’s influence in that part of the world (see Isaiah 54:2). To enable more sharing of leadership responsibilities, each stake is broken down into smaller areas called wards. The stake president appoints a bishop (1 Timothy 3:1-7) to lead each ward, and in turn the bishop appoints other local Church members to share in his responsibilities. On a regular basis, the bishop reports to the stake president, who in turn reports to the General Authorities, who then report to the prophet, ensuring that the Church is operating as it should and that local Church members’ needs are being met.

The General Authorities hold various titles, depending on their responsibilities, including Apostle (Luke 6:13; Luke 11:49; Acts 2:43; Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 12:28), Seventy (Exodus 24:9; Numbers 11:16; Luke 10:1; Luke 10:17), Presiding Bishop, General Relief Society President, General Sunday School President, and others. These leaders often serve in a full-time capacity so that, where possible, they can travel often to meet with Church members throughout the world to counsel, support, teach, and pray.

In a ward, the bishop plays a very important role. Primarily, his duty is to help with the spiritual and physical well-being of Church members in that local area. To aid him in fulfilling this duty, the bishop appoints two counselors (assistants), who together are called the bishopric. The bishopric also appoint other men and women to lead specific groups of people within the ward. For example, leaders are appointed to coordinate efforts of men who hold the various offices of the Priesthood. A woman (along with counselors) leads the women’s group in the ward called the Relief Society, which has the goal to increase faith, strengthen families, and serve (more here). Others lead the Young Women, Young Men (ages 12-18) or the Primary children (ages 1-11), helping them develop spiritually, mentally, and socially. Others are in charge of organizing “ward activities,” which are recreational events designed for fun, service, and to build camaraderie. Yet others coordinate Sunday School meetings. (These are just a few examples.) With everybody fulfilling specific responsibilities, the bishop’s leadership burden is lessened greatly. Also importantly, the various leaders have opportunities to learn and serve.

Church leaders are not compensated financially for their time and often spend long, dedicated hours each week. Most do this enthusiastically, in addition to their responsibilities at home, at work, and in the community. In fact, if you know a practicing Mormon, chances are that they currently hold (or have held) some kind of leadership responsibility in the Church.

Below are a few miscellaneous tidbits about leadership in the Church:

• Each leadership responsibility is described as a calling, meaning a person is called by God to do it.
• When a calling needs to be issued, leaders higher in the hierarchy seek inspiration from God in deciding who should have the calling.
• In most cases, a calling lasts for a few months or years, until the calling is rotated to someone else.
• Because the Church operates under the authority of the Priesthood, men and women fulfill mostly different responsibilities.
• Even though leaders do what they can to help local Church members, each person still has responsibility to be self reliant and can seek God’s direct help through prayer.
• Even though the Church is led by men on the earth, they look to Jesus as the head of the Church (Ephesians 2:20)
• Church leadership is organized in a hierarchy, but it is considered inappropriate for members to aspire to “move up” in the hierarchy, because God’s will should determine who holds each position.
• Church leadership should never be used as an excuse to act in a domineering or controlling way or used for personal advantage in any way. If a leader acts inappropriately, higher leaders have a teaching opportunity.
• Because Church leaders are human and thus prone to faults and errors, Church members should be understanding and continue to support leaders despite their weaknesses.