There are five steps you can take to improve the results of the Home Teaching within your quorum. Keep in mind when applying these five steps that, typically, as soon as the number of families assigned to a companionship reaches more than four, the Home Teaching rate of that companionship is lowered.

• One-third of all Home Teaching familes are the “bullet-proof” families - stalwart members of the Church. An other third are those who never come to Church and are not at all active in their membership. The other third are members who fit somewhere in beween. To the “bullet-proof”, assign the less-diligent Home Teachers, or a combination of less-diligent and more-diligent. Be sure the families are aware that they may need to contact the Home Teachers at first to make the visits. To the “semi-active”, assign the very best of you Home Teachers. These families are the easiest to reach - the lowest hanging fruit on the tree, if you will. To the final third, use the missionaries (both full-time and stake, or a combination of both). They will get in the door much more effectively than other members will. Remember, at the Bishop’s approval, there is always the opportunity to assign husband/wife companionships, and this arrangement may be the best in certain situations.
• Twenty percent of the North American population moves. Plan for move-ins by having “slots” available in certain companionships. Simply insert the new family into the “slot” of one of the companionships.
• Constantly, constantly follow-up.
• Never set goals lower than 100% Home Teaching (i.e. “This month, brethren, we have set a goal to go from 60% HT to 80% HT.”) Any goal less than 100% will never be met. If you want to raise your Home Teaching Rate to 80%, set the goal at 100%, and you will be more likely to reach the target rate.
• In addition to the First Presidency Message, assign 12 monthly messages from local leaders. For example, four months of the years, a message from the Stake Presidency; an other four months, a message from the Bishopric, and; the other four months, a message from quorum/group leaders.

Adapted by a talk given by Elder Lynn Rosenvall, Fifth Quorum of the Seventy, Priesthood Leadership Session, Lethbridge Alberta West Stake Conference, 22nd April 2000

Posted by John in Home Teaching, HT-Leader Resources