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ANNVER - So According to my mates they say Priesthood Keys within the LDS church is to direct control and govern? My question is then ie, if a Bishop receives keys to do those 3 things as mentioned above? can he then do whatever he thinks is right like give the priesthood to women? allow women to conduct certain meetings like sacrament, baptisms? etc.

1 can he allow all males to meet and all females to meet instead of separating into age classes?
2 can he allow Sunday 3 hour meetings to be reduced to one hour meetings each Sundays?
3 can a bishop with the power of his keys change whatever he wants to change within his jurisdiction of his ward area? if not what is the use of his keys?
4 what exactly can a bishop do with his keys if he cannot do whatever he feels necessary is to help his ward?
Please if you can help me with this very confusing topic along with scriptures or other written material will be a tremendous benefit also.

JOEL - A Bishop has the keys to direct, govern, and control the activities that go on within the ward he has stewardship over, but only as he follows the council of those over him who have the keys to direct and govern what he does. He cannot use his keys to change or make new church policy, like some of your suggestions; that can only come from the presidency of the church who has the keys to do such.

Handbooks and training are provided to all Bishops to help them know what they should do under most circumstances and what they can decide to do on their own as they are so inspired. If they are not certain what they should do they can cousult with church leaders above them.

A Bishop can't allow women to conduct or perform priesthood meetings or ordinances, but under special circumstance they can do things like adjust meetings according to the size of the ward or branch; combining some classes that don't have enough students or members to teach them. He can cancel some meetings if an emergency arises and organize and oversee responses to such emergencies. Most unusual things like this would be under the direction and approval of the stake president.

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