In chapter 3, Moroni provides the instructions and words for ordination to the priesthood. Jesus told the disciples who were soon “called the elders of the church” (3:1) that they should first “call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer” (2:2) and then “after they had prayed unto the Father” (3:2), they should place their hands on the heads of the persons being ordained and ordain them. This manner of conducting ordinations can certainly remind us of the importance of preparing prayerfully before performing any priesthood ordinance or service unto the Lord.
The main charge that was then given to the priests and teachers was that they should ”preach repentance and remission of sins through Jesus Christ, by the endurance of faith on his name to the end” (3:3).
Note that the giving of the authority to give the gift of the Holy Ghost, the actual giving of the Holy Ghost, and the ordination of priests and teachers, all required the laying on of hands. This is reminiscent of Moses laying hands upon Joshua: “And Moses did as the Lord commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses” (Numbers 27:23).
In Deuteronomy 34:9, we read of the effect that this had on Joshua; “And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him.” This was also the common practice of early Christians, especially in the New Testament. See Guide to the Scriptures, “Hands, Laying on of.”
John W. Welch, “From Presence to Practice: Jesus, the Sacrament Prayers, the Priesthood, and Church Discipline in 3 Nephi 18 and Moroni 2–6,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5, no. 1 (1996): 119–139.