In Mormonism, a general conference is a meeting meant for instruction of all members of any particular Latter Day Saint denomination. General conferences have been a regular part of the Latter Day Saint movement, beginning on June 9, 1830, when Joseph Smith, Jr. organized the first general conference in Fayette, New York, which included a gathering of only 27 members of the two-month-old Church of Christ.

Originally, general conferences were held every three months, as provided by one of Smith's early revelations (LDS D&C 20:61). Beginning in 1832, the conferences were held less frequently, usually to conduct special church business or to respond to special church needs.

General Conferences of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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Annual and Semiannual Conferences

The General Conference is a semi-annual meeting where general authorities and other Church leaders preach sermons and give guidance to the Church. It is held on the weekends containing the first Sunday in April and the first Sunday in October. The April meeting is known as the Annual General Conference, and includes annual statistical and financial reports not included in the October meeting, which is called the Semiannual General Conference. Both conferences in a given year are identified by the number of years since the Church was founded in April 1830; thus the October 2005 meeting was the 175th Semiannual General Conference, and the April 2006 meeting was the 176th Annual General Conference.

Although the schedule varied in the past, these days each conference consists of five two-hour sessions. The conferences have been held in Salt Lake City, Utah since 1848, and in the LDS Conference Center of that city since its completion in 2000. For more than 100 years they were held in a large building known as The Tabernacle which is adjacent to the Salt Lake Temple on Temple Square. General Sessions commence at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Saturday and on Sunday. At 6 p.m. on Saturday a Priesthood session is held for men holding the priesthood of the Church. General sessions are open to all Church members and guests holding tickets, usually for only one session. The tickets are free of charge (they are used for capacity and order), and members of the church the world over can request them from either their local leaders, or by writing to the church headquarters. Standby tickets are also available, as frequently many ticket holders for one reason or another are not able to attend.

The Organization of a General Conference

Normally a member of the First Presidency conducts each session. He introduces the various speakers, which during the course of a Conference generally include all members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and a selection of others. Virtually every General Authority of the Church is present, though outside the First Presidency and Twelve (all of whom speak if able) only few speak. Non-General Authority speakers may include female officers of auxiliary organizations.

If the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is present, he is said to "preside" at the Conference whether or not he personally conducts a session. If the President is absent (as in the case of illness) his First Counselor presides; if both are absent, the Second Counselor presides; and so forth. In the event of the complete absence of the First Presidency (for example, as during the period after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, when the First Presidency had not yet been reconstituted), the senior apostle presides at all conferences.

During one session of General Conference, usually the Saturday afternoon General Session, the conducting officer (normally a Counselor) presents all the General Authorities for the formal sustaining vote of the membership, and it is usually at this time that any changes among the General Authorities, officers, or auxiliaries are announced. Normally, except for members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, only the names of the General Authorities, Area Authorities, and auxiliaries presidencies who are being released or called to serve are announced. The person conducting then asks all of those who are in favor of sustaining the current leadership, or of the calling of a new leader, to raise their right hand in a "vote". The Counselor then asks that any who are opposed raise their right hands. Dissenting votes are rare, and the customary declaration at the end of the voting is "the voting appears to be unanimous in the affirmative."

At the first General Conference after the death of a Church President and the calling of his successor, the session at which the sustaining vote takes place is called a Solemn Assembly, and the process of the sustaining vote is unusually detailed and prolonged. Instead of calling for the sustaining vote of all members together, at a Solemn Assembly each quorum of the Priesthood is asked individually to sustain the new Prophet and President of the church from the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, The Quorums of Seventy, Melchizedek Priesthood holders, Aaronic Priesthood holders, Relief Society members, all members of the Young Women organization, and then all Members (even if they had previously voted) ^*. Then the names of all the members of the Presidency of the Seventy, the First Quorum of Seventy, the Second Quorum of Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric are read. A sustaining and opposing vote is called for them together.

Sermons at Conference

Members of the church regard and sustain the President of The Church, the counselors in The First Presidency, and members of The Quorum of Twelve Apostles as "Prophets, Seers, and Revelators", and they pay close attention to what they teach throughout the year. However, the sermons given at general conference by them are held in particularly high esteem, and they are considered the will of God to the church members at the current time. The sermons (usually called "talks") are published in the Ensign, the official church English language magazine, the following month (May and November respectively). They are also translated and put into the Liahona, the church's international version of the Ensign which is published in multiple languages. Church members are encouraged to read and study the talks, discuss them at home and at church, and quote them while giving lessons and sermons at church. Many of the conference talks will be quoted for many years.

A random sampling of the topics of general conference discourses include:
Forgiveness (Hinckley, October 2005)
Natural disasters and preparedness (Hinckley, October 2005)
Faith (Sorensen, April 2005)
The dangers of pornography (Oaks, April 2005; Hinckley, October 2004)
The first vision of Joseph Smith (Uchtdorf, April 2005)
Acquiring a testomony of Jesus (McMullin, April 2004)
Fatherhood (Perry, April 2004)
The Atonement of Jesus (Hafe, April 2004)
Fasting (Pratt, October 2004)
Repentance (Oaks, October 2003)
Eternal life through Jesus (Madsen, April 2002)
Tithing (Tingey, April 2002)
Hope in the Atonement of Jesus (Faust, October 2001)
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Packer, October 2001)

Frequently special announcements are made at general conference which may include building sites for new temples, or the institution of a new program.

Music is also an important part of the conference in praising and also setting the appropriate spiritual mood. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir along with the organist at the conference center generally provide the bulk of the music; with some sort of men's choir at the priesthood session. The hymns are usually selected from the normal repertoire of LDS hymns with occasional arrangements. About half way through each session the congregation (in Salt Lake and also in the many churches) stand and join in the singing.

Dissemination of the Conference

Although the conference is actually held in the conference center in Salt Lake City, UT; the church goes to great lengths to make it as widely available as possible. It is shown on screens in various buildings on Temple Square (the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall). It usually airs on the local (Salt Lake area) LDS-owned media outlets KSL channel 5 (digitally broadcast on KSL 5.2 in High Definition 16:9 with 5.1 Surround Sound and simulcast on KSL 5.1 in Standard Definition 4:3 with Stereo Sound), KSL 1160 AM (simulcast on 102.7 FM), KBYU-FM classical 89.1, and KBYU-TV channel 11 (simulcast and additionally two hours later). The conference usually pre-empts regularly scheduled programming. The conference is broadcast by satellite (in Standard Definition 4:3) to churches the world over, either simultaneously or time delayed (to accommodate for inconvenient time zones).

Some pay televions (cable and satellite) systems such as Dish Network, DirecTV, and C-band carry it in some markets on the BYU TV station, and it can be heard via the church's website lds.org; these latter more public methods usually do not have the priesthood session. Overall, the church delivers the broadcast to 83 countries transmitting to over 5,700 church facilities and airing over 18 television and 1,700 cable stations. Language professionals (volunteers) are on hand at the conference to translate the sermons into over 86 languages live during the simulcast. Ninety-eight percent of church members can listen to General Conference in their native language. The Church intends to provide General Conference language translation for 100% of its members by 2010.

World Conference in the Community of Christ

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World Conference is the name given to the bi-annual meeting of delegates of the Community of Christ. Originally called General Conferences and held semiannually, or as need arises, they have the same origin as the semi-annual General Conferences of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

Like the two denominations, the two conferences have evolved separately. Voting at General Conferences of the LDS church generally unanimous. The World Conference, by contrast, is the highest legislative body in the Community of Christ and is empowered to act for the entire church. Delegates to the conference are elected by Mission Centre conferences. Motions are often debated vigorously and the results are sometimes controversial. World Conferences are traditionally held at Community of Christ World Headquarters, with the legislative and main worship services held in the Auditorium.

External links

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• Official General Conference page of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Deseret News General Conference page

General Conferences of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints