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Lds General Conference

October 1, 2011 by · Comments Off on Lds General Conference 

Lds General ConferenceLds General Conference, For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day general conference has always been the gathering.

In the early days of the church was a time of reunion and inspiration, when, as church members gathered as possible to conduct church business, share experiences and receive advice and instruction of their leaders. As recently as 1960, members of the church at about 1.7 million inhabitants and all the pins of the English speaking church, general conference was focused on the gathering of the leaders and members of the formation and stimulus at the headquarters of the church.

Today, Mormon leaders are preparing to open the 181st Semiannual General Conference of the church, the emphasis has changed. While the conference is still a meeting point – more than 100,000 attendees participate in five sessions at the center of the church Conference Center Saturday and Sunday – there is more emphasis now reach more than 14 million members LDS Church worldwide, many of whom are listening or watching the conference sessions in places thousands of miles from the headquarters of the church.

“Today, the scope of the general conference extends far beyond Utah,” said LDS spokesman Scott Trotter. “Latter-day Saints throughout the world seeking inspiration and encouragement to see general conference on television, the Internet or in local church buildings through satellite broadcasting.”

The gentle shift in emphasis has much to do with how much the church has grown over the past 50 years, but also where it is growing. In 1980, for example, fully 73 percent of LDS Church members lived in the United States and Canada. Just 30 years later, in 2010, most Latter-day live outside the U.S. and Canada. (Please see accompanying chart).

“Naturally, Utah will always be associated with the church,” said Michael Otterson, head of the LDS Church Public Affairs Department. “But the popular image of the predominant faith in Utah with members mostly Caucasian does not hold.

“What once was, in general, an American church is now truly an international faith. Today, Mormons are Bolivia, Ghana, Koreans and Russians, all an integral part of the family of the church.”

As a result of changing demographics of LDS general conference is truly a global conference and had to change and adapt to meet the needs of church members who live outside the United States who speak languages ??other than English .

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