Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Mormon leader celebrates worldwide growth of church

"The Lord is opening the doors of the nations. He is touching the hearts of the people," Gordon B. Hinckley said in an Easter morning address to church members gathered in the Tabernacle on Temple Square for the 166th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hinckley cited the recent shift in church membership, noting that more than half of its 9.4 million members now live outside the United States.

Founded in 1830, Mormonism enjoyed slow, steady growth in the United States until the end of World War II, when its missionary program was energized.

Last year, the church's global missionary force of 48,631 helped convert some 304,330 new members, while the Mormon Church has a presence in 159 nations and territories.

To better accommodate the thousands who travel from around the world for the semiannual conferences, Hinckley announced plans build a new meeting hall that will seat three-to-four times as many people as the 7,000-seat Tabernacle, built by Mormon pioneers 129 years ago.

Hinckley said the growth brings challenges for the church's leaders and members, whom he called "a covenant people."

"The church is the stronger or the weaker as each member is strong or weak in his or her faith and performance," he said.

Mormonism has always had its critics and always will, Hinckley said, but "increasingly, the church is being recognized at home and abroad for what it truly is."

Thomas S. Monson, first counselor to Hinckley in the church's governing First Presidency, said that by believing in Jesus Christ people can become like him.

"The countenance can change, the heart can be softened, the step can be quickened, the outlook enhanced," he said. "Life becomes what it should become."

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