Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the "LDS Church" or the "Mormon Church", is the largest and best known denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement (a form of Christian Restorationism). The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

LDS Customs

Titles

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints address each other as "Brother" or "Sister" and then usually append the last name (such as Brother Smith, or Sister Young). Additionally, those that hold specific leadership positions may be addressed by their title and then their last name (such as President Kimball). Some frequently-used titles are as follows.

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• Bishop - The Bishop of a ward, but not his counselors, is addressed by the title of "Bishop". Generally, only the title is used, because bishops are confined to a small geographical location. The last name being used only to disambiguate. Also, the Presiding Bishop and his counselors are referred to as "Bishop So-and-So".
• Elder - While most adult male Church members hold the office of "elder" in the Melchizedek Priesthood, in general only full-time missionaries (proselyting or service), members of a Quorum of the Seventy, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve are addressed with this title.
• Patriarch - A Patriarch is generally an older Priesthood holder in a Stake who is charged with providing blessings for individual members of the Stake wherein his or her lineage in Israel is established as well as council for the future and promises of blessings for effort made to live a righteous life.
• President - In a ward, the Relief Society President and the Elder's Quorum President are referred to as "President So-and-So". Occasionally, other presidents within the ward, such as the Deacons Quorum President, may be referred to with this title. In addition to the above presidencies, in a branch, the branch president and his councilors are referred to as "President So-and-So". All members of a Stake (or District) Presidency, a Temple Presidency, a Mission Presidency, the Presidency of the Seventy, and the First Presidency are referred to as president.

With the exception of "Elder", those who formerly held the callings listed above retain their titles, especially bishops. Former stake presidents and branch presidents are almost always referred to by their old title, especially by those people for whom they were responsible.

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Public Speaking

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a long and rich tradition of public speaking. Many of the early Church members -- and especially leaders -- were gifted orators and many were skilled in debate. Public speaking was common for both leaders and lay members. This speaking tradition continues even today. For example, during worship services on the first Sunday of each month, members of the congregation are invited to share their testimonies of the Gospel, faith-building experiences, and other uplifting messages with the other members of the congregation.

Related Topics:
Congregation - Gospel

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On each of the other Sundays during the month, members of the congregation are selected in advance to give a "talk" (the LDS equivalent of a "sermon") on a particular Gospel principle or topic. Often the congregation will hear from one or two youth speakers and one or two adult speakers during these meetings.

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Church leaders and missionaries are also encouraged to speak boldly and freely about the Gospel, and are often given opportunities for extemporaneous public speaking on various Gospel subjects.

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Since the early days of the Church, talks given by leaders (especially those given in the Church's bi-annual General Conference meetings) have been recorded and widely distributed in written format. A digitized collection of these talks dating back to 1971 is available on the lds.org website, and talks dating back to the 1800s are available in printed format through various University and community libraries. In recent years the LDS Church and Brigham Young University have also made audio and video versions of selected talks freely available on their websites. See lds.org, byu.edu, and ldsvoices.com for a collection of audio and video resources.

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Genealogy

Genealogical research is an important aspect of Latter-day saint tradition. In addition to the more common events that genealogy records typically contain (such as births, deaths, and marriages), church records also contain details regarding the dates of baptism, endowment, and sealing to spouse, parent, and child, as well as the temple in which each vicarious ordinance occurred. The advent of personal computers prompted the church to create a specialized file format known as GEDCOM for storing and exchanging these records. Since then, GEDCOM has become a de facto standard that almost all genealogy programs support.

Related Topics:
Genealogical - Latter-day saint - Baptism - Endowment - Sealing - Temple - Ordinance - Personal computer - File format - GEDCOM - De facto - Programs

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