It was a quieter, spiritually focused General Conference over the weekend for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which leaders focused their remarks on classic topics such as faith, repentance and families.
This was surprising to many, given that the past two General Conferences have featured major announcements (see here and here) about changes to church policies, such as last year’s decision to shorten the three-hour “block” of Sunday meetings to two.
It was also surprising given how many rumors had been swirling around possible reforms, with some church members speculating that the faith’s dietary code would be relaxed around coffee and tea (dream on, Starbucks aficionados), or that missionary service would be shortened to 18 months for all missionaries.