The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints convened its semiannual General Conference in Salt Lake City on Saturday for the faith’s more than 16 million members to hear instructions from their top leaders.
It comes amid many recent big changes announced by President Russell M. Nelson — including reversing just two days ago a policy that had deemed same-sex married couples “apostates” and generally barred their children from baby blessings and baptisms.
Other recent changes include lowering the ages that some male youths may be ordained to priesthood offices; reducing the length of Sunday services from three hours to two; urging use of the church’s full name; restructuring “home and visiting teaching” into “ministering”: eliminating local-congregation high priest groups; restructuring bishop youth interviews; and adjusting temple ceremonies to include more gender-inclusive language.