This millennial year of 2000 has been a remarkable year for the Church, said President Gordon B. Hinckley Sunday morning.
Before dedicating the Church's 21,000-seat conference center — a resounding symbol of the Church's growth — President Hinckley explained that the Church has expanded on every front across the world.
"We have passed the 11 million membership mark," he said. "What a significant thing that is."
During his remarks, President Hinckley recalled the 1947 centennial of the arrival of the pioneers at the Salt Lake Valley. "At that time the 'This Is the Place' monument was dedicated. A great celebration was held with a pageant in the Tabernacle representing the worldwide mission of the Church. The grand theme running through all of this was that the Church had reached a million members in its growth.
"Approximately one-half of them lived in Utah. Now only about 15 percent live here, and yet we have more members here than we have ever had. To think that today we have a membership of 11 million is a tremendous and wonderful thing that brings with it the promise of the future."
President Hinckley said the Church has reached out across the world — wherever it is permitted to go.
"We have taught the gospel as revealed in this the dispensation of the fulness of times," he said. "We are now going into areas whose names were seldom heard back in 1947. Our missionary work has expanded in a miraculous manner."
Noting that he has been in most places in which the Church is organized, President Hinckley said he has found wonderful people everywhere. "They are Latter-day Saints in the truest sense of the word. They are seeking to live the commandments. . . .
"We have become a great cosmopolitan society, a vast family of brothers and sisters in the Lord."
President Hinckley said the work of the Church is possessed of a vitality which has never been evidenced before to such a degree.
In the field of education, he said, the Church has established the Seminary and Institute program worldwide. "It is touching for good the lives of students across the world," he said. "In the Institute young college-age students find happy association, they find learning, social experiences and even husbands and wives within the faith."
He also spoke of the Church's recent announcement to expand Ricks College to a four-year school and carry the name BYU-Idaho. "This will enlarge the educational opportunities for many young men and women," he said. "It will make of what has been a great school an even greater one. It is an effort on the part of the Church to extend the opportunity of secular education within the framework of a Church school, where is taught faith in the living God and in His divine Son, our Lord."
Another item of remarkable consequence emphasized in this millennial year, is the building of temples, said President Hinckley.
"It has been a miracle. Last Sunday [Oct. 1] we dedicated in Boston, Mass., the 100th working temple of the Church."
President Hinckley explained that when he was called to the First Presidency in July of 1981, there were only 19 operating temples. "Since that time, 81 of these 100 temples have been dedicated," he said.
Of those temples, 53 were dedicated since President Hinckley was ordained president of the Church. "When I announced in conference that I hoped we would see the dedication of the 100th operating temple before the end of the year 2000, I wondered if it were possible. I cannot say enough of thanks to the many men and women who have worked so long and so hard to bring this miracle to pass."
The temples, he said, have "made possible a much easier journey to the House of the Lord for thousands upon thousands of our people.
"We shall go on building them. We will dedicate three more before the end of the year. We will continue to build in the future, perhaps not at the scale we have worked on during the past year, but there will be a steady construction of these sacred houses to accommodate the needs of the people.
"How deeply grateful are our people. I hope and believe that the Lord is pleased."
President Hinckley concluded his address by talking about a final accomplishment of the millennial year — the dedication of the Conference Center. (Please see report on page 11.)
"May God bless us as a people," he said. "We have found a new stride in this great millennial year. May we walk in the footsteps of the great Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. May we walk in the light of Him who was the Messiah of the world, the Son of God, who said of Himself: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.' "