The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Wednesday that in an effort to emphasize the morning and afternoon sessions of the faith’s semiannual general conferences, Saturday evening sessions will be discontinued.
“The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has decided that beginning in April 2026, general conference will no longer include a Saturday evening session,” wrote President Dallin H. Oaks and his counselors, President Henry B. Eyring and President D. Todd Christofferson in a statement on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Originating from the Conference Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, general conferences are held twice a year — the first weekends of April and October — and are an opportunity for general authorities and officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to testify of the Savior Jesus Christ and his gospel.
Conferences began with the organization of the church almost 200 years ago. Latter-day Saint scripture records in Doctrine and Covenants 20 that the Lord instructed the Prophet Joseph Smith that “several elders composing this church of Christ are to meet in conference … from time to time.”
As a result, the Church’s first general conference was held June 9, 1830, in Fayette, New York, in the Peter Whitmer home; 27 people attended.
“Much exhortation and instruction was given and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon us in a miraculous manner. Many of our numbers prophesied, while the heavens were open to others,” wrote the Prophet Joseph Smith of the first general conference.
In the decades since the first general conference, technology has taken the proceedings across the world.
Conference proceedings were first shared by radio broadcast in 1923, television transmission in 1949, satellite transmission in 1975, and the internet in 1999.
In stark contrast to 27 people who attended the first general conference, millions tune in today — viewing the proceedings via the Internet, on commercial television and via social media. Conference messages are translated into 98 languages.
President Jeffrey R. Holland, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said there are “three things these twice-yearly gatherings declare to all the world.”
First, “they declare eagerly and unequivocally that there is again a living prophet on the earth speaking in the name of the Lord.”
Second, “each of these conferences marks a call to action not only in our own lives but also on behalf of others around us.”
And third, general conference “is a declaration to all the world that Jesus is the Christ.”
Elder Brook P. Hales, a General Authority Seventy and secretary to the First Presidency, said in a Church News podcast interview that general conference is “heaven-directed.”
“The Lord is the executive producer. This is his event. He wants it to happen. He helps it happen,” said Elder Hales, who through his employment in the Office of the First Presidency has been involved in general conference preparations since 1997.
During that time, he said he has learned one important thing about planning and organizing the mammoth event: “This is the opportunity for the Lord to speak to his people, unique in every way possible,” he said. “I can trust God and the Savior completely.”