In Mormonism, worship services include weekly services, held on Sundays (or Friday Saturday when local custom or law prohibits Sunday worship), in neighborhood based religious units. Twice each year the Church holds a worldwide General Conference.
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In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church" see also Mormon) congregations for Sunday services are grouped geographically, with larger (~200 to ~400 people) congregations known as wards, and smaller (2 through ~200 people) congregations known as branches. These neighborhood congregations meet in meetinghouses, also referred to as "chapels" or "stake centers", on property most often owned by the Church. In some geographic areas, rental property may be used as a meetinghouse. Although the building may sometimes be referred to as a "chapel", the room used as a chapel for religious services is actually only one component of the standard meetinghouse.[1]
All people, regardless of belief or standing in the Church are allowed to attend.[2] The sacrament (similar to Communion, the Lord's Supper, or the Eucharist in other churches) is offered weekly. Latter-day Saints come together in meetinghouses for various activities throughout the week (except Mondays, which are reserved for Family Home Evening). The Church maintains a meetinghouse locator to help members and visitors find meetinghouses and meeting times in their area.[3]
Women usually attend wearing skirts or dresses, while men wear suits or dress shirts and ties. People in different attire are also welcome.[4]
Weekly services consist of a three-hour block of time divided into three segments.[5]
| Adults | Youth | Children | Length | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacrament meeting | 70 min | ||||
| break | 10 min | ||||
| Sunday School | Youth Sunday School | Primary | 40 min | ||
| break | 10 min | ||||
| Relief Society |
Melchizedek Priesthood | Aaronic Priesthood | Young Women |
50 min | |
This 'block' schedule of meetings may be in the reverse order in some congregations, where the Sacrament service is conducted at the end of the block, while the Priesthood, Relief Society and Primary sessions are conducted at the beginning, while Sunday School remains the middle session.
The primary Sunday service is sacrament meeting, which is slightly more than an hour in length, and attended by the combined congregation. The foremost purpose of sacrament meeting is the blessing and passing of the sacrament — consecrated bread and water in remembrance of the body and blood of Christ — to members of the Church. After the sacrament, the service usually consists of two or three lay sermons called "talks" prepared and delivered by members of the congregation. Hymns, accompanied by piano or organ, are sung throughout the service, as a form of worship through music. Once a month, usually on the first Sunday, instead of prepared talks, members are invited to bear their testimonies about gospel principles. These testimonies are generally impromptu statements of personal faith.
Sunday School classes are grouped by age, with new members and visitors sometimes attending introductory classes. The most common adult Sunday School class is Gospel Doctrine, which meets each week and consists of a teacher presenting gospel messages drawn from the Scriptures, with participation from class members. A second adult class is the Gospel Essentials class, designed for new members and non-members who are interested in learning more about the Church (often referred to as "investigators"). In congregations with a diverse membership, special language classes might be organized, where classes are taught in a variety of languages; other times wireless headphones are made available and the discussion can be translated into these other languages.[6] Additional adult classes are held at various times, depending on the specific needs of each congregation. These classes include topics such as Family Relations, Family History, Teacher Preparation, and Temple Preparation. Youth Sunday School classes are divided by age (12-13, 14-15, and 16-18). These classes may be combined if class sizes are small. Each class can have a specific manual written specifically for the audience it addresses.[7]
Men and boys age 12 and up attend priesthood classes. Although all men and boys meet together briefly at the beginning of the hour for a prayer, hymn, and announcements, they then separate into classes. The men separate by priesthood office to attend Elder's Quorum or High Priest's Group, the latter usually being older men and/or those who have held leadership positions in the Church. Youth are likewise divided into priesthood quorums: Deacons (ages 12-13), Teachers (ages 14-15), and Priests (ages 16-18). Classes may be combined if class sizes are small.
Women attend Relief Society, and girls ages 12-18 attend Young Women. In some areas of the world the Relief Society [women] and Young Women [girls] meet together briefly at the beginning of the hour for a prayer, hymn, and announcements, then separate into classes, as the men do. Some areas do not meet together but have separate opening exercises. The stake or mission president who presides over the area gives direction in that regard. The Young Women group is divided into Beehive (ages 12-13), Mia Maid (ages 14-15), and Laurel (ages 16-18) classes.
Children younger than 12 attend Primary, which spans the two time blocks described above. Primary is divided into two large groups: Senior Primary (ages 8-11) and Junior Primary (ages 4-7); young children from 18 months to 3 years of age attend nursery class. Primary classes generally consist of all the children who were born in the same year. Usually one half of the Primary meets in separate classes while the other half meets together in sharing and singing time, and at the end of the hour, the two are reversed.
Fast and testimony meeting, is a sacrament meeting usually held on the monthly on Fast Sunday, during which those members, who feel prompted, share (or "bear") their testimony with the other members of their congregation or ward.
While individual "testimony bearers" are directed by the feelings of their heart or by the spirit (Holy Ghost) as to what to share when bearing their testimony, the formula for a "proper" testimony includes a personal witness of the divinity of Jesus Christ or the truthfulness of the Church, Joseph Smith or of the Book of Mormon. Often, however, testimonies take on a less strictly LDS tone and may include personal stories of overcoming trials or other faith-promoting experiences.
There is sometimes the problem in testimony meetings of emotionalism, which has led to statements such as the following (from an official LDS publication):
Twice a year (the first Sunday in April and October, and the preceding Saturday), the church holds general conference, in which the prophet and other leaders speak to the worldwide church. These talks, given in several sessions over two days, are carried worldwide by radio, television, satellite and Internet broadcasts. They are translated into 80 languages, and are later made available on DVD (complete with translations), on LDS.org, and also printed in church publications such as the Ensign and Liahona. Attendees come from around the world.
Conference talks address doctrinal topics drawn from scriptures and personal experiences, messages of faith and hope, church history and information on the church as it expands throughout the world.
Throughout the 20th century, conference talks were given from the Salt Lake Tabernacle. With a maximum capacity of about 8,000 per session, the Tabernacle would be filled and about thousands of other attendees would sit on blankets on Temple Square lawns. In 2000, the LDS Conference Center was opened, and since that time talks have been given in the Center's 21,000-seat main auditorium.
Conference satellite broadcasts may be watched, live, in thousands of chapels worldwide. The public is invited to attend or watch general conference, either through these broadcasts, on the Internet, in the Conference Center, or other areas at Temple Square. Conference is also broadcast on many satellite or cable providers through BYU TV nationally and in some western states on a local network.
In the LDS Church, a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of The Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time (an "Open House"). During the Open House, the church conducts tours of the temple with missionaries and members from the local area serving as tour guides, and all rooms of the temple are open to the public. After a temple is dedicated only members in good standing are permitted entrance; thus they are not meetinghouses, but are places of worship.[8]
Temples have a different purpose from meetinghouses. In LDS Church today, temples serve two main purposes: (1) Temples are locations in which Latter-day Saints holding a temple recommend can perform sacred ordinances on behalf of themselves and their deceased ancestors; (2) Temples are considered to be Houses of Holiness where members can go to commune with God and receive personal revelation.[9]
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