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Why do we do Stake Conference in the Church? I remember when I went through my separation from the 1st wife, that I just stopped attending Stake Conference. I had a 3 year-old son, and I just did not see the point of wrestling with him for two hours in a sacrament meeting-type situation. When I got remarried two years later, the expectation was to just attend the general session, so I went with that. However, now I am at the point that it is just the horse and pony show on steroids.
I recently went to the adult session (Saturday PM), and really enjoyed it. However, when I got to the Sunday session, I realized that people were just giving travel log talks with little to no mention of the gospel at all. The Sunday session was such a drag. I got the point that I felt like I just wasted two hours of my life, and should have just stayed home. What is the point of Stake Conference? We were not visited by a General Authority. It is not like people from the High Council or Stake Presidency do not visit our ward. Why do we hang on to this tradition of having a Stake Conference? We had the spirit of contention more in my home after it then we have in sacrament meeting, and one of my teenage sons actually ditched early in the morning and was not found until after. Ready to say to hell with it, and bag it.
I honestly find Stake Conference the most boring thing we do on a regular basis in the church. I used to make a point of missing it, but I have to attend due to my calling now. Occasionally there will be good speakers but a lot of it consists of sustaining, stake business and a bit of being told what to do.
Invariably I don’t even know who half of the people I’m sustaining are.
Another pet peeve. I occasionally visit other branches/wards while on vacation and more than once I’ve found the building abandoned because they’re apparently away at stake conference.
It’s part scriptural. Doctrine and Covenants 20:61 wrote:The several elders composing this church of Christ are to meet in conference once in three months, or from time to time as said conferences shall direct or appoint;
But we could get around this constraint by holding a ward conference (equally silly to me) once a quarter.
I found a brief history on stake conferences:
https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Conferences#Conferences:_Stake_Conference ” class=”bbcode_url”> https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Conferences#Conferences:_Stake_Conference Merrill J. Bateman wrote:In the revelation on Church organization and government received by the Prophet Joseph Smith in April 1830, Church members were instructed to “meet in conference once in three months, or from time to time as said conferences shall direct or appoint; and said conferences are to do whatever church business is necessary to be done at the time” (D&C 20:61-62).
Once stakes were organized, the Saints began meeting in stake conferences every three months. The practice of quarterly stake conferences continued from the mid-1800s until 1979, when the frequency was reduced to two per year. General Authorities of the Church presided at most stake conferences until the mid-1980s, when the growth in Church membership and the number of stakes made it impossible for an authority to attend each conference. In 1986, General Authorities were assigned to preside at one of the stake conferences, and the stake president was authorized to preside at the other. In 1990 General Authorities were assigned to visit each stake for a conference only once every other year.
Stake conferences bring together members and friends who reside within the geographical boundaries of a stake. At least four sessions are held during a two-day period: (1) the first meeting is with the stake presidency and the visiting authorities, if any, to review the activity and progress of the stake during the last six months; (2) a priesthood leadership meeting to train stake and ward priesthood leaders in Church doctrine and principles; (3) a general assembly of all adults (eighteen years of age and over) where the presiding authority and invited stake members speak; and (4) a Sabbath general session for all stake members, including children and interested friends of the Church. The Sabbath general session features congregational hymns, specially arranged choir selections, stake business, and sermons from the presiding authority, stake leaders, and other invited speakers.
The major purposes of stake conference are: (1) sustaining general and stake officers; (2) releasing stake officers; and (3) approving ordinations to the Melchizedek Priesthood, and also enhancing the faith and testimony of the members through leadership training, music, sermons, and the fellowship of the Saints. The meetings are often considered a spiritual feast. The General Authority and stake leaders are well versed in the scriptures, are excellent teachers, and present strong witness to the divinity of Jesus Christ.
The article states that ever since 1990 general authorities show up once every other year (or once every four stake conferences). The article appears to be from 1992 so the policy may be different now. Section
18.3.1or areaauthority can preside, so we might be back to having an authority show up at every other stake conference. On the stated purposes…
We don’t sustain stake leadership at general conference, there are simply too many stakes. Similarly we don’t sustain all ward leadership during stake conferences, there are too many wards. That said, we do typically sustain stake leadership during ward conferences, making sustaining stake leadership during stake conference superfluous.
- I’m not sure about the purpose to release stake officers, they’re released during regular old sacrament meetings all the time. Maybe this is a callback to a day before members of the high council (the guy authorized to do stake callings and releases) regularly showed up at ward meetings?
- Approving ordinations to the MP is an interesting one. That does happen during stake conference but it’s not a hard and fast rule; I hear the occasional request to approve an ordinations to the MP during regular sacrament meetings because a kid is going on a mission and they don’t have time to wait around for the next stake conference.
- Another stated reason is that stake conference is a spiritual feast from excellent teachers well versed in scripture. I better
:silent: on that subject.Thus concludes my post of lots of info no one asked for.
🙂 More to the matter at hand. jamison wrote:
I realized that people were just giving travel log talks with little to no mention of the gospel at all.
I find this is often the case when we have visiting authorities. They’ll often talk about the last overseas assignment they received and how much the church is growing there. They often have a segment dedicated to “one time when I was rubbing shoulders with [insert president of the church’s name here] he told me…”
Mostly it’s just a two hour sacrament meeting without the sacrament.
I’ve found that things get stale even if the people in the stake presidency are the best of speakers. You hear from them so often (stake conferences, ward conferences, random pop-ins during SM) and they stay in the calling for so long that you have a pretty good idea of what they’ll say before they say it. I’ll call it the Tim Burton phenomenon. Tim Burton is directing Alice in Wonderland? I know the story, I know who he’ll cast, I know how they’ll act, I know who will do the music, I know the art direction. I’ve seen the movie in my head before I’ve seen the movie, so I can safely skip it.
I think we do them because of the scriptural thing and because of tradition. Attendance at stake conference doesn’t equal the sum attendance of all the units on a given Sunday, so clearly lots of people give it a miss. I used to like the Saturday adult session, but I’m now prone to skip those (at least I will be when I’m released from my current calling). I’m not fond of the general session and never have been, but DW likes to go so off we go. In reality, I will probably won’t really skip Saturday without a good excuse either because she also likes that. There is a bonus there in that it has become tradition for us to go out to diner (sometimes with others, sometimes not) in conjunction with the adult session. Bottom line is I think they are a relic of the past (like tithing settlement) and could be eliminated or maybe become annual. Ward conference is totally useless IMO, and unfortunately I will miss ours which happens to be this weekend. 
I will say that our SP is very Christ focused and our talks do tend to focus on the Savior – and this has apparently rubbed on on visiting authorities since at least the last few have also given Christ centered talks.
Lastly, following up on Nibbler’s post, current practice is a visiting authority (area or general) once per year and under the direction of the SP the other time. I don’t know if it’s policy or not, but in practice we seem to get a GA every other year and an AA the other year. Following that pattern we’re due for an AA this fall.
We do lots of things for the sake of tradition. Only those at the very top have the authority to change things – but those are also the ones that are often advanced in age and significantly invested in the status quo. President Nelson seems to be more open to making changes than most.
Roy wrote:
We do lots of things for the sake of tradition. Only those at the very top have the authority to change things – but those are also the ones that are often advanced in age and significantly invested in the status quo.
Other than inactives, they’re also the furthest removed from the average member experience.
The line that gets me the most is when someone says, “It was so inspiring?” – Even before FC I was bored with Stake Conference. Can I say we use “Conference” wrong.
Conference’s are very interactive. Yes there are speakers but there are also events, social hours, options. I know because I have attended 2 other denominations “Conference’s” – SDA and Methodist. And low and behold they are more like rival meetings with line dancing in the evening. There is voting, and classes for Sunday school teacher training, and family worship seminars, and history of hymns classes. – I might attend ours if we had something more robust like that.
I can stay home and get spiritual for free.
SamBee wrote:
I honestly find Stake Conference the most boring thing we do on a regular basis in the church. I used to make a point of missing it, but I have to attend due to my calling now.Occasionally there will be good speakers but a lot of it consists of sustaining, stake business and a bit of being told what to do.
Invariably I don’t even know who half of the people I’m sustaining are.
Another pet peeve. I occasionally visit other branches/wards while on vacation and more than once I’ve found the building abandoned because they’re apparently away at stake conference.
I always found it odd that the way we worship God as mormons is by gathering together in a freeing or boiling hot room for 1-3 hours and listen to people give college or even high School level messages about either Jesus or something in the mormon culture. While certainly mentioned in the mormon scriptures as a commandment to gather often, it seems that in 2020 (and especially since my growing up years) that it’s become a robotic tradition. I’d ask my mom after conference what shed think and she would always say it was inspiring, I felt the spirit or some other such thing. I’m sure a lot of other people would say the same. My dad would complain about a speaker being boring or note the strange topics spoken on.
I like that the church “introduced” the home study program so we could depend less on dressing up and sitting in an uncomfortable chair for hours listening to people, and more on our personal ability to connect with god. I just fear that people are so dependent on a digital or paper Manuel and on approval from priesthood leaders that they can’t think for themselves.
grobert93 wrote:
I just fear that people are so dependent on a digital or paper Manuel and on approval from priesthood leaders that they can’t think for themselves.
I think this is a legit concern. It definitely is a culture shift from the spoon feeding “this is what you’re supposed to believe” most members are used to. A similar fear is that people will stick to the old ways just because they don’t want to change, or heaven forbid think for themselves. It is my hope that we are able to make the transition, but I think it will take beyond the current church president’s remaining life span and will need to be as supported by his successors. The good news is I think the majority of the Q15 are in agreement.
I don’t see the new programs as much of a departure from anything we’ve done in the past. Members have long been counseled to study lessons at home and come to class prepared. No one does it, but that’s been the consistent instruction. Here are a few things I think serve as barriers to people thinking for themselves:
Human nature. Maybe it comes from survival instinct – that people are stronger as a group and people have to behave in a certain way to maintain a relationship with that group. Here I’m not talking LDS church, I’m talking any social construct.
People often worry more about what other people think of them that what they think of themselves. It’s a human condition.
- Orthodoxy. Believing in One True Church comes with baggage. If there is a definitive right answer (things that come from the One True Church) then any departure from that right answer is wrong. That belief system discourages individual thought. “The thinking has been done.”
- We’ve cultivated a system that rewards conformity and, at times, punishes individuality. A system like that is going to discourage people thinking for themselves.
Maybe all those bullet points are really boil down to the same thing… human nature.
DarkJedi wrote:
I think this is a legit concern. It definitely is a culture shift from the spoon feeding “this is what you’re supposed to believe” most members are used to. A similar fear is that people will stick to the old ways just because they don’t want to change, or heaven forbid think for themselves. It is my hope that we are able to make the transition, but I think it will take beyond the current church president’s remaining life span and will need to be as supported by his successors. The good news is I think the majority of the Q15 are in agreement.
My perception is limited by my vantage point, but from where I sit I don’t see leaders that want members to gain independence, I see leaders that reiterate dependence on leaders/the church. Once you do gain that independence/self-sufficiency, it becomes harder to thrive in the culture because the culture is constantly trying to steer people back towards dependency on the church.
Quote:My perception is limited by my vantage point, but from where I sit I don’t see leaders that want members to gain independence, I see leaders that reiterate dependence on leaders/the church. Once you do gain that independence/self-sufficiency, it becomes harder to thrive in the culture because the culture is constantly trying to steer people back towards dependency on the church.
I am more on this level. ^^^^^
Yet, I think societal-ly there is a shift coming that may over ride that. I keep watching the desperate grab to hold onto the Millenial Crowd. Because like it or not they are losing members in that age bracket faster than before. I think life will keep developing in a way that future generations won’t be as reliant on someone ahead of them or at least not in a group way. They will pick their own Influencers. No matter how much Salt Lake dreams of “guiding the flock” – the horse is already out of the gate. In a couple more generations, especially in America, church is going to look different because members are different.
DarkJedi wrote:
grobert93 wrote:
I just fear that people are so dependent on a digital or paper Manuel and on approval from priesthood leaders that they can’t think for themselves.
I think this is a legit concern. It definitely is a culture shift from the spoon feeding “this is what you’re supposed to believe” most members are used to. A similar fear is that people will stick to the old ways just because they don’t want to change, or heaven forbid think for themselves. It is my hope that we are able to make the transition, but I think it will take beyond the current church president’s remaining life span and will need to be as supported by his successors. The good news is I think the majority of the Q15 are in agreement.
Not only that, but we’ve been told if we DON’T follow the prophet’s counsel or follow our leaders, we will be led astray or lose blessings. This cultural toxicity is part of what’s “led me away” from being an active believer. I have felt the spirit while in nature more than in a 3 hour conference. because the past few decades have been pounding at the pulpit to do as we are told, the idea of being independent will seem rough for the older generations. My parents are struggling with the “third hour”, saying it feels like FHE on a Sunday. While my friends my age and I have found ways to be happy outside of this structure.
I’d say it will take 20-30 more years before the cultural demand shifts pressure in the church and we seem even more relaxation. I remember one time my wife and I were sick and surprised to see two deacons show up at our door with the sacrament. They blessed it and gave it to us. Now imagine if we allowed the priesthood to be used in every home regardless of gender. We could have the sacrement performed every Sunday by families instead of all gathering into a building. Just imagine the savings! IDK, it’s wishful thinking in a church with interesting cultural traditions.
I have never enjoyed Stake Conference much. I find it (generally) the most boring meeting of ALL the meetings the LDS Church inflicts on its members. It CAN be interesting (just like any meeting can be) but it generally is not. Even when General Authorities visit, we don’t hear anything we couldn’t hear at General Conference. And I do weary (like others) about people talking about how inspiring an obviously uninspiring meeting is. But I do try to remember that what I find inspiring others may find boring (and vice versa). Our stake (I suppose this is universal) has an adult meeting Saturday night and then an early morning meeting that is sometimes a priesthood meeting and sometimes a priesthood leadership meeting. I finally decided that enough was enough and only attend the Sunday Stake Conference meeting. I’m much happier come “stake conference” time.
And since I’m already in whiny mode, I’ll mention one more thing that drives me a bit batty. Our stake presidency are three very good men who I individually like and admire very much. But, boy!, do they get along! It’s rare to have any meeting where the three of them are present and they don’t talk about how wonderful it is to work with each other. I think they just really like one another and work well together (which is great) and they regularly let the stake know it (which is a bit tiresome). They also have some little in-jokes that make their way over the podium from time to time. The result is similar to sitting at the high school lunch table with the popular kids listening to them chortling over shared amusing experiences that you will never be part of.
Okay. End whine.
I’ve had some excellent stake conferences and some really bad stake conferences – and everything between those extremes. Roulette is real. Why do we do it? Using the collective “we”:
We like to gather occasionally with larger groups.
It can be very good for members, especially in branches, to see a lot more people like them once in a while.
It was set as the standard when the Church was small.
We have stake leaders, and we like to have our leaders speak to us.
Tradition!!! Tradition. …drum roll…Tradition!
I actually like the concept a lot. It is the implementation that bugs me, especially making it a two-day event for leaders and adults. (That makes sense when people can walk or drive a very short distance. It makes less sense, and can be expensive, when people have to travel to attend.)
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