|
General Conference is a semiannual gathering of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), held every April and October at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. During each conference, members of the church gather in a series of two-hour sessions to listen to sermons from church leaders. It consists of six general sessions, one exclusively for male priesthood holders on Saturday evening, and a general women's meeting held a week prior. Private training meetings for general and area leaders of the church are also conducted. While originating from Salt Lake City, General Conference is considered an international event for the church. The sessions are broadcast worldwide in many languages, primarily through local and international media outlets, and over the Internet. ==History and structure== In the LDS Church, general conference is a series of semiannual meetings where general authorities and other church leaders preach sermons and give guidance to church members. Changes to church leadership are also proposed and sustained through the principle of common consent. General conferences are held on the weekends of the first Sundays in April and October. The April conference is known as the ''Annual General Conference'', with the October conference referred to as the ''Semiannual General Conference''. The April conference includes annual statistical and financial audit reports not included in the October meeting. Both conferences are identified by the number of years since the church was founded in April 1830; thus, the April 2014 meeting was the 184th Annual General Conference, and the October 2014 meeting was the 184th Semiannual General Conference. Since October 1848,〔After the death of Joseph Smith, general conferences were held under the direction of Brigham Young in October 1844 (Nauvoo, Illinois); April 1845 (Nauvoo); October 1845 (Nauvoo); December 1847 (Kanesville, Iowa); and April 1848 (Kanesville). For the dates and locations of conferences prior to Smith's death, see General conference (Latter Day Saints).〕 all of the conferences have been held in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the exception of the April 1877 conference, which was held in St. George, Utah. Conferences were held in a bowery in Salt Lake City from 1848 to 1852, in the Old Salt Lake Tabernacle from 1852 to 1867, in the Salt Lake Tabernacle from October 1867 to April 2000, and in the Conference Center since that time. Historically, General Conference was held over three days, with the annual conference always including April 6, the anniversary of the church's organization. This made conference participation difficult for those with work and school commitments when April 6 fell on a weekday. In April 1977, during Spencer W. Kimball's presidency, changes were made to reduce the conference to the Saturday and Sunday of a weekend. Each conference currently consists of six sessions: four general sessions, a priesthood session for males, and a women's session. General sessions commence at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Saturday and Sunday, open to all church members and guests holding tickets. At 6 p.m. on Saturday the Priesthood session is held for men and boys (12 years and older) who hold the church's priesthood. The main and priesthood sessions of general conference last for two hours, with the women's meetings traditionally lasting about 90 minutes. Beginning in 1994, a women's general meeting was held on Saturday a week prior to the general sessions of the October conference, with a general meeting for young women held at a similar time before the April conference. In November 2013, church leadership announced that beginning in 2014 these meetings for women would be replaced by a semiannual meeting General Women's Meeting for those eight years of age and older, On September 27, 2014, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, referred to the General Women's Meeting as the opening of General Conference, a change from the practice of referring to the Saturday morning session as the opening session. This created confusion regarding the status of the General Women's Meeting, as some general authorities,〔 the church's public affairs department, and the ''Deseret News''〔 - Original unedited report stated: "At the meeting in September, it was announced that the General Women's Meeting was the first session of the semiannual general conference."〕 made comments both for and against the inclusion of the General Women's Meeting as part of General Conference.〔 However, on October 30, 2014, the First Presidency clarified the issue and announced it "has decided that the General Women's Meeting will be designated as the General Women's Session of general conference".〔〔 Tickets to the conference are free of charge and church members can obtain them either from local leaders or by writing to church headquarters. Due to demand, the church often restricts the number of separate session tickets issued to attendees. Standby tickets are also available, as frequently many ticket holders are not able to attend. The proceedings of general conference have traditionally been conducted in English, but since October 2014, speakers delivering sermons have the option of speaking in their native language. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「General Conference (LDS Church)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|