Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from October 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “No One Sits Alone”
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Saturday afternoon session of October 2025 general conference.
- Theme: Jesus Christ invites everyone to come unto Him, so His followers should also make room for all in His Church.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Gong’s message here.
Outline
I.
- While trying to compare fortune cookies from different countries, Elder Gong found that they are uniquely American. Likewise, comparing practices in different cultural settings can help distinguish gospel culture.
II.
- Latter-day Saints come from 195 birth countries and territories and speak 125 languages. The Lord has invited people of every nation to come unto Him and be part of His kingdom.
- In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus invites His followers to come to each other and to Him in His inn — His Church. His followers can do so by ensuring no one sits alone, literally or spiritually.
- It is precisely because all have been hurt and have hurt others that Jesus Christ brings everyone to His inn. Listeners are invited to do more than simply tolerate others; they can genuinely welcome and love.
- There are many reasons an individual may feel like they don’t fit in at church. Latter-day Saints can judge less and be less demanding of others and themselves.
III.
- Doctrinally, in the household of faith and fellowship of the Saints, no one sits alone because of covenant belonging in Jesus Christ. God invites all to come unto Him because all are alike before Him.
- Conversion in Jesus Christ requires disciples to put off worldly culture and live the gospel culture, which includes chastity, weekly attendance at church, and abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee.
- People of every nation and language have unique insights and Christlike attributes to contribute to the Church. All are blessed when individuals define their cultural identity as a child of God, a child of the covenant and a disciple of Jesus Christ.
- Elder Gong comforted a young man uncertain if he could be forgiven and urged him to speak with his bishop. Inspired by this story, another individual who heard it felt renewed hope that he, too, could be forgiven for past sins.
- Covenant belonging deepens when individuals come to the Lord and each other.
Reflection questions
How have you been blessed by getting to know people different from you?
Who in your ward or community do you feel prompted to reach out to?
Why might the Savior have asked His disciples to love one another?
What can you do to build Zion in your congregation?
How can you more fully embrace your identity as a child of God, child of the covenant and disciple of Jesus Christ?
Speaker quotes
- “Living the gospel of Jesus Christ includes making room for all in His restored Church.”
- “It is precisely because we have been hurt and have hurt others that Jesus Christ brings us all to His inn. In His Church and through His ordinances and covenants, we come to each other and to Jesus Christ. We love and are loved, serve and are served, forgive and are forgiven.”
- “Covenant belonging deepens as we come to each other and to the Lord in His inn. The Lord blesses us all when no one sits alone.”
Reference scriptures
- “For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind? ... And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.”
- “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.”
- “He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. ... For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”
Invitations and promises
- “When you come to church, if you see someone alone, will you please say hello and sit with him or her? This may not be your custom. The person may look or speak differently than you. And of course, as a fortune cookie might say, ‘A journey of gospel friendship and love begins with a first hello and no one sitting alone.’”
- “In His restored Church, we are all better when no one sits alone. Let us not simply accommodate or tolerate. Let us genuinely welcome, acknowledge, minister to, love. May each friend, sister, brother not be a foreigner or stranger but a child at home.”
- “I invite us to worry less, judge less, be less demanding of others—and, when needed, be less hard on ourselves. We do not create Zion in a day. But each ‘hello,’ each warm gesture, brings Zion closer.”
Stories
- Growing up, Elder Gong ate and even made fortune cookies. As he traveled, he looked for fortune cookies on multiple continents and found they’re a largely American custom. Similarly, comparing practices in different cultural settings can help distinguish gospel culture.
- Elder Gong visited with a father whose son, years earlier, had received his first pair of new shoes in preparation for becoming a new deacon. At church, the other deacons laughed at his shoes, which were not fashionable. Embarrassed and hurt, the young deacon said he would never go again to church.
- A young man asked Elder Gong if he could ever be forgiven. Elder Gong spoke with him, gave him a hug and encouraged him to talk with his bishop. After recounting this story elsewhere, Elder Gong received a letter from a man who had always thought his sins as a youth would keep him from entering the celestial kingdom. After hearing about the young man Elder Gong had spoken with, the author of the letter had hope that he could be forgiven as well.
From the footnotes
- 5. Every language and culture has words and terms that describe the tender things of the heart. Our lived fullness of His restored gospel expands as we learn from each other. Recently, Sisters Annalie (originally from Munich) and Suzy Myers, Elder Erich and Sister Christiane Kopischke, and Elder Jörg and Sister Julia Klebingat shared unique German words that speak to the heart. The feelings these words describe go beyond surface formality. They go beyond routine or duty. These feelings speak of the heart, of warm, close relationships, of spiritual joy in our divine souls. These special words in German include Gemütlichkeit and gemütlich, Heimat, Heimweh, Geborgenheit, Zuflucht, Herzensangelegenheit, Herzensmensch, and Schummerstunde (a rare and poetic term from the north).
- 16. The gospel of Jesus Christ transcends time and culture. It is a remarkable testimony for me that the Book of Mormon teaches the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the context of an ancient cultural setting in the Americas.
- 22. As diverse branches and roots intertwine as one in Jesus Christ, we find more that is “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy” (Articles of Faith 1:13). We see the first last and the last first. We rejoice as learners teach and teachers learn. All understand, are edified and rejoice together (see Doctrine and Covenants 50:22).
Additional resources
- Related image: “Woman Sitting in Sacrament Meeting”
- Related video: “Helping Others: Napping in Church”
- Related hymn: No. 308, “Love One Another”
Recent conference talks on belonging
- Sister J. Anette Dennis: “Cheering Each Other On” (October 2025)
- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: “By This All Will Know That You Are My Disciples” (April 2025)
- Elder David L. Buckner: “Ye Are My Friends” (October 2024)
Who is Elder Gong?
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on March 31, 2018, and had served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2010. He worked for the U.S. State Department and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Elder Gong’s travels have taken him to all seven continents, including living in Asia for more than a decade.
