President Dallin H. Oaks, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has taught that the ideal place to teach, learn and live the gospel is in the home.
In his October 2025 general conference address “The Family-Centered Gospel of Jesus Christ,” President Oaks spoke about how all families have a divine invitation to grow together in the gospel.
“Parents, single or married — and others, like grandparents, who fill that role for children — are the master teachers. Their most effective teaching is by example. The family circle is the ideal place to demonstrate and learn eternal values, such as the importance of marriage and children, the purpose of life and the true source of joy,” he taught.
When the home-centered, Church-supported shift was made, Church leaders said rather than focusing on just the teaching in weekly Church meetings, much of the learning was to be done at home so that Church learning becomes a support — rather than the primary source — to teaching and learning in the gospel.
Elder David P. Homer, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Priesthood and Family Department, said the new Sunday class schedule taking effect in September will connect what is happening at home with what is happening at church in a more direct way.
Currently, adults in the Church are discussing “Come, Follow Me” only every other week in Sunday School classes. Now those classes will meet every week.
“We now have an opportunity to literally connect what’s happening at home with what’s happening at church for everyone. And so this is going to strengthen the home-centered and Church-supported changes that were announced a few years ago,” Elder Homer said.
Meeting weekly will allow those in Relief Society classes and elders quorum to study more general conference addresses throughout the year. Young Women groups and Aaronic Priesthood quorums will be studying weekly from the expanded “For the Strength of Youth” guide. Preparing at home will improve the Sunday experience, Elder Homer said on the Church News podcast.
Elder Homer said everything being done in the Church is an effort to try to help people become converted and be lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.
“We all understand that what starts at home and that what happens at church can help, but it starts at home. And this has a chance and the opportunity to strengthen that.”
In a video on the Gospel Learning and Teaching account, Sunday School General President Paul V. Johnson said the new schedule will help Church members focus more on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
“A shorter class time can nudge us to get right to what matters most — the Savior and the most essential truths of His gospel,” he said. “The new schedule can strengthen gospel learning at home because of the weekly connection.”
More on the upcoming schedule changes can be found at Sunday.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
More on home-centered learning
The Relief Society supports home-centered gospel learning, said Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson. This will look different depending upon each home and family circumstances.
“When I was a young mom and we had three boys, oftentimes our scripture study meant all the boys got into bed and I sat down on the floor in the hallway outside their bedrooms, and I read the Book of Mormon out loud,” she said in a Relief Society Worldwide video. “It wasn’t ideal, but I do know that my boys knew and understood the value of being in the scriptures every day because we made that effort.”
President Johnson invited women to consider how to raise the bar in their own gospel learning at home and then share those experiences with their Relief Society sisters.
“We support one another in this very important cause,” she said.
In October 2018 general conference, then-President Russell M. Nelson introduced the adjustments.
“We are each responsible for our individual spiritual growth,” he said. “And scriptures make it clear that parents have the primary responsibility to teach the doctrine to their children.”
In that same conference, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke about balancing the Church and the home experiences in a way to increase faith and spirituality and deepen conversion.
“World conditions increasingly require deepening individual conversion to and strengthening faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The Lord has prepared us, line upon line, for the perilous times that we now face,” Elder Cook said, adding, “The adjustment announced this morning is yet another example of guidance for the challenges of our day.”
Section 2.2.3 of the General Handbook outlines how gospel teaching and learning are home-centered and Church-supported:
“Church leaders encourage all members to study the gospel at home on the Sabbath day and throughout the week. Gospel study at home strengthens individuals and families. It deepens conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
