Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from April 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “By This All Will Know That You Are My Disciples”
- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Saturday afternoon session of April 2025 general conference.
- Theme: The love felt among members of the Savior’s Church will lift others closer to Him.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Uchtdorf’s message here.
Outline
- Elder and Sister Uchtdorf invited a friend to attend church with them. During sacrament meeting, Elder Uchtdorf worried the not-so-perfect singing, noisy children and unskilled speakers would make a bad impression on his friend.
- However, the friend said the service was beautiful. She was impressed with Church members’ treatment of one another and imagined that’s how Christ would want His Church to be like. Instead of picture-perfect meetings, the branch had achieved a spirit of love, kindness, patience and compassion.
That faith might increase in the earth
- The Savior’s true and living Church is led by Him, and it has His priesthood and a living prophet. The Savior has given Latter-day Saints the mission to prepare the world for His Second Coming.
- Most who experience the Church for the first time will notice, above all else, how Latter-day Saints treat one another. Often, a testimony of Jesus Christ will first come by the love they feel among His disciples. Those who seek greater faith in Christ and a closer connection with God will feel at home in His Church.
The ideal and the real
- A book, a church or a person can have faults and still be the work of God. There will always be a gap between the ideal and the real, but don’t give up on the ideal.
- While holding oneself to the Lord’s standards, one must be patient with others. Don’t just join the Lord’s kingdom but also build it. All must change their hearts to align with the Savior. With the Lord, nothing is impossible.
Fit and belonging
- Those who feel like they don’t fit in are not alone. In the Savior’s Church, the common objective of love for God and neighbor and a commitment to Christ and His gospel make all “one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28). Unity in the Church doesn’t mean standing in the same place; it means facing the same direction — toward Jesus Christ.
One body
- Those who love God and want to know Him better belong in the Church. All are needed in the body of Christ, and all have something important to contribute and learn.
One voice
- Those who aren’t yet members of the Church are invited to join in rejoicing in the Savior’s “song of redeeming love” (Alma 5:26). Love for God and His children is a testimony to the world that this is the Savior’s Church. As Latter-day Saints seek to live ideals and show love to others, all will know they are His disciples.
Reflection questions
Who do you see as a disciple of Jesus Christ? What do they do that represents true discipleship?
How can you more fully align your heart with the Lord?
What can you do the next time you feel like you don’t fit in?
What unique attributes has the Lord blessed you with? How can you use those to build up the kingdom of God?
What ideals can you strive to live up to?
Speaker quotes
- “The unity we seek is not to have everyone stand in the same place; it is to have everyone face in the same direction — toward Jesus Christ. We are one not because of where we’ve been but where we are striving to go, not because of who we are but who we seek to become.”
- “If you love God, if you want to know Him better by following His Son, then you belong here. If you’re earnestly seeking to keep the Savior’s commandments — even though you’re not perfect at it yet — then you are a perfect fit for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
- “Our love for God and His children is a powerful testimony to the world that this is truly the Savior’s Church.”
Reference scriptures
- “Love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples.”
- John 13:34–35, New King James Version
- “God does not view things the way people do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
- 1 Samuel 16:7, New English Translation
- “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Invitations and promises
- “The Lord invites us not just to join His kingdom but also to be anxiously engaged in building it.”
- “If you are not yet a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we invite you to join us as we rejoice in the Savior’s ‘song of redeeming love’ (Alma 5:26). We need you. We love you. The Church will be better with your efforts to serve the Lord and His children.”
- “May God bless us to patiently but diligently seek to live up to the ideals our Savior, Redeemer and Master has set for us — so all will know that we are His disciples.”
Stories
- Elder and Sister Uchtdorf invited a friend to attend a church service in southern Germany. Although the meeting wasn’t perfect, and Elder Uchtdorf cringed at the noisy children, poor singing and unskilled speaking, she had a wonderful time. She was impressed by how the members of the Church treated one another. She felt that was how Christ would want His Church to be like.
- In general conference choirs, the singers don’t all sing the same notes. But they all contribute to the beautiful sound and are completely unified. When they are fixed on the same central goal — to praise God and lift their hearts to Him — they truly become one voice.
From the footnotes
- 13. In the body of Christ, we don’t ignore differences, and we don’t merely tolerate them. We are thankful for the unique contribution each member makes, for the good of the whole body.
- 14. Just as it would be incorrect for the ear to look at the body and say, “I’m not like the eye; there must not be a place for me here,” it would be equally incorrect for the eye to say to the ear, “You’re not like me; we have no need of you here” (see 1 Corinthians 12:16, 21).
- 16. When we are baptized, we witness that, among other things, we want to be part of a people who “bear one another’s burdens” and “mourn with those [who] mourn” and “comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:8–9). In other words, when we join the Church of Jesus Christ, we are saying — humbly but clearly — that we want to become more like our Beloved Savior, and we want to do it together.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Peter and Christ”
- Related video: “The Heart of the Gospel: Love God and Neighbor”
- Related hymn: No. 308, “Love One Another”
Recent conference talks on discipleship
- President Henry B. Eyring: “Draw Near Unto Me” (April 2025)
- Elder Michael B. Strong: “Charity — a Sign of True Discipleship” (April 2025)
- Sister J. Anette Dennis: “Put Ye On the Lord Jesus Christ” (April 2024)
Who is Elder Uchtdorf?
- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 2004. He served as second counselor in the First Presidency under President Thomas S. Monson, from February 2008 to January 2018. From 1965 to 1996, he was a pilot, captain and corporate executive for the German airline Lufthansa.
