Sept. 23, 2025, marked the 30th anniversary of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” also known by many in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “The Family Proclamation.”
This document teaches that marriage between a man and a woman and the creation of families are central parts of God’s plan.
In this first part of a two-part special Church News podcast, Church News editor Ryan Jensen explores the gospel doctrine and principles taught in “The Family Proclamation.”
The podcast features quotes from Church leaders who testify how eternal truths found in the proclamation strengthen individuals, families and homes.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
President Russell M. Nelson: The new home-centered, Church-supported integrated curriculum has the potential to unleash the power of families, as each family follows through conscientiously and carefully to transform their home into a sanctuary of faith. I promise that as you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, over time your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Your children will be excited to learn and to live the Savior’s teachings, and the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease. Changes in your family will be dramatic and sustaining.
1:00
Jon Ryan Jensen: This is Jon Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast. Today, we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In September 2025, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints commemorate the 30th anniversary of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” Known by many in the Church as the family proclamation, this document teaches that marriage between a man and a woman and the creation of families are central parts of God’s plan.
In this first part of a two-part special Church News podcast, we explore the gospel, doctrine and principles taught in this powerful proclamation that help strengthen homes and families. We’ve gathered quotes from prophets, general authorities and other leaders of the Church, teaching and testifying about the family as the fundamental unit of society and source of joy.
Let us first listen to the complete proclamation, given by then-President of the Church, President Gordon B. Hinckley, from the pulpit of the Tabernacle in general conference, 1995.
2:17
President Gordon B. Hinckley: We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.
All human beings — male and female — are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.
In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.
The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.
We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.
Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives — mothers and fathers — will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.
We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.
We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.
7:12
Jon Ryan Jensen: This prophetic call to promote and protect the family in 1995 stands to this day in 2025. In October 2018, the family proclamation took on another facet of meaning as President Russell M. Nelson announced adjustments in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, establishing a more home-centered, Church-supported focus for the Church’s members. And within two years of this announcement, the home-centered approach helped members through a worldwide pandemic.
7:39
President Russell M. Nelson: In recent years, we in the presiding councils of the Church have wrestled with a fundamental question: How can we take the gospel in its simple purity and the ordinances with their eternal efficacy to all of God’s children?
As Latter-day Saints, we have become accustomed to thinking of “church” as something that happens in our meetinghouses, supported by what happens at home. We need an adjustment to this pattern. It is time for a home-centered Church, supported by what takes place inside our branch, ward and stake buildings.
The long-standing objective of the Church is to assist all members to increase their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Atonement, to assist them in making and keeping their covenants with God, and to strengthen and seal their families. In this complex world today, this is not easy. The adversary is increasing his attacks on faith and upon us and our families at an exponential rate. To survive spiritually, we need counterstrategies and proactive plans. Accordingly, we now want to put in place organizational adjustments that will further fortify our members and their families.
For many years, Church leaders have been working on an integrated curriculum to strengthen families and individuals through a home-centered and Church-supported plan to learn doctrine, strengthen faith and foster greater personal worship. Our efforts over these recent years to hallow the Sabbath — to make it a delight and a personal sign to God of our love for Him — will be augmented by the adjustments we will now introduce.
This morning we will announce a new balance and connection between gospel instruction in the home and in the Church. We are each responsible for our individual spiritual growth. And scriptures make it clear that parents have the primary responsibility to teach the doctrine to their children. It is the responsibility of the Church to assist each member in that divinely appointed role of increasing his or her gospel knowledge.
10:40
Jon Ryan Jensen: Within three decades of its declaration, the family proclamation has proven itself valuable in an ever-changing and divisive world. Individuals were encouraged to study and view the proclamation through the eye of faith, as counseled by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the April 2019 general conference.
10:59
Elder Neil L. Andersen: Let’s look at the proclamation of the family through the eye of faith.
President Gordon B. Hinckley introduced “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” with this statement: “With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn [you].”
The proclamation begins: “All human beings — male and female — are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.”
These are eternal truths. You and I are not an accident of nature.
I love these words: “In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan.”
We lived before our birth. Our individual identity is stamped in us forever. In ways we don’t fully understand, our spiritual growth there in the premortal world influences who we are here. We accepted God’s plan. We knew that we would experience difficulties, pain and sorrow upon the earth. We also knew that the Savior would come and that as we proved ourselves worthy, we would rise in the Resurrection, having “glory added upon [our] heads for ever and ever” (Abraham 3:26).
The proclamation is direct: “We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.”
Our Father’s plan encourages a husband and wife to bring children into the world and obligates us to speak in defense of the unborn.
If we pick and choose what we accept in the proclamation, we cloud our eternal view, putting too much importance on our experience here and now. By prayerfully pondering the proclamation through the eye of faith, we better understand how the principles are beautifully connected, supporting one another, revealing our Father’s plan for His children.
13:31
Jon Ryan Jensen: In an August 2009 address given to the Church’s Seminary and Institutes of Religion teachers, then-Relief Society General President Julie B. Beck built upon this message of family being central to God’s plan. She reminds that this plan is a plan of happiness and that the main pillars of the Church’s theology are firmly planted in the family.
13:51
President Julie B. Beck: In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a theology of the family, and it’s based on the Creation, the Fall and the Atonement. The Creation of the earth was the creation of an earth where a family could live. It was a creation of a man and a woman who were the two essential halves of a family. It was part of the plan that these two be sealed and form an eternal family unit.
The Fall provided a way for the family to grow. Through the leadership of Eve and Adam, they chose to have a mortal experience. The Fall made it possible for Adam and Eve to have a family, to have sons and daughters.
The Atonement allows for the family to be sealed together eternally, and it allows for families to have eternal growth and perfection. The plan of happiness, the plan of salvation, was a plan created for families. I don’t think very many of the rising generation understand that the main pillars of our theology are centered in family.
When we speak of qualifying for the blessings of eternal life, we mean qualifying for the blessings of eternal families. This was Christ’s doctrine, and this is some of what was restored that had been lost, the understanding and clarity about family.
This generation will be called upon to defend the doctrine of the family as never before in the history of the world. If they don’t know it, they can’t defend it. They need to understand temples and priesthood.
Seminary and institute’s objectives are to prepare our youth for the blessings of eternal life.
15:44
Jon Ryan Jensen: In an October 2017 general conference message titled “The Plan and the Proclamation,” then-Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles testified of and gave insight into the creation of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” restating and reinforcing some of the eternal truths of this eternal plan.
16:03
President Dallin H. Oaks: God created this earth according to His plan to provide His spirit children a place to experience mortality as a necessary step toward the glories He desires for all His children. While there are various kingdoms and glories, our Heavenly Father’s ultimate desire for His children is what President [Thomas S.] Monson called “eternal life in the kingdom of God,” which is exaltation in families. This is more than salvation. President Russell M. Nelson has reminded us, “In God’s eternal plan, salvation is an individual matter; [but] exaltation is a family matter.”
The restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the inspired family proclamation are essential teachings to guide mortal preparation for exaltation. Even as we must live with the marriage laws and other traditions of a declining world, those who strive for exaltation must make personal choices in family life according to the Lord’s way whenever that differs from the world’s way.
In 1995, a President of the Church and 14 other Apostles of the Lord issued these important doctrinal statements. As one of only seven of those Apostles still living, I feel obliged to share what led to the family proclamation for the information of all who consider it.
The inspiration identifying the need for a proclamation on the family came to the leadership of the Church over 23 years ago. It was a surprise to some who thought the doctrinal truths about marriage and the family were well understood without reinstatement. Nevertheless, we felt the confirmation and we went to work. Subjects were identified and discussed by members of the Quorum of the Twelve for nearly a year. Language was proposed, reviewed and revised. Prayerfully we continually pleaded with the Lord for His inspiration on what we should say and how we should say it. We all learned “line upon line, precept upon precept,” as the Lord has promised (Doctrine and Covenants 98:12).
During this revelatory process, a proposed text was presented to the First Presidency, who oversee and promulgate Church teachings and doctrine. After the presidency made further changes, the proclamation on the family was announced by the President of the Church, Gordon B. Hinckley. In the women’s meeting of Sept. 23, 1995, he introduced the proclamation with these words: “With so much of sophistry that is passed off as truth, with so much of deception concerning standards and values, with so much of allurement and enticement to take on the slow stain of the world, we have felt to warn and forewarn.”
I testify that the proclamation on the family is a statement of eternal truth, the will of the Lord for His children who seek eternal life. It has been the basis of Church teaching and practice for the last 22 years and will continue so for the future. Consider it as such, live by it, and you will be blessed as you press forward toward eternal life.
Forty years ago, President Ezra Taft Benson taught that “every generation has its tests and its chance to stand and prove itself.” I believe our attitude toward and use of the family proclamation is one of those tests for this generation. I pray for all Latter-day Saints to stand firm in that test.
20:24
Jon Ryan Jensen: Twenty years ago, in October 2005, Elder Oaks also testified that “the family and the Church have a mutually reinforcing relationship.” He said the doctrine and ordinances required to perpetuate family relationships into the eternities are found only in the restored Church of Jesus Christ and its sacred priesthood authority.
20:42
President Dallin H. Oaks: In our theology and in our practice, the family and the Church have a mutually reinforcing relationship. The family is dependent upon the Church for doctrine, ordinances and priesthood keys. The Church provides the teachings, authority and ordinances necessary to perpetuate family relationships to the eternities.
We have programs and activities in both the family and the Church. Each is so interrelated that service to one is service to the other. When children see their parents faithfully perform Church callings, it strengthens their family relationships. When families are strong, the Church is strong. The two run in parallel. Each is important and necessary, and each must be conducted with careful concern for the other. Church programs and activities should not be so all-encompassing that families cannot have everyone present for family time. And family activities should not be scheduled in conflict with sacrament meeting or other vital Church meetings.
We need both Church activities and family activities. If all families were complete and perfect, the Church could sponsor fewer activities. But in a world where many of our youth grow up in homes where one parent is missing, not a member or otherwise inactive in gospel leadership, there is a special need for Church activities to fill in the gaps. Our widowed mother wisely saw that Church activities would provide her sons with experiences she could not provide because we had no male role model in the home. I remember her urging me to watch and try to be like the good men in our ward. She pushed me to participate in Scouting and other Church activities that would provide this opportunity.
Priesthood authority functions in both the family and the Church. The priesthood is the power of God used to bless all of His children, male and female. Some of our abbreviated expressions, like “the women and the priesthood,” convey an erroneous idea. Men are not “the priesthood.” Priesthood meeting is a meeting of those who hold and exercise the priesthood. The blessings of the priesthood, such as baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, the temple endowment and eternal marriage, are available to men and women alike. The authority of the priesthood functions in the family and in the Church according to the principles the Lord has established.
The theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints centers on the family. Our relationship to God and the purpose of earth life are explained in terms of the family. We are the spirit children of heavenly parents. The gospel plan is implemented through earthly families, and our highest aspiration is to perpetuate those family relationships throughout eternity. The ultimate mission of the Savior’s Church is to help us achieve exaltation in the celestial kingdom, and that can only be accomplished in a family relationship.
No wonder our Church is known as a family-centered church. No wonder we are distressed at the current legal and cultural deteriorations in the position of marriage and childbearing. At a time when the world seems to be losing its understanding of the purpose of marriage and the value of childbearing, it is vital that Latter-day Saints have no confusion about these matters.
24:37
Jon Ryan Jensen: Continuing to ponder the importance of family, individuals are reminded that they can be at both their best and worst within the walls of their homes. In April 2014, then-Prophet and President of the Church, President Thomas S. Monson, reminded that love is the essence of the gospel and that the greatest opportunity to share that love and show forgiveness happens within homes and in family relationships.
24:58
President Thomas S. Monson: We cannot truly love God if we do not follow our fellow travelers on this mortal journey. Likewise, we cannot fully love our fellowmen if we do not love God, the Father of us all. The apostle John tells us, “This commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:21). We are all spirit children of our Heavenly Father and, as such, are brothers and sisters. As we keep this truth in mind, loving all of God’s children will become easier.
Actually, love is the very essence of the gospel, and Jesus Christ is our Exemplar. His life was a legacy of love. The sick He healed; the downtrodden He lifted; the sinner He saved. At the end the angry mob took His life. And yet there rings from Golgotha’s hill the words: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34) — a crowning expression in mortality of compassion and love.
There are many attributes which are manifestations of love, such as kindness, patience, selflessness, understanding and forgiveness. In all of our associations, these and other such attributes will help make evident the love in our hearts.
Brothers and sisters, some of our greatest opportunities to demonstrate our love will be within the walls of our own homes. Love should be the very heart of family life, and yet sometimes it is not. There can be too much impatience, too much arguing, too many fights, too many tears. Lamented President Gordon B. Hinckley: “Why is it that the [ones] we love [most] become so frequently the targets of our harsh words? Why is it that [we] sometimes speak as if with daggers that cut to the quick?” The answers to these questions may be different for each of us, and yet the bottom line is that the reasons do not matter. If we would keep the commandment to love one another, we must treat each other with kindness and respect.
Forgiveness should go hand in hand with love. In our families, as well as with our friends, there can be hurt feelings and disagreements. Again, it does not really matter how small the issue was. It cannot and should not be left to canker, to fester and ultimately to destroy. Blame keeps wounds open. Only forgiveness heals.
28:01
Jon Ryan Jensen: This loving kindness should be applied most diligently in the roles of parents. In October 2012, then-Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught about the importance of this parental stewardship, listing five things parents can do to create stronger family culture.
28:19
Elder L. Tom Perry: In our remarkable parental stewardship, there are many ways that goodly parents can access the help and support they need to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to their children. Let me suggest five things parents can do to create stronger family cultures:
First, parents can pray in earnest that our Eternal Father will help them love, understand and guide their children He has sent them.
Second, they can hold family home evenings, scripture study, family home evenings and eat together as often as possible, making dinner time a time of communication and the teaching of values.
Third, parents can fully avail themselves of the Church’s support network, communicating with their children’s Primary teachers, youth leaders, class and quorum presidencies. By communicating with those who are called and set apart to work with their children, parents can provide essential understanding of a child’s special and specific needs.
Fourth, parents can share their testimonies often with their children, committing them to keep the commandments of God, and promise the blessings that our Father in Heaven promises His faithful children.
Fifth, we can organize our families based on clear, simple family rules and expectations, wholesome family traditions and rituals, and “family economics,” where children have household responsibilities and can earn allowance so that they can learn to budget, save and pay tithing on the money they earn.
These suggestions for creating stronger family cultures work in tandem with the culture of the Church. Our strengthened family cultures will be a protection for our children from “the fiery darts of the adversary” (1 Nephi 15:24) embedded in their peer cultures, the entertainment and celebrity cultures, the credit and entitlement cultures, and the internet and media cultures to which they are exposed constantly. It will help our children live in the world and not become “of the world” (John 15:19).
30:46
Jon Ryan Jensen: In October 2011, then-Young Women general president, President Elaine S. Dalton, spoke specifically to the sons and fathers of the congregation on strengthening family culture. She reminded them how the example of a father loving the mother of their children can influence that child their whole life long, reminding husbands and wives to love their spouses so much that their marriages become celestial.
31:09
President Elaine S. Dalton: No words describe the sacred occasion when a new father holds a baby daughter in his arms for the first time. This year, three of our sons have become new fathers of baby girls. As I watched our rugged, strong, rugby-playing son, Jon, hold his first baby daughter in his arms, he looked at her with a reverent tenderness, and then he looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, “How do I raise a girl?”
This morning I would like to speak to our sons and to all fathers. How can a father raise a happy, well-adjusted daughter in today’s increasingly toxic world? The answer has been taught by the Lord’s prophets. It’s a simple answer, and it’s true — “The most important thing a father can do for his [daughter] is to love [her] mother.”
By the way you love her mother, you will teach your daughter about tenderness, loyalty, respect, compassion and devotion. She will learn from your example what to expect from young men and what qualities to seek in a future spouse. You can show your daughter by the way you love and honor your wife that she should never settle for less. Your example will teach your daughter to value womanhood. You are showing her that she is a daughter of our Heavenly Father, who loves her.
Love her mother so much that your marriage is celestial. A temple marriage for time and all eternity is worthy of your greatest efforts and highest priority. It was only after Nephi had completed the temple in the wilderness that he stated, “And ... we lived after the manner of happiness” (2 Nephi 5:27). The “manner of happiness” is found in the temple. It is covenant keeping. Don’t let any influence come into your life or your home that would cause you to compromise your covenants or your commitment to your wife and family.
33:17
Jon Ryan Jensen: Revisiting the words of Elder L. Tom Perry in April 2003, he spoke in general conference about the importance of the family, instructing to use all the resources available to encourage closer family ties, including the consumption of family-oriented media and Church materials.
33:34
Elder L. Tom Perry: We will use all of the resources we have to encourage greater harmony, greater love and greater influence in the Lord’s special designated unit — the family.
We need to make our homes a place of refuge from the storm, which is increasing in intensity all about us. Even if the smallest openings are left unattended, negative influences can penetrate the very walls of our homes. Let me cite an example.
Several years ago I was having dinner with my daughter and her family. The scene is all too common in most homes with small children. My daughter was trying to encourage her young, 3-year-old son to eat a balanced meal. He had eaten all the food on his plate that he liked. A small serving of green beans remained, which he was not fond of. In desperation, the mother picked up a fork and tried to encourage him to eat his beans. He tolerated it just about as long as he could. Then he exclaimed, “Look, Mom, don’t foul up a good friendship.”
These words were the exact words he had heard on a television commercial a few days earlier. Oh, what an impact advertising, television programs and the internet and the other media are having on our family units.
We remind you that parents are to preside over their own families.
Helps and reminders will come from the Church internet site and television channels, as well as through priesthood and auxiliary leadership, to assist you as you strive to fulfill our family responsibilities.
Children and youth are shown, through prophetic words and living examples, the importance of loving and honoring their parents. Parents are taught ways of building and maintaining close family ties, both in good times and difficult times.
We hope that by flooding the Church with family-oriented media, members of the Church will be assisted and encouraged to build stronger and better families. We hope it will cause a conscious and sustained effort in building an eternal family unit. An abundance of Church materials will be available for you from which to pick and choose useful ideas. At least by seeing family issues mentioned so often, we will all be reminded to focus our attention on the most important organization the Lord has established here on earth.
36:02
Jon Ryan Jensen: Concluding this first part of a two-part series exploring the importance of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” we end with President Russell M. Nelson’s promised blessings of remodeling our homes to be the center of gospel learning and life.
In the second part of the series, we will continue to explore the blessings of family, as well as how, no matter our relationships or family circumstances, individuals can learn from and apply Christlike principles to bring joy into people’s lives.
For now, we close with President Nelson and what he knows now about family blessings, from his talk “Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints” in October 2018.
36:40
President Russell M. Nelson: The new home-centered, Church-supported integrated curriculum has the potential to unleash the power of families, as each family follows through conscientiously and carefully to transform their home into a sanctuary of faith. I promise that as you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, over time your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Your children will be excited to learn and to live the Savior’s teachings, and the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease. Changes in your family will be dramatic and sustaining.
37:39
Jon Ryan Jensen: Thank you for listening to the Church News podcast. I’m your host, Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen. I hope you learned something today about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had your faith in the Savior increase by looking through the Church News window as a living record of the Restoration. Please subscribe, rate and review this podcast so it can be accessible to more people. And if you enjoyed the messages we shared today, please share the podcast with others. Thanks to our guests; to my producer, KellieAnn Halvorsen; and to others who make this podcast possible. Join us every week for a new episode. Find us on your favorite podcasting channels or with other news and updates about the Church on TheChurchNews.com or on the Church News app.
