Mixed Bag of Reactions to First Presidency Announcement of Discontinuation of Saturday Evening Session of General Conference

The changes keep coming. The latest from the brethren is a change to General Conference. The Church Newsroom released the following:

The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced changes to upcoming general conferences of the Church, which are held each April and October.

Beginning with October’s general conference and continuing thereafter, the Saturday evening sessions will be discontinued. Previously, a Saturday evening session was held for women (in October) and priesthood holders (in April). This change is being made because all sessions of general conference are now available to anyone who desires to watch or listen.

October 2021 General Conference Virtual Only

The brethren also announced in the same release that October’s conference will be virtual:

For the October 2021 general conference (to be held October 2–3), conference proceedings will originate from the Conference Center auditorium in Salt Lake City. Once again, the Conference Center will be closed to the public.

General conference is an opportunity for Church members and friends worldwide to receive messages about the Savior Jesus Christ from living prophets and apostles through ever-expanding technologies.

What Are We Going to Miss?

We took to social media to see the reactions of the discontinuation of the Saturday Evening Session. Here is a mixed bag of reactions:

So sad to hear this. We had a tradition that the first priesthood session after being ordained a deacon would be in the conference center. Easy for the Utah people to do this, but I am in Texas. So sad my last boy of 5 won’t get that opportunity. – Brian L.

Not gonna lie, I’m sad to lose the Saturday evening session. It always felt to me like a bonus round and I was grateful to get to spend that much more time hearing the inspired sermons on conference weekend. Lots of fond memories.  – Nathan C.

I will miss the Women’s Session of General Conference. It helped me feel special, needed and focused on. – Jeannete V.

Instead of attending another session, perhaps I’ll start a tradition of having extended family over for dinner to talk about the earlier sessions of conference and prepare for the next day’s sessions. – Andrew L.

I remember going to Five Guys after being spiritually fed by the Priesthood session and seeing a sea of white shirts and ties. I know this change will be good, but I am glad I have my memories of attending that session. – Robert W.

The Priesthood session was always the highlight for me. I feel a loss. – Bruce F.

That’s too bad. The priesthood session was always the best session. Now to convince my wife we still need to go out for ice cream that night. – Eric B.

I’m kind of sad about this change but I trust their decision. Maybe this will open an avenue for something new. – Anna P.

Can’t say I’m sad to hear this news. Six hours is a lot for one day. I will be able to better prepare for the Sabbath and will be more ready to listen to four more hours of Conference the following day. I have loved most of the adjustments that have been made recently, and I think I will really like this one! – Suzanne L.

As expected, reactions are all over the map. One thing we know for sure – the change was inspired and will lead to the continuance of the work of the Lord rolling forth. We are grateful for living prophets, seers, and revelators who see what we can’t see, and know what we don’t know.

God be thanked for these wonderful leaders and the chance we have every six months to figuratively sit at their feet and hear the voice of the Lord revealed.