Family Home Evening

At a conference of elders in November 1831, Joseph Smith received a revelation that delivered “a law unto the inhabitants of Zion” to “teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” and warned that children were “growing up in wickedness” and greed.¹ Throughout the rest of the 19th century, many Latter-day Saints encouraged families to teach and model gospel principles in the home. Shortly before his death in 1877, Brigham Young said, “If we do not take the pains to train our children, to teach and instruct them concerning these revealed truths, the condemnation will be upon us, as parents, or at least in a measure.”² Latter-day Saints founded various organizations to support families in educating and raising children, including the Primary, Sunday School, and Mutual Improvement Associations for young women and young men.³

At the turn of the 20th century, Frank Y. Taylor, president of the Granite Stake in Salt Lake City, voiced concerns that many parents deferred to Church-sponsored organizations for teaching gospel principles and urged priesthood leaders to help families nurture children in the gospel and “make home the most pleasant place that the boy or girl can find in this whole world.”⁴ In 1909, he assigned a committee to develop a plan for a regular stake event—a “home evening in the families of the Saints.”⁵ The committee presented their recommendations in a special meeting for parents attended and endorsed by Church President Joseph F. Smith. The plan suggested that parents remember the commandment in Doctrine and Covenants 68 by dedicating one evening each week to gathering their families at home and sharing in prayer, singing, scripture reading, short gospel lessons, child-focused activities, and refreshments. The committee encouraged parents to avoid “all formality and stiffness” and avoid making other appointments on such evenings.⁶

Observing the success of the home evenings, President Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency directed all stake presidents and bishops in 1915 to set aside one home evening each month for families and recommended to parents the same activities as the Granite Stake’s program.⁷ Families and organization leaders principally relayed ideas for home evenings in Church magazines and manuals until 1946, when the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles initiated a “revival … of this project inaugurated under the leadership of President Joseph F. Smith.”⁸ The Relief Society was assigned to supervise the newly named “family hour” program in wards and branches and to prepare support materials for parents.⁹ Elder Ezra Taft Benson prominently advocated for the program as a “great responsibility” and “spiritual foundation.” Serving as both an Apostle and cabinet secretary in the United States federal government in 1954, he hosted a live home evening with his family on the nationally televised “Person to Person” program.¹⁰

In 1964, Church President David O. McKay and Elder Harold B. Lee considered further improvements to home-oriented gospel instruction. In general conference, Elder Lee announced that the ongoing priesthood correlation effort would direct a new family home evening program through stake priesthood leadership.¹¹ The Church released the Home Evening Manual containing instructions, suggestions, and lessons adaptable to all ages. Within a few years, the manual was translated into 17 languages.¹²

Enthusiasm for the regular family night extended beyond Latter-day Saint homes. In 1973, an article in the New York Times highlighted the family home evening program as bringing greater solidarity to families, which sparked inquiries among various churches and organizations into the updated Family Home Evening Manual.¹³ That year, missionaries adopted a new curriculum, the Uniform System for Teaching Families, that included family home evenings as additional preaching methods. Missionaries across the world promoted the program with civic events, press articles, street presentations, and home lessons.¹⁴ Also that year, Latter-day Saints discussed the family home evening program with the governor of Virginia, who later declared May 1974 “Family Unity Month.” Other cities and states followed, with mayors and governors across the United States holding family unity activities and recommending family home evenings among their citizens.¹⁵

Stake councils typically designated a day of the week for family home evenings until 1970, when the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged stakes, missions, wards, and branches to reserve Monday nights for families.¹⁶ Among his first actions as the new President of the Church in 1994, Howard W. Hunter directed that all Church buildings and facilities be closed on Monday nights and that stake and ward councils ensure interruptions to family home evenings be avoided.¹⁷ Five years later, President Gordon B. Hinckley and his counselors in the First Presidency reiterated President Hunter’s policy and urged members of the Church to encourage their communities and schools to avoid scheduling activities that could draw children or parents away from home on Monday evenings.¹⁸ A revised Sunday meeting schedule announced in 2018 reserved an hour for gospel study at home. In an effort to include and support single adults, the Church changed the name to “home evening” in the General Handbook and other materials. The First Presidency encouraged “individuals and families to hold home evening and to study the gospel at home on Sunday,” though Monday evenings remained free of other meetings or building use.¹⁹ The broad embrace of home evening traditions continued to distinguish Latter-day Saints, particularly in passing on religious heritage. The regular home gatherings fostered for over a century provided Latter-day Saints with one of the strongest measured intergenerational connections of any modern religious group.²⁰