“Women in the Church,” Topics and Questions (2025)
Overview
Women in the Church
Women are beloved daughters of God; their divine identity as His spirit children helps them move forward with optimism and faith in Jesus Christ. As disciples of Christ, women are essential to God’s plan of happiness. They build the kingdom of God as wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and friends. Through sharing and teaching the gospel, participating in ward and stake councils, doing temple and family history work, caring for those in need, and ministering to others, women help accomplish God’s work.
“It is a glorious time to be a woman, a covenant woman, in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson declared. “Understanding our role, purpose, and responsibility in the plan of happiness is ennobling, reassuring, and joyful.”
All women in the Church are members of the Relief Society. Founded in 1842, the Relief Society is key to the Church’s mission of helping God fulfill His work of salvation and exaltation, and its formation was divinely inspired. When formally organizing the Relief Society, the Prophet Joseph Smith is reported to have said: “I will organize the women under the priesthood after the pattern of the priesthood. … The Church was never perfectly organized until the women were thus organized.”
Today, the Relief Society is one of the largest women’s organizations in the world, with millions of members. In the Relief Society, women lead and serve in callings and assignments on global and local levels. Through their combined efforts, women bring the relief of Jesus Christ to people around the world both temporally and spiritually.
Women also lead and serve in the Young Women and Primary organizations of the Church. They help the rising generation become disciples of Jesus Christ.
As women participate in the Church, they can find strength as they make and keep covenants with God and worship Him in the temple. With His help, they can help bring to pass the eternal life of God’s children and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.