The purpose of this book is to help promote positive individual and family response to President Russell M. Nelson’s repeated charges to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[1] to (a) deeply engage in home-centered study, learning, teaching, and worship and (b) seek a greater degree of personal revelation. Integrating responses to these two prophetic calls encourages the Saints to enjoy and share personal and revelatory experiences with loved ones in a home and family setting. This book explores how to integrate these two important and challenging processes in synergistic ways. Religious practices such as personal and family scripture study and personal, couple, and family prayer are personal and relational means to eternal ends such as two-way communion with God and all the eternal spiritual and relational blessings that can come from such revelatory experiences.

We note that leaders of the Church refer to the new initiative they announced in 2018 as a “home-centered, Church-supported” approach.[2] Both phrases carry great power and meaning for us. If it were only home-centered—but not Church-supported—then we would all be left to our own devices and resources. Most of us would likely find that we are not able to establish or maintain healthy, consistent patterns of home gospel living without guidance, encouragement, and support of the Church and our fellow Church members. If it were a Church-centered approach, many of us likely would not obtain the many blessings available to individuals, couples, and families who make concerted efforts to establish and maintain home-centered gospel living and learning. Home-centered, Church-supported gospel living incorporates the wide array of benefits the institutional Church provides globally, such as inspired leadership and guidance from living prophets and committed ward and stake leaders, teachers, and fellow Saints—as well as supportive materials such as Come, Follow Me, videos produced by the Church, instructional meetings, and other resources.

To assist us in discussing home-centered worship, we deeply explore both individual and family worship and draw from reports from a diverse sample of more than five hundred Latter-day Saints who have shared with us the challenges and barriers they have faced—and successes they have experienced. These reports include members from stakes inside and outside of Utah. They include people who are single, married, remarried, or divorced—and people with children of varying ages. These individuals also relate encouraging successes, ideas, and counsel. Finally, we present detailed discussion regarding how several specific prophetic promises are being fulfilled in their personal and family lives. Throughout the book, we also share key findings from the social sciences that shed additional light on the practice of uniting in sacred practices in our homes.

We did much of our work on this book in the days following the April 2020 general conference celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of the First Vision (perhaps destined to be known as the “First COVID Conference”). Considering the major shutdowns enacted because of the pandemic, how visionary and prophetic the three general conferences urging us toward a “home-centered Church” now seem! Our hope is that this book on home-centered worship and personal revelation will help and inspire individuals, couples, and families to build on their strengths and take additional steps along the covenant path toward deeper and lasting conversion. We also hope that the tremendous revelatory and relational opportunities provided by home-centered worship will be more apparent and that we will seek and seize chances to draw closer to those we love.

Notes

[1] In keeping with prophetic counsel, when we refer to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we will use the full name or “the Church of Jesus Christ” or “the Church.” When we refer to members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we will use the following terms interchangeably: Latter-day Saints, Saints, Church members, and members.

[2] See Quentin L. Cook, “Deep and Lasting Conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” Ensign, November 2018, 9, 10.