Mormons Celebrate 100 Years of Family Home Evening

Nearly 10,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Malaysia mark the 100th anniversary of the beginnings of the faith's "Family Home Evening" program. In 1915 members of the Church's senior governing body, The First Presidency, sent a letter to Latter-day Saints around the world, encouraging the practice of holding a weekly family night.

Family Home Evenings are simple activities organized by the family and they usually involve singing, prayer, a lesson on moral principles such as honesty, service to others, or keeping the Sabbath day holy. The family engages in a fun activity and often share a traditional family snack.

Latter-day Saints believe that the family is central to God's plan for His children, the central unit of society and the means for bringing children into the world where they can be loved, provided for and taught truth and righteousness.

Elder Todd D. Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and a senior Church leader said, "A family built on the marriage of a man and a woman supplies the best setting for God's plan to thrive."

For this purpose, Church leadership signed a letter in 1915 encouraging the practice of holding a weekly family night. Fifty-five years later, in 1970, church leaders invited families worldwide to make Monday night the time to hold this weekly gathering called  "Family Home Evening". Mormons in Singapore and throughout SE Asia, follow this standard and set aside Monday evening as family time together.

A teenager recently said "Family Home evening has strengthened me to live standards which will lead to a better life and has taught me things that have enabled me to survive in this troubled time. I have learned to appreciate my family more and I love my Heavenly Father".

A busy father says "We love this time together. When I return from work our children ask every day if it is Family Home Evening tonight. This is a time for us to just be together and share with each other".

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages everyone to organize a weekly family night. Doing this on a regular basis will strengthen families everywhere.  Current Church President Thomas S. Monson stated, "This heaven-inspired program can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand temptations that are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest".