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Thirty years ago on September 23, 1995, President Gordon B. Hinckley delivered “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.” In recognition of the family proclamation’s thirtieth anniversary, a conference was held on BYU campus, September 25–26, 2025. The theme, “Experiencing Jesus Christ Through the Family Proclamation,” aimed to commemorate, celebrate, and elevate this inspired document. The conference focused on how the proclamation continues to be an extension of the Savior’s divine mercy and loving help for all God’s children as they navigate the realities of mortality.

The conference was jointly sponsored by Religious Education, the School of Family Life, the Wheatley Institute, and the Center for Law and Religion Studies. A faculty member from each of these sponsoring organizations served on a steering and planning committee: Jason Carroll, Elizabeth Clark, Barbara Morgan Gardner, Erin Holmes, and Byran Korth. Working together for a year, we felt the Lord’s hand guiding us as we identified the theme, audience, and speakers.[1]

From the beginning, the committee was unified in centering the conference on Jesus Christ. Foundational to the theme was Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s October 2024 general conference address, “Nourish the Roots, and the Branches Will Grow.” Elder Uchtdorf reminds us:

If you want to nourish a tree, you don’t splash water on the branches. You water the roots. Similarly, if you want the branches of your testimony to grow and bear fruit, nourish the roots. If you are uncertain about a particular doctrine or practice . . . , seek clarity with faith in Jesus Christ. Seek to understand His sacrifice for you, His love for you, His will for you. Follow Him in humility. The branches of your testimony will draw strength from your deepening faith in Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son.

For example, if you want a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, focus on its witness of Jesus Christ. Notice how the Book of Mormon testifies of Him, what it teaches about Him, and how it invites and inspires you to come unto Him.[2]

The committee applied this teaching to the focus and invitation of the conference: if you want a stronger testimony of the family proclamation, focus on its witness of Jesus Christ. We wanted to invite participants to notice how the proclamation testifies of him, what it teaches about him, and how it invites and inspires you to come unto him. By focusing on Jesus Christ, this conference became an invitation—to the rising generation and those that teach them—to view and live the teachings of the proclamation in a higher and holier way, through the lens of Jesus Christ.

Sister Amy A. Wright, first counselor in the General Primary Presidency, was the keynote speaker. Drawing on her family’s holiday tradition of assembling puzzles, Sister Wright explained how “a random piece viewed in isolation is difficult to recognize, and almost impossible to understand its purpose and how it relates to the other pieces.” An important strategy is to first assemble the four sides of the puzzle, creating a context that helps to see the big picture. She explained: “As we work our way from the outside in, from the foundational sides, we gradually begin to appreciate and connect the other pieces. If we find a piece we still do not understand or recognize, a piece that does not seem to fit, we simply set it aside temporarily until additional perspective is established and understood.” She then profoundly explained how this same process can be applied as we seek a better understanding of “the divinely inspired, prophetic counsel” found in the family proclamation.

Emphasizing that Jesus Christ is the central figure in God’s plan, Sister Wright taught with power and authority four foundational truths of the family proclamation: (1) marriage between a man and woman is ordained of God, (2) the family is central to the Creator’s plan, (3) all human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God, and (4) gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. She concluded with a powerful testimony: “Jesus Christ is the central figure of God’s plan of salvation and gives meaning to all the principles outlined in ‘The Family: A Proclamation to the World.’ As modern revelation from the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles, the proclamation is Jesus Christ’s document” (emphasis added). She encouraged attendees to not miss out on the blessings of choosing to be part of an eternal family with the capacity for eternal increase. This “privilege of returning to live with our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ again as eternal families, and most specifically to live the type of life They live, . . . is possible because of Jesus Christ, He who, when worlds without number hung in the balance, did not shrink.”[3]

Throughout the two-day conference, BYU faculty and young adults also delivered presentations that encouraged and inspired attendees to experience Jesus Christ through the divine truths of the family proclamation. This included faculty from the Department of Church History and Doctrine in Religious Education who teach The Eternal Family course, a required religion class based on the family proclamation: Philip Allred, Jenet Erickson, Michael Goodman, Byran Korth, Ty Mansfield, and Brian Mead. Barbara Morgan Gardner was the closing speaker, addressing the experience of Sister Elaine Jack, General Relief Society President at the time President Gordon B. Hinckley delivered the proclamation during the General Relief Society meeting. In her closing address, she bore powerful testimony that the proclamation was given to us from God through his prophets, seers, and revelators as she emphasized six p’s of the proclamation: preparation, partnership, purpose, priority, power, and prophetic.

The committee felt impressed to direct the conference to the students and faculty of Brigham Young University, aligning with the university’s Christ-centered, prophetically directed mission to assist students in their quest for perfection and eternal life. Even so, it drew the attention of both the Deseret News and the Church News, both publishing multiple articles highlighting the conference theme and presentations.

In the end, the two-day conference was very well attended by students and faculty, with both expressing gratitude for the timely, Christ-centered messages and hoping that similar proclamation-based conferences will be held in the future. After attending multiple presentations, one student shared how she has always valued the family proclamation but that while attending the conference she “felt so engulfed by God’s love.” Another student attended Jenet Erickson’s presentation addressing how we are all designed for eternal covenant relationships. He shared: “I want to continue to learn from ‘The Family: A Proclamation to the World’ so the truths of the family will sink deep into my heart. I look forward to having a family of my own but until that time I will continue to minister and make the relationships I form in my life ones that will bring myself and others closer to God.” Another student attended a session that included a panel of BYU faculty from the School of Family Life addressing the topic of establishing successful marriages and families. Impressed by its focus on the Savior, she stated: “Listening to this discussion strengthened my resolve to keep myself close to my Savior. He is the one that can strengthen me through the process of searching for a companion, raising children, or struggling through the less-than-meaningful family worship.”

Thirty years later, the family proclamation continues to be a manifestation of our Heavenly Father and the Savior’s involvement in our day-to-day lives, extending their divine help and love to all their children, inviting all of us to come to them and be embraced by their outstretched arms of mercy. The Savior and the family are both merciful gifts given to us during this mortal experience. The family proclamation reaffirms the gift of the family. When we see the centrality of the Savior and centrality of the family as complementary in God’s plan of happiness, we will experience greater access to the Savior’s healing and enabling power.

Video recordings and a complete program of all conference presentations are available online at https://religion.byu.edu/family-proclamation-anniversary.

Notes

[1] Video recordings of all presentations given during the conference are available at the conference website: https://religion.byu.edu/family-proclamation-anniversary.

[2] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Nourish the Roots, and the Branches Will Grow,” Liahona, Nov. 2024, 102.

[3] See for a recording of Sister Wright’s full address.