Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints across the world will have the chance this Saturday, 5 April, to show their support for the Church’s new worldwide governing body, known as the First Presidency. Latter-day Saints will have the opportunity to raise their hands in a show of agreement and support in what Mormons call “sustaining.”
Thomas S. Monson is the Church’s new president, and Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf are first and second counselors, respectively. The three leaders will stand while members of the Church attending the conference in Salt Lake City and participating via satellite in buildings around the world show their support.
Men and women who are offered various opportunities to serve in the Church are given this kind of acknowledgement by common consensus of other Church members in local congregational meetings. When a new First Presidency is sustained, the meeting is called a solemn assembly.
Common consent in the Church is an agreement among the members and leaders of a congregation, local or worldwide, regarding proposed assignments given to people within that congregation. Individuals choose to accept an assignment, and fellow members then have the chance to show support for that decision. A form of congregational common consent was practiced in biblical times, as found in the book of Exodus, when Moses “told the people all the words of the Lord” and the “people answered with one voice.”
The new First Presidency was announced on 4 February after the death of the Church’s 15th president, Gordon B. Hinckley, on 27 January.
The men and women who serve in worldwide leadership councils for the Church include the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Quorums of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishopric, and the Relief Society General Presidency. Other worldwide leadership bodies are the Young Women General Presidency, Young Men General Presidency, Primary General Presidency and Sunday School General Presidency.