At your next family home evening, you may want to serve a birthday cake in honor of Family Home Evening itself.

This year marks a double milestone for the program.It was 75 years ago - on April 27, 1915 - that President Joseph F. Smith and his counselors sent a letter to stake presidents, bishops and parents.

". . .We advise and urge the inauguration of a `Home Evening' throughout the Church, at which time fathers and mothers may gather their boys and girls about them in the home and teach them the word of the Lord," they wrote.

"They may thus learn more fully the needs and requirements of their families; at the same time familiarizing themselves and their children more thoroughly with the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

The letter included a promised blessing to result from obedience to the counsel: "Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influences and temptations which beset them."

Family Home Evening has been boosted through the years by Church leaders, most notably in the mid-1960s. At the priesthood session of general conference in October 1964, Elder Harold B. Lee, then of the Council of the Twelve, announced an unprecedented emphasis on Family Home Evening.

"This next year will see some definite steps taken to strengthen the hands of the parents in carrying out these great, God-given admonitions in placing stress upon the teaching of the gospel in the home," he said.

"The first step will be to give every parent a set of lessons, one for each week throughout the coming year, for them to teach the gospel to their family in the home."

That brings up the next milestone: the first Family Home Evening manual was published 25 years ago, in 1965. For the first time, parents had printed lessons upon which to draw for their weekly gatherings.

The publication of the manual signaled a new emphasis on Family Home Evening that pervaded all levels of the Church. Some stakes set aside one night a week with instructions that it be left free for families to remain home to hold their home evening. That practice was established Church-wide in September 1970, when Monday night was designated as a uniform time for holding home evening. (See Oct. 10, 1970, Church News, page 3.)

Also in 1970, the concept was made more flexible, allowing families to choose their own sequence of lessons from the manual and occasionally devote an entire home evening to activities such as a trip to the zoo or city park, or working in the garden together. (See May 30, 1970, Church News, pages 8-9.)

Meanwhile, other organizations, such as the national Jaycees, enthralled with the simple wisdom of setting aside one night a week for family togetherness, adopted the idea for their own. (See Oct. 18, 1969, Church News, page 3.)

Through the years, Family Home Evening has been adapted to a variety of needs in the Church. For many years in college and university wards, students have gathered weekly in small groups for home evening-type activities.

"That adaptation in student wards and stakes continues and is encouraged," said Robert L. Leake, Priesthood Department administrative assistant. "And for single adults who do not have children at home, home evening groups are encouraged through the policies and guidelines of the Church. Bishops can appoint leaders for the family home evening groups."

Since 1967 at the Utah State Prison, families from wards in the community have volunteered to hold monthly home evening with selected inmates, with impressive results. (See July 28, 1990, Church News, page 5.)

Family Home Evening lesson manuals were published annually until 1983. By then the Church had grown so large that the task of printing a new manual each year for every household in the Church became "herculean," Brother Leake said.

In May of that year, the Family Home Evening Resource Book was published. Intended to have a life expectancy of many years, it includes sample lessons, tips for making home evening successful, lesson ideas, helps for building a strong family and suggestions for family activities.

Brother Leake said one disadvantage to discontinuing a yearly manual is that there is no longer that annual reminder for families to hold home evening.

He suggested one way to alleviate the disadvantage would be for stake high councilors to choose topics that are in the resource book for their sacrament meeting talks. Families could then be encouraged to follow up by having lessons on those topics.

In addition to the resource book, the Church has produced a plethora of aids that easily lend themselves for use in a family home evening. (See list of resources on this page.)

Family Home Evening is as vital in the Church today as it ever was, Brother Leake affirmed.

In a Nov. 11, 1988, letter to general and local priesthood leaders, President Howard W. Hunter of the Council of the Twelve wrote: "Monday night continues to be reserved for family home evening each week. Local leaders should see that Church buildings and facilities are closed on Monday nights. Stake and ward activities should not be planned for, or held on, Monday nights. Family home evenings may include family recreational activities in addition to gospel instruction."

He concluded with this counsel: "Under the direction of parents, the family should hold a family home evening each week. Family home evenings should focus on building unity and joyful togetherness through activities and through studying the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Church members who were reared with the influence of Family Home Evening affirm the reality of the promises made by the First Presidency in 1915.

Bishop Michael F. Moody of the Woods Cross (Utah) 3rd Ward said it has always been second nature for his wife, Maria, and him. Both were raised in homes in the 1940s where it was held regularly.

"My parents read to us from the Hurlbut stories from the Bible and from the Deta Petersen Neeley stories from the Book of Mormon," he said. He and his siblings all play the piano, a talent nurtured during their family home evenings.

"We always had refreshments, which was a highlight, as it is for our own children," he said. "When we were married we had home evening on the first Monday night, and have held it ever since. Our children don't know any different. We're grateful for the gospel teaching opportunities that are there on a regular basis so that our children really do have family solidarity in their hearts and in their minds."

Summing up the intent of Family Home Evening, Brother Leake invoked a quotation from President David O. McKay in the 1967 Family Home Evening manual in which the prophet encouraged parents "to work, worship, pray and play together."

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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

Family home evening resources available

To add some flavor and dimension to your next family home evening lesson, you may want to use one or more of these resources, most of which are available from the Church Distribution Center or may be checked out from most meetinghouse libraries. (The list is not all-inclusive.)

- Scriptures - in various editions, including large-print.

- Scriptures - narrated on audiocassettes. All four of the standard works are now available on standard-speed cassettes.

- Scripture readers with videocassettes and audiocassettes - colorfully illustrated and written at a second-grade reading level.

- Hymns - in standard editions as well as with large print and with simplified accompaniment.

- Audiocassettes, Hymns - in a version with music only and a version with music and vocals. All of the hymns in the Church's hymnbook are on the cassettes, in the order they appear in the hymnbook.

- Children's Songbook - the one used in Primary, with colorful illustrations.

- Family Home Evening Resource Book - with sample lessons, tips for improving home evenings, ideas for building a strong family, and suggestions for family activities.

- Family Home Evening Video Supplement - consisting of short programs on gospel topics, each program relating to one or more lessons in the Family Home Evening Resource Book.

- Gospel Principles - a 369-page manual providing a basic overview of Church doctrine. It includes illustrations, sheet music, a glossary, and an index.

- Come Unto Christ Through Temple Ordinances and Covenants - the Church's basic manual explaining family history research and temple ordinance work for the dead.

- Pictures, posters, charts and visual aids - related to various gospel subjects such as the Atonement, First Vision, the scriptures and latter-day prophets.

- Videocassettes and audio cassettes on various subjects. Some of the classic Church films such as "Windows of Heaven" and "Man's Search for Happiness" are now available on videocassette, as well as past Church satellite firesides and video recreations of Bible stories.

- Stories, articles, poetry, art work, photography and sheet music from Church magazines and the Church News. The annual Index to Periodicals of the Church indexes these publications according to subject and author.

- General conference sermons as published in Conference Reports and the Ensign, and recorded on audiocassettes.