"We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children."

- Proclamation on the Family, 1995The importance of the family and the need to retain all new converts within the warmth of gospel activity were recently emphasized in worldwide area training sessions conducted by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

In the area training sessions held in October, November and December, members of the Twelve "being sent out" (D&C 107:35) instructed more than 2,400 stake presidents, 318 mission presidents, 51 temple presidents and 652 district presidents. They also held quorum meetings for the 137 Area Authority Seventies in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Quorums of the Seventy and mission president seminars. The Brethren traveled to 28 countries, covering Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Their "curriculum" for the meetings was the Proclamation on the Family, issued in 1995, and important letters from the First Presidency issued in the 1990s.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve commented on the importance of training in helping to retain each new convert in Church activity.

"Anybody who has been listening to President Gordon B. Hinckley knows that he is deeply concerned - as we all are - over retaining in full activity those who join the Church. For us to lose one convert is a serious loss."

He said that in the meetings, stake and mission presidents were brought closer together and stake presidents were given more responsibility over missionary work.

"Stake presidents will be working hand-in-glove with the missionaries in the whole conversion process. That is going to be a very positive thing, " said Elder Ballard.

Ward and stake councils are very important in retaining new converts, he said. Retaining all converts "is going to take the best efforts of all members of the councils."

"If the Relief Societies of the Church fulfill their responsibility to see that every new sister who has come into the Church is loved and given a responsibility, and has friends to help nurture and keep her active, and if that could also happen with with every young woman by the Young Women presidency and with every young man by the Young Men presidency, we will make great progress.

"Can you see what could happen with children if the Primary presidency saw to it that no child became inactive because the Primary organization is there to help nourish them.

"Stake and ward councils are very important in retaining new converts and activating the less-active members."

Elder Ballard said that the messages at the area training were received with great enthusiasm. "The mission presidents and stake presidents have always been good friends, but now they see that, together, they need to assure that every convert has a friend, a responsibility and is nurtured by the good word of God.

"There was full commitment on the part of the stake presidents and the mission presidents to teach this to the bishops and to the ward mission leaders and teach it to the full-time missionaries, and they are going to do that together whereever possible. They are going to work as a team in complete harmony and cooperation to see that those who join the Church receive all the blessings of the Church and that we don't lose them into inactivity."

He expressed optimism that this effort will be successful. "I believe that when the president of the Church calls upon the people to do something, that if we go to work and do our part, the Lord will bless that, and consequently we will have great success.

"There is no question that our Heavenly Father wants His children to be baptized, but He also wants them to receive the blessings of the temple, and that can be done only if they are retained in full fellowship."

Area training meetings were started in 1988 when the Church stopped bringing all the stake presidents to October general conference for training. Now, members of the Quorum of the Twelve hold meetings for about six hours discussing "matters of current urgency" with local Church leaders at a central location in each area.

Other General Authorities often accompany the members of the Twelve to the training meetings.

According to leaders at Church headquarters, the subjects this year were chosen to follow up on President Hinckley's concerns expressed in recent general conferences and at other times.

"The intent this year was to bring together all the fundamental documents that had been sent out, and bring them again to the forefront and give them emphasis," said one leader.

"It has been a very unified effort this fall, and the intent has been that members of the Twelve would see that each of those documents was read word-for-word in the meeting, and discuss them with those in attendance, and make sure that everybody had the same degree of understanding, and that there is the same degree of unity among the leaders out there on the local level as there is among the Twelve."

Pres. Robert W. Pommerville of the Ft. Smith Arkansas Stake was among those taught by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve.

"We are doing more because of Elder Wirthlin's request that we pay more attention to the Proclamation on the Family," he said in a telephone interview. "We need to make sure our members understand it. We are having all of our high councilors speak on it for a period of six months, beginning in January 1998. We have training on the Family Proclamation in each high council meeting, so they will have fresh material to use every month. You can spend a whole sacrament meeting on just one aspect of any one of the nine paragraphs of the proclamation."

He said local leaders are now making a great effort to carry the message to members. "Do I think we are doing it as well

as the apostlesT? No, but I think we try."

Pres. Pommerville said that the area training sessions he's attended in the past six years have each been uplifting and seemed to address "exactly what I needed to become properly focused on. And focus can be a tough thing sometimes. You want to do something, but you don't know what to do. This training is a very positive thing."

Pres. Anthony Paul Osborne of the Temple View New Zealand Stake was among those in the Pacific Area taught by President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve.

"We were instructed to reclaim our families and we are instructing our priesthood leaders to do the same thing," he said in a telephone interview."

"We also want to make sure we use the Sabbath Day better. We've rearranged our schedules to spend more time with our children. We have a whole new focus on how important the family is."

The second part of the training sessions focused on retaining converts in Church activity.

In the session, stake presidents were notified that they have been given authority to help local mission presidents. Stake presidents may now recommend to mission presidents the number of missionaries to be assigned within their stakes, and where these missionaries are to be located.

Members of the Quorum of the Twelve also discussed the activities of a new council, the Member-Missionary Coordinating Council, that was authorized by the First Presidency in a letter to stake presidents on June 13, 1997.

This council is held on a multi-stake basis under the direction of an Area Authority Seventy, who serves under the direction of the area presidency. The local full-time mission president and stake presidents participate on the council. The council meets to coordinate the work of full-time and stake missionaries and members, and to consider other important matters.

The size of the councils depends on the number of stakes in a designated area. At the area training meetings, leaders were instructed about this council. Training was also done to help make stake and ward councils more effective.

The basis for missionary work was also emphasized, as outlined in a June 1991 letter from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, to stake mission and district presidents and bishops, referred to as "Fundamental Considerations in Proclaiming the Gospel."

This five-page letter emphasized the need for a balanced effort between conversion, retention and activation. At this time, all three aspects of missionary work were emphasized equally. These three objectives became the standard for evaluating missionary work.

"Helping New Members," was the subject of another letter from the First Presidency sent May 15, 1997, to be read in sacrament meetings. This letter noted that every new member "needs three things - a friend, a responsibility, and spiritual nourishment through gospel study."

"This is a work for everyone," the First Presidency letter said. "We ask each member, please help in this undertaking. Your friendly ways are needed. Your sense of responsibility is needed. . . . (See Church News, Nov. 29, pp. 8-9,11.)

Pres. Osborne said that in the meetings, leaders were taught of their responsibility to help full-time missionaries and converts and to be actively involved in convert retention.

"We are going over the program and making sure the stake and ward councils are far more effective, and making sure the bishop is more closely involved.

"We are changing things already. We are telling our people to reclaim their lives and their families. We are asking them to make sure they are worthy, to read the scriptures more."

He said that attending the area training meeting was a great privilege. "To have someone of that authority come and teach us was just amazing. It made such an impact."