In the preface to the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord speaks of "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased." (D&C 1:30.)

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve has observed: "When the word 'living' is used, it carries a divinely deliberate connotation. The Church is neither dead nor dying, nor is it even wounded. The Church, like the living God who established it, is alive, aware, and functioning. It is not a museum that houses a fossilized faith; rather, it is a kinetic kingdom characterized by living faith in living disciples." The living Church "is one that responds to stimuli, that has movement, and that has the capacity to reproduce itself." (Things As They Really Are, by Neal A. Maxwell, p. 46.)

Change and development are thus hallmarks of the living Church. Some things, however, never change. Some things span time and culture.

"The doctrines will remain fixed, eternal," Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve stated; "The organization, programs and procedures will be altered as directed by Him whose Church this is." (Conference Report, October 1989, pp. 18-19.)

Some of the constants in a changing world and an expanding Church include:

• The Gospel of Jesus Christ — forever the same. The "glad tidings" that salvation is in Christ and through His atoning blood (D&C 76:40-42), the Plan of Salvation, has been declared since the days of Adam and Eve. (Moses 5:5-8; 6:51-62.) The Prophet Joseph Smith explained that "since there has been no change in the constitution of man since he fell," the message of salvation has been and will be forever the same. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 59-60; cited hereafter as Teachings).

  Salvation is in Christ: this declaration is timely and timeless, new and everlasting.

• The need for the priesthood and its ordinances. The priesthood is the power of God, delegated to man on earth, to act in all things for the salvation of men and women. Persons cannot bring to pass divine purposes without divine authority. Where the priesthood is, there is the kingdom of God. "Whenever men can find out the will of God," Joseph Smith taught, "and find an administrator legally authorized from God, there is the kingdom of God. . . . All the ordinances, systems and administrations on the earth are of no use to the children of men, unless they are ordained and authorized of God; for nothing will save a man but a legal administrator; for none others will be acknowledged either by God or angels." (Teachings, p. 274; see also pp. 272-73.)

  Further, "the gospel has always been the same; the ordinances to fulfill its requirements, the same, and the officers to officiate, the same; and the signs and fruits resulting from the promises, the same." (Teachings, p. 264.)

• The need for a Church organization. The Church of Jesus Christ has been on earth from the beginning. The structure or organization may have varied through the years — whether governed by a patriarchal or ecclesiastical order, by kings or priests or prophets, by quorums or councils — but the people of God have always had a need to meet together, worship together and serve one another. Even though individuals are responsible to receive the truth, love the truth, and live the truth on their own, "the greatest temporal and spiritual blessings which always come from faithfulness and concerted effort, never attended individual exertion or enterprise." (Teachings, p. 183.)

  The Church administers the gospel and extends the blessings of the saving ordinances to all who will receive them. In addition, the Church provides a means for organized sacrifice and elevated sociability. The Church and its organization have been given "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith." (Ephesians 4:11-13.) President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, emphasized: "No matter if the Church grows to be a hundred million (as it surely will!), it will still be no bigger than a ward. Everything needed for our redemption, save for the temple, is centered there — and temples now come ever closer to all of us." (Conference Report, April 1999, p. 79.)

• The manner of conversion and retention. Even when the number of converts grows into the millions per year through our missionary efforts, individuals will still be required to read, ponder and pray about the message of the Restoration, to receive personal revelation as to the truthfulness of this work. "The real strength of the Church," President Gordon B. Hinckley pointed out, "lies not in the physical facilities which we own. . . . The strength of the Church lies in the conviction carried in the hearts of . . . individual members of the Church. It is the privilege, it is the opportunity, it is the obligation of every Latter-day Saint to gain for himself or herself a certain knowledge that this is the work of the Almighty. . . . That testimony . . . is the most precious possession that any of us can hold." (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 647.) Also, no matter how numerous our wards, stakes and areas become, persons who join the Church will remain solid and faithful because they had a friend, an assignment to serve, and had been properly nourished by the good word of God. (See Moroni 6:4; Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, April 1997, p. 66.)

• The way to happiness here and eternal reward hereafter. As the loud babble of voices in our world competes for the attention of men and women, the Lord's people learn to attune their ears to the prophetic voice and the quiet impressions of the Spirit. Happiness, what the Prophet Joseph Smith described as "the object and design of our existence," comes through pursuing the path of "virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God." (Teachings, pp. 255-56.) The lessons of history teach us that there are certain absolutes, unchanging laws and statutes that must be observed if order and civilization are to be preserved. "Codes and covenants, promises and principles, are as old as humanity and as contemporary as marriage. And they are the very foundation of a secure, united and prosperous society." (Gordon B. Hinckley, Standing for Something, p. 19.)

Happiness comes now — and it will in the future — through the establishment of strong family ties and through making our homes a bit of heaven on earth. Happiness comes through enjoying the cleansing powers of the atonement of Jesus Christ and the fruit of the Spirit — namely, "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Galatians 5:22-23) — those spiritual endowments that lead to personal peace and interpersonal harmony. Truly, the Lord "hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6:8.)

President John Taylor proclaimed: "We require a living tree — a living fountain — living intelligence, proceeding from the living priesthood in heaven, through the living priesthood on earth." (The Gospel Kingdom, p. 34.) This is the blessing of membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the legacy of life and light bequeathed to that "peculiar people" who have been commissioned to "shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." (1 Peter 2:9.)

Robert L. Millet, a BYU professor of ancient scripture, is serving as president of the Brigham Young University 14th Stake.