The October 2026 updates to the Church’s General Handbook have been published online and in the Gospel Library. The handbook is updated as needed to provide principle-based ministerial guidance, clarity, and inspiration to leaders throughout the world.
Below is a list of major changes. More details about these and other updates are listed in the “Summary of Recent Updates” at the beginning of the handbook.
- Added an option for wards and stakes to hold children’s devotionals.
- Updated language throughout the handbook to reflect the new Sunday meeting schedule announced earlier in 2026. This includes updates to meeting schedules, quorum and class instruction, and teacher council meetings.
- Updated Young Women terminology from “classes” to “age-groups” and introduced the new age-group names ( “Builders of Faith,” “Messengers of Hope,” and “Gatherers of Light”).
- Clarified guidance for members attending sealings of living siblings and parents, including temple recommends, attendance procedures, and clothing guidelines.
- Expanded guidance regarding members with disabilities, including updated responsibilities for disability specialists and added responsibilities for ward and organization leaders to support members with disabilities.
- Updated language throughout the handbook to reflect administrative changes related to the new Canada Area office. Many references to “the United States and Canada” now refer only to “the United States.”
- Reorganized and revised guidance for chaplains and military relations. The former “Military Relations and Chaplain Services” section has been divided into separate sections for “Chaplains” and “Military Relations,” with substantially updated information.
These revisions have been published in the following languages on ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the Gospel Library app: Albanian, Bislama, Cambodian (Khmer), Cebuano, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Fijian, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kiribati, Korean, Malagasy, Marshallese, Mongolian, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (European), Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Thai, Tongan, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.
These recent updates will be reflected in the responses from the General Handbook Search Assistant in Gospel Library. This search assistant is accessible within the handbook when you are signed in with your Church account.