President Kimball's Announcement of the Reconstitution
of the First Quorum of the Seventy
President Spencer W. Kimball
Friday morning session of General Conference
Today we shall present four
additional members of the First Quorum of the Seventy to you for your votes.
In 1941, five high priests were
called to assist the Twelve Apostles in their heavy workload and to fill a role
similar to that envisioned by the revelations for the First Quorum of the
Seventy. The scope and demands of the work at that time did not justify the
reconstitution of the First Quorum of the Seventy. In the intervening years,
additional Assistants to the Twelve have been added and today we have
twenty-one.
Commencing a year ago, brethren
other than the First Council of the Seventy were called into the First Quorum
of the Seventy, and at present there are fourteen in that quorum, including the
First Council.
Since the functions and responsibilities of
the Assistants to the Twelve and the Seventy are similar, and since the
accelerated, worldwide growth of the Church requires a consolidation of its
administrative functions at the general level, the First Presidency and the Quorum
of the Twelve, with the concurrence of the Assistants to the Twelve and the
First Quorum of the Seventy, have felt inspired to call all of the Assistants
to the Twelve into the First Quorum of the Seventy, to call four new members
into that quorum, and to restructure the First Council of the Seventy. You will
see that these changes, which are reflected in the list of General Authorities
to be read by President Tanner, bring to thirty-nine the total number in the
First Quorum of the Seventy, thus providing a majority for the transaction of
quorum business.
With this move, the three governing quorums of
the Church defined by the revelations -- the First Presidency, the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles, and the First Quorum of the Seventy -- have been set in
their places as revealed by the Lord. This will make it possible to handle
efficiently the present heavy workload and to prepare for the increasing
expansion and acceleration of the work, anticipating the day when the Lord will
return to take direct charge of His church and kingdom."
-- President Spencer W. Kimball, The Ensign, November 1976, page 9
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