Name Changes Announced for LDS Charities, Family Services
Contributed By Danielle Christensen, Church News staff writer
Temple Square and downtown Salt Lake City are photographed on Thursday, April 18, 2019. Photo by Steve Griffin, Deseret News.
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The Church announced August 22 that LDS Charities and LDS Family Services have new names.
The new official name of LDS Charities is Latter-day Saint Charities. The name change reflects how the organization is made possible through the donations of Latter-day Saints and other individuals who desire to make a positive change around the world, Newsroom reported.
The URL for the Latter-day Saint Charities website, latterdaysaintcharities.org, mirrors the name change.
In addition, LDS Family Services is now Family Services.
According to Newsroom, Family Services “provides emotional and behavioral health support to strengthen individuals, families and couples. . . . Counselors with Family Services also provide consultation services to help Church leaders better understand the needs and challenges of those they serve and to determine what resources and services are available.
“Around the world, there are 430 Family Services counselors and more than 3,700 Family Services Church-service missionaries working in 114 offices in 17 different countries.”
These changes come one year after President Russell M. Nelson emphasized the importance of using the full name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in an August 2018 statement.
Following the statement, many websites, social media accounts, mobile apps, and email domains were updated (see related story.)
In October 2018, President Nelson also spoke about the name of the Church during general conference. “The name of the Church is not negotiable,” he said. “When the Savior clearly states what the name of His Church should be[,] . . . He is serious. And if we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He is offended.”
