President Nelson Announces New Church Symbol during April General Conference
Contributed By Jason Swensen, Church News staff writer
The new symbol for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that President Russell M. Nelson presented during the Saturday evening session of the 190th Annual General Conference on April 4, 2020.
Article Highlights
- The new symbol signals “the central place of Jesus Christ” in His Church.
- It will be used as a visual identifier for official literature, news, and events of the Church.
“[The new symbol] will remind all that this is the Savior’s Church and that all we do, as members of His Church, centers on Jesus Christ and His gospel.” —President Russell M. Nelson.
During his historically rich general conference message Saturday evening, President Russell M. Nelson introduced a new Church symbol that signals “the central place of Jesus Christ” in His Church.
Aptly, the symbol includes the name of the Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—contained within a cornerstone. As taught since Biblical days, Jesus Christ is the “chief corner stone” of His Church (Ephesians 2:20).
“At the center of the symbol is a representation of Thorvaldsen’s marble statue the Christus,” said President Nelson. “It portrays the resurrected, living Lord reaching out to embrace all who will come unto Him.
“Symbolically, Jesus Christ is standing under an arch. The arch reminds us of the resurrected Savior emerging from the tomb on the third day following His Crucifixion.”
The new symbol, he added, should feel familiar to all identifying the restored gospel with the living, resurrected Christ.
“The symbol will now be used as a visual identifier for official literature, news, and events of the Church. It will remind all that this is the Savior’s Church and that all we do, as members of His Church, centers on Jesus Christ and His gospel.”
The Rome Italy Temple is reflected in the window of the Rome Italy Temple Visitors’ Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Monday, January 14, 2019. Photo by Ravell Call, Deseret News.
The Church President, of course, has repeatedly spoken of the vital importance of using the correct name of the Church. Much has been done to accomplish this correction.
“I am very grateful to President M. Russell Ballard and the entire Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who have done so much to lead these efforts,” President Nelson said.
Church leaders and departments, related entities, and millions of Latter-day Saints and others now use the correct name of the Church, he reported.
The Church’s official style guide has been adjusted, along with its principal website: ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Email addresses, domain names, and social media have also been updated. And the Church’s storied choir is now The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
“We have gone to these extraordinary efforts because when we remove the Lord’s name from the name of His Church, we inadvertently remove Him as the central focus of our worship and our lives,” he said. “When we take the Savior’s name upon us at baptism, we commit to witness, by our words, thoughts, and actions, that Jesus is the Christ.”
President Nelson reminded his global general conference audience that if Church members “would do our best” to restore the Church’s correct name, the Lord would “pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints” as never before.
“I renew that promise today.”
On August 16, 2018, President Nelson released a statement asking for a stop to the use of nicknames, abbreviations, and incorrect names—such as “Mormon” and “LDS”—that had overtaken and overshadowed the Church’s appropriate name.
Two days later, at a devotional in Montreal before thousands gathered in the Palais des congrès de Montréal, President Nelson made his first public comments on the matter as he testified of the truthfulness of the Church, using and emphasizing its full name.
“The name of the Church is not negotiable, because the Lord has told us what His Church shall be called,” said President Nelson to his Canadian audience. “So we’re not changing names. We’re correcting a name—that’s important to note.
He then repeated the Lord’s own words from Doctrine and Covenants 115:4: “Thus shall my church be called[:] . . . The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Bertel Thorvaldsen’s original Christus statue is in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Tuesday, November 13, 2018. Photo by Kristin Murphy, Deseret News.
Replicas of Thorvaldsen’s Christus statue and his 12 ancient-Apostle statues—from originals found in Copenhagen, Denmark—are featured in the Rome Italy Temple Visitors’ Center.
The Christus is illuminated in the Rome Italy Temple Visitors’ Center, with a reflection of the temple in Rome, Italy, on Friday, March 8, 2019. Photo by Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News.
