Updated November 5, 2026 · Unofficial summary
The biggest change is the Sunday schedule: Sunday School and quorum, Relief Society, and Young Women meetings each now run 25 minutes in the schedule, replacing alternating 50-minute meetings. Eight changes will affect the most people:
The next section covers every item the Church lists for October 2026. The section after it covers changes found only by comparing the two editions.
The Church's Summary of Recent Updates lists 81 October 2026 items, all included here. The right column describes each change from the two editions' actual text.
| Section | Title | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Throughout | Canada references | Many instances of "the United States and Canada" now read "the United States." The Canada Area now has its own area office. |
| Throughout | Young Women terms | "Classes" are now "age-groups," with new age-group names. |
| 5.2.1 | Area Presidency | Additional Seventies now "serve as members of the Area Presidency," rather than as counselors who assist the president. |
| 5.2.2 | Area Seventies | "Counselor in" the Area Presidency is now "member of" it. |
| 5.2.4 | Coordinating Council | Section deleted and later sections renumbered. Coordinating councils are now covered in 29.4. |
| 5.2.4.1 | Area Organization Advisers | Now called in Canada. Formerly numbered 5.2.5.1. |
| 6.2.1.6 | Stake Organizations and Programs | New stake organization presidencies in Canada may be oriented by an area organization adviser. Adds support for members with disabilities. |
| 6.6.1 | Calling, Sustaining, and Ordaining a Stake Patriarch | A few high priests may now join the stake president in the circle, under his direction. Before, no others stood with him. |
| 6.8 | Stake Specialists | Adds support for members with disabilities. |
| 8.2.1.2 | Gospel Learning in Quorum Meetings | 25 minutes, down from 50. A quorum member leads instruction from recent general conference messages. Members then counsel on applying them. |
| 8.2.3 | Inviting All to Receive the Gospel | Duplicate detail removed. Now points to 23.4. |
| 8.2.4 | Uniting Families for Eternity | Duplicate detail about coordination meetings removed. |
| 8.3.3.2 | Responsibilities | EQ Presidency - Adds supporting the needs of members with disabilities. |
| 9.2.1.2 | Gospel Learning in Relief Society Meetings | 25 minutes, down from 50. A sister leads instruction from recent general conference messages. Sisters then counsel on applying them. |
| 9.2.3 | Inviting All to Receive the Gospel | Duplicate detail removed. Now points to 23.4. |
| 9.2.4 | Uniting Families for Eternity | Duplicate detail about coordination meetings removed. |
| 9.3.2.2 | Responsibilities | RS Presidency - Adds supporting the needs of members with disabilities. |
| 10.1.2 | Aaronic Priesthood Quorum Theme | Removes the direction to repeat the theme in quorum meetings. |
| 10.2.1.2 | Gospel Learning | 25 minutes, down from 50. Instruction uses topics from For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices. |
| 10.2.1.3 | Service and Activities | Uses the Gatherers of Light name. The comparison also shows new guidance on camp length. |
| 10.3 | Bishopric | Adds supporting young men with disabilities. |
| 11.1.2 | Young Women Theme | Removes the direction to repeat the theme in Sunday meetings. |
| 11.1.3 | Age-Groups | Retitled. Content moved into the four new subsections below. |
| 11.1.3.1 | Builders of Faith | New section. Young women join in January of the year they turn 12. |
| 11.1.3.2 | Messengers of Hope | New section. Young women join in January of the year they turn 14. |
| 11.1.3.3 | Gatherers of Light | New section. Young women join in January of the year they turn 16. |
| 11.1.3.4 | Adapting to Local Needs | New section. Age-groups may meet together when needed. Each age-group still has a called president. |
| 11.2.1.2 | Gospel Learning | 25 minutes, down from 50. Instruction uses topics from For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices. |
| 11.3.2 | Adult Young Women Presidency | Adds supporting young women with disabilities. |
| 11.3.4.3 | Age-Group Presidency Meeting | Retitled from the class presidency meeting. |
| 12.1.7 | Temple and Priesthood Preparation Meeting | Now focuses on how priesthood authority and power can bless children, and increased access to God's power through covenants. Adds references to 3.4 and 3.6. |
| 12.2.1.1 | Roles of Parents and Leaders | Adds teaching children how priesthood authority and power can bless them. Adds references to 3.4 and 3.6. |
| 12.2.1.2 | Gospel Learning | Primary and nursery are 55 minutes, up from 50. Primary classes are 25 minutes, up from 20. |
| 12.2.1.3 | Service and Activities | Wards and stakes may hold children's devotionals. The comparison also shows annual "super activities" replacing "day camps." |
| 12.3.2 | Primary Presidency | Clarifies helping children learn about baptism, confirmation, and the sacrament. Adds supporting children with disabilities. |
| 12.5.1 | Safeguarding Children | Hitting, threatening violence, or using physical force for discipline is never acceptable, even if cultural practices allow it. |
| 13.2.2.2 | Responsibilities | Attendance is now kept in LCR, working with the Primary secretary on adults serving in Primary. Adds support for members with disabilities. |
| 13.3 | Sunday School Classes | 25 minutes, down from 50. |
| 13.4 | Improving Learning and Teaching in the Ward | Teacher council meetings are monthly, up from quarterly, during one of the 25-minute times. |
| 13.5 | Improving Learning and Teaching in the Home | Teacher councils for parents are held during one of the 25-minute times. |
| 17.4 | Teacher Council Meetings | Monthly, up from quarterly. Teachers meet during the other organization's 25-minute time: Sunday School teachers while quorums and Relief Society meet, and the reverse. |
| 17.5 | Teacher Council Meetings for Parents | Held during one of the 25-minute times. |
| 18.8.3 | Baptism and Confirmation Record and Certificate | The Preach My Gospel app now creates a convert's membership record and assigns it to the ward. The ward clerk reviews it and completes the profile. |
| 19.6 | Music Training and Resources | Removes the Music Education Fund bullet. |
| 20.5.8 | Sabbath-Day Observance | Primary activities may now also be held right after Sunday meetings as exceptions. The word "serious" was dropped from the safety and cost condition. |
| 22.13 | Church Resources | Updates referrals to Deseret Industries and Development Counseling Services. Some bishops refer through LCR, and Relief Society and elders quorum presidents can start referrals with bishop approval. |
| 23.2 | Strengthen New Members | Adds helping new members attend church weekly to partake of the sacrament. |
| 24.1 | The Call to Serve | "Service missions" is now "service assignments." |
| 24.2.4 | Senior Service Missionaries | Same term change. The comparison also shows the young women's age range changing from 19–25 to 18–29. |
| 24.3.2.2 | Belated Confessions | Language now covers missionaries serving from home: they "postpone service" or "be released." |
| 24.6.3.2 | Returning Home Early | The stake president, mission president, and Area Presidency counsel together on whether a missionary stays or goes home. |
| 24.9.1 | Manuals and Forms | Adds a link to the Handbook for Mission Leaders excerpt on service missionaries, available to local leaders only. |
| 24.9.3 | Contact Information | "Service Mission Office" is now "Service Assignment Office." |
| 25.1.1 | Individual Responsibility for Temple Worship | "Appointment" is now "reservation." Own-ordinance members must reserve. Proxy members may attend with or without one. |
| 25.5 | Recommending and Calling Temple Workers | Members who want to serve should contact their bishop. Temple workers are unpaid volunteers. |
| 25.5.3 | Calling and Setting Apart Temple Workers | Temple workers must complete children and youth protection training and repeat it every three years. |
| 26.1 | Types of Temple Recommends | Living-ordinance recommends now also cover unendowed members ages 8–20 observing living siblings' sealing to parents. |
| 26.3.3 | Issuing Temple Recommends for Living Ordinances | Adds the same provision for ages 8–20. |
| 27.1.2 | Verifying Records and Receiving a Temple Recommend for Living Ordinances | Adds the same purpose to the list of reasons to meet with the bishop for a recommend. |
| 27.2.3.2 | Contacting the Temple | "Appointment" is now "reservation." |
| 27.3.4 | Who May Attend a Temple Sealing | Clarifies that the stake president may authorize members with intellectual disabilities to observe a sealing of living parents, or of a living sibling to a spouse. |
| 27.4.6 | Appropriate Clothing for a Sealing of Living Children to Parents | New section. Parents and endowed children wear ceremonial temple clothing. Unendowed children being sealed wear white. Sibling observers may wear white. |
| 28.1.4 | Scheduling | "Appointment" is now "reservation." Proxy members may attend without one. |
| 29.2.8 | Schedules for Sunday Meetings | New tables: sacrament meeting 60, transition 5, class 25, transition 5, class 25 minutes. Plan 2 reverses the order. Fifth-Sunday meetings remain. |
| 29.4 | Coordinating Council Meetings | Counselors may attend for a president. District presidents and stake council members may be invited. Some may join virtually. The Area Seventy follows up with participants. |
| 29.5.4 | Funeral Services (Where Customary) | An endorsed Latter-day Saint chaplain may conduct a funeral and coordinates with the bishop when it is for a Church member. |
| 30.7.2 | Calling, Ordaining, and Setting Apart | When a bishop is ordained, a few high priests may join the stake president in the circle, under his direction. |
| 30.8.5 | Group Calling | Retitled. Service member group leader merges into group leader, and the assistant calling ends. A bishop, branch president, or assigned counselor can now call and set apart, alongside the stake or mission president. |
| 33.10 | Stake and Ward Technology Specialists | Ward specialists now serve under the ward clerk only. Before, it could be the clerk or executive secretary. |
| 36.0 | Introduction | Adds BLCCSupport@ChurchofJesusChrist.org for United States support. |
| 37.0 | Introduction | Adds the same support email. |
| 37.7 | Groups in Stakes, Missions, and Areas | Groups get unit numbers and use the online proposal process. Mission presidents oversee dispersed member groups. Bishops and branch presidents may assign a counselor to call group leaders. |
| 37.8 | Church Units for Service Members | Retitled, with an updated reference to 38.10.3.1. |
| 38.2.9.6 | Military Servicemen in War Zones or Isolated Areas | Section deleted and later sections renumbered. |
| 38.3.1 | Who May Perform a Civil Marriage | Endorsed chaplains may perform civil marriages when local law permits. The active-duty and Reserve rules are gone, but listed nonmilitary chaplains still need prior approval. Resigned or retired chaplains are not authorized. |
| 38.4.1.5 | Applying for a Sealing Cancellation or a Sealing Clearance | "Schedule an appointment" is now "make a reservation." Formatting corrected. |
| 38.4.1.6 | Removing a Restriction against Temple Sealing | "Schedule an appointment" is now "make a reservation." |
| 38.8.28.9 | Disability Specialist | Specialists now also counsel with ward and stake leaders. Where called, stake specialists instruct new ward specialists. |
| 38.9 (old) | Military Relations and Chaplain Services | Section deleted and split into the two sections below. |
| 38.9 (new) | Chaplains | New section. Covers endorsement, annual requirements, setting apart, duties, and confidentiality. Chaplain Services issues endorsements; Church leaders do not call or endorse chaplains. |
| 38.10 | Military Relations | New section. Covers stake committees, specialists, units, ministry coordinators, the sacrament in isolated locations, and veterans. |
These 16 changes appear when the December 2025 and October 2026 editions are compared, but not on the October 2026 list. They may come from updates published between the two editions. I could not confirm when each one took effect.
| Section | Topic | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1.2–1.5 | God's plan and work | Chapter 1 is rewritten around covenants. New 1.3 lists the ordinances necessary for salvation and exaltation, and 1.4 holds the four responsibilities. Several sections moved (see the next table). |
| 3.5–3.5.4 | Ordinances and covenants | New sections describe baptism, confirmation, Melchizedek Priesthood conferral, the endowment, the sealing, and the sacrament, with the covenants made in each. |
| 6.3 | District presidents | A mission president may assign a district president to preside at a district conference, with Area Presidency approval. He may preside at a branch conference with approval each time. |
| 12.3.4, 19.2, 19.4.3.2, 19.6 | Music resources | The Sacred Music app is removed from lists. Section 19.6 now names Gospel Library. |
| 13.2.2.1 | Sunday School presidency | A woman or a man may be called as president. A man must hold the Melchizedek Priesthood. Counselors and the secretary must be the president's gender, and male counselors and secretaries need not hold it. |
| 13.2.3 | Sunday School teachers | Teacher councils are monthly, up from quarterly. |
| 15.2 | BYU–Pathway Worldwide | All students must take religion courses. Students 18–35 choose online courses or in-person institute. Students over 35 take online courses. |
| 18 (title), 18.0–18.4 | Priesthood ordinances | The chapter is retitled "Performing Priesthood Ordinances, Including Blessings." "Ordinances and blessings" wording is shortened to "ordinances" in these sections. |
| 18.17.2 | Patriarchal blessings | Members receive a printed copy once transcribed. They can request digital access and view the blessing in the Gospel Library app. |
| 20.1, 20.2.3, 35.4.4, 38.8.6 | Caring for the earth | New 38.8.6 encourages members to care for the earth. Activities should limit waste and use natural resources responsibly. Building guidance now mentions environmental impacts. |
| 20.5.3, 14.4.2 | Monday nights | A family may hold an activity in a Church building on a Monday night under 35.5.3. The single adult exception now covers young single adults and single adults, not only their wards. |
| 24.4.3 | Young missionary candidates | Removes the note limiting the high school completion requirement to candidates who will not be 19 by their availability date. |
| 38.2.6.6 | Temple ordinances and biological sex | New section. An ordinance received for a gender not matching biological sex at birth is not valid. Repeating it needs First Presidency approval. |
| 38.4.1.8 | Sealing deceased couples | Adds that First Presidency approval is required to seal a deceased couple with no documented marriage in any other circumstance. |
| 38.5.1 | Temple clothing | Adds that clothing should be modest in design and fabric, and sheer fabric should be lined. |
| 38.8.19 | Guest speakers | Speakers should belong to the sponsoring unit, and exceptions should be rare. Approval comes from that unit's presiding leader, including the Area President for area or multistake events. Contacting the person's bishop is now part of screening. |
Seventeen sections moved to a new place in the handbook, all in chapters 1 and 38. Most of the wording in chapter 1 is unchanged. The chapter 38 sections were reworded as they moved.
| Dec 2025 | Oct 2026 | Section | Wording |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.2.1 | 1.4.1 | Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ | Reference update only |
| 1.2.2 | 1.4.2 | Caring for Those in Need | Unchanged |
| 1.2.3 | 1.4.3 | Inviting All to Receive the Gospel | Unchanged |
| 1.2.4 | 1.4.4 | Uniting Families for Eternity | Unchanged |
| 1.3.2 | 1.3 | Covenants and Ordinances, now Ordinances and Covenants Necessary for Salvation and Exaltation | Rewritten |
| 1.3.3 | 1.5.2 | Prophetic Direction | Unchanged |
| 1.3.4 | 1.5.3 | Scriptures | Unchanged |
| 1.3.5 | 1.5.4 | Gospel Learning and Teaching Support | Unchanged |
| 1.3.6 | 1.5.5 | Service and Leadership Opportunities | Unchanged |
| 1.3.7 | 1.5.6 | A Community of Saints | Unchanged |
| 38.9.1.1 | 38.10.3.2 | Church Services on Military Installations | Reworded |
| 38.9.2 | 38.10.1.3 | Ward Military Relations Leadership | Reworded |
| 38.9.3 | 38.10.4.1 | Military Service Orientation | Reworded |
| 38.9.4 | 38.10.3.1 | Church Units for Service Members | Reworded |
| 38.9.6 | 38.10.4.2 | Missionary Service and Military Obligation | Reworded |
| 38.9.8 | 38.10.4.3 | Wearing the Garment in the Military | Reworded |
| 38.9.10 | 38.10.7 | Other Information | Reworded |
Section 1.3 (The Purpose of the Church) is now 1.5, and its subsection 1.3.1 became 1.5.1. Sections 3.5.1 and 3.5.2 swapped places.
This is a summary, so check the handbook itself before acting on any item. Routine edits are left out: 36 sections where only cross-reference numbers changed, 76 renumbered sections, and repeated term swaps such as "class" to "age-group."
The Church's list and the handbook text differ in two places. For 24.6.3.2, the list says "area president," while the text says "Area Presidency." The list also uses chapter 18's older title.
Sources: Summary of Recent Updates, the same list in the October 2026 PDF (pages xiii–xvii), and the December 2025 and October 2026 PDF editions.