Primary
FormationAugust 25, 1878
TypeNon-profit
PurposeReligious instruction; personal standards and development; child/family support
HeadquartersSalt Lake City, Utah, United States
Membership
1.1 million children aged 3–11[1]
General President
Camille N. Johnson
Main organ
General presidency and general board
Parent organization
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
AffiliationsMembers join the Young Men or Young Women at age 12
WebsitePrimary

The Primary (formerly the Primary Association) is the children's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It acts as a Sunday school organization for the church's children (ages 3–11).[2]

Purpose, objectives, and theme

The official purpose of Primary is to help parents in teaching their children to learn and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.[3] The official objectives of Primary are to:

The Primary theme is "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children" (Isaiah 54:13).[3][4]

Format

While Primary classes will differ slightly in different regions, most meetings are standardized. For the second half of primary, children are separated into age groups with names for each group (see below).

Where participants, classrooms or teachers are limited, multiple age-grouped classes may be taught together. In most congregations, Primary classes are co-ed.[5]

Primary begins with a prayer, scripture (or Article of Faith), and a short talk, all of these given by primary children. About 20 minutes are then spent on music, primarily from the Children's Songbook. After music time, children are then sent to their individual classes where they are taught lessons from Come, Follow Me - For Primary.

Class names

The names of the classes in Primary have varied over time. The following is a partial list of names that have been applied to different age groups in Primary. In January 2010, the names of the classes were changed to the age of children entering the class, i.e., 4-year-olds are in the class CTR 4. Previously, names were indicative of the age children would turn the coming year, (4-year-olds in CTR 5).[5]

Age (on January 1) Present Class Name Past Class Names Used
18 mos. Nursery Rainbows
3 Sunbeams Moonbeams
4 CTR 4 Sunbeams
Stars
CTR 5
5 CTR 5 Stars
CTR 6
6 CTR 6 Rainbows
CTR 7
7 CTR 7 Zion’s Boys
Zion’s Girls
CTR Pilots
Co-Pilots
Top Pilots
Targeteers
CTRs
CTR 8
8 Valiant 8 Zion’s Boys
Zion’s Girls
CTR Pilots
Co-Pilots
Beacons
Top Pilots
Targeteers
CTRs
Valiant 9
9 Valiant 9 Girls:

Larks
Gaynotes
Home Builders
Lihomas
Merry Miss
Valiant 10 Boys: Hatchets
Trail Builders
Blazers
Valiant 10

10 Valiant 10 Girls:

Bluebirds
Firelights
Hearths
Home Builders
Lihomas
Merry Miss
Valiant 11 Boys: Wagon Wheels
Trail Builders
Trekkers
Valiant 11

11 Valiant 11 Girls:

Bluebirds
Merrihands
Home Builders
Lihomas
Merry Miss
Valiant 12 Boys: Arrows
Guides
Trail Builders
Blazers
Valiant 12

12+ See Young Women Seagulls
Home Builders
Lihomas
Mi-kan-wees

Nursery

A typical Nursery classroom

A separate class, known as nursery, is held for children ages 18 months to 3. It is led under the direction of the Primary presidency by at least two people, a nursery leader and assistant nursery leader(s). Nursery leaders are required to be the same gender unless they are married.

Nursery classes have a lesson, free play time, snack time, and music time primarily using the Children's Songbook. Additionally, two prayers are given by children with help from the adult leaders. While no particular order is required, it is recommended that the order be the same every week.

Teachers use the "Behold Your Little Ones: Nursery Manual" for lesson plans and other resources.[6]

History

Primary was first organized in 1878 by Aurelia Spencer Rogers in Farmington, Utah, and adopted church-wide in 1880 under the direction of Louie B. Felt, who served as the president of the organization through 1925. Rogers was concerned because younger Latter-day Saint children had too much unsupervised time due to the long hours that fathers and older sons kept on the farms and mothers and older daughters in the home. In particular, Rogers felt that the younger boys in the community were becoming unruly and mischievous. With permission from church leaders and under the initial direction of General Relief Society President Eliza R. Snow, Rogers organized a Primary Association for her local Farmington congregation on August 11, 1878. Two weeks later, the first meeting was held on August 28, with 215 children in attendance. That day, boys were specifically taught not to steal fruit from orchards and girls were taught not to hang on wagons. In addition, they were given lessons on faith, manners, obedience, and other principles.

May Anderson, the second general president of the Primary Association from 1925 to 1939, initiated what became Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City (now part of Intermountain Healthcare). Anderson also helped establish kindergartens in Utah. In the 1970s, as a result of the Priesthood Correlation Program, the Primary Association was renamed "Primary".

Beginning in April 2021, Camille N. Johnson was the Primary General President, with Susan H. Porter as First Counselor and Amy Wright as Second Counselor.[7]

In the church's April 2022 general conference, it was announced that Johnson would become the new Relief Society General President on August 1, 2022. As a result, on that date, Porter became the new Primary General President, with Wright serving as First Counselor and Tracy Y. Browning as Second Counselor.[8][9]

Chronology of the general presidency of the Primary

No. Dates General President First Counselor Second Counselor
1 1880–1925 Louie B. Felt Matilda M. Barratt (1880–88)
Lillie T. Freeze (1888–1905)
May Anderson (1905–25)
Clara C. M. Cannon (1880–95)
Josephine R. West (1896–1905)
Clara W. Beebe (1906–25)
2 1925–39 May Anderson Sadie Grant Pack (1925–29)
Isabelle S. Ross (1929–39)
Isabelle S. Ross (1925–29)
Edna Harker Thomas (1929–33)
Edith E. H. Lambert (1933–39)
3 1940–43 May Green Hinckley Adele C. Howells Janet M. Thompson (1940–42)
LaVern W. Parmley (1942–43)

Parmley
4 1943–51 Adele C. Howells LaVern W. Parmley Dessie G. Boyle
5 1951–74 LaVern W. Parmley Arta M. Hale (1951–62)
Leone W. Doxey (1962–69)
Lucile C. Reading (1970)
Naomi W. Randall (1970–74)
Florence H. Richards (1951–53)
Leone W. Doxey (1953–62)
Eileen R. Dunyon (1962–63)
Lucile C. Reading (1963–70)
Florence R. Lane (1970–74)
6 1974–80 Naomi M. Shumway Sarah B. Paulsen (1974–77)
Colleen B. Lemmon (1977–80)
Colleen B. Lemmon (1974–77)
Dorthea C. Murdock (1977–80)
7 1980–88 Dwan J. Young Virginia B. Cannon Michaelene P. Grassli
8 1988—94 Michaelene P. Grassli Betty Jo N. Jepsen Ruth B. Wright
9 1994–99 Patricia P. Pinegar Anne G. Wirthlin Susan L. Warner
10 1999–2005 Coleen K. Menlove Sydney S. Reynolds Gayle M. Clegg
11 2005–10 Cheryl C. Lant Margaret S. Lifferth Vicki F. Matsumori
12 2010–16 Rosemary M. Wixom Jean A. Stevens (2010–15)
Cheryl A. Esplin (2015–16)
Cheryl A. Esplin (2010–15)
Mary R. Durham (2015–16)
13 2016–2021 Joy D. Jones Jean B. Bingham (2016–17)
Bonnie H. Cordon (2017–18)
Lisa L. Harkness (2018-21)
Bonnie H. Cordon (2016–17)
Cristina B. Franco (2017-21)
14 2021–2022[10] Camille N. Johnson Susan H. Porter Amy A. Wright
15 2022- Susan H. Porter[11] Amy A. Wright Tracy Y. Browning

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Primary in the church today

Presently, the worldwide Primary provides Sunday school and church-related activities to approximately 1.1 million Latter-day Saint children.[1] In most congregations, optional nursery care and supervision is available for children from 18 months to age 3. Classroom instruction begins for three-year-olds and continues to age 12, with classes grouped by age. At the beginning of the year they turn 12, children begin to attend Sunday School and the Young Men or Young Women programs. The Primary has its own songbook, made up of original songs and hymns modified for children.

Child Safety

All members called to serve in a position that deals with youth or children are required to take the Church's "Protecting Children and Youth" training module which is available on the Church's website for free.[12]

Nursery and Primary leaders are required to release children only to members of their immediate families unless permission has been granted for someone else to pick the child up.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Tad Walsh, "Preparing to split up, LDS General Primary Presidency looks back on 5 years of service together", Deseret News, March 27, 2015.
  2. Although children had, by long-standing practice, participated in Primary until their 12th birthdays, on December 14, 2018, the First Presidency announced that children would advance from Primary as a group in January of the year in which they would turn 12.
  3. 1 2 3 "Primary", Handbook 2: Administering the Church (Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 2010) § 11.1.
  4. 3 Nephi 22:13; see also Isaiah 54:13.
  5. 1 2 "12. Primary". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Introduction". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  7. "The Primary Presidency Oversees Teaching of Children Worldwide". newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. April 3, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  8. "Meet the New Leaders Called at the April 2022 General Conference". newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org. April 2, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
  9. Sustaining of General Authorities, Area Seventies, and General Officers, Liahona, May 2022, pp.30-31.
  10. Johnson's term of service ended on August 1, 2022
  11. Porter's term of service began on August 1, 2022
  12. "Protecting Children and Youth". www.churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
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