“We Believe the Church Will Fill the Earth,” Liahona, January 2017

There were only six members of the Church when it was organized in 1830 in a small town in New York, USA. Since then the Church has grown to over 15.5 million members with wards and branches in over 150 countries. This growth is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy that the Church would roll forth to fill the whole earth (see Daniel 2:31–45). The Church﻿—the kingdom of God on earth﻿—is described as a stone “cut out of the mountain without hands” (Daniel 2:45), revealing that it is a divine, not a manmade, work.

Even as the Church’s influence fills the earth, its members will still be relatively few. Nephi foresaw this and wrote of our day, “I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few” because of the surrounding wickedness (1 Nephi 14:12). As the time of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ draws near, the world will become more and more wicked, and “it will become less and less popular to be a Latter-day Saint.”1

But Nephi also foresaw “that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth” (1 Nephi 14:12). Wards and branches can be found all over the world, general conference is interpreted in over 90 languages, and almost 75,000 full-time missionaries are sharing the gospel in 418 missions. The gospel is also being spread worldwide through social media and websites such as Mormon.org and LDS.org.

These efforts are significant and extensive but often proceed quietly. “This work of the Lord is indeed great and marvelous, but it moves forward essentially unnoticed by many of mankind’s political, cultural, and academic leaders. It progresses one heart and one family at a time, silently and unobtrusively, its sacred message blessing people everywhere.”2

The stone prophesied of so long ago truly is rolling forth, and as we do our part, the gospel will continue to spread and fill the whole earth (see Daniel 2:31–45).