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David O. McKay (d. 18 January 1970), the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Day Saints, is remembered for a number of things:

His length of service: Ordained an apostle at the age of 32, he served in that capacity longer than anyone else.

His emphasis on education: As an educator himself, President McKay promoted the value of education among the saints and emphasized the importance of women’s education

The development of the correlation program

His teachings about the importance of the nuclear family: He popularized the dictum of James Edward McCulloch that no other success in life can compensate for failure in the home, and formalized the Family Home Evening program in the Church by publishing a manual for it and by asking that local leaders protect one night of each week from all other meetings and activities.

But by his own account, his most significant accomplishment was to orient the Church towards its future as a global institution.1

Following an unprecedented world-wide tour of all the missions of the Church (1920-21), then Elder McKay observed to other leaders of the Church that it was apparent to him that the Church would need to adapt to the growth it was experiencing abroad. It would no longer do to just copy the Wasatch version of the Church in areas as diverse as South America, England, New Zealand, and Japan.

As President of the Church, David O. McKay instigated a number of significant changes that enabled the Church to grow to be the world-wide organization that it is today. He recognized that advances in modern transportation and communication were going to enable a truly global Church that maintained fidelity to core teachings and practices even as it became rooted in many different cultures. The previous emphasis on emigration of converts from their home countries to Utah was gradually dropped and then reversed. He taught that Zion was an attitude and a community more than a single place, and that the Church needed to grow locally, wherever it was planted. He committed greater support from Salt Lake City to members living overseas in the form of more frequent visits, and later, the establishment of world regions overseen by General Authorities that lived in their areas.

Soon, Church leaders began to benefit from developing long-standing relationships with Saints around the world, not just in Utah. After learning, during a visit to Uruguay, how the mission president there had unusual success in getting Church materials into that country by “tipping” customs and port officials, President McKay returned to Salt Lake City and reported to other leaders that “the concepts we get from reality are entirely different than the concepts we have from reports received”.2

Under President McKay, the first stakes outside of the United States were created and a program of building temples to serve those stakes began. The translation program of the Church became established. General Conference began to be broadcast beyond North America. And modern media was used to present the temple endowment in multiple languages.

President McKay also recognized the problem for the domestic and international growth of the Church of the racist priesthood policy that was then in place, denying priesthood and temple blessings to people of African heritage. He let it be known that he regarded the ban as a policy—not a doctrine—that could and one day would be rescinded, and he took steps to narrow the application of the policy as far as he could without eliminating it. Sentiment over the ban was polarized within the leadership of the Church at the time, and President McKay never reached the point of feeling that he could reverse the ban. But his attitude towards it had the effect of weakening the justifications for it that were sometimes offered (even by himself), none of which are accepted as official doctrine today.

As Sterling McMurrin observed, under the leadership of President McKay, “the Church began to enlarge its perspective on its place in the world, magnifying its vision, and moving, though slowly, toward an identification of itself with all men…. That from an early date he possessed a quality of world-mindedness not commonly found in the Church is known to all who have followed his ministry. It was a world-mindedness made possible not so much through his acquaintance with the world, which was extensive, as through his insight into the condition of the human soul….

“I believe that the universalism of President McKay, his identification with humanity, was grounded in his reset and concern for the individual, his reverence for the freedom and autonomy of the moral will, his sympathy and compassion for every person.”3

1. Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005), 358,

2. Ibid., 373–74.

3. Ibid., 378–79.

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Mormon Lectionary Project

Collect:

Lord of the Nations, we bow the knee before thee and acknowledge thee in love and humility to be our God. Grant that we, like thy servant David O. McKay, may be agents of peace among all the people of the earth. Accept of the gifts we offer thee in our weakness, and turn them by thy grace to the building of thy kingdom, that righteousness may increase in the earth and that all who have breath may praise thee—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Scriptures:

Isaiah 41:1–4

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Mark 16:15–18

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

1 Corinthians 12:4–11

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Doctrine and Covenants 1:1–5

Hearken, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men; yea, verily I say: Hearken ye people from afar; and ye that are upon the islands of the sea, listen together. For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape; and there is no eye that shall not see, neither ear that shall not hear, neither heart that shall not be penetrated. And the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow; for their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts shall be revealed. And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them.

Hymn:

Hark, All Ye Nations

1. Hark, all ye nations!

Hear heaven’s voice

Thru ev’ry land that all may rejoice!

Angels of glory shout the refrain:

Truth is restored again!

Hear heaven’s voice Thru ev’ry land that all may rejoice! Angels of glory shout the refrain: Truth is restored again! (Chorus)

Oh, how glorious from the throne above

Shines the gospel light of truth and love!

Bright as the sun, this heavenly ray

Lights ev’ry land today.

Oh, how glorious from the throne above Shines the gospel light of truth and love! Bright as the sun, this heavenly ray Lights ev’ry land today. 2. Searching in darkness, nations have wept;

Watching for dawn, their vigil they’ve kept.

All now rejoice; the long night is o’er.

Truth is on earth once more!

Watching for dawn, their vigil they’ve kept. All now rejoice; the long night is o’er. Truth is on earth once more! 3. Chosen by God to serve him below,

To ev’ry land and people we’ll go,

Standing for truth with fervent accord,

Teaching his holy word.