“What’s in a name? When it comes to the name of the Lord’s Church, the answer is ‘Everything!’” said President Russell M. Nelson.

During the Sunday morning session of general conference, President Nelson echoed an official statement issued in August, explaining that the Lord had “impressed upon [his] mind the importance of the name He decreed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

What’s in a Name?

So why is this so important to the Lord? The nicknames commonly used for the Church, such as “LDS Church” or “Mormon Church,” have what President Nelson called a “glaring omission”: the absence of Jesus Christ’s name. To remove the Savior’s name from the name of His Church, President Nelson explained, is a way of “subtly disregarding all that Jesus Christ did for us” and unintentionally removing Him as the focus of our lives.

Embracing such nicknames in the past may have been the result of not wanting to offend others, but President Nelson warned that in doing so “we have failed to defend the Savior Himself, to stand up for Him.”

President Nelson acknowledged that it would not be easy to correct widespread errors in the way people refer to the Church, but he said this effort is not inconsequential. It is the command of the Lord.

“I promise you that if we will do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord’s Church, He whose Church this is will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen,” President Nelson said. “We will have the knowledge and power of God to help us take the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.”