First wave of 18-year sister missionaries to join more than 87,000 missionaries serving worldwide, Prophet says at seminar for new mission leaders
Currently, 87,000 missionaries are serving around the world, but “in coming weeks, we will have the largest number of full-time missionaries in the Church’s history,” President Dallin H. Oaks told new mission leaders on Saturday, June 20.
“You are called to lead missionaries at an historic time,” the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said. “Missionary work is soaring to new heights.”
The increase is due to the first wave of 18-year-old sister missionaries beginning their service and to the addition of 55 new missions in July, bringing the total to 506.
“What a group to lead,” President Oaks said at the 2026 Seminar for New Mission Leaders happening June 18–21, 2026, at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.
“These missionaries’ first responsibility is to testify of Jesus Christ to a world that suffers without knowledge of His divine mission, he said. “They invite people across the globe to become part of His true and living Church.”
New mission leaders “and others who will hear this talk are called to demonstrate by your personal example your commitment to serve the Lord and your fellowmen,” he said.
“Your purpose is to lead in proclaiming the doctrine of Christ, which is faith in Christ, repentance and baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and the Son, and shows us all things we should do.”
‘The Only True and Living Church’
President Oaks affirmed the distinctive truth claims of the restored gospel while cautioning against the “fashionable opinion” that all churches are equally true.
“If that is so, then all religious messages that identify differences in religious doctrine like ours are unimportant,” he said. “That conclusion can cause us (and others) a serious loss of religious freedom.”
He identified three overlapping characteristics of the restored Church of Jesus Christ as “the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30):
- The fulness of doctrine, including the purpose of mortal life;
- Priesthood authority; and
- Our unique testimony of Christ.
The Fulness of Doctrine
When Jesus was on the earth, He taught the full doctrine of Heavenly Father’s plan for the eternal progress of His children. Some truths were lost in the Apostasy or diluted by mortal philosophies, so a restoration was needed, President Oaks taught. One of those fundamental points of doctrine was exaltation in the celestial kingdom through eternal marriage between a man and a woman.
“There are many political, legal and social pressures for changes that would change the definition of marriage or de-emphasize its importance, confuse gender, or homogenize the differences between men and women that are essential for us to accomplish God’s great Plan of Happiness,” he said. “Our eternal perspective sets us against such changes. We believe that we must contend for the kind of families that provide the best conditions for the development and happiness of children — all of God’s children.”
Priesthood Authority
The Old and New Testaments both contain references to the second characteristic of the true church: Priesthood authority to officiate in gospel ordinances, such as baptism.
“Priesthood offices and its authority do not come from a desire to serve or from reading the scriptures,” he said. “That priesthood authority, together with the keys necessary to direct its operations, are in this restored Church and no other,” he said.
Testimony of Christ
“Our knowledge of the nature of God is what distinguishes us from the formal creeds of other Christian denominations,” President Oaks said of the third attribute of Christ’s restored church.
God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appeared as separate personages in a vision to Joseph Smith, he said.
Modern revelation clarified this fundamental truth and gave the world the Book of Mormon, “which affirms the Biblical prophecies and teachings of the nature and mission of Christ and enlarges our understanding of His gospel.” It also explains why temple ordinances are necessary.
“We are not grounded in the wisdom of the world or the philosophies of men — however traditional or respected they may be,” President Oaks said. “Our testimony of Jesus Christ is based on the revelations of God to His prophets and to us individually. This makes us different, in greater or lesser measure, from the teachings of many in various Christian denominations and in other philosophies,” he said.
Truths That Can Change the World
The Prophet invited his wife, Kristin, a convert and returned missionary who married President Oaks at age 53, to explain what the Church’s unique testimony of Jesus Christ affirms.
“I personally know how much happiness and security this gospel brings to a world hungry for truth and hope,” Sister Oaks said. “Because of missionaries like you, I stand here today.”
Sister Oaks then shared the following six truths missionaries share that “have the capacity to change the world.”
- “We have a Heavenly Father who loves us.”
- Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and He atoned for our sins.
- Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God who translated the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God and organized the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth.
- God’s Plan of Happiness is known; the gospel was restored so that God’s children could receive His “power of Godliness.”
- Making and keeping covenants with God helps His children draw closer to Him.
- “Jesus speaks today” through continuing revelation. Prophets witness of His resurrection and teach and prophesy of God’s will.
Sister Oaks encouraged mission leaders to “witness of Jesus Christ and His mission to save and heal and exalt,” and “share the joy and purpose of the temple with all you teach.”
