OGDEN — LDS church leaders are encouraging families to work together to create a more spiritual atmosphere for Sunday worship, not just at church but also at home.

In a recent series of training videos sent to wards and stakes, church leaders spoke about how families are the key to create a better Sunday experience that will in turn create a happier family.

“The basic purpose of all we teach and all that we do in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is to make available the Priesthood authority and gospel ordinances and covenants that enable a man and a woman and their children to be sealed together and be happy at home. Period, exclamation point, end of sentence, that’s it,” said David A. Bednar, a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles for the LDS Church during the training.

Bednar went on to say that by creating multi-generational families it creates a great impact on gospel activity and that activity is increased and enhanced by Sunday worship, even vital. Bednar explained that a multi-generational family is created when children and converts are baptized, complete ordinances at the LDS temple and have children and then the cycle continues. Bednar added that when that cycle is broken all elements of worship have to be examined and Sunday worship is one of those elements.

LDS apostle D. Todd Christofferson said it is important to look at what the Lord intends for the Sabbath and families. Apostle  Russell M. Nelson agreed. He jokes that when his family was young they created to do lists of what is OK and what is not OK, but soon he and his wife realized that keeping the Sabbath day holy was a sign of the covenants they had made and they needed to keep their covenants.

Ogden resident and mother of seven, Denise Call, said her family tries to make Sunday different from the rest of the week. “We try to make it a family day, a break from friends and a time to focus on different things,” Call said. Their family doesn’t have rigid rules, but guidelines for Sunday. She and her husband encourage their children to work on projects related to church or write letters to family members. “It’s never forced,” Call said. “But we don’t go shopping, we don’t go the movies, we don’t go to the dam,” she added. Personally, Call wears a dress all day Sunday. “I’m a stay-at-home mom and I don’t want Sunday to be like the other days, so it’s a nice reminder for me that it is a different day,” she said. “I don’t ask my children to do that, but it is something I do,” she said.

LDS apostle Quentin L. Cook, added to the teaching by saying that it is a good idea to talk to children about the Sabbath and the things they learned. “Having the children come back to the Sabbath morning … allows us to … feel unspotted from the world,” Cook said.

As for keeping children reverent at church? It can be a struggle, Call said. “We try, but sometimes we fall short,” she said with a laugh. Her children don’t bring secular items to occupy their time during Sacrament meeting. “The biggest thing they know is that we expect them to stay quiet,” Call said. She tries to ask what they are thinking about. “The biggest thing is that we set the example. Go to church each week if it’s hot, if it’s cold, if we are tired. We are setting patterns,” she added.

North Ogden resident Annette Spendlove also raised a large family of eight.

“You plan ahead, don’t wait until you wake up that morning,” Spendlove said. She admitted that sometimes things can come up, like a child getting sick as she would walk out the door. But she did find had a good attitude it made a difference. “I always felt like it was me that needed to be ready and didn’t let small things matter,” Spendlove said.

Christofferson shared that same sentiment. “It begins with you,” he said. “And maybe we are doing a little better than we think,” he added.

In the training, LDS apostle M. Russell Ballard encouraged LDS faithful to come to church with their families prepared to be spiritually fed about the doctrines of Jesus Christ.

“Cell phones and snacks can be set aside for one precious hour,” Ballard said regarding Sacrament meeting. “We are all starving for the simple, pure doctrine of Jesus Christ,” Ballard said.

This story is part of a series of stories about direction on Sunday worship coming to LDS wards and stakes from LDS church leadership. In our last installment next week: General Authorities address the entire initiative with the public.