Pre-Block Time Recollections

Block time" meeting schedules in the LDS Church began more than 32 years ago on March 2, 1980.
Many are too young to even recall that, or weren't even born then …. But this was one of the most significant changes ever in the LDS Church.
Consider this: By my recollection, you spent 4 1/2 to 5 hours in church meetings each Sunday BEFORE the block time schedule came along.
Priesthood was 8 a.m.-9:30 in many wards and Sunday School went from 10-11:30-ish.
(I recall you rushing home as a teenager to grab some breakfast and help get the rest of the family ready for Sunday School.)
Then, you came back at 6 p.m., or so, for a sacrament meeting the routinely went 90 minutes or more -- there was little direction on when the meeting should end.
Today you spend 3 hours only in regular meetings under the block time, or about 40 percent less.
--As I was researching block time I realized my wife's stake, Ogden East, was one of the pilot program stakes and so it actually began block time almost a year earlier in 1979.
--Two significant church milestones were November 1989, when the church discontinued its budget donations from members; and November 1990, when it equalized the costs of full-time missionary service for ALL missions (except senior missions).

(Note: The photo above shows the old wooden junior Sunday School pulpit (cira 1950) that existed in my home ward as I grew up in the pre-block time era. This pulpit has since been donated to a city museum.)

NOTE: This article and all of the NighUntoKolob blog are NOT an official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are the author's conclusions and opinions only.