CHURCH members should never, ever lose their testimony over a policy of the church.
Policies can and do change. Doctrine doesn't change and knowing the difference between the two is a critical element for LDS Church members to learn.
There are always some policies I don't personally care for, but I don't stop going to Church over them, or lose my faith in spite.
The ultimate reality is that a person probably has a thin testimony if disliked church policies over-rule it.
I've had some relatives get sidetracked and stop going to church over policies changes. The most recent were some gay member policies that spurred some of my loved ones to doubt and falter.
In my 50-plus years of experience in the church, policies change often and considerably.
Reading through a 1963 Church General Handbook of Instructions almost 55 years later illustrated to me the changeability of policies in the church. I implore members NOT to stop coming to church over a policy change they question or dislike. To do so is like jumping off a moving train because you don't like a single item on the railroad's luncheon menu.
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.
MY recollection of stake conferences in the LDS Church date back to the late 1950s -- and there have been many key changes over the decades.
In my early memories, there were several general sessions of stake conference on Sunday itself. Being young then, "cry rooms" were where I spent some of the those meetings. In the Ogden, Ut. tabernacle, the cry room was in the northwest corner. It was a separate room with a big glass window.
By the 1980s, primary children had their own separate meeting during the general session of stake conference. Hence, the general session was very quiet and almost completed devoid of young children.
(I kind of miss that element at times. For example, during an Aug. 21, 2016 stake conference general session in my stake, the door behind me might as well have been a revolving door as it kept opening and thudding closed dozens and dozens of times during the two-hour meeting ...)
By the start of 21st Century, there were not any more separate stake conference sessions for primary children and all were in one single meeting.
Since the 1980s, starting times for general session stake conferences were 10 a.m. on Sunday. However, my August 2016 general session was 11 a.m. -- because a leadership meeting was moved from Saturday 4-6 p.m., to Sunday 8-10 a.m. instead.
Also, since the late 1990s, electronic transmissions have bolstered stake conference reception, first with video screens at the far back of the cultural hall, when all the stake was meeting in a single building.
With many more wards in my stake in the 21st Century, broadcasts of stake conference were made to the two other buildings in the stake. Hence, it was like watching a transmission of general conference sessions.
Also, in 2017, Stake Conference in my stake switched to a 7:30 a.m. Sunday leadership meeting (instead of having it Saturday at 4 p.m.).
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.
