17 March 1842

Thursday, March 18th beginning at 6:30p.m. is our annual Relief Society Meeting celebrating the organization's 168 years. Be sure to mark this day on your calendar as it will be a excellent evening with a delicious supper and inspiring program.

"Latter-day Saint women were blessed with a new Church organization during the Nauvoo era. It had its inception when several women, led by Sarah M. Kimball, organized to make shirts for the men working on the temple. They drafted a plan of government typical of women’s groups at that time, but when Joseph Smith was consulted, he offered to organize the women after the same pattern as the priesthood.

"On Thursday afternoon, 17 March 1842 in Nauvoo the Prophet, in company with John Taylor and Willard Richards, formally organized the eighteen women present into a society. Joseph Smith stated, “The Church was never perfectly organized until the women were thus organized. Emma Smith was called to be the first president with Sarah M. Cleveland and Elizabeth Ann Whitney as counselors and Eliza R. Snow as secretary." (Church History in the Fullness of Times p. 248)

The following are excerpts from an article from the May 1992 Ensign titled "The Relief Society and the Church" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks

At the first meeting, President Emma Smith said, “Each member should be ambitious to do good.” (Minutes of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, 17 Mar. 1842, p. 13)

In his first formal instruction to the newly founded organization, the Prophet said he was “deeply interested that [the Relief Society] might be built up to the Most High in an acceptable manner.” He taught that “when instructed we must obey that voice … that the blessings of heaven may rest down upon us—all must act in concert or nothing can be done—that the Society should move according to the ancient Priesthood.” (Minutes, 30 Mar. 1842, p. 22.)

The next time he met with the Relief Society, Joseph Smith “exhorted the sisters always to concentrate their faith and prayers for, and place confidence in those whom God has appointed to honor, whom God has placed at the head to lead.” (Minutes, 28 Apr. 1842, p. 37.)

At this same meeting, the Prophet spoke the words that President Gordon B. Hinckley recently characterized as “a charter … of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (Ensign, Mar. 1992, p. 4):

This Society is to get instruction thro’ the order which God has established—thro’ the medium of those appointed to lead.” (Minutes, 28 Apr. 1842.)

Here the Prophet declared that the Relief Society was to receive instruction and direction from the priesthood leaders who presided over their activities. Like the quorums of priesthood holders in the Church, the Relief Society was to be self-governing, but it was not to be an independent organization. It was an integral part of the Church, not a separate church for women.

The Prophet continued, “I now turn the key to you in the name of God and this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time—this is the beginning of better days to this Society.” (Minutes, 28 Apr. 1842, p. 40.)

When he “turn[ed] the key,” the Prophet Joseph Smith made the Relief Society an official part of the Church and kingdom of God. This opened to women new opportunities for receiving knowledge and intelligence from on high, such as through the temple ordinances that were soon to be instituted. Similarly, as the Prophet promised them in connection with their charitable service, “If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.” (Minutes, 28 Apr. 1842, p. 38.)

To watch a special three minute video commemorating our worldwide sisterhood, "Relief Society - An Enduring Legay", visit lds.org or click here: http://www.lds.org/pa/rs/home/rsvideo.html?xml=rsvideo_8911.xml