Ensign (LDS magazine)


The Ensign of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly shortened to Ensign, is an official periodical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The magazine was first issued in January 1971, along with the correlated New Era and the Friend. Each of these magazines replaced the older church publications Improvement Era, Relief Society Magazine, The Instructor, and the Millennial Star. Unlike some of its predecessors, the Ensign contains no advertisements.
As an official church publication, the Ensign contains faith-promoting and proselytizing information, stories, sermons, and writings of church leaders.
The May and November editions of the Ensign provide reports of the proceedings of the church's annual and semi-annual general conferences. These issues contain the full sermons and business of the conferences, as well as a current photographic list of the church's general authorities and general officers.
The text of every issue of the magazine is available on the church's web site. Each issue since January 2001 is also available in PDF format.
In April 2018, the magazine discontinued its First Presidency message, an article traditionally found at the front of the magazine written by a member of the church's First Presidency. This message was traditionally used by home teachers for a lesson as they visited their assigned families. This change coincided with the church's revamping of the home teaching program into ministering.

Editors