Sunday School (LDS Church)

Historical records indicate that some form of Sunday school was held by Latter Day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois, in the 1830s and 1840s.

Lacking a suitable building to hold the meeting in, Ballantyne invited his students into his own home; approximately thirty Latter-day Saint children between the ages of 8 and 13 attended.

Other LDS Church congregations followed the Fourteenth Ward's example and adopted Sunday school programs based on the Ballantyne model.

The organized Sunday School addressed lesson topics and source materials, grading, prizes and rewards, use of hymns and songs composed by members of the church, recording and increasing the attendance, developing an elementary catechism, and libraries.

In 1980, the church instructed the Sunday School to stop passing the sacrament during its classes, a practice that Brigham Young had begun in 1877.

In 1866, just prior to the formal organization of the Sunday School Union, Cannon had begun publishing the Juvenile Instructor magazine.

Although the magazine was owned and edited solely by Cannon, it nevertheless became the de facto official publication of the Deseret Sunday School Union in the late 1860s.

In general, the Gospel Doctrine curriculum follows a four-year cycle: However, there are also a number of "generalist" and "specialist" classes that may be taught in Sunday School.

Each congregation (ward or branch) has an adult male priesthood holder who serves as the local Sunday School president.