Church Handbook of Instructions (formerly the General Handbook of Instructions) is a two-volume book of instructions and policies for leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The books are prepared by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the church and are distributed to the LDS Church's worldwide lay leadership. Along with the standard works, the Church Handbook stands as the preeminent guide for the leaders of the LDS Church.

Purpose

In general, the Church Handbook of Instructions contains institutional church policies as opposed to church doctrine. However, brief statements of doctrine are commonly presented at the start of sections in the handbook in order to provide the doctrinal context in which the policies are being set and implemented.

Structure and distribution

The Church Handbook of Instructions is divided into two volumes. The church only distributes copies of the handbook to individuals that fill certain leadership callings within the church hierarchy.

Book 1

Book 1 is subtitled Stake Presidencies and Bishoprics. It contains information that is primarily relevant to the functions and duties of stake presidents, bishops, mission presidents, district presidents, branch presidents, and their counselors. Other individuals who receive a copy of Book 1 are members of a stake high council, temple presidents and their counselors, general authorities, area seventies, and church clerks and executive secretaries.

The topics in Book 1 include guidelines involving general, area, and regional administration; stake administration; ward administration; interviewing and counseling; performance of ordinances; callings and releases; church meetings and worship services; temples and marriage; missionary service; church discipline; single adults and students; the Church Educational System; Perpetual Education Fund; military relations; records and reports; church finances; physical church facilities; creating and changing church congregations and other units; and general church policies on administrative, health, and moral issues.

Book 2

Book 2 is subtitled Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders. It contains information that is primarily relevant to the functions and duties of the leaders of priesthood quorums and auxiliary organizations of the church. Every quorum president and auxiliary organization leader at stake, ward, district, and branch levels receive a copy of Book 2, as do most of the individuals who receive Book 1. Counselors to quorum or auxiliary presidencies and other members receive smaller booklets that excerpt only the portions of Book 2 that are relevant to their church position.

The topics in Book 2 include guidelines involving the Melchizedek priesthood; the Aaronic priesthood and Young Men Organization; Relief Society; Young Women Organization; Primary; Sunday School; member missionary work; spiritual and temporal welfare; temple and family history work; church activities; church curriculum; printed church materials; meetinghouse libraries; music; and teaching in the church. Book 2 also contains some of the general church policites on administrative, health, and moral issues that are contained in Book 1.

Supplements

Occasionally the church updates, supplements, or changes material in the Church Handbook of Instructions with written directives from the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, or Presiding Bishopric of the church. Leaders are instructed to write the changes into their copies of the handbook and keep the handbook and the supplemental materials together. New editions of the handbook are published in order to incorporate these issued supplements into the text of the handbook.

Unauthorized distribution

Neither volume of the Church Handbook of Instructions is available for sale to the general public or the general church membership, nor is an official version available on the internet. The church asserts copyright over the contents of the Church Handbook and prohibits its duplication. The handbook emphasizes that "Book 1 has been prepared solely for use by general and local Church officers to administer the affairs of the Church. The copyright to the Church Handbook is owned by Intellectual Reserve, Inc., a corporation owned by the LDS Church which owns the church's intellectual property rights.

After Book 1 was published in 1998, Jerald and Sandra Tanner's Utah Lighthouse Ministry published portions of it on the internet without permission from the church and without including the book's copyright notice. The text was also disseminated to other websites which the ULM's website linked to. In the 1999 lawsuit Intellectual Reserve v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry, a United States district court issued an injunction prohibiting the further duplication of the contents of Book 1 and ordered ULM to remove the offending material from its website.

In May 2008, the LDS Church notified the Wikimedia Foundation that it believed the copyright to the Handbook of Instructions had been violated by a link posted in Wikinews. The link directed readers to the text of the handbook that was posted on the Wikileaks website, which is unaffiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation. Shortly after the complaint was made, Wikinews removed the link to the text from the article.

History

The document that is identified as the first Church Handbook of Instructions was published in 1899 as a small fourteen-page booklet. It primarily contained instructions on how to manage in-kind payments of tithing by church members. The handbook was revised every year until 1910 and approximately every five years thereafter. The book has been variously called the Annual Instructions, the Circular of Instructions, the Handbook of Instructions, the General Handbook of Instructions, and the Church Handbook of Instructions.

In 1998, the book was split into two volumes for the first time and was renamed the Church Handbook of Instructions. A new edition of Book 1 was published in 2006; the church continues to use the 1998 edition of Book 2.

Chronology of the Church Handbook of Instructions

Below is a listing of the publication history taken from an article by Edward L. Kimball.

No.	Year	Title	Pages	First Presidency
1	1899	Instructions to Presidents of Stakes, Bishops of Wards and Stake Tithing Clerks	14	Lorenzo Snow, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith
2	1900	Instructions to Presidents of Stakes, Bishops and Clerks	23	Lorenzo Snow, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith
3	1901	Instructions to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, Bishops and Counselors and Stake Tithing Clerks	43	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
4	1902	Annual Instructions, No. 4, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, Presidents of Missions, High Counselors, Bishops and Counselors and Stake Tithing Clerks in Zion	38	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
5	1903	Annual Instructions, No. 5, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, High Counselors, Bishops and Counselors and Stake Tithing Clerks in Zion, 1903-1904	28	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
6	1904	Annual Instructions, No. 6, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, High Counselors, Bishops and Counselors and Stake Tithing Clerks in Zion	32	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
7	1905	Annual Instructions, No. 7, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, High Counselors, Bishops and Counselors and Stake Tithing Clerks in Zion	34	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
8	1906	Annual Instructions, No. Eight, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, Bishops and Counselors, Stake Clerks and General Authorities in Zion	34	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
9	1908	Annual Instructions, 1908, Circular No. 9, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, Presidents of Missions, Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks and General Authorities in Zion	34	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
10	1909	Annual Instructions, 1909, Circular No. 10, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, Presidents of Missions, Bishops and Counselors, Mission and Ward Clerks and All Church Authorities in Zion	41	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Anthon H. Lund
11	1909	Annual Instructions, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, Presidents of Missions, Bishops and Counselors, Mission and Ward Clerks and All Church Authorities in Zion, Circular No. 11	36	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Charles W. Penrose
12	1913	Circular of Instructions, No. 12, to Presidents of Stakes and Counselors, Presidents of Missions, Bishops and Counselors, Stake, Mission, and Ward Clerks and All Church Authorities	52	Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, Charles W. Penrose
12	1921	Instructions to Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks, No. 13	63	Heber J. Grant, Anthon H. Lund, Charles W. Penrose
13	1923	Instructions to Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks, No. 13, 2d ed.	63	Heber J. Grant, Anthon H. Lund, Anthony W. Ivins
14	1928	Handbook of Instructions for Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, No. 14	86	Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, Charles W. Nibley
15	1934	Handbook of Instructions for Stake Presidencies, Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks, Number 15	111	Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, J. Reuben Clark
16	1940	Handbook of Instructions for Stake Presidents and Counselors, Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks and Other Church Officers	159	Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, David O. McKay
17	1944	Handbook of Instructions for Stake Presidents and Counselors, Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks and Other Church Officers	272	Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, David O. McKay
18	1960	Handbook of Instructions for Stake Presidents and Counselors, Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks and Other Church Officers		David O. McKay, J. Reuben Clark, Henry D. Moyle
19	1963	Handbook of Instructions for Stake Presidents and Counselors, Bishops and Counselors, Stake and Ward Clerks and Other Church Officers		David O. McKay, Henry D. Moyle, Hugh B. Brown
20	1968	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Handbook of Instructions	125	David O. McKay, Hugh B. Brown, N. Eldon Tanner, Thorpe B. Isaacson, Joseph Fielding Smith
21	1976	General Handbook of Instructions	110	Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, Marion G. Romney
21(1)	1976	General Handbook Supplement 1	8	Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, Marion G. Romney
21(2)	1977	General Handbook Supplement 2	7	Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, Marion G. Romney
21(3)	1978	General Handbook Supplement 3	183	Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, Marion G. Romney
21(4)	1978	The Church Judicial System (replaced section 8 of General Handbook of Instructions)	11	Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, Marion G. Romney
22	1983	General Handbook of Instructions	82	Spencer W. Kimball, Marion G. Romney, Gordon B. Hinckley
23	1985	General Handbook of Instructions	79	Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson
24	1989	General Handbook of Instructions	79	Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson
24(1)	1991	Supplement to the 1989 General Handbook of Instructions	10	Ezra Taft Benson, Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson
25(1)	1998	Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1: Stake Presidencies and Bishoprics	161	Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust
25(2)	1998	Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2: Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders	167	Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust
26(1)	2006	Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 1: Stake Presidencies and Bishoprics	205	Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust
26(2-A)	2006	Church Handbook of Instructions, Book 2: Priesthood and Auxiliary Leaders: Section 9: Temple and Family History Work	8	Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust

Notes

External links

• Emmett, Andrea Moore "The Notorious Tanners: Longtime Mormon critics look back as they contemplate retirement". Salt Lake City Weekly. .
• Park, Michael "Watchdog Web Site Draws Legal Threats from Scientologists, Mormons". FOX News. FOX News Network, LLC, .
• "Summary of Intellectual Reserve v. Utah Lighthouse Ministries (LDS Copyright Case)". Tech Law Journal