Before I pass that along, however, I just want to say again how much I appreciate the openness and the kindness and support of so many people on this board; THANK YOU.

OK---I couldn't figure out how to copy and paste the link, so I'll put here what I have, and hopefully those who want to see it themselves can use it to figure out how to access it.

The article is called A Soul-Stirring Journey of Personal Growth Awaits.

It includes a link to "FAQ's", which gives the new schedule and instructions for the Sunday meetings and references the home-study component. Another link is to the home study component.

For those who were speculating that the changes would not change the busy-ness of the leaders---No kidding---looks to me like work is increased, along with pressure to fill up home-life as well.

Is this what you're talking about?

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2018/12/making-your-life-a-soul-stirring-journey-of-personal-growth?lang=eng

Does everybody picture Holland's friendly, smiling face at the top of the article while reading? Or do you, like me, picture his red, angry face from one of his GC talks?

I can't imagine him happy while writing this...assuming that he actually wrote it himself.

The reality is the church abandoned its third hour and over the long term it is highly doubtful that active members will follow through with the home study planned offer. For most members it is hard enough to have Family Home Evening and spend five minutes each night reading the Book of Mormon as a family. They may try implementing the "Come Follow Me" plan at home, but I've looked at it and it is pretty darn boring.

We all should strive for personal growth.

We don't need the Mormon church to tell us how.

Mormonthink is a good start.

Ugh. I tried to read it and it's the usual cliched' claptrap, the only things I learned are that they are pushing even harder for members to think about TSCC 100% of the time wherever they may be, and conversely, it reinforces what I have often thought--that is only so much to learn, and you can only wrap that "restored gospel" stuff in Sunday School, or seminary, or FHE activities, or bacon, or cheese, or promises that "every time you read the BoM you'll learn something new"-----it's just the same few items over and over and over and over again.
They can't really go for the "deep doctrine" that isn't much different from mainstream Christianity (or common sense living for that matter) because the stuff that's really unique to Mo'ism isright off the crazy train.

Nope, it's all a con to get members to insulate from the real world and repeat the cult mantras...lalalalalalala...

Clearly I missed hearing about it.

Too bad, so sad...

They talk about growth but they know they can only allow you to grow so far or else they lose you, so they have to put artificial limits on everything

Lds, Inc. is a business. They're talking about financial growth, growth in numbers of customers, and growth in acquisitions.

in SLC dictating your activities and how you are to spend your time will bring deep and satisfying happiness.

I cringe at the thought of ever again letting a bunch of soulless bureaucrats (pretending to be God's special messengers) tell me what to study, think and do 24/7.

Everything the "leaders" do and say is so manifestly UNINSPIRED that it still boggles my mind that so many Mormons still slavishly and religiously follow them.

Even when I was a youngster trying hard to believe, I couldn't help but see how much unhappiness and unexamined anger and frustration the many "programs" and busywork duties imposed by the Church leaders inflicted on people around me. I would often see my mother and other people return from temple duties and other church activities in foul moods, taking their anger out on everything but the church (when it was clear that it was actually the church activity that had caused the anger). I remember FHE often being a cause for fights between parents because one thought that the other wasn't supporting it enough or was somehow failing to make it wonderful enough (when it was clearly the stiff, unnatural and contrived nature of the program that made it unsalvageable as a genuinely enjoyable family activity).

The leaders always make grandiose promises for their programs. The programs never deliver. The members feel obligated to blame themselves for the fact that the programs never live up to the hype. The cognitive dissonance and frustration builds up and creates chronically unhappy people going through life with forced smiles, feeling a need to sing the praises of the very thing that causes them to feel like they are cursed and "not in tune with the spirit" on a daily basis.