On Sept. 26, 1926, Church President Heber J. Grant sent J. Wyley Sessions, a newly returned mission president in South Africa, to Moscow, Idaho—a small town on the border of Washington state on the Idaho Panhandle—to start “collegiate seminaries.”
During the 75th anniversary commemoration in 2001 of that historic assignment—the seedbed for what would become The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Institutes of Religion program—President Henry B. Eyring, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the Church commissioner of education, noted there was no building. There was no curriculum. It was simply the arrival of a teacher, he said.
Sessions held the first classes near the campus of the University of Idaho, with just 25 students.
But from those humble beginnings has sprouted a thriving global program, now with more than 2,700 locations in more than 170 countries in 39 languages.
Today, 100 years later, institute remains an opportunity for young adult Latter-day Saints to gather, learn about Jesus Christ and His gospel, and to lift and serve others, noted Elder Peter M. Johnson, a General Authority Seventy and counselor in the United States West Area presidency.
Elder Johnson was the featured speaker during a devotional held in conjunction with the “100 Years of Institute” Young Single Adult Conference, at the Moscow Idaho Institute of Religion building and the adjacent University of Idaho campus.
Visit the Church News to learn more about the celebration in Moscow and the history of institute.
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