More about Jesus, less about coffee: Seven LDS Church trends, according to data

(RNS) — If you’re a Latter-day Saint, you’re aware that the church changed under President Russell M. Nelson , who died last year. The temple ceremony was updated, Sunday meetings were reduced to two hours and the missionary program was overhauled and expanded .

But other swings can be harder to put your finger on, especially ones that don’t come accompanied by a shiny new policy change. Think of them as vibe shifts.

But for researcher Christian N. K. Anderson , a geneticist with a Ph.D. from Brigham Young University, even vibe shifts can be quantified. He’s got a terrific new article in the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association — which is open access and therefore free to all — in which he tracks the rise and fall of various LDS themes spoken about during General Conferences, the biannual gatherings of LDS members. Specifically, he compares the trends during Nelson’s tenure , which began in 2018 and continued until his death in 2025, with the presidents before him, and the results are fascinating.

Here are some highlights. All of the exact percentages are in the article , so I’ll let the graphs do the talking here, showing you visually what Anderson’s research…