President Uchtdorf: "Christ-Centered Unity"
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President Dieter F. Uchtdorf teaches that Jesus Christ unites people across every kind of division, and points to baptism and the sacrament as unifying covenants.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, spoke on “Christ-Centered Unity” in the October 2026 general conference. The full talk is on the Church's Gospel Library. His theme is that disciples are brothers and sisters taking part with Christ in gathering and uniting God's family.
Baptism is personal and communal
He begins with the recent baptisms of two great-grandchildren and a memory of his own baptism at age eight, when he worried that the pool kept getting deeper and he could not swim. Spiritual growth, he says, usually starts small and then builds, like an exponential curve. Baptism is an individual ordinance, yet it also joins us to a worldwide covenant community that agrees to carry one another's burdens.
The Savior unites; the adversary divides
President Uchtdorf notes that Jesus lived among peoples divided by culture, politics and religion, and that He reached across those lines by touching lepers, praising the faith of Gentiles and holding up a Samaritan as an example of compassion. Satan, by contrast, tries to isolate people and make differences seem like walls.
What unites us
People unite around many things, he observes, from causes and heritage to hobbies and favorite teams. In the Church, he says, unity comes from love of God and neighbor and from covenants with Jesus Christ. He recalls how the Nephites and Lamanites, after long rivalry, became one people once Christ's doctrine took hold. The closer we come to the Savior, he teaches, the closer we come to each other, and every small step toward unity counts.
The sacrament
He highlights the sacrament as a weekly starting point. It is received individually but together, and it is the one ordinance in which no personal name is spoken. He closes by inviting everyone to help build this unity, saying it would be incomplete without them.
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