Millions of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered Saturday — physically and electronically — to hear counsel from their leaders in the first sessions of the church's 174th Annual General Conference.

Many new leaders were sustained Saturday afternoon (see accompanying story) and tens of thousands flocked to the Conference Center, Temple Square and surrounding areas downtown for the semiannual gathering, many of them from around the globe.

"New technology has become available as the church has grown larger and stronger," President Gordon B. Hinckley said during the morning session. "Our membership now reaches almost 12 million, with more members outside North America than reside within. Once we were recognized as a Utah church. Now we have become a great international body."

As with every organization, the church loses some of its members, but "I am satisfied that we retain and keep active a higher percentage of our members than does any other major church."

While its core principles remain unchanged, certain aspects of the church, such as its welfare program, have expanded concomitant with its international reach.

President Hinckley told the church's priesthood holders Saturday night that not one of the various foreign leaders who visited recently with the First Presidency mentioned the church's pioneer heritage, an aspect of the church's history dear to the hearts of long-time members.

Rather, "each of them (the foreign leaders), independently, spoke in praise of our welfare program and our humanitarian efforts," he said during the Saturday evening priesthood session, going on to detail the program's accomplishments.

"When the modern welfare program was put in motion (in 1936), it was designed to take care of the needs of our own people. In the years that have followed, thousands upon thousands have been served. . . . We now operate 113 storehouses, 63 farms, 105 canneries and home storage centers, 18 food-processing and distribution plants as well as many other facilities. Not only have the needs of church members been met, but aid has been extended to countless others."

The church has helped victims deal with the aftermath of numerous natural disasters throughout the world, distributing $98 million in cash and in-kind assistance in the past year. A total of $643 million has been distributed in the past 18 years.

"We shall go on," President Hinckley said. "There will always be a need. Hunger and want and catastrophes will ever be with us."