Old versions of the handbook

[jaredsbarney]

My Bishop wants me to do a couple minutes in Bishopric meeting each week going over recent changes to the handbook...problem is while the handbook has a lost of changes it doesn't give the previous version to help clarify the change that was made and i can't find the previous versions to make the comparison. DOes anyone know here i can find previous versions for download i'm just looking for like october 2025 something prior to the nov and december changes.

[russellhltn]

When I look at "Summary of Recent Updates" at the front of the Handbook, in most cases it outlines what the changes are.

Some of the changes are fairly academic to ward council (such as clarifying succession in the Presidency of the Church), but some will apply to ward leadership. In cases where the change is missing, you can simply go over the current instruction.

[lajackson]

Does anyone know here i can find previous versions for download

Earlier versions of the Church Handbook are not kept online by the Church. Your best source would be to look at articles in the Church News that were published around the time of the change, in addition to the list of changes included in the Handbook itself.

[sbradshaw]

Old versions of the General Handbook are available in the Church History Catalog:
M250 G362d 1899-: General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [electronic resource]

However, the latest edition listed there is currently August 2024.

For more recent updates, Summary of Recent Updates, mentioned by russellhltn, will be useful.

You can use the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (Web.Archive.org) to see previous versions of the Summary of Recent Updates:
https://web.archive.org/web/20251001000000*/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/summary-of-recent-updates?lang=eng

[BrianEdwards]

My Bishop wants me to do a couple minutes in Bishopric meeting each week going over recent changes to the handbook...problem is while the handbook has a lost of changes it doesn't give the previous version to help clarify the change that was made and i can't find the previous versions to make the comparison. Does anyone know here i can find previous versions for download i'm just looking for like october 2025 something prior to the nov and december changes.

I understand the challenge. Even when looking at the high-level summary of Handbook changes, or the somewhat-detailed explanation of changes, there's a multitude of phrases and words that will never be listed, but that can actually impact what a leader should (or shouldn't) do. When I was in leadership callings, I'd try mightily to stay in sync with changes, but even then there were many many times I'd look in the Handbook and think "wow, I sure don't remember that being stated this way", but would not be able to easily identify if it was just me (likely), or if the wording had actually changed (possible). And looking back through archived versions wasn't appealing to me

While the Bishop's goal is good, I'd suggest another option. Simply identify the Handbook sections that are most pertinent to your Bishopric, and closely review those whether they've recently changed or not. As stated above, I have found that myself (and most other leaders), even in areas of the Handbook that haven't changed for a while, are often surprised to remember/learn about details that they weren't aware of (or had forgotten). Your Bishopric may already be doing this and the Bishop might want to target recent changes, if so then the above suggestions will be very helpful.