By Art Smith, Council of Twelve Apostles

Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!

In November, I traveled to India with Stassi Cramm. It was her first international trip since her ordination as Prophet-President. It’s never easy getting to India from the USA, and Stassi’s trip started with a mechanical problem on her flight from Cincinnati to New York, requiring her to run across the JFK airport and almost miss our connection. After more than 18 hours in the air, a brief rest in Chennai, another flight, and hours on the road, we finally arrived in southern India. Without stopping, we went to our first visit.

We drove to a small village called Kombai in Tamil Nadu. We went to the home of Sister Bharathi Palraj and sat down together for tea. According to the Indian caste system, Bharathi is a Dalit woman. She’s pushed to the margins and considered “untouchable” in her society. She lives in a settlement on the edge of town and works as a daily laborer. There are public places where people are unwilling to touch what she has touched.

And yet, she was the very first person Stassi visited in India. That choice matters.

Bharathi is also the leader of her mission centre. Along with two other women, she serves as the leader of the mission centre presidency of the South India Green Valley Mission Centre. In a world shaped by caste and patriarchy, that reality is already surprising. But what we experienced that day went even deeper. The Prophet-President of a worldwide church sat in the home of a Dalit woman and received her hospitality. No ceremony. No distance. No hierarchy being reinforced.

Instead, a simple revelation. God’s new community was being born—right there in that small living room. A community where leadership is not reserved for the powerful but entrusted to those the world overlooks. A community where women lead. Where Dalits lead. Where dignity is recognized as God-given.

Power so often flows toward wealth, status, and privilege. But here, it flowed in a different direction. Toward Bharathi. Toward the margins.

This is how God’s new community comes into being. This was not a grand declaration on the stage at World Conference. This was a choice about where to go first, about who we center, about whose voices we follow.

In that home in Kombai, the message was unmistakable: Start here. With the ones the world overlooks. Because that’s what Jesus does.

Prayer Phrase

“a new community…is being born” (Doctrine and Covenants 164:5).

Spiritual Community

Meditate on a time when you experienced true belonging—a moment when someone welcomed you, listened to you, encouraged you, or reminded you that you were not walking the journey of faith alone. Prayerfully consider the qualities that help build a Christ-centered community: hospitality, compassion, forgiveness, patience, courage, joy, and a willingness to walk alongside one another. Offer a prayer of gratitude for the communities that have shaped you and a prayer of commitment to help create spaces where all people can experience the love, peace, and presence of Christ.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.