The Nation - News from April 3, 1988

The Mormon Church reported a record increase in converts during 1987, and leaders warned members against ostracizing non-Mormons in the church’s Utah stronghold. Mormon missionaries baptized 227,284 new members last year, compared to 216,210 in 1986, according to the annual statistical report of the 6.5-million-member church. The membership report was delivered on the opening day of the 158th Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The two-day conference has drawn thousands of Mormons from around the world to hear sermons from the church’s hierarchy, including President Ezra Taft Benson, 88, who is considered a prophet, and has been televised to more than a thousand Mormon chapels in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.