What Can Mormons Do on Sunday? LDS Sabbath Rules

Latter-day Saint family leaving church on Sunday after worship services

For members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sunday is the Sabbath—a day meant to be different from the rest of the week. Latter-day Saints gather for worship, partake of the sacrament, study the gospel, spend time with family, serve others, and seek spiritual and physical renewal.

Church teachings also encourage members to avoid unnecessary work and shopping on Sunday. But there is no activity-by-activity LDS rulebook labeling every possible Sunday choice as “allowed” or “forbidden.” Some guidance is specific; in other situations, members are expected to apply broader Sabbath principles to their circumstances.

A note on terminology: This article uses the word Mormon in some headings and search-focused phrases because that is still how many people look for information online. The Church’s official name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and its members are more accurately referred to as Latter-day Saints.

Table of Contents

What Do Mormons Do on Sunday?

For most Latter-day Saints, Sunday centers first on worship.

Members attend sacrament meeting, where they partake of the sacrament in remembrance of Jesus Christ and His Atonement. They also participate in gospel classes and quorum or organization meetings.

Beginning September 6, 2026, the Church’s Sunday class schedule changes. Sacrament meeting remains 60 minutes. Adults and youth then have 25 minutes of Sunday School and 25 minutes of Relief Society, elders quorum, Young Women, or Aaronic Priesthood quorum meetings, with brief transition periods between meetings. Primary lasts 55 minutes. These classes will meet every Sunday rather than alternating from week to week.

The Church announced the change in its official 2026 Sunday meeting schedule update.

If you are unfamiliar with what actually happens during these meetings, see our guide to what to expect at a Mormon church service.

Church meetings are only part of the Sabbath. The current General Handbook, section 2.2.2 also points members toward personal worship, gospel study, ministering and service, family history, joyful family time, and other appropriate gatherings.

Why Is Sunday the Sabbath for Latter-day Saints?

Latter-day Saints normally observe Sunday as the Sabbath because Jesus Christ was resurrected on the first day of the week, and early Christians gathered for worship on that day. The Church therefore treats Sunday as the Christian Sabbath in most places.

In some countries, however, local circumstances can make Sunday worship impractical. Church meeting schedules may be adapted to local conditions, but the underlying principle remains the same: members are taught to set apart a regular Sabbath day for worship, the sacrament, rest from ordinary labor, and devotion to God.

Are There Official Mormon Sunday Rules?

There is a commandment to keep the Sabbath holy, and Church leaders have given specific counsel about some Sunday activities. But the Church does not publish a comprehensive code assigning an official ruling to every possible activity.

A useful way to understand LDS Sabbath teaching is to separate three kinds of guidance:

Type of Guidance	What It Means
Explicit Church guidance	Church teachings have specifically addressed unnecessary shopping, ordinary labor, and some commercial and sporting activities on the Sabbath.
General Sabbath principles	Worship, spiritual renewal, service, and setting the day apart guide situations for which there is no specific rule.
Individual circumstances	Employment, emergencies, health, family needs, and travel can affect how those principles are applied.

In practice, Latter-day Saints and families may apply Sabbath principles somewhat differently depending on culture, work schedules, family needs, and personal circumstances. Some members keep very strict Sunday routines, while others make more flexible choices without viewing those differences as a separate Church-wide rule.

Doctrine and Covenants 59 describes the Lord’s day as a time to gather for worship, partake of the sacrament, rest from ordinary labor, and devote the day to God.

The current second edition of Preach My Gospel likewise teaches members to refrain from shopping and other activities that make the Sabbath feel like an ordinary day.

At the same time, President Russell M. Nelson taught a broader principle for choices that do not come with a specific rule. He suggested asking:

“What sign do I want to give to God?”

That principle comes from his 2015 general conference message, “The Sabbath Is a Delight.”

Specific counsel and personal application are therefore not opposites. Both are part of Latter-day Saint Sabbath observance.

Can Mormons Shop on Sunday?

Latter-day Saint couple deciding whether to shop at a grocery store on Sunday

Latter-day Saints are counseled to avoid unnecessary shopping on Sunday.

This is not simply an old Utah cultural custom. The current edition of Preach My Gospel says members should refrain from shopping and other activities that make the Sabbath feel like a common day.

The counsel also has a long history.

In 1993, the First Presidency advised Church members to refrain from shopping and from other commercial and sporting activities on the Sabbath. Gospel Principles, chapter 24, similarly says that prophets have counseled members not to shop, hunt, fish, attend sporting events, or participate in similar activities on that day.

Elder Earl C. Tingey made the point particularly direct in his 1996 general conference address “The Sabbath Day and Sunday Shopping”:

“We should not shop on Sunday.”

He also relayed President Gordon B. Hinckley’s counsel that ordinary purchases such as furniture, cars, groceries, or ice cream normally can be planned for another day.

Another reason Church leaders have given is that Sunday customers create demand for Sunday labor. Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught that people who shop on the Sabbath help create the demand that keeps businesses open, while also acknowledging that essential services must still operate.

So the basic teaching is clear:

Sunday is not intended to become a normal weekly shopping day.

The harder question is what happens when a purchase is genuinely necessary.

Is It a Sin to Shop on Sunday?

Keeping the Sabbath holy is a commandment in Latter-day Saint teaching, and Church leaders have specifically counseled members against unnecessary Sunday shopping. However, Church teachings do not classify every individual Sunday purchase as the same kind or seriousness of sin.

Both parts of that answer matter.

It would be inaccurate to say that shopping on Sunday is purely a personal preference. Sabbath observance is taught as a commandment, and avoiding unnecessary shopping has been repeated in both older and current Church materials.

But it would also go beyond Church teaching to create a moral chart in which every Sunday purchase is automatically treated identically.

Buying medicine for a sick child is not the same circumstance as routinely choosing Sunday for a weekly Costco trip. A traveler who unexpectedly needs fuel is not in the same situation as someone who habitually saves ordinary errands for Sunday.

Need, intent, preparation, and habit all matter when applying Sabbath principles.

That does not weaken the commandment. It simply means the Church has not created an activity-by-activity “sin score” for every possible Sunday transaction.

What About Necessary Purchases on Sunday?

Church leaders have repeatedly encouraged members to prepare in advance so ordinary errands do not become necessary on Sunday. At the same time, genuine needs still arise.

Can Mormons Buy Groceries on Sunday?

For routine grocery shopping, the direction is straightforward: Latter-day Saints are encouraged to shop on another day.

In “The Sabbath Day and Sunday Shopping,” President Hinckley’s counsel, as quoted by Elder Tingey, emphasized that ordinary groceries normally can be purchased before Sunday with reasonable planning.

The important distinction is necessity versus convenience.

Discovering that an infant has no formula, an elderly relative urgently needs food, or an unexpected situation has left a family without something essential is different from choosing Sunday because the grocery store happens to be quieter.

The goal is not to search for loopholes. It is to prepare where reasonably possible while responding sensibly to real needs.

Can Mormons Buy Medicine on Sunday?

Necessary medical care is an obvious example of something that cannot always wait until Monday.

Church leaders discussing Sabbath commerce have recognized that medical and emergency services need to remain available on Sundays.

Jesus also repeatedly used the Sabbath to help and heal people in need. Current Preach My Gospel emphasizes that doing good on the Sabbath is at least as important as what disciples refrain from doing.

Obtaining medicine that is genuinely needed is therefore very different from turning Sunday into a routine shopping day.

Can Mormons Buy Gas on Sunday?

Latter-day Saints are encouraged to plan ahead here too. Elder Tingey specifically suggested filling the gas tank before Sunday when possible.

But circumstances can change.

Someone who unexpectedly needs fuel to get home or complete necessary travel faces a different situation from someone who routinely leaves ordinary errands until Sunday.

Again, preparation is the principle. Genuine necessity is not always predictable.

Can Mormons Eat at Restaurants on Sunday?

Church leaders have counseled Latter-day Saints to avoid unnecessarily patronizing restaurants on Sunday as part of avoiding Sunday commerce and unnecessary labor.

Church teaching on this subject has historically been fairly specific. The Church article “Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy” discusses counsel to avoid supporting Sunday businesses such as grocery stores, supermarkets, restaurants, and service stations.

The reasoning is similar to Sunday shopping: customers create demand, and demand requires other people to work.

That does not mean the Church publishes a rule declaring every restaurant meal in every circumstance to be morally identical.

A regular Sunday brunch chosen for convenience is one situation. A family stranded during travel, staying somewhere without cooking facilities, dealing with a delayed flight, or facing another genuine need is another.

So for restaurants, the same useful distinction applies:

Is this an ordinary convenience that could reasonably be moved to another day, or is there a legitimate need created by the circumstances?

Can Mormons Work on Sunday?

Hospital nurse working on Sunday while Latter-day Saints attend worship services

Some Latter-day Saints work on Sunday, and current Church teaching recognizes that certain Sunday work cannot always be avoided.

This is addressed directly in the current second edition of Preach My Gospel under “Working on the Sabbath.” It explains that Church members are sometimes required to work because of their employers, their own needs, or the needs of the community. In those situations, members are encouraged to maintain the spirit of the Sabbath as much as possible.

The passage can be found in the official Preach My Gospel, Lesson 4, and it also appears in the Church’s official PDF edition of Preach My Gospel.

That distinction is important.

Hospitals still need nurses and doctors. Police officers, firefighters, transportation workers, caregivers, utility workers, and others may provide services that cannot simply stop every Sunday.

Other members may have little control over their schedules or may need a particular job to support themselves or their families.

Church teaching therefore does not reduce Sabbath observance to the claim that any person who works on Sunday is automatically breaking the rules.

Where members can reasonably arrange their work so Sunday remains available for worship and rest, the Sabbath principle points them in that direction. Where work cannot reasonably be avoided, members are encouraged to preserve the spirit of the Sabbath as much as circumstances allow.

Preach My Gospel also notes that members can counsel with their Church leaders about their individual situation.

Sports, Entertainment, and Recreation on Sunday

Sports and entertainment are areas where both specific prophetic counsel and broader principles matter.

Gospel Principles says prophets have counseled members not to attend sports events on the Sabbath or participate in similar activities.

The current General Handbook, section 20.5.8 adds a narrower administrative rule: Church-sponsored camps, sporting events, and recreational activities are not scheduled on Sunday.

That Handbook rule governs Church activities. It should not be presented as an exhaustive code governing every private activity of every member.

Can Mormons Play Sports on Sunday?

Latter-day Saint teaching clearly points members away from making Sunday a routine day for competitive sports and sporting events.

But not every form of physical activity is identical.

Playing in an all-day tournament, attending a professional football game, taking a walk with family, and casually throwing a ball with children in the backyard are different situations.

This is where the broader Sabbath principle becomes important. Members are encouraged to ask whether an activity helps preserve Sunday as a day of worship and renewal or makes it increasingly resemble any other recreation day.

Can Mormons Watch TV or Movies on Sunday?

There is no current Church-wide list of television programs or movies that members may or may not watch specifically because it is Sunday.

In “Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy,” Elder Tingey discussed questions such as television as matters to be approached through known gospel principles and family responsibility rather than through an endless universal checklist.

That means Latter-day Saint families may establish different habits.

Entertainment that consumes most of the day and displaces worship, family connection, service, or spiritual renewal presents a different Sabbath question from occasionally watching something uplifting together as a family.

Can Mormons Play Video Games on Sunday?

The Church has not issued a video-game-specific Sabbath rule.

Instead, the same questions apply: Is gaming dominating the day? Is it replacing worship, family connection, service, or spiritual renewal? Or is it a limited part of otherwise Sabbath-centered family time?

Different families may apply those principles somewhat differently without changing the underlying purpose of the Sabbath.

Can Mormons Travel on Sunday?

The Church does not prohibit all personal travel on Sunday, although Latter-day Saints are taught to keep the Sabbath distinct from ordinary recreation and weekday activities.

The current General Handbook contains a specific rule for Church-sponsored activities: camps, sporting events, and recreational activities are not scheduled on Sunday, and groups should not travel to or from camps or youth conferences on Sunday.

The Handbook provides only a narrow exception in situations involving serious safety or travel-cost concerns, allowing some youth activities to take place immediately after Sunday worship meetings. That exception concerns Church-sponsored activities; it is not a general permission for personal Sunday travel whenever travel is inconvenient or expensive.

Personal travel can involve circumstances that no simple rule covers—family emergencies, unavoidable flights, work obligations, weather disruptions, or long-distance journeys.

When Sunday travel is necessary, members can still look for ways to worship, attend Church when practical, limit unnecessary commerce, and preserve the character of the Sabbath.

What Are Good Things for Latter-day Saints to Do on Sunday?

Latter-day Saint family spending Sunday together at home after church

A discussion of Mormon Sunday rules can easily turn into a list of things not to do. But Church teaching places strong emphasis on what the Sabbath is for.

The General Handbook points members toward activities such as:

Attending Church and partaking of the sacrament as the center of Sabbath worship.
Personal prayer and gospel study at home.
Ministering and serving others, including helping people who are sick, lonely, or in need.
Family history and genealogy work.
Joyful, unhurried family time and appropriate gatherings.
Physical and spiritual renewal rather than simply filling the day with ordinary weekday activity.

Current Preach My Gospel makes an especially useful point: doing good on the Sabbath is at least as important as what members refrain from doing.

It encourages gospel learning, strengthening faith, building relationships, service, and uplifting activities with family and friends.

In everyday life, a Latter-day Saint Sunday might therefore include visiting someone who is lonely, studying scripture with children, working on family history, calling relatives, writing to a missionary, listening to uplifting music, sharing a family meal, taking a quiet walk, resting, praying, or simply having an unhurried conversation with someone who needs one.

So the answer to “What can Mormons do on Sunday?” is much larger than “go to church and avoid stores.”

The day is intended for worship, the sacrament, service, family relationships, spiritual renewal, appropriate rest, and drawing closer to Jesus Christ.

Why Isn’t There a Complete List of Sunday Dos and Don’ts?

It would be convenient to have a list covering every possible situation:

Shopping: no.
Walking: yes.
Football: no.
Board games: yes.

But real life quickly becomes more complicated.

In his general conference address “The Sabbath Is a Delight,” President Russell M. Nelson explained that earlier in his life he studied lists other people had created of appropriate and inappropriate Sabbath activities.

He later came to focus instead on what his Sabbath conduct communicated to God.

His question became:

“What sign do I want to give to God?”

That teaching does not erase specific Church counsel about shopping, work, or sporting activities.

Instead, it explains how members can approach situations for which there is no specific published rule.

A 1993 statement did not need to discuss Amazon. A 1996 general conference address could not address DoorDash. Church manuals cannot realistically list every streaming service, app, hobby, children’s activity, household project, form of travel, or new technology that might appear decades later.

The broader question remains relevant:

Is this choice helping me set the Sabbath apart for God, or making Sunday increasingly indistinguishable from every other day?

Is Breaking the Sabbath a Sin?

In Latter-day Saint teaching, keeping the Sabbath holy is a commandment, so deliberately disregarding it is a matter of obedience to God—not merely a lifestyle preference.

The command appears in the Ten Commandments and is reaffirmed in Doctrine and Covenants 59. Current Preach My Gospel continues to teach Sabbath observance as part of Christian discipleship.

That does not mean every questionable Sunday activity carries identical moral weight.

An unavoidable hospital shift, an emergency purchase, routine recreational shopping, and deliberately rejecting Sabbath worship are not circumstances the Church places on a published one-to-one severity scale.

This is why intent, necessity, preparation, habit, and a person’s overall effort to honor the Sabbath matter.

Does Sunday Shopping or Work Affect a Temple Recommend?

There is no separate temple recommend question asking whether a member has shopped at Walmart, eaten at a restaurant, bought gasoline, or worked on a particular Sunday.

There is, however, a direct question about Sabbath observance.

The current General Handbook section on temple recommend interviews asks whether a member strives to keep the Sabbath day holy, both at home and at church, attends meetings, prepares for and worthily partakes of the sacrament, and lives in harmony with gospel laws and commandments.

The word “strive” matters.

Sabbath observance is clearly part of temple worthiness, but the published interview does not reduce it to a checklist of individual purchases or activities.

It would therefore go beyond the Church’s published standard to claim that a single Sunday purchase automatically disqualifies someone from holding a temple recommend.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Mormons go to Walmart or Costco on Sunday?

Latter-day Saints are generally taught to plan ordinary shopping for another day. Current Preach My Gospel specifically counsels members to refrain from shopping on the Sabbath.

That does not mean every trip to a store happens for the same reason. An emergency purchase is different from making Costco or Walmart part of a normal Sunday routine.

Can Mormons order from Amazon on Sunday?

There is no Church rule specifically about Amazon or online shopping.

But buying something on a phone does not automatically make the Sabbath question disappear. A useful question is whether the purchase is necessary now or could easily wait until another day.

Can Mormons use DoorDash or food-delivery apps on Sunday?

There is no DoorDash-specific LDS rule.

Food delivery does raise an older Sabbath principle in a modern form: Sunday purchases can create demand for someone else to work. That may lead some Latter-day Saints to avoid delivery for convenience while viewing an unexpected need during travel, illness, or another difficult situation differently.

Can Mormon children have playdates on Sunday?

There is no Church-wide ban on children spending time with friends on Sunday.

Families often make their own decisions about playdates based on the kind of Sabbath they want to create. A quiet visit with friends is not necessarily viewed the same way as turning Sunday into a full day of ordinary recreation.

Can Mormons exercise on Sunday?

The Church does not prohibit all exercise on Sunday.

There is longstanding counsel against making the Sabbath a day centered on competitive sports and recreation, but a family walk, light exercise, and an organized tournament are not identical activities. Members generally apply the broader purpose of the Sabbath rather than follow a universal exercise rule.

Do Mormons have to stay home after church?

No. Latter-day Saints are not expected to spend the rest of Sunday inside their homes.

Church guidance encourages service, ministering, family history, family time, gospel study, and appropriate gatherings. Members may visit relatives, help someone in need, take a walk, or participate in other activities consistent with the purpose of the Sabbath.

The Principle Behind LDS Sunday Observance

Latter-day Saints are taught to make Sunday meaningfully different from an ordinary day. Some guidance is specific, including repeated counsel to avoid unnecessary shopping and ordinary labor. Other situations require members to apply broader Sabbath principles to real-life circumstances.

So the best answer to “What can Mormons do on Sunday?” is neither “anything they want” nor a giant list of forbidden activities.

The Sabbath is centered on worship, the sacrament, service, family, rest, spiritual renewal, and devotion to God. Specific counsel provides direction; Sabbath principles help with the countless choices no rulebook could ever list.

What Can Mormons Do on Sunday? A Guide to LDS Sabbath Rules