Spiritual understanding rarely comes from a lecture. It comes in classrooms where questions are welcome, where doubts and fears can be expressed, and where honest opinions are never dismissed. It comes from obedience, private study, and prayer. Spiritually, the classroom of faith becomes less like a lecture hall and more like a fitness center. Students do not get stronger by watching someone else do the exercises. They learn and then participate. As their spiritual strength increases, they gain confidence and apply themselves all the more. The Savior taught by listening and observing. After teaching and healing the multitude, He fed them. To the woman caught in adultery, He wrote in the sand. Before He healed the daughter of the leader of the synagogue, He asked those who did not believe to leave the house. To Caiaphas, the high priest, He said nothing. Elder Maxwell summarized effective teaching in these words: "Do not be afraid of repetitious teaching. Ask inspired questions. Typically, but not always, two-way dialogue is better than one-way monologue." Use the scriptures. Share simple stories, parables, and real life examples. Ask questions. Invite students to teach and to share their feelings. Encourage them to act in faith and to report on what they're learning. Never--and I mean never--give a lecture where there is no student participation. A talking head is the weakest form of class instruction. Assure that there's abundant participation because that use of agency by a student authorizes the Holy Ghost to instruct. It also helps the student retain your message. As students verbalize truths, they are confirmed in their souls and strengthen their personal testimony.

Faith-promoting incidents occur in teaching when students take a role in teaching and testifying to their peers. It is very important to have open discussion about the importance of prayer and scripture study so that the youth can help one another and be supportive. At the recent mission presidents' seminar this summer, one of the comments they made that was really interesting--they said that the missionaries coming into the MTCs have a wide variety of knowledge of the gospel, but very few know how to appropriately share that knowledge. Now with both of those areas--the knowledge itself and the testimony and the ability to know how to appropriately share that--we really ought to be able to make an impact in the seminary and institute program, wouldn't you think? And those are areas we can make a difference. I've got a son that just left a month ago on a mission. And I think back about the influence that his seminary classes and his religion or institute-type classes later on helped him. It's all the way from the scripture mastery to the basic understanding of the standard works to the testimony of the apostles and the prophets in the latter-days and the ability to teach somebody about that--that he had the chance to actually practice teaching things. And I'm grateful for what happened there.