Helping Students to Take Charge of Their Own Testimonies
June 2024 CES Religious Educators Conference
Welcome to this historic gathering of religious educators in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For years, we have gathered all CES religious educators once a year for a focused devotional previously referred to as An Evening with a General Authority. Tonight, we will continue that tradition as we gather to hear from Elder Dale G. Renlund at our concluding event. We have also historically hosted the in-person CES conference at Brigham Young University, but this year’s event represents the first time we have assembled across the entire Church Educational System to learn from each other, share insights, discuss efforts to teach more effectively, linking religious educators from Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, BYU, BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii, BYU–Pathway, and Ensign College. In total, these religious educators teach roughly half a million young adults across the Church, in addition to all those students enrolled in seminary.
To understand why we would make such an effort is tied to the very purpose of religious education at CES. I have spoken frequently about the distinctive roles each CES school plays in the system. For example, I have referred to BYU as the Ambassador because of its responsibility to represent the system and the Church as a convener, host, and scholar. Next, consider BYU–Idaho, who I refer to as the Educator because of its singular focus on teaching; BYU–Hawaii as our Asia-Pacific capstone, with its dedicated and decided emphasis on its target area of the Church; and Ensign College is the Applied Curriculum Provider, with its focus on entry-level job skills. And BYU–Pathway is the Access Provider, reaching more students than any of our campuses through affordable, high-quality online learning. Of course, Seminaries and Institutes reaches students who don’t attend Church universities and is the Spiritual Anchor for young adults, no matter where they receive their education.
Despite these different roles, there are at least two ways each of these institutions are unified. The first is the mission of the Church Educational System itself, which is to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who can be leaders in their homes, the Church, and their communities. Regardless of your distinctive institutional roles, each CES institution has a shared mission around disciple leadership. More specifically to this audience, we also have an additional shared responsibility across CES as religious educators. In June of 2019, the Church Board of Education approved a core document outlining the role of religious education in the Church Educational System, often referred to as the “Strengthening Religious Education” document. This charge comes with the clarity and direction directly from the Church Board of Education. The opening paragraph of that document reads, “Religious education holds a unique and cherished place in the mission of each institution. … It stands at the very center of each institution’s purpose.” The SRE guidelines further clarify that the central objective of religious education is stated as follows: “The purpose of religious education is to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ from the scriptures and modern prophets in a way that helps each student develop faith in and testimony of Heavenly Father, … Jesus Christ, … the restored gospel, … and [living prophets]; become lifelong disciples; … [and] strengthen [the] ability [of our students] to find answers, resolve doubts, [and] respond with faith.” That core purpose of religious education across the Church Educational System is central to what we’re about here today. If we don’t do this with deliberate focus, it becomes hard to justify the significant investment the Church makes across each of these institutions.
So part of the reason we are gathered today is that we share a common CES mission and a common charge as religious educators to develop testimony and to help students become disciples and find answers to their questions and faith. I would also like to thank Chad Webb for his leadership. Brother Webb leads Seminaries and Institutes of the Church. But for the past two years, he has also chaired the Religious Education Committee with representation from across the Church Educational System. It is in large part due to that committee that we are gathered today as CES educators. I should also note the support from each of our CES presidents: President Reese, President Meredith, President Kauwe, President Kusch, President Ashton, and Brother Webb. These leaders have been charged to be “the chief moral and spiritual officers” of their institutions. This charge was initiated at President Kauwe’s inauguration and repeated at every CES inauguration since. I’ll just show images here of those inaugurations. You can see President Kauwe’s. The charge came from President Holland, and it was repeated to President Ashton, then again to President Reese, and then most recently to President Meredith. It is not by accident, then, that these presidents are joining us here today. They are remarkable leaders, and I express my appreciation to them for their leadership and their commitment to help us kick off this inaugural Religious Educators Conference.
I would next like to provide some context for my message today. In my inaugural address to our religious educators—in my annual address to our religious educators over the past two years, I have asked you to focus on what we have identified as prophetic emphases for young adults. We have also tried to emphasize that these topics listed here certainly will change. There’s nothing magical about these five themes, but they should be updated as we get ongoing direction from prophets and apostles, particularly those that come to our young adults. The hope is not that you would memorize these specific messages, per se, but that all of us would learn how to listen to living prophets and help our students learn how to apply their messages.
In that spirit, I would like to focus on one of these recent prophetic emphases that has been on my heart. President Russell M. Nelson has invited young adults to take charge of their testimonies. Please note that if you want to follow the prophet, pay attention to two things. First, watch when he repeats a message, and second, pay particular attention when he pleads with us. You will see both of those patterns in President Nelson’s message to take charge of your testimony, which was first introduced in this devotional to young adults in May 2022, when he stated: “I plead with you to take charge of your testimony. Work for it. Own it. Care for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with the false philosophies of unbelieving men and women and then wonder why your testimony is waning. As you make your testimony your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.”
Then, later that same year, President Nelson gave an almost identical charge, this time to the entire Church in his October 2022 general conference address: “To this end, I extend to members of the entire Church the same charge I gave to our young adults last May. I urged them then—and I plead with you now—to take charge of your own testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. Work for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with false philosophies of unbelieving men and women. As you make the continual strengthening of your testimony of Jesus Christ your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.”
With President Nelson’s repeated plea that we take charge of our testimonies, I felt to share some of my own path toward testimony. This will be a personal expression, and while I have written it out, my hope is that you’ll be able to feel like we’re sitting together in a less formal setting. Each of us has our own personal journey to faith. So do our students. Today I will share some of mine. My journey to testimony started in an unusual setting. I grew up in a largely non–Latter-day Saint community in Scottsdale, Arizona. At a high school track event, I was getting ready for my race when I looked across the track and noticed Brother Butler, my Young Men leader. It was so odd for him to be there. We didn’t have much in common. I knew he wasn’t a frequenter of track meets. Then in a moment the Spirit said to me, “Clark, this Church is true because there’s no way he would be here otherwise. There must be something deeper in his faith that is motivating him to support you.” That was it. The experience didn’t happen while poring over the scriptures or in the middle of a testimony meeting. It simply came from the fruits of someone’s dedicated service. I can remember the feeling today as clear as the day it happened.
A year or two later, I found myself with a mission call to the Japan Kobe Mission. I remember the first day in the MTC. It was so exciting meeting companions, being introduced to instructors, the feeling of strength gathered in from across the world. But the next morning, when that alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., I could barely wake up, and a moment of panic came over me. I thought, “How in the world am I going to do this? I don’t know if I can wake up this early every day for the next two years, let alone learn such a difficult language like Japanese.” Suddenly, the fact that my Young Men leader had come to my track meet didn’t feel like it would be enough to sustain me for two years. I needed to know more deeply, and that testimony needed to be grounded in the gospel itself. I began reading the Book of Mormon in earnest every morning. That alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., and I climbed into that desk in the MTC under the fluorescent light and a rolling chair, reading and studying the Book of Mormon. As I got to the end, I read the Book of Mormon promise in Moroni 10:3–5. I knew that scripture from my time as a young seminary student. I kneeled in prayer to ask for a confirmation of my faith. But as I inquired of the Lord, nothing initially came. I was so disappointed. I climbed back into my chair, realizing I was just two pages from the end of the Book of Mormon. I decided to at least finish. With three verses to go in Moroni 10, Moroni 10:32, I read this scripture: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace—” I can’t read it. I’m crying. Sorry. “Then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ.” As I read that verse, a light and a clarity came over me. I couldn’t deny it. It was elevating and warm, and it filled my entire being. In that moment, I knew that the Book of Mormon was true and that its purpose is to testify that Jesus is the Christ.
Well, I left for Japan with this powerful witness. I continued to have experiences that built my testimony but nothing so profound as that morning in the MTC. Then, one very rainy night as we prepared for bed, we heard a knock on the door. We looked at each other. Our apartment was in the back, behind the mission home. Somewhat startled that someone would come so late at night to our apartment, I walked out and opened the door to see my mission president there in the threshold, standing in the rain under an umbrella. He said, “Gilbert Chōrō, Elder Gilbert, get dressed. We’re going to see Elder Matsuo.” Elder Matsuo’s father was dying of cancer. I immediately assumed what had happened. But as I got into the mission vehicle, President Matsumori turned to me and explained that the missionary’s mother had been killed in a car accident that day. He then said, “Pray that we’ll be able to empathize and understand what will comfort this missionary.” I felt so overwhelmed and inadequate. I can still remember the windshield wipers going back and forth as we drove in silence. Suddenly, the Spirit brought Alma 7:12 to my heart: “And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people [in] their infirmities.” I knew that the Atonement of Jesus Christ allowed us to overcome sin. I knew that Christ would help us to be resurrected and to live again. But that night on the Osaka freeway, I learned that Jesus Christ could also comfort us in our struggles, in our suffering, when life wasn’t fair. I didn’t know what that young missionary was facing, but through the miracle of the Atonement, there was One who did. That night, a year into my mission, the Spirit powerfully witnessed to me, once again, the Book of Mormon is true, and its purpose is to witness that Jesus is the Christ.
I returned from my mission and married Christine in the Salt Lake Temple. We moved to California, then eventually to Boston. I continued to have repeated, quiet confirmations of my testimony, but, again, nothing as profound as that morning in the MTC or that night on the Osaka freeway. Then one Sunday I had a powerful but unexpected witness of the Spirit. I was in a section of scripture that most people don’t turn to to build their testimony. It was in Alma 30, in a lesson at church, in what I’ll refer to as the doctrine of Korihor, where Korihor denies the Christ, tries to absolve men of their accountability for their choices, proclaims we’re only saved by our genius. He leans into what today we might call moral relativism. Korihor also aggressively belittles others’ beliefs as the foolish traditions of their fathers. As the Sunday School instructor walked through the lesson, I began to reflect that if Joseph Smith had created the Book of Mormon on his own, Korihor was an odd character to have included. Joseph lived in a season of religious fervor where people believed in Jesus Christ. He likely had never met anyone who advocated as aggressively in such an anti-Christ doctrine as Korihor or, I should add, Nehor or Sherem, all there in the Book of Mormon. But we know the Book of Mormon was written for our day. I recognized these arguments from the very people I met so frequently in the academic culture of Cambridge, Massachusetts. As I sat reflecting on this anomaly in the middle of a Sunday School class, already with a deep testimony of the Book of Mormon, the Spirit said to me, “Clark, the Book of Mormon is true, and its purpose is to witness that Jesus is the Christ.”
These experiences continued throughout my life. There was the time I was praying in the temple over my inner-city youth in Boston. As I read the scripture in Mosiah 3:17, the Spirit taught me that the only way I would help these young men out of their circumstances was through Jesus Christ. There was the time I was studying Alma 36 and learning about the chiasmus that runs through that entire chapter, with its center fulcrum outcome on the redemption of Alma the Younger. Remarkably, it seemed that every time I had a witness of the Book of Mormon, it came with a companion witness of Jesus Christ. This happened again in the October 2018 women’s session of general conference. President Nelson extended an invitation in that session to the sisters of the Church to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, with an added reference to mark every citation of the Savior, every verse reference of the Savior in the Book of Mormon. Wanting to support my wife and my six daughters, I joined them in that invitation. I had just received this copy of the Book of Mormon. It was a brand-new copy of the Book of Mormon. I marked every reference in it of the Savior. Page after page in red pencil were references to Jesus Christ. At age 48, already with a deep testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the Savior, the Spirit once again testified to me that fall, every morning as I read the pages of this book, “Clark, this book is true, and its purpose is to testify that Jesus is the Christ.”
Returning to President Nelson’s message and the quote I cited earlier: “I plead with you to take charge of your testimony. Work for it. Own it. Care for it. Nurture it so that it will grow. Feed it truth. Don’t pollute it with the false philosophies of unbelieving men and women and then wonder why your testimony is waning. … As you make your testimony your highest priority, watch for miracles to happen in your life.” I attest to those miracles. I have been blessed in so many ways because I made my testimony a priority throughout my life.
Brothers and sisters, as religious educators we must help our students to take charge of their testimonies. I’d like to focus on five ways we can teach our students to take charge of their testimonies. First, help them learn to exercise their agency. Second, teach them to be a light to others, especially those who struggle. Third, ask questions in faith. Fourth, look to truth-filled sources. And fifth, rely on the Spirit.
First, we must teach students that testimony building is a deliberate act of our agency. C. S. Lewis frequently referred to the statement “The longest way round is the shortest way home.” It takes work to deepen faith and discipleship. It is a deliberate act. Alma teaches that building a testimony requires our full attention: “But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”
The second principle we can teach in helping students take charge of their testimonies is to be a light to others, perhaps especially so for those who struggle. This generation cares deeply about their peers and those who face challenges in their lives. President Nelson teaches us not to judge others who struggle.
“If friends and family should step away from the Church, continue to love them. It is not for you to judge another’s choice any more than you deserve to be criticized for staying faithful.
“Now, please hear me when I say: Do not be led astray by those whose doubts may be fueled by things you cannot see in their lives.”
Skepticism and doubt may be contagious, but so is faith and hope. President Nelson continues:
“Most of all, let your skeptical friends see how much you love the Lord and His gospel. Surprise their doubting hearts with your believing heart!
“As you take charge of your testimony and cause it to grow, you will become a more potent instrument in the hands of the Lord.”
It is on this last point—teaching our students to become an instrument and a resource for the Lord—where I think we have such an opportunity to help young adults with their testimonies. Teach them to be a light. Teach them to be a friend. Teach them to be a resource to others. And for those who haven’t found their faith yet, teach them to go to work serving others. Many testimonies come in the act of serving others. My witness that I received in the Boston Massachusetts Temple, that Christ was the answer for my youth, came because I was doing everything I knew how to help. Teach our students to be a light, and their testimonies will grow.
We, of course, teach that it’s OK to have questions. Elder Renlund this evening will talk a little bit more about this. President Nelson explained, “If you have questions—and I hope you do—seek for answers with the fervent desire to believe.” But as President Jeffrey R. Holland has pointed out, “Sometimes we act as if an honest declaration of doubt is a higher manifestation of moral courage than is an honest declaration of faith. It is not!” When the father of the afflicted child pled with the Savior, “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief,” he was starting from a position of belief. He learned as a teenager—or I learned as a teenager, when I brought a faith dilemma to my father, I thought I was so clever and that I had come up with something he had never thought of. At 15 years old, I was smarter than my dad, who always won every argument. And now I had a stumper of a question for him. Rather than answer my question, he simply said: “Clark, I’ve had that question before too. And in my life, I’ve had two piles of questions: one pile of things I know and one that seems hard to understand. Over time, I found that the pile of things I know just keeps growing, and the pile of things I don’t continues to recede.”
If you’ll move forward in faith, I promise you this will happen. It doesn’t mean we don’t address questions and concerns that people have, but we help them move forward in faith. This is what I think Elder Larry Corbridge was saying in his BYU devotional when he said to the students here on this campus to focus on primary questions and let secondary questions resolve over time. President Nelson repeatedly reminds us that building a testimony should also include looking to truth-filled sources. “Feed [your testimony] truth. Don’t pollute it with the false philosophies of unbelieving men and women and then wonder why your testimony is waning.” Some young adults feel that the only way to have robust faith is to turn to our critics and enemies of the Church. Somehow that will make a testimony more robust. In such circumstances, we should help our students look at the integrity of intent. Korihor, Nehor, and Sherem were not trying to edify their followers but simply were trying to validate their own wrong choices and advocate their personal agendas. Teach your students that “some sources may even be calculated to cause distrust, fear, and doubt.” Help them look to living prophets, to scriptures, and to trusted Church leaders.
One of the most important truth-filled sources we can turn to is the Holy Ghost. Teach students to understand how they feel when the Holy Ghost is present and to recognize its dissipation when truth is misrepresented. I had a formative experience on this topic in a recent BYU–Hawaii question-and-answer session with President Henry B. Eyring and President Keoni Kauwe. A student asked us where they would need the Holy Ghost in their lives. Quoting President Nelson’s statement “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost,” President Eyring asked me to respond to the student’s question. This was a question I had answered hundreds of times as the president of BYU–Idaho. I responded that the students would need the Spirit as they made decisions about what to study, who to date, where to live, what job to take, and so many other life decisions that are hitting our young adults. President Eyring then asked the student to reread President Nelson’s statement. This time, he would pause on the word survive. President Eyring clarified that the prophet had used the word survive deliberately. He explained that the students were living in a time where the adversary was so effective at perverting truth that if they didn’t have the Holy Ghost, they would be deceived about the most fundamental of gospel truths. In his talk “Think Celestial!,” President Nelson declares: “There is no end to the adversary’s deceptions. Please be prepared. Never take counsel from those who do not believe. Seek guidance from voices you can trust—from prophets, seers, and revelators and from the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.”
Brothers and sisters, let us teach our students to take charge of their testimonies. Teach them to work for it, own it, care for it, nurture it so that it will grow. To this end, let us teach them to exercise agency, to be a light to others, to ask questions in faith, to look to truth-filled sources, and learn to rely on the Holy Spirit. The Strengthening Religious Education directive gives us the charge to do this with conviction. Your efforts are working. Don’t buy the external narratives. Young adults are coming to institute at record levels. Young adults are attending Church schools at record levels. There is a surge of faith across the Church, even in these difficult times. Our students are learning to take charge of their testimonies, and they are growing closer to Jesus Christ. I have a testimony of our Savior. I know the Book of Mormon is true. And I testify that its purpose is to witness that Jesus is the Christ. Let us invite our students to find those same truths. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.