Teaching the Mission of the Church

We decided to organize our family home evenings for the coming weeks around the threefold mission of the Church: proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead. We came up with a list of activities we could participate in as a family that would help our children better appreciate the Church’s mission.

Proclaiming the Gospel

• Watch Church-produced videocassettes, such as Labor of Love and How Rare a Possession. Discuss them with the children.

• Organize a family fund-raising project. Donate the funds to help support a missionary or to provide money for the ward mission fund or for the Book of Mormon fund.

• Write letters to missionaries.

Perfecting the Saints

• Plant a garden.

• Clean garbage from neighborhood streets.

• Serve shut-ins or less-active members.

Redeeming the Dead

• Visit a nearby temple or temple visitors’ center.

• Begin or update family journals, or read ancestors’ journals.

• Take the family to visit a family history center to look for names of relatives.

Following these ideas helped us be better organized for family home evening and helped us teach important concepts to our children.—Ronda Hinrichsen, Perry, Utah

Photography by Steve Bunderson and Brian Kelly; butterfly image © 1996 Photodisc, Inc.

Illustrated by Beth M. Whittaker