Three New Pamphlets Help Teach about Church

By Brittany Karford, Church Magazines

With the development of three new missionary pamphlets, investigators will now receive literature to read and ponder at the conclusion of each of their first three lessons with the missionaries.

“At the conclusion of every teaching session, the investigator should be left with something to read,” President Gordon B. Hinckley stated in the first worldwide leadership training meeting. “It may be designated chapters from the Book of Mormon. It may be other literature. But there should always be something for him to read and think about, to ponder and reflect on” (Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 2003, 20).

The pamphlets provide a resource investigators can turn to in private or group reflection. Coinciding with the first three lessons in Preach My Gospel, the pamphlets offer insight to answer questions that may come to mind after the missionaries have left and to prepare the reader for future lessons.

Each of the three pamphlets—The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and The Gospel of Jesus Christ—is a small booklet containing a summary of principles in that lesson, with study questions and a glossary of terms that may be unfamiliar. Questions such as “How can I know?” and “How do I pray?” are answered, an overview of Sunday meetings tells investigators what they can expect, and a list of commitments offers guidance in scripture study and points to additional resources.

Missions across the world received English versions of the pamphlets during 2006. Missionaries are encouraged to study the pamphlets while preparing for lessons and to refer to them in teaching. Each booklet includes art and photography that can be used in teaching. Through the pamphlets, missionaries can remind investigators of commitments, invite them to church, and point them to www.mormon.org. Members are encouraged to share the pamphlets with their families and friends.

The pamphlets, planned from the beginning as part of the Preach My Gospel effort, are currently being translated into the languages in which the Preach My Gospel manual is published, more than 50 in all.

The pamphlets are available through distribution centers in the U.S. and Canada or at www.ldscatalog.com at a cost of U.S. $2.50 for a package of 25.