Message from Area Leaders
Teaching in the Saviour’s Way
A few months ago, my elders quorum president entrusted me with the responsibility of training a newly ordained 14-year-old teacher in my ward on how to minister. I was proud to be able to teach him everything I had learned in all my many years of service, but it was in fact he who taught me that day!
During this period, I was a little overwhelmed by my responsibilities and it took me a few weeks before I began serving alongside him. Eventually, I made an appointment with the family we wanted to minister to. As we made our way to the family’s home, I seized the opportunity to tell him everything I knew about our responsibilities as priesthood holders. While we were chatting with this family, the mother turned to my young ministering companion and said, “thank you so much for taking care of us these last few weeks, you called us three times to find out how we were doing and today you made us a cake.” I was stunned! My companion had not waited for me to tell him or show him what to do, he simply began to serve. He had acted on his own, out of love for this family, and followed the promptings of the Holy Spirit. He showed me that age is not a barrier to service.
That day he taught me as the Saviour taught, to do with his heart and out of love, without boasting of anything; to do rather than to say.
The Saviour said, “Follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.”1 His being baptised, although he was perfect, shows us how important it is to teach by example. His outstretched hand to the ill woman shows us how much He cares about each one of us. The way He protected the woman taken in adultery is a symbol of what His atoning sacrifice can do in each of our lives. The fact that He touched the leper helps us understand that when we turn to those in need, we teach charity through our actions.
In the manual Teaching in the Savior’s Way, it says, “The goal of every gospel teacher—every parent, every formally called teacher, every home teacher and visiting teacher, and every follower of Christ—is to teach the pure doctrine of the gospel, by the Spirit, in order to help God’s children build their faith in the Savior and become more like Him.”2
President Russell M. Nelson taught, “The pure doctrine of Christ is powerful. It changes the life of everyone who understands it and seeks to implement it in his or her life. The doctrine of Christ helps us find and stay on the covenant path. Staying on that narrow but well-defined path will ultimately qualify us to receive all that God has. Nothing could be worth more than all our Father has!”3
Teaching as the Saviour taught requires putting Him first in our lives, following His teachings and spreading love around us. Teaching like Him also implies seizing every given opportunity to bear witness of Him, of His atoning sacrifice and of His love, because as the Lord says, “This is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do.”4
I testify of the love which He has for each one of us, He is the Savior and Redeemer, and He will lead us to eternal life.