September

I Will Serve God with All My Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him” (D&C 59:5).

Supplement the ideas provided here with some of your own. Each week, plan ways to (1) identify the doctrine, (2) help the children understand it, and (3) help them apply it in their lives. Ask yourself, “What will the children do to learn, and how can I help them feel the Spirit?”

Week 1: Jesus Christ taught us how to serve others.

Identify the doctrine (looking at pictures): Display a few pictures of Jesus Christ serving others. For example, use GAB pictures 41, 42, 46, 47, and 55. Ask the children to describe what is happening in each picture. Point out that Jesus is serving others in each picture. Write on the board, “Jesus Christ taught us how to serve others.”

Role plays: Role-playing or acting out situations helps children apply gospel principles to real-life situations. It also provides opportunities for the children to actively participate.

Encourage understanding (reading scriptures and role-playing): Ask the children to take turns acting out one of the needs described in Matthew 25:35–36. For example, a child could pretend to be hungry, thirsty, a stranger, or sick. Ask the other children to guess the need and then act out how they can serve someone with that need. Read Matthew 25:35–40 together, and ask the children to look for who Jesus Christ says we are serving when we serve others.

Encourage application: Give the children a piece of paper and ask them to list names or draw pictures of people they can serve and acts of service they can perform for those people. Ask them to share their papers with their families at home.

Week 2: Prophets and apostles show us how to serve.

Identify the doctrine: Display pictures of Moses, King Benjamin, Joseph Smith, and Thomas S. Monson. Tell the children that these prophets, just like all prophets and apostles, show us how to serve others.

Encourage understanding (playing a guessing game): Prepare clues about how Moses, King Benjamin, Joseph Smith, and Thomas S. Monson show us how to serve. For example, some clues about President Monson could be “I visited widows from my ward regularly,” “When I was a boy I gave another boy one of my favorite toys,” and “I often visit people who are in hospitals.” You may want to use the following references to prepare the clues. Moses: Exodus 2:16–17; 1 Nephi 17:24–29. King Benjamin: Mosiah 2:12–19. Joseph Smith: Joseph Smith—History 1:62, 67; D&C 135:3. Thomas S. Monson: Ensign, Sept. 1994, 12–17; Dec. 1995, 2–4; Nov. 2006, 56–59.

Choose four children to represent these prophets, and invite one of them to read the clues you have prepared. Invite the other children to raise their hands when they think they know who the prophet is. Then have them find the picture of that prophet. Repeat with the other prophets.

Simple costumes such as robes and hats can make dramatizations more interesting. Dramatizations help children gain a greater understanding of gospel principles and accounts from the scriptures.

Encourage application (listening to conference): Invite the children to watch or listen to general conference next month. Encourage them to listen for stories about how to serve others. Give them opportunities to share what they learn.

Keep the doctrine pure by teaching the truths of the gospel and not other things. Always use Church produced and approved lesson materials.

Weeks 3 and 4: When I serve others, I serve God.

Identify the doctrine (memorizing a scripture): Help the children memorize the last part of Mosiah 2:17 by writing on the chalkboard, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” Invite the children to repeat the phrase two or three times. Ask a child to erase one or two words, and have the children repeat the phrase again. Repeat until no words are left on the chalkboard.

Encourage understanding (hearing case studies): In preparation, prayerfully study President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s April 2010 conference talk, “You Are My Hands” (see Ensign or Liahona, May 2010, 68–70, 75). Ask the children how we serve God when we serve those around us (we are doing what He would do if He were here). Share a story or a personal experience of service, and explain how it blessed both the giver and the receiver. (You can find stories about service in the Friend or Liahona.) Prepare some case studies that show how children can serve others. For example: “Annie tripped and fell on the way home from school, and her books and papers were scattered on the ground. David stopped to help her up and picked up her books.” “Mary’s neighbor was struggling to carry groceries into her house while her baby was crying. Mary helped her carry her groceries.” Ask the children to act out the case studies and tell who was served (both the recipient of the service and God).

Encourage understanding and application (playing a matching game): Find or draw pictures of people children can serve, such as a parent, a sibling, a grandparent, a friend, and a neighbor. Make a second copy of these pictures and play a matching game with them. When a child makes a match, invite him or her to tell one way to serve the person in the pictures. List the children’s ideas on the chalkboard. For some ideas about how to serve, see Primary 4, 166.

Games give variety to lessons, allow children to interact with each other, and reinforce the gospel principle being taught in a fun way.