Corinth, Southern Greece, the Forum and Civic Center, painting by Balage Balogh/www.ArchaeologyIllustrated.com

August 19–25

1 Corinthians 1–7

“Be Perfectly Joined Together”

The Holy Ghost will help you know what gospel principles in 1 Corinthians 1–7 will help the children you teach. As you prayerfully read these chapters, record the thoughts and feelings that come to you from the Spirit.

Record Your Impressions

Invite Sharing

A few days in advance, invite one or more of the children to find a verse in 1 Corinthians 1–7 that they can share with the class. You could invite their parents to help if necessary.

Teach the Doctrine

Younger Children

1 Corinthians 2:11–14

The Holy Ghost teaches me gospel truths.

One of the Holy Ghost’s roles is to teach us truth. What experiences can you share with the children to help them understand this?

Possible Activities

• Show objects or pictures that represent ways we learn about the world (such as a school, book, or cell phone). What can we learn when we use these things? Explain that in 1 Corinthians 2:11, 14, Paul taught that we can learn about God only through the Spirit of God, which is the Holy Ghost. What can we do to learn “the things of God”?

• Clap your hands as you say each syllable in the sentence “The Holy Ghost teaches us truth.” Ask the children to clap their hands and repeat the phrase. Share with the children an experience when the Holy Ghost helped you know that something was true.

• Sing together a song about the Holy Ghost, such as “The Holy Ghost” (Children’s Songbook, 105). Help the children find words and phrases in the song that teach how the Holy Ghost speaks to us and what He teaches us.

1 Corinthians 3:10–11

Jesus Christ is my foundation.

Children are laying a foundation for their testimonies, and you can help them build a solid foundation on Jesus Christ.

Possible Activities

• Read 1 Corinthians 3:11 to the children, and explain that Jesus Christ is our foundation. Show the children several pictures of things we can have testimonies of, including a picture of Jesus Christ. Help them arrange the pictures so that the picture of Jesus is on the bottom, like a foundation, and the other pictures “build” on a testimony of Him.

• Create actions for the song “The Wise Man and the Foolish Man” (Children’s Songbook, 281), and sing the song with the children. Give each child a rock with “Jesus Christ is my foundation” written on it. Let them take the rocks home to remind them what they learned.

• Share pictures that depict some of your favorite stories from the Savior’s life, and ask the children to tell you what is happening in the pictures. Let them share some of their favorite stories about Jesus. Bear your testimony that Jesus Christ is the foundation of your faith.

1 Corinthians 6:19

My body is like a temple.

How can you help the children appreciate their bodies as gifts from God and have a greater desire to take care of them?

Possible Activities

• Show the children pictures of temples (see this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families), and read these words from 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Help the children understand that Heavenly Father wants us to keep our bodies clean and holy, like a temple.

• Display a picture of a child, and put pictures around it of things that are good for our bodies and things that are bad. Invite the children to take turns identifying the good things and removing the bad ones.

• Sing together a song about bodies, such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” (Children’s Songbook, 275), and ask the children why they are thankful for their bodies.

Teach the Doctrine

Older Children

1 Corinthians 1:23–25

God is wiser than man, and I show true wisdom when I believe His teachings.

The children you teach will find—if they haven’t already—that some people teach things that contradict God’s wisdom. Studying 1 Corinthians 1:23–25 can help the children understand that God is wiser than man.

Possible Activities

• Read 1 Corinthians 1:23–25 together, and help the children find the words wisdom and foolishness. Explain that many people thought Paul’s teachings were foolish, but Paul explained that believing Christ’s gospel is true wisdom. Why is it wise to believe what God teaches?

• Help the children role-play how they could respond to people who think Church teachings are “foolish”—teachings such as believing in the Savior, keeping the Word of Wisdom, or obeying the law of tithing. For example, they could testify of the blessings that come from living these teachings.

• Share an experience when others thought that your beliefs were foolish, or share an example from the scriptures. Could the children share similar experiences? How can 1 Corinthians 1:25 help us remain faithful when others call our beliefs foolish?

1 Corinthians 2:11–14

The Holy Ghost teaches me gospel truths.

How can you help the children recognize that they need the Holy Ghost to understand “the things of God”?

Possible Activities

• Make a list of ways we learn about the world—for example, books, school, and the internet. Then read together 1 Corinthians 2:11–14. What do these verses teach about how we learn “the things of God”?

• Invite the children to share a time when they felt the promptings of the Holy Ghost, also called “the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11–14). Such times could include when they were at church, praying, or reading the scriptures. Help them understand that the Holy Ghost was teaching them truth, as Paul described.

• Invite each child to read one of these scriptures: 1 Corinthians 2:11–14; 1 Nephi 10:17; Moroni 10:3–5; and Doctrine and Covenants 8:2–3. Ask the children to share what they learned from these scriptures about how the Holy Ghost teaches us. Encourage them to write these references in the margins of their scriptures.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20

I should treat my body with respect and keep it holy.

Understanding that our bodies are gifts from Heavenly Father will help the children keep their bodies sacred, even when they are tempted to do otherwise.

Possible Activities

• Bring a wrapped gift with pictures of a child and a temple inside. Invite the children to read 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 and guess what is in the gift. Let them unwrap the gift and discuss how our bodies are like temples.

• Talk with the children about how we should treat a temple. If our bodies are like temples, how should we treat our bodies? Singing or reading the words to a song about temples, such as “The Lord Gave Me a Temple” (Children’s Songbook, 153), can help answer this question. When we make mistakes, how can we make our “temples” clean again?

• Read together the section titled “Physical and Emotional Health” in For the Strength of Youth (2011, 25–27). Invite the children to list on the board the counsel they find about how to care for our bodies.

Encourage Learning at Home

Invite the children to share with their families a song that they sang in class and what they learned from it.

Improving Our Teaching

Testify of Jesus Christ. One of the most important things you can do as a teacher is to testify of Jesus Christ. This will help the children strengthen their testimonies and feel the Savior’s love for them.