Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Contents
Title Page
Introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual
Doctrine and Covenants Lessons
- The Restoration Proclamation
- Doctrine and Covenants 1
- Joseph Smith—History 1:1–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 2; Joseph Smith—History 1:27–65
- Doctrine and Covenants 3–5
- Doctrine and Covenants 6–9
- Doctrine and Covenants 10–11
- Doctrine and Covenants 12–17; Joseph Smith—History 1:66–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 18
- Doctrine and Covenants 19
- Doctrine and Covenants 20–22
- Doctrine and Covenants 23–26
- Doctrine and Covenants 27–28
- Doctrine and Covenants 29
- Doctrine and Covenants 30–36
- Doctrine and Covenants 37–40
- Doctrine and Covenants 41–44
- Doctrine and Covenants 45
- Doctrine and Covenants 46–48
- Doctrine and Covenants 49–50
- Doctrine and Covenants 51–57
- Doctrine and Covenants 58–59
- Doctrine and Covenants 60–63
- Doctrine and Covenants 64–66
- Doctrine and Covenants 67–70
- Doctrine and Covenants 71–75
- Doctrine and Covenants 76
- Doctrine and Covenants 77–80
- Doctrine and Covenants 81–83
- Doctrine and Covenants 84
- Doctrine and Covenants 85–87
- Doctrine and Covenants 88
- Doctrine and Covenants 89–92
- Doctrine and Covenants 93
- Doctrine and Covenants 94–97
- Doctrine and Covenants 98–101
- Doctrine and Covenants 102–105
- Doctrine and Covenants 106–108
- Doctrine and Covenants 109–110
- Doctrine and Covenants 111–114
- Doctrine and Covenants 115–120
- Doctrine and Covenants 121–123
- Doctrine and Covenants 124
- Doctrine and Covenants 125–128
- Doctrine and Covenants 129–132
- Doctrine and Covenants 133–134
- Doctrine and Covenants 135–136
- Doctrine and Covenants 137–138
- The Articles of Faith and Official Declarations 1 and 2
- The Family: A Proclamation to the World
- The Living Christ
Life Preparation Lessons
- Doctrinal Mastery: Finding Answers to My Questions
- Scripture Study Skills
- For the Strength of Youth: Making Choices
- Building Self-Reliance
- Physical and Emotional Health
- Preparing for Future Education and Employment
- Succeeding in School
- Missionary Preparation
- Temple Preparation
- Teachings of Church Leaders
Appendix

Lesson 54—Assess Your Learning 3: Doctrine and Covenants 20–40

“Lesson 54—Assess Your Learning 3: Doctrine and Covenants 20–40,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual (2025)

“Assess Your Learning 3,” Doctrine and Covenants Seminary Teacher Manual

Lesson 54: Doctrine and Covenants 37–40

Assess Your Learning 3

Jesus looking at child sitting next to Him

Reflecting on and assessing our spiritual learning can help us draw closer to the Savior. This lesson can help students remember and evaluate how their experiences so far studying the Doctrine and Covenants have helped them grow spiritually.

Possible Learning Activities

Physical and spiritual growth

Consider showing a side-by-side comparison of images that demonstrate growth.

To measure growth, change, and progress, people often use pictures to do a side-by-side comparison.

How can pictures of ourselves help us recognize ways that we may have changed or grown?
What are some other ways to recognize our growth?

To help students ponder and discuss spiritual growth, you could display an image of Jesus and a child, like the one at the beginning of this lesson.

Think about what you might tell a child about his or her potential to grow and become more like Jesus Christ.

What are some ways a person could recognize how they are becoming more like the Savior? (See Luke 2:52; see also Alma 5:14.)

Invite students to seek help from the Holy Ghost as they reflect on their growth. Ask them to write in their journals about some of the ways they feel they are becoming more like Jesus Christ. You might encourage students to think of attributes of the Savior they have learned about in their study of the Doctrine and Covenants. Encourage students to look through notes in their journal or scriptures they marked about the Savior in the last few weeks. Ask them to ponder which of Jesus Christ’s attributes they are seeing more in themselves (even if it is in small ways).

Some students may not recognize their growth. Remind students that growth is often hard to perceive, especially in themselves, but that does not mean that they are not growing. In this lesson, students will have opportunities to explain the purpose of the sacrament, reflect on their desires to follow the prophet, and review their plans to share the gospel. Your class’s study of Doctrine and Covenants 20–40 may have emphasized truths other than those in the following activities. If so, you could adapt the activities to include those truths.

Explain the purpose of the sacrament

Provide students an opportunity to explain the purpose of the sacrament. To prepare them, you might invite them to review what they learned about the sacrament in the Doctrine and Covenants (see Doctrine and Covenants 20:75–79; 27:1–2). They could also review notes they may have recorded in their study journals.

You might introduce a scenario like the following and ask students to explain the purpose of the sacrament using one of the following methods to respond: role-playing, creating an infographic or presentation, or writing in a journal.

Isaac invited a friend to join him at church on Sunday. Since his friend has never attended a sacrament meeting before, Isaac wants to explain a few important details before that day.

What details do you think Isaac should share about the ordinance of the sacrament?

You could display the following prompts to help students prepare their thoughts and allow them to bear testimony.

Choose two or three details about the ordinance of the sacrament you might focus on. Use one or more scriptures to help you explain and testify.

Prayers offered to bless the bread and water
What we promise Heavenly Father
What Heavenly Father promises us
The attitudes we demonstrate when partaking of the sacrament
The central focus on Jesus Christ
Your personal experiences

After students respond to the scenario, you could invite them to reflect on and share how the ordinance of the sacrament can help them see how they are becoming more like Jesus Christ.

Feel an increased desire to follow the living prophet

In recent lessons, students may have had opportunities to study the importance of following the prophet in our day. This learning activity will provide an opportunity for students to reflect on how their desire to follow the living prophet has been impacted during their study of the Doctrine and Covenants.

You may want to remind students of the following self-assessment in a previous lesson (see the lesson on Doctrine and Covenants 21).

In a previous lesson, you were invited to think about counsel from prophets and apostles that could be challenging for you to follow. Try and remember what it was. You might look through your study journal to see what you recorded.

Provide students a few minutes to look at their study journal if they made notes in it.

What are some scriptures we have studied recently that emphasize the importance of following the prophet?

Some scriptures students might bring up could include Joseph Smith—History 1:21–35; Doctrine and Covenants 1:38–39; 21:4–6. Provide students an opportunity to share what they found. Allowing students to do this in small groups can make it possible for more students to share what was significant to them.

Consider inviting students to record their answers to one or more of the following questions. Allow students to choose their own ways and methods to record these feelings. After sufficient time, invite a few willing students to share their thoughts. Although the current feelings students have about following the prophet may not be positive, you can encourage them to act on even the slightest desires and seek the Lord’s blessing through following His prophets.
What are your current feelings about following the Lord’s chosen prophet? What do you think has most impacted your feelings about following the Lord’s prophets?
How do you think following the prophet can help you become more like Jesus Christ?

Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others

Help students think about what they have been learning from their study of the Doctrine and Covenants about sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. You might invite students to look through specific sections or verses that they focused on as they studied. This could include Doctrine and Covenants 18 and sections 30–36.

Students had the opportunity to make a plan to share the gospel with someone when they studied “Doctrine and Covenants 30–36, Part 2.” Consider following up on this plan by asking questions such as the following (students could also discuss these questions in small groups):

What have you done recently to share the gospel with someone? How do you feel it went?
What obstacles have you faced as you have tried to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in natural and normal ways?
What are you learning about sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Discuss as a class your efforts to share the Savior’s gospel. Students could discuss things that went well or difficulties they had. This discussion can provide an opportunity for students to help one another to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. You could also help students consider how they have grown as they have tried to talk with others about the Savior and His gospel.