Lesson 89: Doctrine and Covenants 77–80

Doctrine and Covenants 78

The Lord’s Storehouse

The Lord instructed Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney, and other high priests to organize themselves into a group called the United Firm. The firm managed the Church’s property, storehouses, and publishing efforts and provided resources to help meet the temporal needs of the Saints. This lesson can help students increase their desire to become like the Savior by caring for those in need.

Possible Learning Activities

The United Firm

One way to begin the lesson is by helping students create a scenario of a family with temporal needs. As part of the scenario, include financial hardships the family is facing and specific needs they have. This scenario will be referred to later in the lesson.

Explain that students will learn more about ways the Lord helps us care for those in need as they study Doctrine and Covenants 78. Invite students to seek revelation to know whom the Lord might have them help and what they can do.

On March 1, 1832, the Prophet Joseph Smith met with a group of high priests in Kirtland, Ohio. During the meeting, the Prophet dictated the revelation recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 78. Subsequently, the United Firm was created. Based on the law of consecration, the United Firm managed the Church’s property, financial endeavors, and printing efforts in Ohio and Missouri. Through the firm, the Lord established a storehouse to care for those in need, and Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Newel K. Whitney were instructed to travel to Missouri (Zion) to organize it.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 78:1–6, looking for why the Lord desired His servants to organize themselves in this way.

• What do these verses teach about the Lord’s desires for His people?

• Why do you think caring for the poor is needed to “advance the cause” of Zion? How can it bring glory to Heavenly Father?

The Lord’s storehouse

Consider bringing a box to class and labeling it “The Lord’s Storehouse.” Ask students what they think the Lord’s storehouse is. You may want to invite a bishop or branch president to discuss how the Lord’s storehouse operates in your area.

Read the following definition of the Lord’s storehouse, looking for how the Savior helps those in need.

All the resources available to the Church to help those with temporal needs are called the Lord’s storehouse (see Doctrine and Covenants 82:18–19). These include members’ offerings of time, talents, compassion, materials, and financial resources to help those in need.

The Lord’s storehouse exists in each ward and stake. Leaders can often help individuals and families find solutions to their needs by drawing on the knowledge, skills, and service offered by ward and stake members. (General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 22.2.1, ChurchofJesusChrist.org)

Discuss specific ways youth can contribute to the Lord’s storehouse (that is, time, talents, compassion, materials, financial resources). Provide students with a slip of paper. Ask students to write at least one specific thing they could personally contribute to the Lord’s storehouse and then to put their paper in the box.

Invite a student to remove the items from the storehouse and lead a discussion about how specific contributions could help the family in the scenario the class created. Repeat this exercise a few times.

The following statement is intended for students to think about on their own.

Think about how willing you are to contribute your time, talents, and resources to help those in need (very willing, somewhat willing, or not very willing).

Encourage students to seek inspiration through the Holy Ghost to help them feel more willing to help those in need as well as to know ways they can contribute to the Lord’s storehouse.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 78:7–8, 14–15, looking for blessings the Lord promises.

• How could these blessings influence you and people you know?

• What has the Lord promised those who care for those in need?

  Help students identify a truth like the following: Caring for the poor and needy helps us prepare for a place in the celestial kingdom.

  Matthew 25:31–40 could be used to help students understand the principle.

• How do you think caring for those in need helps prepare us to inherit the celestial kingdom?

• How is the Savior an example of caring for those in need?

• How could someone increase their desire to love and care for those in need like the Savior does?

What we can do

Read Doctrine and Covenants 78:17–22, looking for key words or phrases that can help us follow the Savior.

To help students engage in the discussion, you could display the following questions and allow students to think about how they would answer. You might randomly select students to answer by asking someone to pick a month of the year. Willing students who were born in that month could choose a question to answer but should not feel forced to participate.

Help each student contribute to the learning experience: For more practice with this, see the training titled “Create an environment where all are respected and know their contributions are valued” found in Teacher Development Skills: Love Those You Teach. Consider practicing the skill by communicating that you value students before they comment or as they raise their hand to comment.

• What words or phrases are most meaningful to you? Why?

• What did you find that can help us obey the Savior’s command to care for those in need?

• What did you find that reflects the Savior’s desire that we become like Him?

Give students another slip of paper. Give them time to recognize promptings they may have received about helping someone in need or specific ways they feel they can contribute to the Lord’s storehouse. Invite them to write their impressions. Students could then place their paper in the box representing the Lord’s storehouse as a way of showing their willingness to help, or they could take the paper home as a reminder.

Additional Resources

How does the Lord’s Church help us care for those in need?

President Russell M. Nelson explained:

To help relieve hunger, the Church operates 124 bishops’ storehouses throughout the world. Through them, approximately 400,000 food orders are given each year to individuals in need. In locations where no storehouse exists, bishops and branch presidents draw from fast-offering funds of the Church to provide food and supplies for their needy members. (Russell M. Nelson, “The Second Great Commandment,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2019, 98)

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency taught:

Because the Lord hears their cries and feels your deep compassion for [those in need], He has from the beginning of time provided ways for His disciples to help. He has invited His children to consecrate their time, their means, and themselves to join with Him in serving others.

His way of helping has at times been called living the law of consecration. In another period, His way was called the united order. In our time, it is called the Church welfare program.

The names and the details of operation are changed to fit the needs and conditions of people. But always the Lord’s way to help those in temporal need requires people who out of love have consecrated themselves and what they have to God and to His work.

He has invited and commanded us to participate in His work to lift up those in need. We make a covenant to do that in the waters of baptism and in the holy temples of God. We renew the covenant on Sundays when we partake of the sacrament. (Henry B. Eyring, “Opportunities to Do Good,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2011, 22)

Doctrine and Covenants 78:3–4. How does the Church use its financial resources to advance the Savior’s cause?

The following resources can help students understand ways the Church’s temporal resources bless Heavenly Father’s children around the world.

• Church Finances—Commercial Businesses (ChurchofJesusChrist.org)

• Church Finances and a Growing Global Faith (ChurchofJesusChrist.org)

• The Church and Its Financial Independence (ChurchofJesusChrist.org)

• Russell M. Nelson, “The Second Great Commandment,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2019, 96–100

• Dallin H. Oaks, “Helping the Poor and Distressed,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 6–8

• newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org

Doctrine and Covenants 78:5–6. What does it mean to be “equal in earthly things”?

To be made “equal in earthly things” does not mean that everyone will have the same material possessions, but they will have equal claim on resources according to their varied circumstances and needs (see Doctrine and Covenants 51:3; 82:17). The Lord promised Saints who lived by this principle that He would share all that He has with them and that they would “be equal in the bonds of heavenly things” (Doctrine and Covenants 78:5).

Where can I learn more about the United Firm?

See Church History Topics, “United Firm (“United Order”),” ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

See Revelations in Context (2016), “Newel K. Whitney and the United Firm.”

Supplemental Learning Activities

Videos about helping those in need

Consider using one or more of the following videos to help students understand ways we can help those in need. They could be shown when the Lord’s storehouse is introduced in the lesson or to prepare students to write down ways they can contribute to the Lord’s storehouse.

Select a video from the Community Outreach video collection that is relevant to your students.

To see an example of a family that was blessed through the Lord’s storehouse, you could watch “Caring for the Poor and Needy” (5:40).

To see examples of ways the Church cares for those in need around the world, you could watch “Humanitarian Center Film” (3:13) or “Welfare Square Tour” (6:02)

Doctrine and Covenants 78:15. The Holy One of Zion

To help students learn about the Savior by focusing on His titles and roles, you could study His title of the Holy One of Zion. It may be helpful to read and discuss Doctrine and Covenants 97:19–21; Moses 7:18, 53. Students can identify the attributes needed to build Zion and how the Savior is an example of those attributes.

Doctrine and Covenants 78:18. “I will lead you along”

You may want to help students increase their confidence that Heavenly Father will guide and direct their lives. After reading Doctrine and Covenants 78:18, you could discuss ways Heavenly Father leads us (through the Holy Ghost, parents, Church leaders, patriarchal blessings, and more). Students could share personal experiences. You might also discuss how knowing that Heavenly Father will lead us along can help us be of good cheer. The following statement might enrich the discussion.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared:

May we take seriously the Lord’s call to “be of good cheer, for I will lead you along” [Doctrine and Covenants 78:18]. He leads us by the Holy Ghost. May we live close to the Spirit, acting quickly upon our first promptings, knowing they come from God. I bear witness of the power of the Holy Ghost to guide us, guard us, and ever be with us. (Ronald A. Rasband, “Let the Holy Spirit Guide,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 96)

Doctrine and Covenants 78:19. Receive all things with thankfulness

To feel the importance of being thankful, students could read and discuss Doctrine and Covenants 78:19. As they discuss what it means to “receive all things with thankfulness,” make a list of what they can thank the Lord for and look for the blessings the Lord promises to those who “receive all things with thankfulness.”

You could also select one of the videos from the Gratitude collection in the Media Library.