Lesson 210: Teachings of Church Leaders

Template: Teachings of Church Leaders

Study and Apply the Teachings of the Lord’s Servants

young person watching General Conference

Throughout the seminary year, students will have several opportunities to study messages from Church leaders. This template provides you with ideas to help students study messages from leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Note: For an example of how to use this template, see Lesson 211: “Choices for Eternity”.

Possible Learning Activities

For each message from Church leaders, you could select one or more of the ideas from the Begin the lesson, Study the message, or Deepen understanding sections of this template or something similar of your own choice. You could also use the Apply what you have studied section of the template.

To study, students could work individually or as a class, or you could organize them into smaller groups. If you choose to listen to the audio or watch the video of the talk, please provide a printed or digital version for students to follow along.

Help students focus on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ with each teaching idea you select.

Begin the lesson

Think of a way to begin the lesson that can help create interest in students’ minds or hearts to help them prepare for the learning experience. The message students will study may have some useful approaches that you could use. The following are some examples:

• Share a thought-provoking question from the message and invite students to discuss it briefly or record their initial responses in their journals.

• Share an image or object lesson used as a part of their message and discuss briefly why it was used.

• Share a story from the speaker’s message. It may be best to not share the entire story at the beginning of the lesson but maybe just enough to pique students’ interest. Later in the lesson, the story could be concluded to illustrate the purpose of the speaker’s message.

• You could share the topic of the talk and invite students to record some of the questions they have related to the topic. Encourage them to seek answers during the lesson.

Study the message

You can use your ideas or some of the following ideas to help students focus their study of the talk. As time allows, it might be appropriate to use multiple methods. Invite students to seek personal revelation as they review the message, writing promptings in their study journals. Additional study ideas can be found at “Studying General Conference Addresses” at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

If students do not have access to a digital copy of the talk, you could arrange for students to study a printed copy.

• Look for. Prayerfully consider the needs of your class and identify a “Look for” that can be used as students study the talk. “Look for” examples could include the following: Eternal Truths, Invitations, and Promised Blessings. Students could also look for answers to questions or concerns they may have.

  It might be appropriate to let students select something they want to look for in the talk. You could share the topic of the talk and give students a chance to write several questions about that topic on the board. After studying, you could identify which questions students felt were answered and how.

• Number the paragraphs and rotate the talk. Write or type paragraph numbers in a copy of the talk. Provide a copy to each student and invite students to select something to look for. Students could read one or more paragraphs, marking them and writing notes in the margin. The paper could be passed to the next student, following a similar pattern. After they study all of the paragraphs, return the paper to the original student and let them look at the insights shared by other members of the class.

• Relevant scenario. Invite students to consider how the talk being studied could apply to a teenager today or personal challenges a teenager might experience. Prepare and present a scenario at the beginning of class. Or students could create a scenario of a teenager who is struggling with a situation or question. Students could add relevant details to the scenario that fit the needs of teenagers in your area.

• Cited or related scriptures. Students could look for scriptures cited in the talk or endnotes. Students could read the verses and either note how the talk helps them better understand the cited scriptures or how the cited scriptures help them better understand the message of the talk. In the Gospel Library, students could link to the scriptures cited in the talk or mark their paper scriptures.

Deepen understanding

The purpose of this section is to help students reflect on and discuss the talk they studied. You can use your ideas, or you could select one or more of the following activities to help students engage in the discussion. You might ask follow-up questions as the students share what they thought and felt as they studied. These options may be accomplished individually, with a partner, or in a small group.

• Focus on Jesus Christ. Consider placing a picture of the Savior on the board. Invite students to write inspiring words or phrases around the picture they found in the talk. Invite a few students to share what they wrote and how they feel the word or phrase could help a person know the character, attributes, and roles of Jesus Christ. Students could share how the teachings could help them follow the Savior and strengthen their relationship with Him.

• Teach one another. You could invite students to create a three- to five-minute talk or lesson that teaches the message they studied. Students could include personal experiences or additional scripture references that support the message. Students could practice sharing their talk with a partner, a small group, or the class.

• Record feelings. Consider inviting students to write the thoughts and feelings they had as they studied the talk. Students might record any actions the Spirit prompted them to do. As appropriate, you could ask willing students to share what they wrote.

• Create something. Using what they learned in the talk, you could give students time to create a picture, drawing, poster, meme, social media post, or something similar. It could be a reminder or something to inspire others. Students could share with a group or the class what they created.

• Share with others. You might encourage students to share a message from the talk with their family, with friends, or on social media (for example as a post, a video, or a meme). As they share, students could include a simple testimony and an invitation to learn more.

Apply what you have studied

The purpose of this section is to give students a chance to apply what they have learned and felt from studying the talk. You can use one or more of the following ideas or other ideas to meet your students’ needs. For additional ideas, see “Encourage learners to share the truths they are learning” in the Teacher Development Skills: Invite Diligent Learning at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

• Follow through on promptings. Encourage students to follow the promptings they had while studying the talk. They may have felt to make certain changes in their life, to work on one of their personal goals, or to share the message with another person.

• Make a plan. Students could complete the following prompts to help them apply what they learned. Some students may want to share their plan with a family member or friend to help them accomplish it.

• Because of this talk, I will .

• The next step I will take for completing my plan is .

• I will try to do this by (date).

• I will remind myself of my plan by .