Come, Follow Me
How can I help my less-active friends return to church?

How can I help my less-active friends return to church?

Prepare Yourself Spiritually

Part of our duty as priesthood holders is to reach out to quorum members and friends who are not coming to church. President Thomas S. Monson frequently urged us to “go to the rescue” (“To the Rescue,” Ensign, May 2001, 48; Liahona, July 2001, 57). We can help our less-active friends by making sure they feel our genuine love and concern, sharing our testimonies through words and actions, and including them in our activities.

Resources to Help You Prepare

These resources are to help you prepare for the “Learn together” section of the meeting.

Questions to Ponder before You Teach

What experiences have you had helping those who are less active? What have you learned from these experiences that could help the young men in their efforts to reach out to their less-active friends?

Which members of the quorum are not attending regularly? What do quorum members know about them? How can you inspire quorum members to reach out to them?

What can the young men do to prepare to learn? For example, they could read a talk, watch a video, or study a scripture related to this doctrine.

Teaching in the Savior’s Way

The Savior loved His followers, prayed for them, and continually served them. Who in your quorum needs more attention, love, and prayer? What can you do to reach out to them?

Meeting Outline

1. Counsel Together and Share Experiences

Led by a member of the quorum presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

Lead a discussion about items such as the following:

  • Our quorum: Who is missing today? What visits do we need to make? Who should we invite to an upcoming activity? Who needs our help and prayers?

  • Our duties: What assignments do we need to make? What assignments have we fulfilled? How have we invited others to come unto Christ, and how can we invite others now?

  • Our lives: Remind the quorum of the discussion from the last meeting. What experiences have we had with applying what we learned? What experiences have we had in the past few weeks that strengthened our testimonies of the gospel?

If possible, discuss these items beforehand in a quorum presidency meeting.

2. Learn Together

Led by a leader or teacher or a member of the quorum; approximately 25–35 minutes

After studying the above resources and following the inspiration of the Spirit, you may select one or more of the activities below to help quorum members understand the doctrine.

  • Show the quorum a picture of a shepherd and a sheep, such as the picture Jesus Carrying a Lost Lamb (Gospel Art Book [2009], no. 64). Ask the young men to listen for words or phrases that describe the love Jesus Christ has for His sheep as they sing or read “Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd” (Hymns, no. 221). To help quorum members find ways they can help the Savior gather those who are lost, you could ask them to review the four lessons Elder S. Mark Palmer shared at the end of his talk “Then Jesus Beholding Him Loved Him.” How can these lessons help us as we reach out to our less-active family members and friends? What other principles can the young men think of that will help?

  • Ask the young men to think of a time when they lost something very valuable. What did they do to try to find it? Assign each quorum member to read one of the three parables in Luke 15. Ask him to retell the parable in his own words and share a phrase from the parable that summarizes what the Savior was teaching. What do the young men learn from the actions of the shepherd, the woman, and the father in these parables? How can the young men follow their examples as they try to help those who are “lost” from their quorum? Ask the young men to share any experiences of friends or family members who have returned to church after being less active, if they feel comfortable doing so.

  • Invite the young men to read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13, and ask them to share ways they would complete this sentence: “The worth of souls is great because …” Ask the young men to search Doctrine and Covenants 20:46–47, 53–55, and ask them to list on the board words or phrases that describe their priesthood duties. Which of these words describe ways we can help quorum members who are less active? Invite the quorum president to lead a discussion about things the young men can do to reach out to a less-active quorum member.

  • In advance, invite a quorum member to read Elder Mervyn B. Arnold’s talk “To the Rescue: We Can Do It.” Ask him to come prepared to share one or two stories from the talk that impressed him. Invite the young men to discuss how the stories might apply to them as a quorum. Whom do they know who has not been attending church? How can they work together as a quorum to help that person draw nearer to the Savior? You could also invite the young men to look for the four main principles in Elder Arnold’s talk. Do they know people who exemplify these principles? What can they do to be like these people?

  • Write on the board some reasons people give for not coming to church, such as “I have doubts about the Church’s teachings,” “I don’t fit in with people in the Church,” “I don’t think I could live up to the Church’s standards,” “I know a member of the Church who is a hypocrite,” and so on. Invite the young men look for President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s responses to these concerns in his talk “Come, Join with Us.” Give the young men an opportunity to role-play how they would respond if a friend expressed one of these concerns.

3. Plan to Act

Led by a member of the quorum presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

  • Ask the young men to discuss any feelings or impressions they had during the meeting. What was meaningful to them? Is there something they can do personally or as a quorum to apply what they have learned?

  • Give the young men a few minutes to record what they will do in the coming weeks to act on their impressions. Invite them to share their ideas.

  • Remind the young men that they will have the opportunity to share their experiences at the beginning of the next meeting.

Related Youth Activities

Plan a Mutual activity that will help the young men apply what they learned in this lesson.