Your Purpose

The First Presidency has taught that your purpose as a teacher of youth is to help them become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The path to conversion is a personal one. Conversion does not happen in a meeting, class, or activity alone. Ultimately, youth are converted by diligently living the gospel each day—praying, studying the scriptures, keeping the commandments, fulfilling priesthood and other duties, attending the temple, serving their families and others, and sharing the gospel. As they do these things, their desires, attitudes, and actions begin to align with Heavenly Father’s will. They become happy and confident, and they delight “to act … and not to be acted upon” (2 Nephi 2:26). They strive to obey the promptings of the Holy Ghost, resist temptation, and “do many [good] things of their own free will” (D&C 58:27). They become “saint[s] through the atonement of Christ” (Mosiah 3:19).

All of us are converted as we learn to walk the gospel path for ourselves. In your role, the way you befriend, encourage, and support youth in their personal spiritual devotion, and the way you teach and learn with them in both formal and informal settings, will help them stay on the path and progress toward personal, lifelong conversion.