LDS Church Takes big Step to Move Religious Learning to the Home

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LDS family home evening

Behind the scenes, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been putting into action huge changes to move the gospel into our hearts and religious training into the home. Replacing Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching with Ministering means the Saints will have to nurture a minute by minute connection with the Holy Ghost in order to minister in the moment. Now a new Come, Follow Me program has been announced.

The Come, Follow Me program will go into effect in 2019 and will serve families, including Primary age children, teens, young adults, and adults. That’s everyone. Just as we have been doing in Sunday School, the curriculum will march through the scriptures in 4-year cycles and begin with New Testament, which is our normal course of study for 2019.

New teaching resources, “Come, Follow Me — For Primary” and “Come, Follow Me — For Sunday School,” will be provided for use beginning in January 2019. These new 2019 resources take a home-centered, Church-supported approach to gospel living, learning and teaching (see Handbook 2: Administering the Church [2010], 1.4).

Using the new “Come, Follow Me” resources, Primary, youth and adult Sunday School classes support home-centered gospel learning as teachers inspire learners to experience the power of God’s word for themselves.

Because these changes affect manuals in 46 languages, clerks will need to place orders for the new manuals by August 31, 2018, to ensure manuals are delivered by January 1, 2019. Since local units will automatically receive one printed copy of “Come, Follow Me — For Individuals and Families” for each household at no charge, clerks do not need to order this manual. Instructions for Curriculum 2019 has a list of materials to be used in classes (available online at churchofjesuschrist.org and in the Gospel Library app under “Lessons”). A list of materials to be discarded after December 31, 2018, has been sent to each unit.

Learn more at ComeFollowMe.churchofjesuschrist.org.

 

Gale Boyd is the managing editor for ThirdHour.org. She is a Jewish convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has lived all over the world. She has raised 6 Third Culture Kids and is always homesick for somewhere.