December 31 – January 6: We are Responsible for Our Own Learning
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has altered its Sunday schedule to foster a home-based, church-supported system of learning. Each Latter-day Saint, individually, in groups, or in families, is asked to spend an hour every Sunday learning from the scriptures we study in Sunday School, which this year is the New Testament. The Sunday School manuals are supported by the manual, Come Follow Me – For Individuals and Families.
Essentially, what we are doing is holding Family Home Evening for an hour on Sundays, using the Come Follow Me manual and the Sunday School lesson messages to prepare our lessons. We should then have scripture study every day and find one day or evening a week (Mondays will still be set aside, but any day will work) for an activity. Read more from this article on ThirdHour.org – Implementing “Come Follow Me” is Going to Be Easy-Peasy.
There is no need for this dedicated hour at home to be formal. You don’t have to wear your church clothes, and you can establish your own flavor and traditions as you go. The helps on ThirdHour.org are available to you at no charge, so check back often at the Come Follow Me Resources section from the homepage to see what’s new.
The goal of the new system is to deepen our conversion and help us become more like the Savior.
Consistent, daily effort will help us in that quest. As the Spirit gets stronger in our homes, everything in our lives should get easier.
The home study manual should help us understand the scriptures and find spiritual strength in them. Through our home study, we should also be able to participate more thoughtfully in class.
In the first week, the manual gives scriptures (page 3) that will help us see how we are responsible for our own learning. It discusses how we can discern truth, nurture our testimonies, and build our faith.
There are ideas for family scripture study and Family Home Evening.
Then, in Sunday School we will launch into New Testament study. You can prepare by learning about the world into which Christ was born. The Holy Land was much different then than it was in Malachi’s time, 400 years earlier. Find out how different by reading this article on ThirdHour: What was the World Like When Christ was Born?
Lesson Resources:
churchofjesuschrist.org — Come Follow Me — We are Responsible for Our Own Learning