Elder D. Todd Christofferson (Oct. 17): "The Living Bread Which Came Down from Heaven"

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The Activity:

1.     Divide the class into 3 groups

2.     Give each group a different part of the talk (each part discusses a different meaning of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ).

a.      Paragraphs 15 (“First, we understand . . . )-19 (“. . . faithfulness unto the end.”)

b.     Paragraphs 20 (“I have spoken . . .)- 26 (“. . . came down from heaven.”)

c.      Paragraphs 27 (“My friend spoke . . .”)- 32 (“. . . holiness needs to be.”)

3.     Have each group discuss what exactly it means to eat of the flesh or drink of the blood of Christ in this section and then to identify how Elder Christofferson suggests we do this.

4.     Remind members to make special note of any individual promptings they receive—not necessarily to share with everyone but to remember and implement in their lives.

5.     Come back together as a class and discuss what each group talked about.

6.     As you discuss, you might consider the following ideas/questions.

a.      How are these three definitions related?

b.     Which of the three is most important?

c.      What might your class/quorum/group do to support one another in pursuing any (or all) of these goals?

d.     How might we help our families do these things better?



Using the Activity:

As with many of the activities here, this is really just a way to structure a discussion around the principles and doctrine in this talk.  It is an effective way to do so simply because it takes down many of the barriers that people have to participating.  By being in smaller groups, it is less intimidating to speak up.  Also, in smaller groups, ironically, there is more pressure to participate.  Finally, by giving the groups a specific task to complete, it is easier to participate.

The most important objective to getting people to actively participate is to help them exercise faith so that their hearts are more open and receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit.  Ultimately, it is the Spirit that will actually teach anything worth knowing.  What we have to share (unless it came directly from the Spirit) will be of relatively little value. 

May God bless you in your callings. 

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