Elder Neil L. Anderson (Oct. '21): "The Name of the Church Is Not Negotiable"

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 This was an interesting "final" talk (I know Pres. Nelson spoke after).  It felt to me like it moved the themes of the conference from personal to collective-- what we will all see when we put into practice the individual counsel given in the previous talks.

The Activity:

  1. Point out that Elder Anderson quotes Pres. Nelson speaking about the name of the Church on a number of times in his talk.
  2. Read par. 19 "Remember President Nelson's . . . have never seen'".
  3. Ask class members to think about stories they have heard and/or experiences they have had that show these blessings coming to pass (you may want to refer to the article Pres. Eyring wrote for the October issue of the Liahona) as people have focused on using the name of the Church.
  4. Allow them a couple of moments of silence to think about this.
  5. Discuss the experiences as a class.
  6. Now, read par. 9 "The influence of . . . of Jesus Christ."
  7. Thinking about the experiences shared before as a model, discuss how these blessings might be realized.

Using the Activity:

The strengths of this activity, I believe, lie primarily in the ways that class members are asked to think during this activity.  First, they are asked to remember experiences they and others have had when following the counsel of our prophet in regard to the name of the Church.  Then, they are asked to look forward with an eye of faith to imagine the future that will be theirs as they obey this counsel.  Doing these types of thinking-- types of thinking that we have been instructed in the scriptures to do-- activates our faith and makes it easier for us to hear Him.

I hope and pray, as always, that this activity is useful to you in planning your lessons and deepening your study.  May God bless you to teach with power and authority.  

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