Elder Neil L. Andersen (Oct. '23): "Tithing: Opening the Windows of Heaven"

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 Tithing can be a difficult doctrine for many, but its importance is clear-- even just based on this conference.  Not only did Elder Andersen speak of it in this talk, but Pres. Nelson recounted his own experience with becoming a conscientious full tithe-paying member.  In President Nelson's words, doing so did not change the Church in any real way, but it did change him.  For me, Elder Andersen's talk centers around a few key questions about tithing that can be foundational to a shift in how we view tithing.

The Activity:

  1. Make sure that every class member has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Explain that tithing is often viewed as a very direct, straight-forward gospel law but that, in fact, there is more depth to it than we sometimes think.
  3. Write the following questions on the board:
    1. How does the Lord see our tithing?
    2. How does the Lord reward our tithing?
  4. Read aloud par. 16 ("The world speaks . . . cares and interests.") and par. 28 ("The spiritual power . . . in the Lord).
  5. Use these two quotes to inform the discussion around the first question.  Spend part of the time thinking and talking about how this may change the way we think about tithing in general.
  6. Read aloud par. 14 ("The windows of  . . . blessings always come."
  7. Use this quote to inform the discussion around the second question.  Spend part of the time thinking and talking about how this may change the way we think about the blessings of tithing.

Using the Activity:

Obviously, this same activity could be done by dividing the class into groups and assigning each group one of the questions with the corresponding quotes.  In this case, I chose not to do that for a couple of reasons.  First, I wanted to consider how the quotes given for each question really highlight a different way to think about tithing than we often do.  Second, I offer a lot of group activities in this blog for reasons that I explain in various places; however, I want to make sure that it is clear that there are many times that whole class discussion is valuable and appropriate.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  God bless you in your efforts to teach with power and authority.

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