Elder D. Todd Christofferson (Oct. '21): "The Love of God"

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 This talk-- combined with others-- was an answer to many prayers I offered prior to conference.  I am so grateful to be loved so much by Heavenly Parents that communicate with me as I do my part to hear Them.

The Activity:

  1. Make sure everyone has a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Give everyone 3-5 minutes to look over the talk and pick out the most important line they can find.
  3. After class members have identified their chosen lines, have them form groups of three.
  4. Explain the following directions:
    1. One person will read the line they thought was the most important.
    2. The other two people will spend one minute discussing the line and what they think about it.
    3. Then, the person who read their line will have one minute to explain why they chose it.
    4. Repeat the process until everyone has shared.
  5. Complete the small group discussion
  6. Come back together and discuss some of the points brought up in the small groups.

Using the Activity:

Obviously, there is no single correct answer to the question of which line in a talk is most important.  However, the act of making such a choice pushes us to consider the possibilities in numerous and critical ways-- which lines connect to our past experiences/testimonies, which lines indicate a direction that we need to follow, which lines encapsulate a doctrine simply yet elegantly, etc.  Carefully considering the message of a talk in this way is akin to pondering, to some degree, and we know that pondering precedes revelation.  Also, giving the class so much time to review the talk is another good way to increase participation.  We all get busy and often don't get around to reading the appropriate lesson material-- not from any lack of desire or commitment, but simply from a lack of time and/or energy.  So, by building it into the lesson, we are helping people find ways to participate.  And as I have stated in other places, participation is key to us receiving revelation in classes.  

Beyond those considerations, clearly there are many ways to adapt this activity to the needs of your class or quorum, e.g. altering time, providing quotes for class members to choose from, changing group sizes, etc.

As always I hope that you found this activity to be useful.  God bless you.

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