Elder D. Todd Christofferson (Oct. '22): "The Doctrine of Belonging"

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 What an important message.  In an increasingly diverse Church, we need to constantly assess how well connected we are and how welcoming we are.  "We need one another" (par. 5).  Our biggest missionary tool moving forward may be a place where people feel welcome to come so they can feel the Spirit.

The Activity:

  1. Ensure that every class member has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Point out that throughout his talk, Elder Christofferson identifies several reasons we belong to and attend Church.
  3. Ask the class members to skim the talk and identify some of those reasons.
  4. As a class member finds and shares a reason from the talk, write it on the board and discuss (examples of passages that share these reasons are par. 21 & 35).
  5. After several reasons are shared, discuss how these reasons each connect or are related to the three parts of the doctrine of belonging that Elder Christofferson identifies in par. 1 ("This doctrine has . . . Christ to belonging").
  6. Then, in partners invite the class members to talk about ways to improve the quality of their own attendance at church and that of others.  
  7. After a couple of minutes, come back and discuss as a whole class.

Using the Activity:

This is a fairly straight-forward discussion set up, but it does incorporate a couple of principles that can be transferred easily to other lessons as well.  Remember, that as people participate in discussions they are exercising their faith (that participation will invite the Spirit).  By exercising their faith, they are opening themselves up more to the Spirit and inviting it more fully to the class.  

The first strategy to improve discussion is providing them specific reference points to base their answers on, e.g. what Elder Christofferson says.  The second strategy is to have a small group/partner discussion even before having a really meaningful whole class discussion.  This way, people who are too shy to speak up in front of a whole class have a chance to speak in front of only a single person (and most likely someone they like).  Also, if they are unsure if there thoughts are "stupid" or "childish" or "embarrassing" they have a chance to see how an individual reacts before saying it in front of a larger group.  

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope that it helps you.  

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