Light of the World, by Howard Lyon

Ideas for the First Day of Class

The New Testament gives a timeless account of the mortal ministry of Jesus Christ and the rise of the early Christian Church. In the Gospels we can learn for ourselves of the Lord’s matchless life. We hear Him teach, witness His miracles, and feel His love as He ministers to individuals. We stand on sacred ground as we read about His atoning sacrifice in Gethsemane and on the cross. The accounts of His Resurrection give us powerful evidence that Jesus Christ conquered death. In the second half of the New Testament, we marvel at the faith and courage of the disciples who expanded His Church. Truly, this sacred book is a profound witness that Jesus is the Christ.

Additonal Resources

Note: The learning options in this lesson can be used as you begin your New Testament course that aligns with Come, Follow Me, regardless of when your class begins. They can also be used if you are teaching New Testament 211 or 212.

Course Design

Studying the New Testament can bring you and your students closer to the Savior in powerful ways. You’ll notice that this manual gives many ideas to help you create experiences that can help your students draw closer to Jesus Christ. Learning that leads to conversion can’t be rushed. Feel free to slow down so students have time to deepen their understanding. Allow students time to feel and identify the Spirit and consider how to apply the spiritual impressions they receive. Discussing all the events and teachings in the New Testament is not the goal.

Keep in mind that students are more likely to open their minds and hearts to learning when they feel that the scriptures are relatable and relevant to their lives. Consider how the following elements found in each lesson can help you create meaningful learning experiences:

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  Encouraging Personal Study. Each lesson includes examples of brief messages you can select from and send out during the week to inspire students to study the scriptures.

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  Questions and Sharing. This section encourages you to give students opportunities at the start of class to share insights, truths, and questions they have from the assigned readings.

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  Skill Training. This section alerts you to places in the learning activities where students could practice specific scripture study skills. These trainings are found in the Scripture Study Skills resource in Gospel Library and are key to helping students become more self-reliant learners.

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  Learning Activity Options. Each lesson includes two to five learning activity options. You are not expected to use all of the activities. Instead, you should assess your learners’ needs and select the activities that will most likely deepen conversion and draw them closer to the Savior.

Learning Activity Options

To orient students to this course, you might choose one or more of the following activities to use on the first day of class. Since there is more material provided here than can likely be discussed in one class, prayerfully consider which learning activities will most help your students to deepen their faith in Jesus Christ. If desired, you could use more of these activities in future classes.

• Foster a Christlike Learning Environment

• Invite Diligent Learning

• The Gospels Testify of Jesus Christ

• The Savior’s Disciples Continue His Work: Acts through Revelation

Foster a Christlike Learning Environment

Improving Our Teaching and Learning

Create a feeling of belonging. Throughout this course, consider what you can do to create an environment of love and trust so students feel like they belong. Students can also feel more like they belong when they contribute in class and participate together in building their connection with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Elder D. Todd Christofferson taught, “Being one with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is without doubt the ultimate in belonging” (“The Doctrine of Belonging,” Liahona, Nov. 2022, 56). When students feel like they belong, they are more likely to share their spiritual impressions, express their feelings, and ask questions.

You could display the following pictures of the Savior (or similar pictures) and invite students to share what it might have been like to be taught by Him.

Healer, by Lightweave

The Savior’s Teaching on Discipleship, by Justin Kunz

Living Water, by Simon Dewey

Invite students to read John 13:34–35 and 2 Nephi 26:33, looking for truths that could help the class create a Christlike learning environment. To help strengthen students’ understanding, you could ask:

• What challenges might someone face when they come to institute for the first time? What has most helped you to feel welcome at institute?

• How would the Savior want us to treat those who choose to join our class? (Students may identify a principle like the following: We should welcome all who come and love them as the Savior loves us.)

• Who might the Savior want you to invite to join this class? (Students could text or message someone while they are in class or consider how they could reach out to them before the next class.)

It may benefit each student to ponder and record a specific action they will take to help create a learning environment of respect, belonging, and Christlike love. You could also discuss what you could do as a class to foster a warm and welcoming experience for all learners.

Return to “Learning Activity Options.”

Invite Diligent Learning

You could invite two students to read the following dialogue:

Maria: “What do you think of our institute class with Sister Franco?”

Elena: “I really like it! It’s inspiring. I look forward to going each week.”

Maria: “I don’t get it. We both have the same teacher and class, but for me, it’s kind of boring. I can tell she is a good person, but if she would just be more insightful, it would be a better class. I hope she can improve her teaching so I can have a better experience.”

• How might you describe Maria’s approach to learning?

Invite students to read Matthew 7:7–8, and discuss how applying the Savior’s words could help Maria improve her experience in institute. You could ask:

• What does it look like for us to ask, seek, and knock? How is asking, seeking, and knocking an expression of faith?

• How can we be blessed when we seek to learn by faith? (Students may identify a truth similar to the following: We can receive revelation as we act in faith by asking, seeking, and knocking.)

• How has taking responsibility for your own learning helped you to receive personal revelation? (Encourage students to share some examples, or share one of your own.)

Read together the following statement by Elder David A. Bednar:

A learner who exercises moral agency and acts in accordance with correct principles opens his or her heart to the Holy Ghost—and thereby invites His teaching, testifying power, and confirming witness. Learning with and by faith requires spiritual, mental, and physical exertion and not just passive reception. In the sincerity and consistency of our faith-inspired action, we indicate to our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ our willingness to learn and receive instruction from the Holy Ghost. (“Learning in the Lord’s Way,” Liahona, Oct. 2018, 52)

Invite students to write a few faith-inspired actions they would like to take during this course to show the Lord their desire to learn from Him. (You could suggest that students record their ideas in their phones or in a notebook.)

Give students a few minutes to set their own learning goals for this course based on what they have thought and felt during class. You could invite some students to share what they will do to help generate ideas of different types of goals. Encourage students to establish a plan to achieve their goals. Consider how you could help students review their goals throughout the course.

Return to “Learning Activity Options.”

The Gospels Testify of Jesus Christ

Note: You could use the following teaching suggestion if you are beginning a study of the Gospels. If you are about to begin a study of Acts through Revelation, consider using the next teaching suggestion (see “The Savior’s Disciples Continue His Work: Acts through Revelation”).

Invite a few students to share some good news they have recently received.

Look up “Gospels” together in the Guide to the Scriptures (Gospel Library), and discuss what the Gospels are and what they contain. You could ask:

• What is the good news of the gospel? (Help students identify a truth similar to the following from what they read: The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has made an atonement that will redeem all people from death and reward each individual according to their actions.)

• Why is this message about the Savior not merely good news but really the best news?

You could watch “The Good News” (2:18) and discuss the message it shares.

Improving Our Teaching and Learning

Introduce students to Scripture Helps: New Testament. This resource can help students better understand the scriptures by providing background information, language helps, and explanations of difficult scripture passages (see “Introduction,” in Scripture Helps: New Testament).

To help students learn about the unique perspective of each Gospel writer, you could do the following activity:

Write the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on the board. Divide the class into groups of four, and have each group member select one Gospel writer to study. Then invite students to open Scripture Helps: New Testament and find the following entries: “What are the Gospels?,” “The Gospel of Matthew,” “The Gospel of Mark,” “The Gospel of Luke,” and “The Gospel of John.”

Display the following questions, and invite students to use Scripture Helps: New Testament to answer them in relation to their selected Gospel writer:

• What is the background of this Gospel writer?

• Who was his primary audience?

• How might his audience have influenced his account of the Savior’s life?

• How can we be blessed by studying this account of the Savior’s life?

After allowing time for study, invite each group to share what they learned. Then discuss as a class how the perspective of each Gospel writer can enhance our understanding of the life and mission of Jesus Christ.

Consider inviting students to open “Harmony of the Gospels” in Study Helps in Gospel Library and look through the contents. Discuss how this resource can help us in our study of the Savior’s life. (Note: If helpful, share with students that “with the knowledge now available, it is not possible to create a perfect harmony of the four Gospels because the Gospel authors themselves do not always agree on chronological matters” [Bible Dictionary, “Gospels”]).

To end class, give students time to ponder or share what they hope to learn as they seek to come closer to the Savior by studying the Gospels.

Return to “Learning Activity Options.”

The Savior’s Disciples Continue His Work: Acts through Revelation

To help connect the Gospels with Acts through Revelation, you could show different pictures of the Savior’s mortal ministry, death, Resurrection, and Ascension and discuss what they depict. You could then ask:

• How did the Savior’s teachings, miracles, and Resurrection affect His followers?

Explain that the second half of the New Testament (Acts through Revelation) is a record of what the Savior’s disciples did to continue His work after His death and Resurrection. Invite students to read Matthew 28:19–20 and Acts 1:8, and discuss what Jesus Christ expected of His servants.

You could display the following graphic to demonstrate what the Lord’s Apostles did to take the gospel to Judea, Samaria, and beyond.

Explain that Acts 1:8 outlines a general framework for the book of Acts and the Apostles’ writings. Acts 1–7 describes the Church’s growth in Jerusalem; Acts 8–9 highlights the Apostles’ labors in Judea and Samaria; and Acts 10–28, along with the epistles and Revelation, relates the Apostles’ ministry to the Gentiles.

Point out that the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John were the three major writers of this second half of the New Testament. You could write the following scripture references on the board and invite students to read them, looking for how these Apostles testified of the Savior: Peter: Acts 2:22–24, 32–33, 36; Paul: 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, 19–22; John: 1 John 1:7; 2:1–2; 3:5, 16.

• What did you notice about these testimonies? How do you think these men’s testimonies shaped their writings? (As part of your discussion, you might share with students a truth similar to the following: The books written by the early Apostles contain their teachings and testimony of Jesus Christ.)

• How can knowing that these men focused their writings on Jesus Christ influence us as readers? What could you do to become a more Christ-centered reader in your study of the New Testament?

To end class, give students time to ponder or share what they will do to draw closer to the Savior as they read Acts through Revelation.

Return to “Learning Activity Options.”