Focus on Jesus Christ: Help Learners Come unto Jesus Christ

Help learners strengthen their relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Skill

Statements that help students know and feel the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

students in classroom

Define

In every lesson, there are multiple opportunities to help learners strengthen their relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Some of the best opportunities present themselves after students have shared their insights or feelings. In that moment, teachers can make statements that focus on the love and attributes of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

These types of statements will help learners recognize how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ feel about them, how they feel about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, or both. In the statement you may highlight, testify of, or connect what the student just shared with an attribute or truth about God’s love, nature, and feelings for His children. These statements create additional opportunities for the Holy Ghost to witness to students of their individual worth to their Father in Heaven and His Son.

Models

• Maggie shares that she received an answer to her prayer. The teacher then follows up with the statement, “That experience is evidence that Heavenly Father knows who you are.”

• Jade shares that she felt the Spirit rebuke her during conference for not reading her scriptures more. The teacher then replies with, “Thank you for reminding all of us that He wants to be involved in our lives.”

• Hae Soo shares an insight he gained while reading his scriptures. The teacher replies, “Your thoughts have taught us how kind and gentle God is.”

• Brigham expresses how frustrated he is that he doesn’t have enough time to read his scriptures. The teacher then replies, “We can tell how much you love Him by your desire to follow Him.”

• Adaline shares her feelings after reading Doctrine and Covenants 18:10. The teacher then says, “I also know that your soul is priceless to Him.”

Practice

Create a statement that could help each student feel the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

• Brooklyn shares that one of her favorite lines from “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” is “He lives to wipe away my tears.”

• Thomas shares that before his parents’ divorce, there was a lot of fighting in their home. When he would pray, that was the only time he would feel peace and comfort.

• After reading about the parting of the Red Sea, Priscilla says, “I just think it is so amazing God would do that for Moses and the Children of Israel.”

Discuss or Ponder

• What is the value of making statements that help learners feel the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?

• Why would Heavenly Father want us to make these types of statements as part of the learning experience?

Incorporate

• Take 5 minutes after each class you teach for the next week and write out statements you could have said based on what students shared. For the following week, try making similar statements during the lesson.

Want More?

• “Focus on Jesus Christ,” Teaching in the Savior’s Way (2022), 5–9

• Chad H Webb, “Above All Things” (Seminaries and Institutes of Religion annual training broadcast, June 12, 2019), broadcasts.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Skill

Ask questions that help students find examples of Heavenly Father’s love in the scripture passage.

student marking scriptures

Define

In the October 2021 general conference, Elder D. Todd Christofferson said, “Our Heavenly Father loves us profoundly and perfectly. … His is a Father’s pure love—universal to all yet personal to each” (“The Love of God,” Liahona, Nov. 2021, 16). One way to help students recognize and feel Heavenly Father’s love is to invite them to find examples of it in the scripture passages being studied. You can do so by asking questions such as the following before or after reading a scripture passage in class.

• What examples of Heavenly Father’s love do you see in these verses?

• How was [this person] blessed by Heavenly Father’s love?

• What does this story or event teach you about Heavenly Father’s love for His children?

Having students identify examples of Heavenly Father’s love in this way can help them better recognize His love in their lives, more deeply feel His personal and perfect love for them, and increase their confidence in turning to Him in times of trial.

The models and practices below are general examples. Training will be more effective if models and practice opportunities are connected to the next lessons that will be covered in the curriculum.

Model

• After discussing Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19, in which the Savior describes His suffering when He performed the Atonement, Sister Abara asks her students, “Knowing what Heavenly Father allowed His Son to suffer for us, what do you learn about His love for all of His children?”

Click here to see a video of this model.

Practice

For each of the following, write a question you could ask your students that will help them identify examples of Heavenly Father’s love in that passage:

• Exodus 20:3–17 (the Ten Commandments)

• A scripture passage in or another part of your next lesson

Discuss or Ponder

• What do you think your students will feel or understand after you ask them the questions you wrote?

Incorporate

• For each lesson you prepare in the coming week, identify one place where you can ask students a question that will help them find examples of Heavenly Father’s love. Write a question that will help them do so.

• Which of your upcoming lessons do you think will provide an especially good opportunity to help your students find examples of Heavenly Father’s love?

Want More?

• D. Todd Christofferson, “The Love of God,” Liahona, Nov. 2021, 16–18

• “Help Learners Strengthen Their Relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ,” in “Help Learners Come unto Jesus Christ,” Teaching in the Savior’s Way (2022), Gospel Library