Come, Follow Me
What is the plan of salvation?

What is the plan of salvation?

Prepare Yourself Spiritually

Heavenly Father prepared a plan to enable us to become like Him. The plan includes the Creation, the Fall, the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and all the laws, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel. This plan makes it possible for us to be perfected through the Atonement, receive a fulness of joy, and live forever in the presence of God.

Resources to Help You Prepare

These resources are to help you prepare for the “Learn together” section of the meeting.

Questions to Ponder before You Teach

How has knowing about Heavenly Father’s plan influenced your choices and your perspective on life? What aspects of the plan of salvation do you want to learn more about?

How can understanding the plan of salvation help the young women make important decisions?

What can the young women do to prepare to learn? For example, they could read a talk, watch a video, or study a scripture related to this doctrine.

Teaching in the Savior’s Way

The Savior asked questions that caused those He taught to think deeply. He was sincerely interested in their answers. How can you use questions to help the young women think deeply about gospel truths?

Meeting Outline

1. Counsel Together and Share Experiences

Led by a member of the class presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

Lead a discussion about items such as the following:

  • Our class: Who is missing today? What visits do we need to make? Who should we invite to an upcoming activity? Who needs our help and prayers?

  • Our responsibilities: What assignments do we need to make? What assignments have we fulfilled? How have we invited others to come unto Christ, and how can we invite others now?

  • Our lives: Remind the class of the discussion from the last meeting. What experiences have we had with applying what we learned? What experiences have we had in the past few weeks that strengthened our testimonies of the gospel?

If possible, discuss these items beforehand in a class presidency meeting.

2. Learn Together

Led by a leader or teacher or a member of the class; approximately 25–35 minutes

After studying the above resources and following the inspiration of the Spirit, you may select one or more of the activities below to help class members understand the doctrine.

  • Ask one of the young women to come prepared to share the story from President Thomas S. Monson’s talk “The Perfect Path to Happiness.” How would the young women answer the following questions about the plan of salvation if they were speaking to a friend of another faith: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go after we leave this life? Invite them to use Elder Weatherford T. Clayton’s talk “Our Father’s Glorious Plan” and the scriptures to prepare an answer to one of the questions. Why is it important to know the answers to these questions?

  • A few days in advance, ask several young women to come prepared to teach the class about an aspect of the plan of salvation (such as premortal life, mortal life, spirit world, and so on) using Preach My Gospel or True to the Faith. Draw a representation of the plan of salvation on the board (for an example, see Preach My Gospel, 54), and invite each young woman to teach her assigned topic. Ask the young women what difference it makes in their lives to know about the plan of salvation.

  • Assign each young woman one or more of the scripture passages in this outline. Ask her to read her passage to determine what part of the plan of salvation the passage refers to. Invite her to share what she learns from her passage. How does knowing about the plan affect the way we see ourselves, others, and the world around us?

  • As a class, read Alma 12:30 and 42:13–15. Invite the young women to look for the phrases that are used to describe the plan of salvation. What do these phrases teach about the plan? Show the video “Men’s Hearts Shall Fail Them,” and ask the young women to look for how a knowledge of the plan of salvation blessed President Russell M. Nelson. Invite the young women to share ways this knowledge has blessed them.

  • Ensure that everyone in the class has a copy of True to the Faith, and assign each young woman a number between 1 and 3. Ask those with number 1 to learn all that they can from True to the Faith about the premortal life (pages 115–16); ask those with number 2 to learn about mortal life (page 116); and ask those with number 3 to learn about life after death (pages 116–17). Allow them to work in groups, according to their assigned numbers, to prepare a short summary of what they learned and present it to the rest of the class. Invite the young women to imagine what their lives might be like if they did not have this knowledge about the plan of salvation.

3. Plan to Act

Led by a member of the class presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

  • Ask the young women to discuss any feelings or impressions they had during the meeting. What was meaningful to them? Is there something they can do personally or as a class to apply what they have learned?

  • Give the young women a few minutes to record what they will do in the coming weeks to act on their impressions. Invite them to share their ideas.

  • Remind the young women that they will have the opportunity to share their experiences at the beginning of the next meeting.