Me, my daughter, and husband are all separately teaching this lesson on Sunday. Here are a few thoughts on teaching that we’ve gathered in our studies this week.
First, before we really get down to discussing what it means to LIVE the Doctrine of Christ, let’s first discuss what actually is the Doctrine of Christ? Lucky for us, the “Come, Follow Me” reading for this week gives us the answers and in plain terms. Don't you just love how Nephi uses a variation of the word "PLAIN" three times in two sentences in 2 Nephi 31:2-3? 😂 It's like he really wants us to know that the doctrine of Christ is not meant to be complicated.
First, before we really get down to discussing what it means to LIVE the Doctrine of Christ, let’s first discuss what actually is the Doctrine of Christ? Lucky for us, the “Come, Follow Me” reading for this week gives us the answers and in plain terms. Don't you just love how Nephi uses a variation of the word "PLAIN" three times in two sentences in 2 Nephi 31:2-3? 😂 It's like he really wants us to know that the doctrine of Christ is not meant to be complicated.
I created this visual, based on the episode of “Don’t Miss This” for this week. {By the way, if you don’t watch or listen to the “Don’t Miss This” podcast yet, you’re missing out! They really add a lot of insight and perspective to my CFM studies each week.} So, I was going to draw this hand large on the board (or you could have it printed out if you prefer) and have them look up the scriptures and fill in the blanks. This could be a group activity with the class looking up the scriptures one at a time and filling it in together, or you could have them fill it out individually first, then discuss each part afterward. I think they definitely should be copying this visual down into their journals as they go.
Then we were going to go through each of the fingers and fill in the blanks, so it'll look something like this:
Then we will talk about the center of the hand, because the whole Doctrine of Christ really does begin and end with Christ. It is through Him that we have the gifts of faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost in the first place. And it is through His atonement that we can return to live with Him again someday.
Then I plan on asking if the Doctrine of Christ sounds familiar to them? They may recognize that most of it is mentioned in the 4th Article of Faith, and more importantly, it's what they've been learning their whole lives!
After discussing the simplicity, beauty, and importance of what the Doctrine of Christ is, I thought we'd start talking about what it means to live it. These two quotes from Elder Ballard's talk (the one mentioned in the lesson) would be a great place to start:
I really want to keep the focus on the plainness and simplicity of the Doctrine of Christ, so my plan was to ask a few questions from the lesson plan after reading the quotes and let that lead where our discussion goes from there.
What would you add to this lesson? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it too! And let me know if you end up using any of these ideas in your lesson. :)
I plan on having a copy of this completed one done for them to tape into their journals. They could also copy it into their journals from the board if that works better for your class.
I was thinking that we would finish up this part of the discussion with reading Moroni 7:41:“And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.”Then I plan on asking if the Doctrine of Christ sounds familiar to them? They may recognize that most of it is mentioned in the 4th Article of Faith, and more importantly, it's what they've been learning their whole lives!
After discussing the simplicity, beauty, and importance of what the Doctrine of Christ is, I thought we'd start talking about what it means to live it. These two quotes from Elder Ballard's talk (the one mentioned in the lesson) would be a great place to start:
"The best ways for us to see the spiritual purposes of the Church are to live the true, pure, and simple teachings of Christ and also to apply the Savior’s two great commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. … Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Elder Ballard
" Loving God and loving our neighbors is the doctrinal foundation of ministering; home-centered, Church-supported learning; Sabbath-day spiritual worship; and the work of salvation on both sides of the veil supported in the Relief Societies and the elders quorums. All of these things are based on the divine commandments to love God and to love our neighbors. Can there be anything more basic, more fundamental, and more simple than that?" Elder Ballard
I really want to keep the focus on the plainness and simplicity of the Doctrine of Christ, so my plan was to ask a few questions from the lesson plan after reading the quotes and let that lead where our discussion goes from there.
- How do each of these principles of the gospel relate to each other?
- What blessings do we receive when we follow the doctrine of Christ?
What would you add to this lesson? I'd love to hear your thoughts on it too! And let me know if you end up using any of these ideas in your lesson. :)
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing these great ideas! There are so many great scriptures in this week's CFM lesson that I was feeling overwhelmed but the ones you picked highlight the five steps perfectly. I'm going to blend your ideas with one I found in the Ensign this month that describes these as stepping stones toward Christ. I made a rock with each scripture on it and will hang them in a path on the chalkboard with a picture of Christ at the end. I'm using a video called "This is Church" as my intro. After the stepping stones visual, we'll go through Elder Ballard's talk. Good luck with your lessons -- how fun that you all get to teach the same one and can compare notes.
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