On September 29, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world were introduced to the new children and youth program during a video presentation.
“This effort has been designed especially for you and your generation,” President Nelson told youth in the video’s introduction. “Over the years, the Church has provided a variety of efforts to help children and youth. We would not be where we are today without them. Now the time has come for a new approach, designed to help today’s children and youth throughout the world. Instead of giving you many specific assignments, we are inviting you to counsel with the Lord about how you can grow in a balanced way. It will be rewarding and fun. But it will also take some effort on your part. You will need to seek personal revelation. You will need to choose for yourself how to act on it. Sometimes the Spirit may prompt you to do things that are difficult. I think you are up to the challenge. You can do hard things.”
The vision of the program is to “[s]trengthen the rising generation’s faith in Jesus Christ, and help children, youth and their families progress along the covenant path as they meet life’s challenges.” Recently, The Church News highlighted what this program will look like and how it differs from past programs:
Following the pattern of changes made in recent years, the new Children and Youth program will be more home-centered and Church-supported and will include a heavy focus on using personal revelation to determine individual and group needs and goals within the program. The program is centered around helping children and youth to grow in four major areas — spiritually, physically, socially and intellectually –– just as the Savior did, Brother Owen explained. Within each of these areas, children and youth are encouraged to make personal goals for themselves that will help them to become more like the Savior and draw closer to Him. As President Ballard described, each of the four areas of growth can be nurtured at home and at Church through three key components — gospel learning, service and activities and personal development. Together, these three components make up the core structure of the program, which can be implemented both at home and at Church. “Helping children and youth to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ will bless them and all of us all of our lives,” President Ballard said.
Lead image from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints