Latter-day Saints are known for immediately organizing themselves after council is given. It’s the reason that the Church began, the pioneers crossed the plains, and the gospel has been and continues to be spread all over the world. After the Come, Follow Me curriculum was announced during the October 2018 general conference, Latter-day Saints began implementing home-centered church, and many created resources to help others. Now, less than a year and a half later, it seems we will need to put all those resources to the real test as church, at least for the next couple weeks, will take place in our homes.
In hopes of helping you prepare for your home church service, whether you are studying as an individual or as a family, here are some of our favorite resources to aid you in your home-centered gospel learning efforts.
Editor’s note: We have included just a few of our favorite study resources. There are, of course, many other Come, Follow Me resources available, including some paid subscriptions.
Gospel Living App
The Church’s new Gospel Living app for youth, released February 12 worldwide, is an integral part of the new Children and Youth program implemented this year, but it can also be a helpful tool for families and other individuals.
Designed around the three pillars of the Children and Youth program—gospel learning, service and activities, and personal development—the Gospel Living app provides content that inspires youth to set certain goals as well as links and tools to help them in their gospel learning and daily living. It also has a feature called “circles,” which can allow families and ward members to continue sharing and growing in the gospel even when they are not gathered together.
Sunday on Monday
Each week, you are invited to join host Tammy Uzelac Hall and friends for the Sunday on Monday study group, a weekly Come, Follow Me-focused podcast where Hall leads a discussion intended to help listeners find and share the hidden treasures of the gospel of Jesus Christ from each lesson. Listen to the weekly study groups all at once or follow the guided daily segments to spread your study throughout the week. However you use it, Sunday on Monday will complement your personal study with real application of the scriptures, real stories, and real laughter.
The Sunday on Monday study group is a Deseret Bookshelf PLUS+ original presented by LDS Living. You can access the full study group discussion through the Bookshelf app—and if you aren't yet subscribed to Bookshelf PLUS+, you can try it free for 30 days by going to deseretbook.com/sundayonmonday.
“Don’t Miss This” with Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler
Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler are both master teachers who know the scriptures in a way that most of us only dream of knowing them. But the YouTube series, “Don’t Miss This,” gives viewers a chance to benefit from the duo’s knowledge for 30 minutes to 1 hour each week. It is also available in podcast form. Their weekly lessons correspond with the Come, Follow Me chapters as they share insights you likely wouldn’t be aware of otherwise. Whether you are studying as an individual and would like some extra help digging into the scriptures or you are a parent preparing for your study this week, Freeman and Butler do an incredible job of bringing the scriptures to life.
As an added bonus, if you are looking to learn more about the prophet’s invitations, Freeman and Butler have separately created ways to further explore both the invitation to study the Restoration as well as the President Nelson’s invitations to women. To watch Butler’s Restoration series, which is still on-going, visit his YouTube channel here. For more on the invitations extended specifically to women, visit Freeman’s Instagram account.
The Scripture Study Project
Zach Horton is a Church Educational System teacher and his wife, Krista Horton, is the director of editorial for The Small Seed blog (?). Together, the couple hosts a podcast called The Scripture Study Project, where they share not only insights into each week’s assigned reading for Come, Follow Me but also offer tips and recommendations for improved study and teaching.
Gospel Day by Day
The Gospel Day by Day blog is intended to help parents better prepare their homes to become places of worship. With blog posts focused on a range of topics, from implementing Come, Follow Me with small children to making the gospel relevant for youth, Gospel Day by Day focuses more on the “how” of implementing Come, Follow Me.
Book of Mormon Central’s YouTube Lessons
Our friends over at Book of Mormon Central have enlisted the help of BYU professors Tyler Griffin and Taylor Halverson to teach Come, Follow Me lessons on YouTube each week. The videos include clips and images from the Church media library that are engaging and helpful to the viewer.
Come, Follow Me for Us
Upon its release Melanie Wellman’s Come, Follow Me for Us podcast was featured on iTunes New and Noteworthy section, illustrating that listeners seem to be big fans of Wellman’s down-to-earth, genuine take on each week’s study chapters. If personal stories and thoughts are more your studying speed, this podcast may be the help you’ve been looking for.
ChurchofJesusChrist.org Book of Mormon Videos
The Church’s new Book of Mormon video series is a wonderful resource to complement your study. Find all of the videos that have been released so far here.
The Joseph Smith Papers’ First Vision podcast
The First Vision: A Joseph Smith Papers Podcast dives into the history surrounding the First Vision.
The podcast is divided into six episodes of varying lengths. Throughout the episodes, historians and scholars share historic contextual information about the circumstances surrounding the First Vision.