amw1296 's List: Improving Gospel Teaching

• The Holy Ghost may prompt one or more of those you teach to contribute insights that others need to hear. Be open to promptings you receive to call on specific people. You may even feel impressed to ask a person who has not volunteered to express his or her views.
• Or they may fear being wrong or think that they cannot express themselves as well as others
• I don’t think I am prepared to talk about that today. Perhaps we could discuss that idea another time.
• That is an interesting observation, but I believe we are straying into another area. Could we leave that discussion for another time and get back to the original question?
• Think of yourself as a guide on a journey of learning who inserts appropriate comments to keep those you teach on the correct path.
• This includes providing opportunities for learners to teach one another. When an individual asks a question, consider inviting others to answer it instead of answering it yourself.
• listen sincerely to learners’ comments
• Could you give me an example of what you mean?
• “I’m not sure I understand. Could you explain that again?
• “Thank you for your answer. That was very thoughtful”
• “That is a good example
• “What a good idea! I had never thought of that before”
• “I appreciate all that you have said today.
• Never ridicule or criticize
• Occasionally someone might say something that is incorrec
• the spirit of an uplifting discussion is lost when it lasts too long
• Manage the time
• Give learners a time limit
• “We have time for only two more comments.

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• “The disciplined teacher will be sure of his sources and will also make every effort to determine whether a statement properly represents the doctrine of the Church or is merely the opinion of the author”

• “One Sunday, … I visited [a] branch priesthood meeting where a humble, unschooled Mexican priesthood leader struggled to communicate truths of the gospel. It was obvious how deeply they had touched his life. I noted his intense desire to communicate those principles. He recognized they were of great worth to the brethren he loved. He read from the lesson manual, yet his manner was of pure love of the Savior and those he taught. That love, sincerity, and purity of intent allowed the influence of the Holy Ghost to envelop the room. …

• Contact your leader frequently to share experiences, discuss the needs of those you teach, solve problems, and seek counsel.

• Study lessons well in advance
• help you be aware of things that will make your lessons vivid, memorable, and inspiring to those you teach.
• Pray every day for help in your preparation.
• Always keep in mind those you teach and the lesson you are preparing.
• keep track of impressions you receive.
• Write about faith-promoting experiences.
• Do not worry about how you might use the ideas.
• Just write them down
• make a folder for each of the lessons you will teach in the next few months.

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• If you have a calling as a teacher, your lesson manual is an essential part of your study plan.

• “Teaching by the Spirit requires first that we keep the commandments and be clean before God so his Spirit can dwell in our personal temples”
• seek things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy”
• study the scriptures daily and with real intent, seeking to be “nourished by the good word of God”
• read good books and listen to uplifting, edifying music.
• “stand in holy places”
• partaking of the sacrament and by going to the temple as often as possible.
• serve our family members and neighbors.
• shunning conversations and entertainment that are inappropriate or light-minded.
• never injure others, even with idle talk.
• bless us for our righteous desires and faithful efforts to do the best we can
• The Holy Ghost causes our feelings to be more tender. We feel more charitable and compassionate with each other. We are more calm in our relationships. We have a greater capacity to love each other. People want to be around us because our very countenances radiate the influence of the Spirit. We are more godly in our character. As a result, we become increasingly more sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and thus able to comprehend spiritual things more clearly”

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• “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another”
• “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing”
• Pray to be filled with love.
• Give service.
• Look for the good in others.

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• We cannot create a law or a doctrine that will redeem or resurrect or save another person. The Lord only can do these things, and we are appointed to teach what He reveals on these and all gospel doctrines
• saying none other things than that which the prophets and apostles have written, and that which is taught them by the Comforter through the prayer of faith”
• “Search the scriptures
• Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men”
• We can read all of the standard works of the Church in one year if we proceed at the rate of about six pages a day.
• there are spiritual experiences to be gained from reading, pondering, and praying about the scriptures which can be gained in no other way.
• “The elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the principles of my gospel”—and now note this restriction—“which are [found] in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fulness of the gospel”
• “And all this ye shall observe to do as I have commanded concerning your teaching, until the fulness of my scriptures is given”
• teach the principles of the gospel as found in the standard works
• “These shall be their teachings, as they shall be directed by the Spirit.”
• If the Lord Jesus were here, what He would say in this situation would be perfect. 
   But He is not here. Instead, He has sent me to represent Him. 
   I should say what He would say if He were here; I should say what He wants said. 
   The only way I can do this is to have Him tell me what to say. 
   This revealed direction can come to me only by the power of His Spirit. 
   Therefore I must be guided by the Spirit if I am to teach in my capacity as an agent of the Lord.
• To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth
• “He that is ordained of me and sent forth to preach the word of truth by the Comforter, in the Spirit of truth, doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?
• And again, he that receiveth the word of truth, doth he receive it by the Spirit of truth or some other way?
• both are edified and rejoice together
• “I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning
• the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth
• Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true
• I know by the revelations of the Holy Spirit to my soul that the Messianic utterances refer to Jesus of Nazareth, who was God’s Son, what is there to debate? I have then borne personal witness on the doctrinal point being taught, and every hearer who is in tune with the same Spirit knows in his heart that what I have said is true.

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• “There is hunger in the land, and a genuine thirst—a great hunger for the word of the Lord and an unsatisfied thirst for things of the Spirit. … The world is starved for spiritual food. Ours is the obligation and the opportunity to nourish the soul”
• Our souls are nourished by whatever speaks of Christ and leads us to Him, whether it is written in the scriptures, spoken by latter-day prophets, or taught by other humble servants of God
• Many topics are interesting, important, and even relevant to life and yet not nourishing to the soul. It is not our commission to teach such topics
• Teach the doctrines of salvation; supply spiritual food; bear testimony of our Lord’s divine Sonship—anything short of such a course is unworthy of a true minister who has been called by revelation. Only when the Church is fed the bread of life are its members kept in paths of righteousness”
• “The youth of the Church are hungry for things of the Spirit; they are eager to learn the gospel, and they want it straight, undiluted. …
• “These students as they come to you are spiritually working on toward a maturity which they will early reach if you but feed them the right food. …
• … You do not have to sneak up behind [them] and whisper religion in [their] ears; you can come right out, face to face, and talk with [them]. You do not need to disguise religious truths with a cloak of worldly things; you can bring these truths to [them] openly, in their natural guise. … There is no need for gradual approaches, for ‘bedtime’ stories, for coddling, for patronizing”
• “Parents began asking [her] what was happening in the class, why their children were insisting on taking scriptures to church, and even, kiddingly, how to answer the questions being posed by their children at the Sunday dinner table concerning the doctrines and principles of the gospel taught that day in class. The students were craving the gospel, because they had a teacher who … understood … what food was nourishing and the way it needed to be presented
• Some years ago we visited a country where strange ideologies were taught and ‘pernicious doctrines’ were promulgated every day in the schools and in the captive press. Every day the children listened to the doctrines, philosophies, and ideals their teachers related
• Someone said that ‘constant dripping will wear away the hardest stone.’ This I knew, so I asked about the children: ‘Do they retain their faith? Are they not overcome by the constant pressure of their teachers? How can you be sure they will not leave the simple faith in God?
• The answer amounted to saying ‘We mend the damaged reservoir each night. We teach our children positive righteousness so that the false philosophies do not take hold. Our children are growing up in faith and righteousness in spite of the almost overwhelming pressures from outside.’
• “Even cracked dams can be mended and saved, and sandbags can hold back the flood. And reiterated truth, renewed prayer, gospel teachings, expression of love, and parental interest can save the child and keep him on the right path

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• We are so grateful to all who teach. We love you and appreciate you more than we can say. We have great confidence in you
• To teach effectively and to feel you are succeeding is demanding work indeed. But it is worth it. We can receive ‘no greater call.’ … For each of us to ‘come unto Christ,’ to keep His commandments and follow His example back to the Father, is surely the highest and holiest purpose of human existence. To help others do that as well—to teach, persuade, and prayerfully lead them to walk that path of redemption also—surely that must be the second most significant task in our lives. Perhaps that is why President David O. McKay once said, ‘No greater responsibility can rest upon any man [or woman], than to be a teacher of God’s children
• aid: “Fundamental to the very program of the Church is the teaching of the gospel to the membership of the Church. In fulfillment of the obligation which was laid upon the Church in its inception, there has developed within the Church a system of great teaching organizations—the priesthood quorums, both Melchizedek and Aaronic, the far-flung church school system, and the auxiliaries … , all of which play so important a part in the education of our people
• Hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do

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