In brief closing remarks at the general conference of March 31-April 1, President Gordon B. Hinckley said: "We hope that you will use the May edition of the Church magazines as a text for your family home evenings, to review that which has been spoken in this conference. What has been said by each of the speakers represents his or her prayerful attempt to impart knowledge that will inspire and cause all who have heard it to stand a little taller and be a little better."
- In the spirit of President Hinckley's counsel, here is a list of resources and suggestions for structuring a family home evening lesson around one or more of the conference sermons.
The Church's resource guide for teachers, Teaching, No Greater Call, contains a chapter on "Creating Lessons from Conference Talks and Other Resources" (see Chapter 32, pages 100-101). The book is available from Church distribution centers and may be read online at the Church's Web site, www.lds.org.
President Hinckley suggested using the May edition of the Church magazines (Ensign and Liahona) as a text for family home evening. But you might not have to wait until your copy arrives in the mail to begin implementing the spirit of his counsel. Written texts of the conference talks are already online at www.lds.org, as are MP3 audio recordings of all but the priesthood session talks. And the April 7, 2007, edition of the Church News is devoted to summaries of each of the conference talks.
Appropriate music always gives added dimension to a lesson. The Church hymnbook and Children's Songbook each contain a topical index. Using these resources, an appropriate hymn or children's song may be selected to go with a lesson built on a conference talk.
- For example, a lesson based on Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk on "the power and sanctity of words" could be augmented with the singing of the hymn "Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words to Each Other" (Hymns, No. 232) or "Nay, Speak No Ill" (No. 233), or the children's song "Kindness Begins with Me" (Children's Songbook, p. 145). These were found by consulting the topical index entries for "Speech" and "Kindness" in the hymnbook and Children's Songbook, respectively.
Use of stories can make lessons more interesting and memorable. At the recent conference, several of the talks themselves contained accounts of individual experiences. Parents and other family members might add their personal experiences to illustrate the principles being discussed.
An activity associated with the topic adds interest to a home evening lesson, especially in families with younger children. In this regard, the Church-published Family Home Evening Resource Book can be of help in basing a lesson on a conference talk.
Consider, for example, the talk by Charles W. Dahlquist, Young Men general president, on withstanding temptation and staying on the Lord's side. On page 178 of the Family Home Evening Resource Book is this suggested activity that might be used in a lesson based on Brother Dahlquist's talk:
"Play a game of 'What would you do if...?' making up realistic situations that your children, at their ages, might face. See if your children can think of graceful ways out of bad situations. Sometimes there will be no graceful way out."
- Some conference talks may themselves suggest a family activity, as does Sister Bonnie D. Parkin's story of the "Blessing Basket" in her talk on gratitude.
Object lessons can add spice and variety to a home evening. As with suggested family activities, the Family Home Evening Resource Book can provide possible object lessons to go along with lessons built on conference talks.
Or, the sermon itself may inspire an object lesson. In his talk on tithing, Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi gave an analogy involving 10 apples. He said: "Now, all 10 of these apples actually belong to the Lord, but He asks us to return to Him only one-tenth, or one apple. Are you offering only a small bite of that apple and keeping 90 percent? Are you willing to offer the Lord such a small portion? Are you ashamed, or do you try to patch up and hide the bitten portion of the apple and then offer that to the Lord?"
Elder Kikuchi's analogy easily could be developed into an object lesson for a home evening by displaying 10 apples and cutting a bite-size portion out of one of them.
The Gospel Art Picture Kit, available at Church distribution centers, contains many illustrations of scripture stories and gospel concepts, some of which were referred to by speakers at the conference. Individual pictures from the kit are accessible for printing out at www.lds.org.
And pictures, as well as videos, DVDS and other materials can be checked out from the ward or branch resource center/library for use in the home.
Thought-provoking questions give learners the opportunity to grow intellectually and spiritually as they consider how to respond. In teaching a home evening lesson based on a conference talk, be prepared with a list of such questions that apply to the sermon being discussed. Chapter 16 of Teaching, No Greater Call contains instruction on "Teaching With Questions."
For example, a lesson based on the talk by Elder Glenn L. Pace on obtaining a testimony might include such questions as these: "What led to Elder Pace, in his youth, finally obtaining a testimony about the truthfulness of the Joseph Smith story?" "What experiences have you had that are similar to his?" "How is it that some people might already have received a witness of the Spirit and not recognized it as such?" "What are some things we can do individually that might lead to obtaining or strengthening a testimony of gospel truths?"
As Church members use the recent conference as a text for family home evening lessons, they will experience the satisfaction of heeding a prophet's counsel and will feel a sense of timeliness in their discussion of timeless gospel truths.
E-mail to: rscott@desnews.com