The day after addressing children in her final general conference as Primary general president, President Susan H. Porter spoke at the 36th annual International Society Conference on the inherent dignity of God’s children.
Held Monday at Brigham Young University, the conference featured several addresses and discussions that explored issues facing the world’s rising generation. The International Society was founded in 1989 and brings together global leaders and Latter-day Saints to address international challenges and solutions.
President Porter, a keynote speaker at the event, centered her remarks on ways adults can treat children with dignity and help them understand their worth.
She began by sharing the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding the worth of souls. Each of us is a spirit child of heavenly parents, she taught, and therefore has “intrinsic worth and dignity.”
“This fundamental truth should be the foundation of our relationship with children, introducing a measure of humility,” she said. “We are not their superiors. We do not own them.”
Who is President Susan H. Porter?
President Porter was sustained as the Primary general president in April 2022. Prior to that calling, she served as the first counselor in the Primary general presidency for one year. She will be released as president effective Aug. 1.
President Porter said she has no professional background in children and families; in fact, she studied chemistry at BYU.
However, she has visited over 30 countries in the past five years to meet with, teach and serve Primary children and leaders around the world.
During her address, she shared some of what she has learned from her ministry.
‘Enhance their dignity as children of God’
President Porter titled her remarks “Behold Your Little Ones: Their Dignity, Our Stewardship.” Her message focused on the “sacred trust” parents have to nurture, protect and teach children and help them progress in the gospel.
Adults can do this by instilling a sense of worth and dignity in each child — and Jesus Christ shows the way to do so, she said.
The Book of Mormon records the Savior visiting people on the American continent shortly after his resurrection, including two instances in which he ministered to children specifically. In 3 Nephi, he invites little children to be brought to him, after which he blesses and prays for each child individually. He then extends an invitation to the gathered crowd: “Behold your little ones.”
“‘Behold’ comes from two Hebrew words that invite us to do more than look at something,” President Porter said. “It’s a call to pay attention and observe with care. The savior of the world invited all to look deeply at children and consider their infinite worth.”
President Porter invited listeners to consider Christ’s invitation to behold our little ones as we plan to strengthen and teach children — “In other words, to enhance their dignity as children of God,” she said.
Family, church and community strengthen children
President Porter shared a diagram of concentric circles, beginning with a child and expanding outward to include family, church and community. When these structures work together to protect children, miracles can occur, she said.
One such miracle occurred in her own family. She shared the story of her father, Hans Holland, who grew up in a Jewish family in Germany in the 1930s. As the Nazis came to power, his family lost their livelihood and their home, but a friend invited them to hide in their attic while they tried to escape the country.
In March 1939, the 9-year-old Holland boarded a train to England as part of the Kindertransport, a rescue effort that brought over 10,000 refugee children from Nazi-occupied Europe to Great Britain. Although he spoke no English and didn’t know if he would see his family again, he lived with a kind British family for several years before being reunited with his own family in the Dominican Republic.
The family then emigrated to New York, where Holland and his brother were able to attend a boarding school thanks to a scholarship fund. Both later earned advance degrees and raised their own families.
“I was blessed to grow up with a father who lived his life in gratitude because of those who surrounded him as a vulnerable young boy,” President Porter said.
‘This is their church’
The challenges children face in today’s world are “enormous,” President Porter said. However, she has hope for their futures.
“I’m humbled by children’s faith and strength in adversity,” she said. “The inherent dignity they feel when they know they are children of God gives them power and purpose.”
President Porter again referenced Jesus’ ministry to children in 3 Nephi. After teaching the children, he invited them to minister to others. “Following that example of the Savior, we learn that building the dignity of God’s children includes both our stewardship to minister to and teach them, and then to provide them opportunities to serve others,” she said.
The same structures that protect and support children — family, church and community — can also provide them with opportunities to serve, President Porter said. This is emphasized in the Church of Jesus Christ, which doesn’t just teach children; it also invites them to participate. Children join in family gospel study, offer prayers in church, give talks about the gospel in front of other Primary children, and are invited at age 8 to be baptized and confirmed a full member of the church.
“When children participate in church services, they know that this is not just Mom and Dad’s church — this is their church,” President Porter said. “They are given dignity as they know they are valued members.”
The Primary general presidency has made it a focus in the past several years to teach children to look outside of themselves and into the broader community. Beginning in January 2025, every primary in the church was invited to hold an annual community service activity, focused on serving children and planned by children ages 8 to 11.
Children want to serve others, President Porter said, and they are capable of doing so.
“As we follow the invitation of the Savior to ‘behold your little ones’ by surrounding them with circles of support from family, church and community, and give them opportunities to strengthen others, we and they will come to understand more deeply their worth beyond price,” she said.