Why more than 85,000 young people are studying faith with Latter-day Saints

More than 85,000 youth and young adults of other faiths worldwide are choosing to join their Latter-day Saint peers in learning about Jesus Christ through the global religious education program run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Worldwide enrollment in the faith’s Seminaries and Institutes of Religion program now exceeds 1,090,000 youth and young adults, including 85,695 of other faiths, the church reported in a press release Wednesday.

Enrollment of friends of other faiths has “nearly doubled in the past two years,” the church press release states.

Behind that growth is an army of Latter-day Saint youth and young adults who are following their prophet’s invitation.

“In a day of noise and confusion, I invite you to consistently attend institute,” President Dallin H. Oaks, the faith’s prophet and president, told young adults in February.

“I also encourage you to invite friends to share in these same blessings. I promise that your time in institute will bring the Savior’s peace, joy and divine love.”

President Oaks has similarly invited Latter-day Saint youth to attend seminary and invite friends to join them. One at a time, youth and young adults of the Church of Jesus Christ have heeded the prophet’s call and invited their friends to join seminary and institute.

“I bring friends to institute because I love sharing the light of Christ … (and) making sure that everyone can feel of Christ’s love, no matter where they are at or where they are going,” said Eli Hendricks, a Latter-day Saint young adult from Denver, Colorado.

Worldwide enrollment of seminary and institute surpassed 1 million in March. At the time, only about 75,000 of those enrolled were of other faiths.

Through the prophet’s invitation and the church’s emphasis on gathering and inviting others, that number has grown by more than 10,000 in the last five months.

“It’s a remarkable thing to have so many friends of the faith learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ through seminary and institute,” said Sister Becky Scott, associate administrator of the church’s seminary and institute program.

“We’re grateful to play a small role in the gathering of Israel,” she said in the church’s release. “We hope each young person will know there is a place for them, and that they can naturally and normally help someone else learn more about the gospel, too.”

Seminary welcomes youth ages 14 through 18 and provides a space for them and teachers to study scripture together each weekday during the school year. Institute invites young adults ages 18 through 35 to enroll in classes that typically meet once or twice a week and cover a range of gospel topics.

The unprecedented growth of seminary and institute enrollment comes as the church’s Institutes of Religion program celebrates 100 years.

Looking ahead, Seminaries and Institutes of Religion is aiming to help more youth and young adults, including those of other faiths, learn and become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.

“Recent enrollment milestones validate the reach of seminary and institute, but its future will continue to grow through personal invitations,” the church’s press release states.

Latter-day Saint youth and young adults are encouraged to continue inviting their friends to join seminary and institute. The church’s “Invite a Friend” initiative provides several ideas for youth and young adults to invite their friends and share why learning about Jesus Christ through seminary and institute matters to them.

Ideas and resources to help youth and young adults participate in the “Invite a Friend” initiative can be found here and on the church’s “Invite a Friend” guidebook, available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

The church’s initiative and invitation “feels like what we’ve needed in order to really engage the rising generation in the gathering,” said Kittel Kittelsen, a program coordinator in Norway. “It will (further) the ... vision of the Lord’s youth battalion.”