Teaching Ideas and Questions for Elder Dale G. Renlund's "Unwavering Commitment to Jesus Christ"
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I loved the story in Elder Dale G. Renlund's "Unwavering Commitment to Jesus Christ" of how the Congolese threw their idols over waterfalls when they converted to Christianity. Such a great example of turn from our old ways and becoming a new creature in Christ. See below for more questions to ponder and discussion ideas as you teach and study this talk.
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Questions to Ponder
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What traditions or habits are you holding on to that keeps you from following Christ?
What can you do to symbolically or literally throw away or bury these traditions or habits?
What does it mean to be truly converted to the Lord?
What kind of commitments can you make to become truly converted?
What kind of things do you need to do to anchor your faith in Christ more firmly?
How has someone helped you build your faith?
When did you experience hard times that could make your faith waver, but didn't? What kept you strong?
How can your weekly preparation to partake of the sacrament increase your anchor of faith?
How can you help your ministering families to strengthen their faith in Christ? Or your own family members?
Why does rebellion keep us away from Christ? What is the difference between rebelling and having questions?
Get this waterfall coloring page to use as reminder of the story Elder Renlund shared. What are our waterfalls?
Discussion Ideas
You can bring back the teachings we learned in Come, Follow Me about being deeply rooted in Jesus Christ (Colossians). Deep roots, thundering waterfalls, buried weapons, anchors. What do these images teach us about commitment? Hang images of each on the board to help everyone visualize. You could also split into three groups to have a more intimate conversation about one particular picture.
Elder Renlund brings up the idea of a “spiritual sneeze.” You can joke about this by “sneezing” next to someone and saying, “Oh good. You now have the knowledge and faith to teach this lesson. I’ll sit down.” Obviously, faith doesn’t work this way. How do we sometimes act like it does though? If we aren’t doing the daily things, are we hoping to just catch faith? Why do we rationalize away the work that is needed? How can we stop doing that and start acting?
Elder Renlund told us that our covenants can be an anchor as well as a propeller. Find objects that you have that might be able to represent these things such as a fan for the propeller and a heavy rock for the anchor. Ask for two people to come up to the front of the room and give them each one of the objects with their eyes closed. Have them describe the object- heavy, loud, rough, etc. Then ask them to open their eyes and add any other descriptive words. How are covenants like these things? Do you have personal examples that show how they can be an anchor but also propel us?
Our commitment to keeping our covenants should always be firm. Elder Renlund says it should be like the Congo River. If you look at footnote 14 in his talk, he explains how a part of the river is always in a rainy season so it gets constant fresh water. You can demonstrate this with a drawing on the board or make your own model. How do we bring fresh water into our rivers? You can tie in the parable of the 10 virgins as well.
Elder Renlund also mentions being “settled.” Sing, listen, or study the Hymn #124 “Be Still, My Soul.” How does being still allow for us to be more committed in our covenants, grow deeper roots, and have the strength to continue forward?
