Teaching Ideas for "How Can I Bless Others with My Testimony of Jesus Christ?"
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Teaching in Young Women’s or your Aaronic Priesthood Quorum soon? Grab ideas to help you teach the lesson on January 8, “How Can I Bless Others With My Testimony of Jesus Christ?” This lesson reviews Matthew 1 and Luke 1. It’s a great way to kick off the New Year as we continue to study the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. This lesson really focuses on Mary's testimony, which is beautiful.
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Quick reminder, because it is January, the start of a new year, each lesson should start by saying the theme and then discussing the work of salvation and exaltation. That could be a short discussion, it could be a long discussion, and depending on which, depends on how long your lesson's going to be. Make sure you can be flexible.
Who Am I? Game and Poster Activity
Start your lesson off by playing a fun game. I call it, Who am I? Read cards with quick little clues that your class has to guess who it is. For example, “I prayed all day and all night using my faith in Jesus Christ. Who am I?” The answer is Enos. Another example is, “My faith in Jesus Christ let me see His finger and then His whole being. Who am I?” The brother of Jared. There's also one where the answer is Mary which would be a great one to end on.
The whole reason that we can guess who these people are is because we know their faith stories. They shared their testimonies with us through the scriptures. Think about all the ways that you have been strengthened and uplifted because you know their stories because you know their testimonies. Our testimonies bless others. Do people know some of our faith stories?
On the weeks that I'm not sharing lesson helps, I invite other people onto my podcast to share their faith stories. It's a great way to be uplifted. Think about other people in your life, how their testimonies have blessed your life. Now let's go back to Mary.
What are some things that we can learn from Mary? Write that up on the whiteboard. Read the account in Luke 1 where she shares her testimony. Then write on the board things that you can learn because of her testimony and how those words strengthen and uplift us. You may want to start with the angel speaking and then Mary's testimony.
Discuss ways we can apply those truths to our lives. For example, there is a scripture, in Luke 1:37 where the angel speaks to Mary. It says, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Then Mary shares her testimony. This is a great scripture to tie in the 2023 youth theme, which is found in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ.” Love the theme and it’s the same message the angel told Mary.
Use my poster to help apply this truth to your own lives. What is something that we might feel is impossible right now? Is sharing our testimony of Jesus Christ something that we feel is impossible? Write on a separate piece of paper, one of your fears and adjust the poster to reflect this. For example, now it would say, “For with God sharing my testimony shall not be impossible.”
If you give out gifts at the beginning of the year to introduce the youth theme, this is a great opportunity to do so. Obviously, it's not necessary at all though. Gifts could be something as simple as a bookmark or a printed picture of the theme. Cindy, who shared her faith story about how she survived a school shooting, sells great water bottle stickers- high quality and can go through a dishwasher. She has a couple of versions for the youth theme that you could give out as well. Totally recommend them.
Not Just What We Do but What We Know
In the October 2022 General Conference, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave an excellent talk, “Jesus Christ Is the Strength of the Youth.” In the footnotes of his talk (#13), you can find this quote: “As Latter-day Saints, we are often known for what we do and don’t do—our behaviors. This can be good, but it’s even better to be known for what we know (the truths that drive our behaviors) and for who we know (the Savior—and how our love for Him inspires our behaviors).”
What are the truths that we know about the Savior? The manual suggests studying The Living Christ and I totally agree. I have this beautiful declaration split up into easy, digestible pieces. I did that so that people could memorize it easily, but it's also great for lessons because you can just pull a piece of The Living Christ out and hand them out to the different people in your class for them to study.
Look for the truths in these cards then consider, “Because of the truth that I know about Jesus Christ, how does it affect my behavior?” Then share examples. It might take some brainstorming together, but it's a great exercise because of what we know, what do we do? (Psssttt… this is exactly what the For the Strength of Youth booklet does now). It’s a great way to draw some connections.
Next, the manual also suggests practicing how you could share that truth, whether it's on social media or in real life. How could you share that truth with somebody else? It seems like we talk about sharing the gospel all the time, but that's because it's so important! The greatest, most important work in the world today is the gathering of Israel. We talk about the work of salvation and exaltation every single time we meet together as a youth group. Continue to do it here- practice, practice, practice.
Talk, Rejoice, Preach, Prophesy of Christ
In 2 Nephi 25:26, it tells us to talk, rejoice, preach, and prophesy of Jesus Christ. Now, prophesy can also mean, testimony. So we testify of Jesus Christ and it says, we write according to our prophecies or one interpretation could be to write according to our testimonies. When we have a testimony of Jesus Christ, He is in all we do and say. He is the light of the world. We just did a whole Light the World campaign in December of ways that we could share our light with others.
These acts of light were everything from smiling to doing some big service project of gathering donations and feeding the hungry. Share your experiences with each other at this time. Share your testimony. Share how people reacted, how you reacted, and how it changed you. Discuss how you went about lighting the world and what difference it made for you personally and as you saw other people do it as well. Then brainstorm more ways that you can keep lighting the world. It doesn't just have to be a December thing.
There were those 50 ways that the Church of Jesus Christ put out and the idea sheet I shared at the end of November's lesson. Use that and brainstorm more such as accepting responsibility and seeking forgiveness. Isn't that amazing how that could be such a light if you see somebody accept responsibility for something they did wrong and ask for forgiveness? Clean something at home like doing the dishes. Share through art your testimony. Be a good sport. Share the For Strength of Youth pamphlet- a good example of how we could take the truth and then show the behavior that is related to that truth. Write a thank you card. There are so many ways that we can continue to light the world. Make it a New Year’s resolution.
Remember 2 Nephi talks about how we preach and we rejoice and we talk about Christ all the time. Then it says, “write according to our prophecies.” Let's take that and apply it. in Luke 1:49, Mary is sharing her testimony, “For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.” It’s a wonderful testimony of all the great things that the Lord can and does do for us. Print a poster of this verse with a picture of Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus on it.
While this lesson definitely focuses on Mary's testimony, Joseph is obviously a faithful, devoted man as well. He has his own testimony of Jesus Christ. We know that with the four visions that he had and the few verses that we have about Joseph. He was a righteous man as well. Frame my poster without the glass on it and bring it every week this year as you teach. Each week, add to this poster, whether it's a tally mark or it's writing about your experience or drawing a picture of it. Fill the poster up so that there are no blank spaces anymore by the end of the year. It’s a neat way to acknowledge God in our lives, as well as to share our testimony every week with each other of the great things God has done for us.
Let's continue to share our lights even with each other at church. One great example that you can point out is, “Where is the light in the room at the church?” At least in my building, it's up on the ceiling. It's not on the ground, it's not behind the whiteboard. It's up on the ceiling. Therefore, it gives light to everybody in the room, which of course leads us back to the scripture in Matthew 5:14-16 where it says, “Ye are the light of the world” and “Let your light so shine before man.”
Don't worry about who is going to see your light, just worry about shining your light. Share that testimony through the things that you do and the truth that you share with others.
Join me next time on Chatting with Camille, where I share ways you can share the gospel of Jesus Christ at home. Chat with you later.
Remember, you can discover more gospel fun here such as my Latter-day Saint Shout Out game. It’s an entertaining game for youth activity night.
