Image courtesy of lds.org
This summer, I spent memorable hours in conversation with friends about our discourse of prophets and prophecy in the Church. So many of us have witnessed disillusionment and anguish when friends lose trust in church leadership. Often, a covert message of prophetic infallibility has been conveyed in childhood church experiences, a belief that inevitably crumbles later and erodes faith with it. We asked ourselves, “How do we talk about prophets in a way that provides a sustainable basis for mature faith?” In discussion with friends, I decided that a minor adaptation of a familiar phrase–“Follow the Prophet” becomes “Follow the Prophet to Jesus”–implicitly conveys most of our intent. In particular, I wanted to emphasize the following points: 1) Prophets need not be infallible to point the way to Jesus; 2) In fact, prophets are better guides because they personally experience the processes of gaining faith, repenting of sins, etc; 3) The prophetic office–a narrowly defined priesthood role–exists in service to the larger prophetic mission of leading souls to Christ, which encompasses believers regardless of sex. General Conference season seems an apt moment to develop the lesson and send it into the wild. Please enjoy, use, freely adapt, and consider sharing if the ideas speak to you. I’m convinced that small, fully faithful tweaks in our discourse about prophets can make a big difference in the resilience of young souls’ attachment to the Church.
Attention Activity: Younger Children: Sing the Primary song “Do As I’m Doing, Follow Follow Me,” encouraging the children to follow the directions you pantomime, like mixing cake batter, hammering nails, or playing a violin. Make it tricky and fun! Older Children: Ahead of time, set up a grid of sticky notes on the board, with a castle chalked under one of them. Choose a child to come up and move a magnet through the course. Give a multi-part oral direction starting from the upper left corner to arrive at the destination (for example: down three, right two, up nine, and left one, etc.) The child tries to remember and correctly execute the directions.
Introduce the Doctrine: Following directions is important if you want to cook something, build something, or find your way to a castle. But if you want to find your way to Jesus, following disciples is even better than following directions. Prophets are specially-chosen disciples of Jesus Christ who lead us along the path of faith. We follow the prophet to Jesus.
The prophet Nephi taught about four landmarks on our path toward Jesus, which we call the first principles and ordinances of the gospel: first, seeking faith in Jesus; second, practicing repentance; third, receiving baptism; and fourth, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Post a word strip for each of the four principles, and set out the following four visual aids: 1) a toy horse (or picture of a horse); 2) a toy bow or arrow (or a picture); 3) a small jar filled with water and a bit of sand, to represent a river; 4) a simple ribbon wand of yellow and red ribbons taped to the end of a pencil or similar. In turns, invite a child up to hold the appropriate visual aid as you share the following brief accounts of prophets who demonstrate the principles of the gospel.
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Courtesy of flickr user Sarah Darwin
Faith in Jesus Christ. David O. McKay was prophet of the church around the time your grandparents were born. One day when he was a teenager, he was herding cattle in the mountains. He got off his horse to rest, and suddenly felt a strong desire to pray for a sign from Heavenly Father that would give him faith. He prayed right there beside his horse under a serviceberry bush! But he didn’t receive any sign that day. He felt disappointed, but he kept wanting faith and praying for it. One day several years later, while he was on his mission in Scotland, David felt the Holy Spirit strongly and his heart was suddenly filled with faith. He knew it was an answer to the prayer he offered years ago. David O. McKay searched for faith. (Source)
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Courtesy of flickr user melilab
Repentance. The Book of Mormon prophet Enos was the grandson of Father Lehi. One day Enos was out hunting in the forest. He started thinking about everything his father had taught him. He remembered we can live again with Jesus after this life, and he wanted that very much! Enos kneeled down and prayed to Heavenly Father to forgive his sins and mistakes. He prayed and repented all day and all night! Finally he heard the Lord’s voice say, “Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed … because of thy faith in Christ.” But that wasn’t all! Enos kept on praying, first for his family, and then for his enemies! Enos repented of his sins. (Source)
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courtesy of flickr user Michael W. May
Baptism. One day the Joseph Smith and his friend Oliver Cowdery went into the woods to pray. They had been reading in the scriptures about baptism by immersion, and they wondered if they should be baptized, too. The resurrected John the Baptist visited them and gave them authority to baptize each other in the nearby Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. They went into the river, where Joseph baptized Oliver, and Oliver baptized Joseph. Afterward they felt very happy! “We experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father.” Joseph Smith was baptized. (Source.)
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Courtesy of flickr user Rachel Gonzalez
Holy Ghost. When Jesus was alive on earth, a man named Peter was one of his closest friends and disciples. Before Jesus went back to heaven, he told Peter that the Holy Spirit would come to them. A few days later, Peter was with Jesus’ other friends and mother together in one room. Suddenly a noise like a strong wind from the sky filled the whole house. Little bits of fire came to rest on each one of them but these fires did not burn them at all! All of this wind and fire meant Jesus’ friends and mother, Mary, were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was Jesus’ promise to them! Peter received the Holy Ghost. (Adapted from source.)
Each of these prophets followed the path to Jesus, through faith, repentance, baptism, and the Holy Ghost, and we should follow them!
Faith and repentance are things we seek in our own hearts, but we need the Church and the priesthood to receive baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Prophets have the special responsibility to direct and protect the Church, so that all people have the opportunity to follow the path to Jesus.
Invite a child forward. Ask her to follow you on a short journey around the room. Then instruct her to choose another child and lead him on the same journey. When you are following the prophet on the path to Jesus, other people can follow you! Anybody with a testimony of Jesus has the gift of prophecy and can show others the way. The scriptures teach us that “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev. 19:10.)
President Joy Jones of the Primary
Faithful women like Abish in the Book of Mormon, Anna in the New Testament, or Sister Joy Jones, our Primary General President, exercise the gift of prophecy when they testify of Christ.
This is truly lovely, Rosalynde. Thoughtful preparation can reward our Primary children so richly. Thank you for sharing!
Beautiful!l I love how you’ve incorporated a variety of prophets to be examples of the principles and ordinances and you’ve included females as righteous examples. This is a respectful but realistic way to help us remember that even our faithful Priesthood leaders have need of repentance.
Great stuff. I especially loved the ending – giving a great way to connect kids to General Conference and the existence/role/mandate of the General Primary President. With already having emphasized the unique prophetic role of the President of the a Church, It also leads open a good door to talk about the gift of prophecy within local leaders/teachers/parents and themselves as well, and solidifying that connection to a spiritual witness of Christ.
Thanks for the kind comments, all!
Jones, thanks for bringing out a point that I didn’t explicitly cover in the intro: when we look to prophets as an example of repentance, it elegantly strikes that balance of implicitly acknowledging that they sin and make mistakes, yet still allowing us to honor and follow them with confidence.
I think this is absolutely fantastic! What a wonderful sharing time. Fills one with affection for the person who came up with it!
Part of the “Follow the Prophet” emphasis is preventing children from considering other voices to be as authoritative. Of course, that backfires if people leave the church when they conclude the church leaders are fallible. On the other hand, if anybody’s voice is equally good (assuming some sort of criteria which isn’t clear how to establish), how does one maintain unity of the faith? Does one want “following the prophet” to be reduced to simply following people who seem to have their acts together? Obviously, believing people can disagree a lot over beliefs, and I suspect a lot of people don’t feel a strong need for everybody to believe the same as long as there’s considerable overlap. It probably wouldn’t be in the best interest of the institutional church for children to consider their primary president to be just as prophetic as an apostle, even when on a practical, day-to-day basis, it may be true.
Very nice, Rosalynde. This is a keeper.
I’ve always been impressed with Alma’s counsel to his son Helaman, as chronicled in Alma 37. There, he candidly acknowledges, in some detail, his own past mistakes—an act of humility that does not come naturally to most men, especially those in positions of authority. And his self-awareness of his own limitations provides the foundation for the counsel he imparts to his son in verses 3 and 27 of Alma chapter 26: trust in the Lord, not in any one man, and build your faith on the scriptures. In other words: “Don’t follow me; follow the Savior.”
This is perfect for me too. I needed the reminder and faith building as I dive deeper into church history. Easier sometimes to just pretend it isn’t there. But a good reminder that pointing us to Christ is the ultimate goal.
I understand what you’re trying to say here, Roselynde, but it is unclear to me how homophobic, sexist, formerly racist, authoritarian, anti-intellectual Republicans – the sheer decades-long weight of this – might lead anyone to Jesus, let alone our children. I stay in the Church despite these men, not because of them and, except in rare instances (Neal Maxwell’s address On Patience comes to mind), do not look to them for guidance let alone inspiration. This is my hard truth and I feel uncomfortable expressing it but am compelled to do so in this instance.
IOW maybe the problem is not with a disillusioned membership that expects too much and must be inoculated while young but with a disillusioning hierarchy that consistently fails to observe basic Christian standards and repeats the same mistakes over & over again, albeit w/ different categories of “enemies.”
P, I confess that seems a bit odd to me. Especially considering the examples in the scriptures especially the NT. It seems hard to read Paul or about Peter and not see them with the same issues. That is, you seem to be assuming being Christian entails behaviors I’m not sure it does.
Human foibles are one thing, a systematic, entrenched hard-right sociopolitical orientation quite another. I understand Rosalynde’s sweet intent with this piece and would love to endorse, but it seems backwards to me. Isn’t disillusion normal among followers of Christ given several decades of reactionary leadership?
“Reactionary leadership” tends to just indicate a political disagreement IMO. I disagree with the politics of many figures – the John Bircher conspiracy theory and libertarian ideology of Pres. Benson as well as the overly anti-war view of people like J. Reuben Clark who excused far too much in WWII seeking peace. The liberalism of David O McKay and the progressivism of many church leaders during the heyday of progressive technocrats prior to WWII. Everyone tends to think their politics are right. I’m sure the Bundys in Nevada decry the liberalism of the current brethren. All of which ought make us think twice as if we’re speaking from a place where we are truly confident we’re right.
Why I used the term “sociopolitical,” Clark. Disillusionment is antecedent, it doesn’t come out of nowhere and only rarely because a member is so naive as to believe leaders do not sin.
Rosalynde – I have been thinking of this idea since you wrote it a month ago – thanks. In my seminary prep this morning, I read 2 Nephi 26:8, and I think it could be used to add to this important principle. Thanks for writing.