While ministering to youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their leaders around the world, the Young Women general presidency often asks what they think about the Church’s worldwide events for youth.
“One of the things people tell us is they love to feel like they are part of something bigger,” said Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman in a recent video on the Young Women Worldwide Instagram account.
This year kicked off with a worldwide discussion on discipleship in January, and youth recently gathered in October for a worldwide broadcast focusing on the light of Jesus Christ.
Youth are invited to gather again on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, for a worldwide event.
The focus of this broadcast will be the 2025 youth theme “Look Unto Christ” based on Doctrine and Covenants 6:36, which reads, “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”
President Freeman and Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, offered a preview of the Jan. 5 event during a live information session on Instagram on Nov. 20.
What to expect for the Jan. 5 event
The Jan. 5 worldwide event for youth will include a 25-minute-long prerecorded video broadcast featuring Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Young Men General President Steven J. Lund and President Freeman.
Similar to the worldwide discussion for youth in January 2024, youth will have the chance to participate as the presentation is stopped for local discussions and then resumed.
President Freeman said youth can gather as a ward or as a stake, and the event can be held at a Church building or in someone’s home or backyard. The prerecorded video can be shown on Jan. 5 or on a date that works best for the ward or stake.
“Remember to invite a friend,” Sister Spannaus added.
The leaders said the broadcast will be available beginning Jan. 2 and can be accessed on the Gospel Library app, ChurchofJesusChrist.org, the Church’s YouTube channel and the Gospel Stream app.
Discussion questions
To help youth and youth leaders prepare for the event, the Young Women general presidency posted the discussion questions from the broadcast on their social media account.
- “When is a time you looked to Christ through prayer, scriptures, or the “For the Strength of Youth” guidebook?
- “When is a time you experienced doubt or fear and you looked to Christ?
- “How does it make you feel to know you belong to something bigger?
- “As you watch the next segment, silently ponder a time in your life when you received a heavenly ray of light?”
The first three points are meant to be discussed as a group while the last one is meant to be pondered individually, President Freeman said.
Tips and ideas for the event
While answering questions live from their social media followers, President Freeman and Sister Spannaus offered some tips and ideas to help foster a positive experience for the youth.
“I think one of the best ways to prepare,” President Freeman said, “would be to teach [the youth] what a worldwide discussion even is, and how there will be youth all over the world that are gathering together that weekend — or hopefully in the first few weeks after that broadcast is released — and to talk to them about how some of the learning will come as they listen, but a lot of the learning is going to come as they discuss.”
When it comes to the discussion portions, “don’t fear the silence,” Sister Spannaus said.
Suggestions included dividing into smaller groups or age groups to discuss the questions, rephrasing the questions to help youth better understand them, and assigning a youth to be the first to answer a question to help “break the ice.”
2025 youth theme music and other resources
President Freeman said youth can also prepare for the event by listening to the 2025 youth theme song and studying Doctrine and Covenants 6.
The 2025 youth album and theme song, printable artwork, activity ideas and other information about the theme can be found at youth.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
