Pressures, prayers and personal challenges led to sacred messages from the Lord now published together in the Doctrine and Covenants. Each section of divine revelation was given in real moments of decision, tension, hope and repentance. Yet, unlike other volumes of scripture, little is written about what was happening in the lives of the early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when each revelation was received.
The Church’s historical resources team has built a bridge between context and revelation to enhance study of the Doctrine and Covenants by integrating well more than 5,000 printed pages of historical resources available with a simple tap or click.
Technical designers have placed direct links — available online at ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the Gospel Library app — to learn about people, places and circumstances specific to weekly chapters in the “Come, Follow Me — For Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025” digital study manual.
Enriching, relatable, personal
“Knowing the context enriches our understanding,” said John Heath, manager of historical awareness and engagement in the Church History Department, noting the absence of contextual narrative in the Doctrine and Covenants. “It’s so much richer when we see what’s going on with the people involved.”
Heath said gaining a better understanding of the human experiences, challenges and spiritual journeys behind the doctrinal teachings makes the scriptures more relatable and personally meaningful.
A hub of the resources available
Full publications of Church historical material have been available for years. In the Gospel Library thumbnail gallery on ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in the Gospel Library app, the entire collection is available through the Church History tile. Publications in this tab include: the entire series of "Saints," Doctrine and Covenants Study, Church History Topics, First Vision, Women’s History, Joseph Smith Papers Podcasts, Gospel Topics Essays and Answers to Church History Questions.
The Church has made these available for online users to read and study at will. However, when looking for context around a specific section, targeting applicable pages and documents can be cumbersome. To help readers access what they need to enhance their study, the Church History Department and technical designers have provided integrated channels and links to supplemental study helps right within the “Come, Follow Me” Doctrine and Covenants 2025 study hub.
How to find the context
On phones, tablets and computers, users can start learning more about the people, places and other information surrounding the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Open the “Come, Follow Me” section.
- Gospel Library app: Tap the “Come, Follow Me” icon on the homepage.
- Church website: Under the Library tab at the top of the web homepage, click the “Come, Follow Me” section.
In both the app and on the website, select Home and Church: Doctrine and Covenants 2025.
Navigate to and tap/click whichever week of study is desired.
Once in the selected week of study, scroll down to the white box with the title “People, Places, Events,” located at the end of the “Ideas for Learning at Home and at Church” section and before the “Ideas for Teaching Children” section.
In this box, there are direct links to three or four of the contextual resources available from varying categories, including people, places, events and topic essays.
- Gospel Library app: Tapping the selected link will open the selected resource. App readers wanting to open the material in a new page can touch and hold the link until the option “open in new screen” appears and select.
- Church website: Clicking the links will open another page.
In addition to these resources, other study materials can be accessed by clicking or tapping “Click to see more” in the bottom of the white box.
- Gospel Library app: Tapping “Click to see more” will take the reader to the full page of chapter-specific context. (To open in a new screen, touch and hold the link until the option “open in new screen” appears and select.)
- Church website: When the user selects “Click to see more,” a side panel will open with the text of the full list of resources. Not all of the resources are available to select within the panel view. To navigate to the full page, click the Doctrine and Covenants section reference at the top of the panel.
A greater spiritual impact
Heath said that including the narrative resources for study of the Doctrine and Covenants can help readers see the Lord’s bigger plan and bigger program. The resources remind that the people in the early days of the Restoration also had to live history forward one day at a time.
“Learning about the stress, conflicts and spiritual preparations of early Church leaders helps us see how sanctification and unity were crucial in their spiritual growth,” said Heath, adding that understanding more about the circumstances around early Saints’ “dynamic process of spiritual growth” — and their learning one day at a time — gives greater insight and can provide increased spiritual impact.
