Church historians gave young adults tips and resources for finding answers to difficult questions about Church history during breakout classes at the 2025 Utah Area YSA Conference, Aug. 29-30.
“Understanding Church history allows this next generation of young adults to be better prepared for bigger challenges they may face,” said Emily Crumpton-Deason, a Church history consultant at the Church History Library who led two question-and-answer discussions.
“Sometimes better understanding God’s plan for the future means looking backwards,” she added.
The Friday classes included two sessions of a Q&A-style discussion with Crumpton-Deason and Jed Woodworth, a general editor and lead historian for “Saints,” called “Church history conversation.” Two “How to do Church history with faith” workshops were also taught, one by Matt Grow, the managing director of the Church History Department, the other by Claire Haynie Brown, also a historian with the department. Similar classes were given Saturday as well.
Aubree Ferguson attended one of the question and answer sessions hoping to find resources that could help her prepare for her mission to Portugal in February.
She was pleased when Crumpton-Deason and Woodworth answered many of the young adults’ questions by pointing them to resources in the Gospel Library, specifically those in the Church history tab.
She was excited to learn about these resources so she could take her questions and “figure it out with God.”
“It’s not just receiving a yes or no answer, but then it’s you being able to build a relationship.”
Haynie Brown gave several tips for making Church history a “faith-affirming, joyful study,” reminding attendees, “Don’t be afraid of your questions, but go to the right source for the answer.”
She ultimately told young adults to focus on Jesus Christ.
“The main character in Church history is not Joseph Smith. It’s not Eliza R. Snow. It’s not [President] Russell M. Nelson. It’s Jesus Christ.”
