The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released a new mission preparation curriculum for youth and young adults, designed to help individuals now as well as in future missionary services and to unify such instruction worldwide.
The new teacher’s guide, “Missionary Preparation: A Teaching Resource,” is now available in 38 languages in the Church’s Gospel Library and on the mobile app.
The guide empowers teachers to help learners strengthen their conversion to Jesus Christ while preparing to help convert others. It also helps prospective missionaries prepare spiritually, physically and emotionally for their missionary service.
Courses will be taught using the same curriculum through the Church, unifying mission preparation among the wards, stakes and institutes offering such courses.
The curriculum is to align with and build upon a prospective missionary’s own study of “Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The second edition of “Preach My Gospel” was released in 2023, nearly two decades after its initial publication.
Said President Russell M. Nelson, when he announced the 2023 release: “As you study and apply the teachings from ‘Preach My Gospel’ second edition, from the scriptures and from living prophets, you will be blessed. Your own testimony will be enriched. Your capacity to share the Savior’s gospel will increase.”
In a December 2023 Church News podcast on missionary work, Elder W. Mark Bassett, the General Authority Seventy who is executive director of the Missionary Department, said the new curriculum “is something we’ve worked on with several other departments in the Church.”
He added: “This course helps teachers teach in a way that will be engaging and will allow the young people to participate. And we really feel great about it and think it’ll be a great resource for our teachers that are in these classes. …
“We think it’s long overdue, and it’ll be a great blessing for many. The better prepared a missionary is, the faster they can jump in and feel like they’re really being a blessing to others.
In the same podcast, David N. Weidman, managing director of the Missionary Department, underscored the curriculum’s use as a self-study program or in a home evening or small-group setting as well as its offerings of visual content and prompt questions.
Course participants will learn the missionary purpose as well as how it can guide them in their lives now and in all aspects of missionary work.
The guide contains 13 lessons and 10 skill practices, helping learners become better gospel teachers and more emotionally resilient.
“Everything in this course is intended to help learners strengthen their conversion to Jesus Christ and His restored gospel,” reads the introduction to the new manual. “With conversion comes an increased desire and capacity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.”
Leaders and teachers involved in facilitating mission preparation courses are to review the new curriculum as they prayerfully consider who might benefit from it, using the introductory materials in guiding how classes are organized. Teachers can adapt content to meet local needs.
Institute leaders can benefit from additional resources in the new S&I Help Center, providing connection and interactions with other instructors as they share ideas.
‘Missionary Preparation: A Teaching Resource’
The Church’s new mission-preparation curriculum guide includes 13 missionary preparation lessons and 10 skill practices.
The 13 missionary preparation lessons are:
- We Invite Others to Come Unto Christ
- Introduction to “Preach My Gospel”
- Fulfill Your Missionary Purpose
- Search the Scriptures and Put On the Armor of God
- Study and Teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ
- Practice Teaching
- The Invitation To Be Baptized and Confirmed
- Seek and Rely On the Spirit
- Use the Power of the Book of Mormon
- Seek Christlike Attributes
- Help People Make and Keep Commitments
- Adjusting to Missionary Life
- Go Forward in Faith
And the 10 skill practices are:
