Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from April 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “Thou Art the Christ”
- Sister Amy A. Wright | First counselor in the Primary general presidency
- Saturday evening session of April 2025 general conference.
- Theme: Help children believe in, belong to and become like Jesus Christ.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Sister Wright’s message here.
Outline
- As a child, Sister Wright’s son Eli wanted to study law. After years of study, Eli received an interview from his top choice for law school. The final question in the interview asked where he derived his moral compass. His response was Jesus Christ and His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. Thinking that speaking of Christ in secular academia was frowned upon, he felt that he lost the opportunity to go into law. Two weeks later, he was admitted with a scholarship.
- Lifelong discipleship begins in the home as parents teach their children to believe in, belong to and become like Jesus Christ.
Believe in Jesus Christ
- Although many of Christ’s disciples “walked no more with him” in John 6:66, Peter declared, “We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (verse 69).
- Faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of all belief. For faith to lead to salvation, it must be centered on Jesus Christ.
- Children can strengthen their belief in Jesus Christ and access His divine power as they hear testimonies, see worshipful images, feel the Holy Ghost and know of Jesus Christ’s message and mission.
Belong to Jesus Christ and His Church
- To belong to Jesus Christ and His Church, one makes covenants with God and Jesus Christ. To help children make and keep sacred covenants, study the “Come, Follow Me” manual appendix A and B and use the conversation starters and lessons found there.
Become like Jesus Christ
- The Savior invited His disciples to emulate Him. Children, “the Lord’s youngest disciples,” require guidance, counsel and preparation so that they can teach, testify, pray and serve with confidence. Latter-day Saints can seek inspiration to help children know this is their Church and they have a vital role in preparing for the Second Coming.
- Conversion to Jesus Christ changes everything. It alters how one spends time and resources, and what one reads, watches, listens to and shares. Infusing the Light of Jesus Christ into life is essential, and becoming casual in discipleship could be catastrophic for children. Parents’ love can comfort and inspire, but the love of God and Jesus Christ can “sanctify, exalt and heal.”
Reflection questions
How has conversion to Jesus Christ changed your life?
Do the children in your life hear testimonies of Jesus Christ and know of His mission? What can you do to increase His presence in their lives?
How can you help children make and keep sacred covenants?
What do you need to stop doing to become more like Jesus Christ? What do you need to start doing?
Who is Jesus Christ to you? What can you do to increase His influence in your life?
Speaker quotes
- “As Jesus Christ becomes the focus of our lives, what we desire, and how we desire it, is forever altered. Conversion changes everything. It changes our nature ‘that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually’ (Mosiah 5:2). It changes how we spend our time, our resources; what we read, watch, listen to and share.”
- “If we are not testifying to the veracity of His premortal godhood, His divine mission, and His prison-bursting Resurrection in our homes and in every single meeting of this Church, then our messages of love, service, honesty, humility, gratitude, and compassion can become nothing more than a jaunty pep talk of thoughtful living.”
- “This Jesus should not be a fictional Jesus, or a simplistic Jesus, or a bodiless Jesus, or a casual Jesus, or an unknown Jesus, but a glorified, omnipotent, resurrected, exalted, worshipful, powerful Only Begotten Son of God, who ‘is mighty to save’ (2 Nephi 31:19).”
Reference scriptures
- “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
- “And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people, according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just. Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”
- “[The Lord] spake unto the people, saying: Behold, I am Jesus Christ. ... Arise and come forth. ... The multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one ... and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he.”
Invitations and promises
- “We want our children to believe in Jesus Christ, belong to Jesus Christ and His Church through covenant, and strive to become like Jesus Christ.”
- “We need to infuse the Light of Jesus Christ into every corner of our lives.”
- “When we tell our children we love them, are we also telling them that their Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ love them? Our love may comfort and inspire, but Their love can sanctify, exalt and heal.”
Stories
- Sister Wright’s son Eli received an invitation to interview at one of his top choices for law school. The final question asked where he derives his moral compass. He explained that he strives for morality by patterning his life after that of Jesus Christ. Assuming that discussing Christ would lessen his chances of acceptance into the school, Eli thought that his childhood dreams were dashed. Two weeks later, Eli was admitted with a scholarship.
From the footnotes
- 2. President Thomas S. Monson said that the Sermon on the Mount was “the greatest sermon ever given” (“The Way Home,” April 1975 general conference).
- 16. The scriptures teach that those who will inherit the celestial kingdom are righteous individuals who, through the grace of Jesus Christ, have become like Him.
- 35. President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “The Father has promised through the Son that all that He has shall be given to those who are obedient to His commandments. They shall increase in knowledge, wisdom and power, going from grace to grace, until the fullness of the perfect day shall burst upon them” (“Doctrines of Salvation,” compiled by Bruce R. McConkie, published in 1955, 2:36).
Additional resources
- Related image: “Father and Children Reading the Scriptures”
- Related video: “Thou Art the Christ”
- Related hymn: No. 1017, “This Is the Christ”
Recent conference talks on teaching children
- Brother Jan E. Newman: “Preserving the Voice of the Covenant People in the Rising Generation” (October 2023)
- Elder Valeri V. Cordón: “Divine Parenting Lessons” (October 2023)
- Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf: “Jesus Christ Is the Strength of Parents” (April 2023)
Who is Sister Wright?
- Sister Amy A. Wright has served as a counselor in the Primary general presidency since April 2021. In 2015, Sister Wright was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer and given a 17% chance of survival. She described her battle with cancer as a “polishing and refining experience” — one that was “uniquely tailored” to help her come to know the Savior in a deeply personal way.
