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
- “Charity — A Sign of True Discipleship”
- Elder Michael B. Strong | General Authority Seventy
- Sunday afternoon session of April 2025 general conference.
- Theme: Followers of Jesus Christ can deepen their discipleship as they emulate Him and develop charity for others.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Strong’s message here.
Outline
- President Russell M. Nelson’s invitation to make discipleship “our highest priority” stirred Elder Strong to ponder deeply about his discipleship of Jesus Christ.
Discipleship is deliberate
- Disciples are followers of another who devote their lives to becoming like their teacher. Thus, being disciples of Jesus Christ implies more than believing His teachings, acknowledging His divinity and accepting Him as the Savior.
- To be Christ’s disciples and be transformed through His atoning sacrifice, individuals must intentionally imitate His thoughts and actions daily.
The sign of true discipleship
- Of all of the Savior’s many divine attributes His disciples are to emulate, charity “stands preeminent and embodies all others.” The Savior Himself identified love as a sign by which His disciples would be recognized.
- Like faith, charity leads to action. Followers of Jesus Christ should seek to emulate how the Savior demonstrated His pure love for others.
Charity is showing compassion
- One way the Savior showed charity is by being compassionate. Filled with compassion, the Lord healed the sick and afflicted during His ministry among the Nephites, as recorded in the Book of Mormon.
- Elder Strong benefited from a friend’s compassion when an accident led to his temporary imprisonment while he served as a young missionary in South America.
Charity is ministering to unspoken needs
- Another way the Savior demonstrates His love is by observing and ministering to the unspoken needs of others. The Lord made whole the man who had been lame for 38 years, offered hope to the woman caught in adultery and forgave the man with paralysis who was lowered from the roof.
- While Elder Strong served as a bishop, two members of his ward noticed his wife’s unspoken need and, like the Lord, acted in love, sitting with and helping her care for their six young children during sacrament meeting.
Charity is helping others along the covenant path
- Christ’s perfect love focuses on helping all of God’s children fulfill their divine potential. As individuals become more like the Savior, their desire to help others along the covenant path will naturally increase.
- “Discipleship of Jesus Christ is the only way to obtain enduring happiness.” While the path of discipleship may be challenging, individuals can take comfort knowing God is mindful of them and yearns to help.
Reflection questions
What is one Christlike attribute you would like to develop in your discipleship?
Who in your life can you minister to and share God’s love with?
What would an increase in charity look like in your family or congregation?
How have you been blessed by other people’s charity?
How can you involve Jesus Christ in your efforts to become more compassionate?
Speaker quotes
- “Discipleship is a deliberate journey that we take to become transformed through the Lord’s atoning sacrifice and His enabling power. The real destination of discipleship is literally to become as Jesus Christ is.”
- “Emulation of the Savior’s character is at the heart of worshipping Him.”
- “Another example of how the Savior demonstrates His love is through His observance of and ministry to the unspoken needs of others.”
Reference scriptures
- “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
- “And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?”
- “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.”
Invitations and promises
- “To be the Lord’s disciples, we must intentionally imitate His thoughts and actions every day.”
- “As we become more like our Master, our desire to help our brothers and sisters along the covenant path will naturally increase.”
- “There are countless ways to encourage and assist others in their progression if we deliberately and prayerfully seek heaven’s help to have eyes to see and a heart to feel how Jesus Christ sees and feels for them.”
Stories
- During His ministry among the Nephites, the Savior directed the people to return home, ponder His words and prepare for His return the next day. Yet, seeing the multitude’s desire for Him to “tarry a little longer with them,” Jesus was moved with compassion toward them and performed a series of tender, loving acts (3 Nephi 17:5).
- While serving as a young missionary in South America, Elder Strong was driving with his companion and unable to avoid colliding with a cyclist who turned suddenly in front of their vehicle. Tragically, the cyclist was killed by the impact. Feeling devastated and in shock, Elder Strong was taken to jail, where he was filled with fear that he would be imprisoned for the rest of his life. Yet, learning of the accident, a fellow missionary was moved by compassion and pleaded with the jail’s officers to accompany Elder Strong in the cell so he would not be alone. The officers miraculously agreed, and Elder Strong received consolation from this disciple’s “act of Christlike love.”
- When Elder Strong was called to serve as bishop, his wife, Sister Cristin Strong, had to manage their six young children alone during sacrament meetings. Noticing her unspoken need, two ward members acted in love and began sitting with Sister Strong each Sunday to help. Their kindness continued for years.
- In his current assignment in the Philippines, Elder Strong learned of the Agamata family — a recently baptized family that planned to be sealed in the Urdaneta Philippines Temple but faced almost needing to postpone their appointment when several typhoons prevented Brother Agamata from planting his rice crops. Yet, hearing of the family’s struggle, two disciples and three young service missionaries volunteered to help despite having no farming experience. They felt a joy beyond compare seeing their service allow the Agamatas to complete their task and attend their temple sealing as scheduled.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda” by Carl Heinrich Bloch
- Related video: “Pray for Eyes To See as He Sees”
- Related hymn: No. 295, “O Love That Glorifies the Son”
Recent conference talks on charity
- President Russell M. Nelson: “Confidence in the Presence of God” (April 2025)
- Elder Ulisses Soares: “Followers of the Prince of Peace” (April 2023)
- President Henry B. Eyring: “Try, Try, Try” (October 2018)
Who is Elder Strong?
- Elder Michael B. Strong was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2024. Elder Strong and his wife, Sister Cristin Strong, both served as full-time missionaries in the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission and were later Perú Lima Central Mission leaders from 2018 to 2021. Elder Strong was a physician, hospitalist and chief medical information officer for the University of Utah.
