Missionary discussion

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a missionary discussion is a lesson that missionaries of the church teach to interested non-members and recent converts.

Before the widespread use of "Preach My Gospel", LDS missionaries used a set of six standard lessons called "The Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel". Missionaries were often instructed to adhere very closely to the six lessons, and they frequently quoted segments word-for-word (an especially helpful practice when learning a foreign language). The training materials also instructed missionaries to freely change the order of the lessons segments according to the needs and questions of the learners.

Since the publication of "Preach My Gospel" in 2004, missionaries are given more latitude in preparing their own lesson plans and outlines. The First Presidency said the lessons "should not be taught by rote presentation. The missionary should feel free to use his own words as prompted by the Spirit." [First Presidency, "Statement on Missionary Work," First Presidency letter, 11 Dec. 2002.] However, "Preach My Gospel" still includes a set of five lessons to provide a basic outline and an example of how the lessons could be taught.

Discussion summaries

The following are summaries of the current lessons used for missionary discussions.

* Lesson 1: The Restoration
**God is our loving Heavenly Father
**The Gospel blesses families
**Heavenly Father reveals his Gospel in every dispensation
**The Great Apostasy
**The Restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith
**The Book of Mormon
**Invitiation to pray and ask God if what the missionaries teach is true

* Lesson 2: The Plan of Salvation
**Pre-Earth life
**The creation
**Agency and the Fall of Adam and Eve
**Our life on earth
**The Atonement of Jesus Christ
**The Spirit World
**The Resurrection, Judgment, and immortality
**Kingdoms of glory

* Lesson 3: The Gospel of Jesus Christ
**Through Christ we can be cleansed from sin
**Faith in Jesus Christ
**Repentance
**Baptism
**The Gift of the Holy Ghost
**Endure to the end

* Lesson 4: The Commandments
**Obedience
**Pray often
**Study the Scriptures
**Keep the Sabbath day holy
**Baptism and confirmation
**Follow the Prophet
**Keep the Ten Commandments
**Live the law of chastity
**Obey the Word of Wisdom
**Keep the law of tithing
**Observe the law of the fast
**How to donate tithes and offerings
**Obey and honor the law

* Lesson 5: Laws and Ordinances
**Priesthood and Auxiliaries
**Missionary work
**Eternal marriage
**Temples and family history
**Service
**Teaching and learning in the Church
**Endure to the end

ee also

* Preach My Gospel
* Franklin D. Richards (1900-1987)

References

*"Preach My Gospel", (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004), pp. 31-88.

External links

* [http://www.mormon.org LDS Church's Basic Beliefs]