Teach the Doctrine: Younger Children
Heavenly Father comforts me, and I can comfort others.
How can you give the children confidence that Heavenly Father will comfort them? How can you encourage them to comfort others?
Possible Activities
Show the children some things that provide comfort, such as a blanket or bandage. Ask the children what comforts them when they are sad or afraid or have other problems. Read 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 with the children, and explain that “tribulation” is another word for really hard problems. Share some ways Heavenly Father has comforted you, and testify that He will comfort the children as well.
You could read the words like "no one will play with me" then have the students place the bandaid, and say "God (Jesus) can comfort us". Repeat till the kids can say it.
Show pictures of people being baptized (see Gospel Art Book, nos. 103–4) while you read 2 Corinthians 1:4 to the children. Explain that when we are baptized, we promise to comfort others. How can we follow Paul’s counsel to “comfort them which are in any trouble”?
Explain each card as you lay them on the ground, (Everyone can sit on the ground). Tell the students that these are promises we make at baptism. How important is it to Heavenly Father that we love and comfort His children? Say key words like Mourn, (or sad), comfort, burden and serve. Have the students practice pointing to the pictures, then if you would like more movement, but them on the 4 walls, and have the students stand under them when you say the same key words.
Click on the image to be taken to Etsy. Look through the pictures on the listing, so you know which size to print.
It felt so incomplete to have the children with sad faces(: So I made this little band-aid gift tag. Be sure to read the pictures on the listing so you know what size to print.
I can forgive others.
Select from the following activities—or come up with your own—to help strengthen the children’s desire to forgive others.
Possible Activities
Explain to the children that Paul wanted the Corinthian Saints to forgive a man who had sinned. Read 2 Corinthians 2:7–8, 10, and invite the children to place their hands over their hearts every time they hear the words forgive and forgave.
Invite the children to role-play how they could respond in situations when someone has done something unkind. Let them take turns saying “I’m sorry” and “I forgive you.” How do we help people know that we forgive them? Explain that one way might be to “confirm your love,” or show love to them (2 Corinthians 2:8).
Click on the image to be taken to Etsy.
I believe in being honest.
Paul taught that servants of Christ have “renounced the hidden things of dishonesty.” Ponder ways you can strengthen the children’s desire to be honest in all things.
Possible Activities
Help the children memorize the phrase “We believe in being honest” (Articles of Faith 1:13). Write this phrase on paper bracelets the children can decorate and wear. Explain that being honest includes telling the truth.
You can print these in B&W, so the students can color their bracelets.
Ask the children to raise their hands when you say something that is true and lower them when you say something that is not true. Make simple but obvious statements, such as “Today is Sunday” or “I have three noses.” Repeat the activity a few times, letting the children take turns being the one who makes true and false statements. Why does Heavenly Father want us to tell the truth?
If you need more movement in your lesson, here is an idea.
Show the video “A Visit with Elder Ulisses Soares” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). What did young Elder Soares learn about honesty? Encourage the children to prepare for their baptismal covenant by being honest.
Here is some gift tags for the coming General Conference. Click on the image.
Teach the Doctrine: Older Children
Heavenly Father comforts me, and I can comfort others.
Remembering how God has comforted us inspires us to offer comfort to others.
Possible Activities
As you read 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, ask the children to listen for an answer to the question “What does God do for us?” Help the children list ways in which God comforts us. Invite the children to share experiences when they were sad or worried or afraid and God comforted them.
Invite the children to share ways we can keep our baptismal covenant to comfort others (see Mosiah 18:9). Give them time to think of someone they know who needs comfort and make a plan to reach out to that person.
Have the students sort out the covenants that have to do with comforting, loving, serving or helping. I count 5, but if you can stretch to say if they are "called His people" then they would love and serve as He does, and similar cards. (If your children are too young, keep it simple). After they have completed the pile. Tell the students, that these are promises me make at Baptism, show them the pile that has to do with love. There are a lot... How important is it to Heavenly Father that we show love and comfort to His children?
Click on the image to be taken Etsy.
I can forgive others.
It can be hard to forgive others when they are unkind to us. But the children you teach will experience love, peace, and happiness as they learn to forgive.
Possible Activities
Tell the children that someone in Corinth had sinned and “caused grief” for the Saints (see 2 Corinthians 2:5). Ask the children to search 2 Corinthians 2:7–8 to find what Paul wanted the Saints to do.
Before class attach the situations to heavy objects like cans of food, or rocks. Bring a backpack.
Have the children read the situations together, and discussing how they might handle them, point out that God does not want us to continue being hurt by someone. Forgiving doesn't mean we don't talk about those feelings. But after we have need to be able to forgive. Not forgiving is just carrying the weight around and it doesn't feel good.
Load up the backpack and have the children take turns carrying the weight.
Share an experience when you forgave someone—or someone forgave you—and explain how you felt afterward. Or share the video “The Goal: A Story of Faith, Friendship and Forgiveness” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Invite the children to share their experiences with forgiveness.
Click on the image to be taken to the churches website.
Click on the image to be taken to Etsy.
I “walk by faith, not by sight.”
Consider how you can encourage the children to keep God’s commandments even when they do not see the blessings they desire right away.
Possible Activities
Read 2 Corinthians 5:6–7 and Alma 32:21 with the children, and ask them to look for words and phrases that help explain what faith is. Ask them to write down their definitions and share them with each other.
Notice this Object lesson!
Invite one of the children to close his or her eyes, and ask the other children to give directions to help him or her complete a task such as building a tower with blocks or walking across the room. How does this activity help us understand what it means to “walk by faith” in God?
Show the video “Reunited by Faith” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org), and ask the children how the young man in the video walked by faith. Share an experience when you walked by faith, and encourage the children to share experiences.
Click on the image to be taken to the churches website.
Godly sorrow leads me to repent.
It’s natural to feel ashamed or embarrassed when we are caught doing something wrong. Help the children distinguish these feelings from godly sorrow, which leads to repentance.
Possible Activities
Explain that in 2 Corinthians 7:8–10, Paul referred to a letter he had previously written to the Saints, boldly warning them about their sins. Read these verses together. Why was Paul glad that the Saints were sorrowful? Point out that this kind of sorrow is called godly sorrow.
Ask the children to think about a time when they did something wrong and felt bad about it. Invite them to ask themselves, “Why did I feel bad?” and then share their answers. Write their answers on the board (for example, “I was afraid I would get in trouble” or “I knew I had disappointed Heavenly Father” or “I made someone cry”). Which of the answers on the board seem like “godly sorrow”? (2 Corinthians 7:10). Why is godly sorrow better than other kinds of sorrow we can feel after doing something wrong?
Here is this weeks Youth lesson, you may find things that will help in your senior primary lesson. You can click on the image.
